Zel: Markovic MMA

  The suspicion in the biker’s tone came through clearly. The last thing Alexei needed was Spider digging around in his personal business or making trouble for them. “Shay is a private person.”

  “She’s a good girl.” He tossed down the cigarette butt. “She deserves to be treated properly. Her old man is cold and dead in the ground so he isn’t here to keep you in line, but I am. If I hear one fucking whisper about you hurting her, I’ll start with your kneecaps and then I’ll let the rest of the club have a turn.”

  Alexei took the threat in stride. He could see that Spider felt strongly about Shay’s welfare. He was glad that she had a father figure looking out for her. “My intentions toward Shay are what you would want from any man who dated your daughter.”

  Spider issued a harsh laugh. “There isn’t a man in Houston with balls big enough to ask me to date my baby girl.” He gestured toward the house. “Do you need keys?”

  “I have Shay’s set.”

  “You want some help?”

  “Sure.” Alexei climbed the stairs, crossed the porch and unlocked the front door. Shay had left on a lamp in the living room. A pleasant cinnamon and vanilla scent lingered in the air. Just like the last time he had visited her home, the place was neat and tidy. There was a new throw and pillows on the old, worn out sofa and more recent pictures of the two sisters on the wall.

  “The girls are some of my best tenants,” Spider said as he shut the storm door. “Shay always pays the rent a week early. She keeps the house and the yard clean. I never have to worry about late notices for the utilities.” He rested his arm on the wall and shook his head. “I’ll be sad to see the girls go.”

  Alexei hadn’t considered that Spider might toss them out of their home. He had been planning to let Shay stay at his apartment until she felt safe to come home or able to make a decision about her future without the added pressure of homelessness hanging over her head.

  “You understand why I can’t keep them here.” Spider reached into a vest pocket and retrieved a stick of gum. “I’ve spent most of the year cleaning up this neighborhood. I’m moving in families and oilfield guys. I can’t have the trouble that followed Shay and Shannon home in my park.”

  “I’m a businessman. I understand when hard choices have to be made to protect your bottom line.”

  “I know you won’t let Shay end up on the streets or sleeping in her car. Shannon?” He shrugged and jammed the stick of gum into his mouth. “If she survives the weekend, it will be a fucking miracle.”

  It was a cold, unfeeling statement but that didn’t make it any less true.

  Not wanting to waste any more time talking, Alexei crossed the cramped living room and kitchen. There was a short hallway just off the kitchen. He stopped at the first door he reached, opened it, switched on the light and peeked inside. Even before he spotted the worktable against far wall, he knew it was Shay’s room.

  If he had felt uncomfortable going through her purse to find her keys, he felt completely out of his depth standing in the middle of her bedroom. It was decorated simply and plainly. She seemed to have sacrificed her sleeping comfort to make room for a wall of industrial shelving that held finished handbags, wallets, belts and packaging and mailing supplies. He investigated the tiny space, running his hands over the tools she used to make such beautiful handmade items. The mismatched initials etched into the tool handles convinced him she had probably purchased these at pawn shops and garage sales.

  The laptop on her bed captured his interest. He dragged his finger over the mouse pad and awakened the sleeping machine. A sticky note tacked onto the corner of the screen had her password printed in bright green ink along with a reminder for Shannon to recharge the battery. A faint smile played upon his mouth as he imagined Shay getting irritated with her sister for the millionth time over that.

  He typed in the password and found himself staring at extremely detailed spreadsheets. With a couple of clicks, he was able to read through Shay’s current profit and loss statement, her bank account balances and her projected expenses and profit for the coming year. A word document in another window showed a five-year business plan broken down into yearly, quarterly and monthly goals and tasks.

  By the looks of it, Shay was well ahead of her goals. She was very cautious with her money, putting almost all of it back into the business or into a savings account marked for the store she wanted to open with a friend. He noticed the friend’s current savings were much lower than Shay’s and her expenses were higher too.

  She wouldn’t like it if he started nosing into her business, but he felt a duty to talk through the problems of partnerships with her. He had been so desperate to get out of the mafia life that he had taken on Nikolai as a silent partner without a second thought to how it would impact him years down the line. Now that he was so very successful, he wanted nothing more than to shed those old connections to organized crime, but it was impossible. He was chained to the mafia for the rest of his life.

  But maybe he could save Shay from making that mistake. If she wanted to go into business with a friend, she needed to do it with those beautiful brown eyes of hers wide, wide open and with an airtight contract in place.

  He opened another window and discovered the household budget and her shopping list. He wasn’t surprised to see that Shannon had been running short on cash or that Shay had been covering the household expenses on her own. Judging by the extremely short shopping list and the stack of clipped coupons he had spotted on her worktable, Shay had been cutting every possible corner to stay afloat.

  Closing her laptop, he set it aside and returned to her closet to grab the one suitcase hidden away there. He wouldn’t be able to fit much inside of it so he chose carefully from her wardrobe. He was picking his way through her dresser and lamenting the lack of lacy, silky things when Spider appeared in the doorway.

  “If you want, I can have the prospects box up the house room by room. We can store it over in the building behind the main office.”

  “Start with Shay’s room,” he instructed. “I want this all boxed up carefully.”

  “I’ll see if Marley can come over and take care of Shay and Shannon’s things,” Spider offered.

  “I would prefer that.” As he packed up Shay’s tools, he gave Spider instructions for the delivery of her things. He found a couple of empty boxes on the supply shelf and put everything she might need for her work into them. He recognized a handbag from her virtual storefront, a site that he often found himself checking out late at night when he was thinking about her. It was among her most popular designs but the work she put into each one made it difficult for her to produce at a fast rate.

  Her leather goods were made by hand, but there was no rule that said they had to be made by her hand. The seed of an idea blossomed. He needed to investigate the feasibility but he might have discovered a way for Shay to grow her business while maintaining her high quality standards.

  He left Shay’s bedroom and stopped in the bathroom to gather up her toiletries. He wasn’t sure which toothbrush was hers but it was easy to pick out her shampoo and conditioner with a simple sniff. He ducked back into her bedroom to grab a couple of things off the top of her dresser like her hairbrush and watch.

  She didn’t have much jewelry, just a pair of gold hoops, a set of tiny diamond studs that were less than a quarter carat and a fragile golden heart necklace. He carefully traced the thin heart shape. This was the type of jewelry a father gave a young daughter on her birthday or for Christmas. He imagined Shay wearing the necklace and thinking of the father she had lost so suddenly.

  Very carefully, he wrapped the necklace and earrings in a monogrammed handkerchief. He tucked it away in the interior pocket of his suit for safekeeping. Finished packing, he gathered up her things and left the house. Spider waited for him to lock the door and trailed him down the front steps and over to his SUV. The raucous laughter coming from the prospects and Boychenko made them frown.

  “Young, dumb and fu
ll of cum,” Spider remarked dryly.

  Alexei let loose a snort of laughter at the biker’s rough way of describing the trio. What he could hear of the salacious, raunchy tale was enough to make him shake his head. The wild parties thrown by the motorcycle club were infamous around the city. Poor Boychenko would never experience debauchery like that in Nikolai’s service.

  Tuning out the filthy story, he loaded up his SUV and held out his hand. “I’ve got a bottle of Dalmore with your name on it.”

  Spider gripped it hard. “Should I be flattered that you remembered it’s my favorite?”

  Alexei grinned and let go. “You know where to find me when you’re ready to claim that favor owed.”

  “Remember what I told you about Shay.”

  “I heard you.”

  “If there’s anything you need from me—for her—you just have to ask.”

  “I will. Thank you.”

  Alexei whistled at Boychenko, signaling that it was time to leave. He slid behind the wheel and drove away from Shay’s home. Boychenko shadowed him to the first drug store where he picked up a toothbrush, toothpaste and two pints of the ice cream that he had seen on her shopping list.

  By the time he reached the apartment building and waved off Boychenko, it was nearly three in the morning. As he was gathering up Shay’s things and trying to figure out how he would get everything upstairs in one trip, he heard a vibrating sound. Thinking it was his phone, he patted his jacket but then realized it was coming from under his seat. He reached down and smacked around on the floorboard until he patted a cell phone.

  During his rush to throw her handbag and the bloody evidence into the SUV earlier in the night, Shay’s cell phone must have fallen out of her purse and under his seat. He studied the screen and noticed four missed calls and five increasingly more worried text messages from someone named Kylee and exactly one text message from Shannon.

  I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

  Alexei gritted his teeth and dropped the phone into her handbag. Sorry? Shannon was fucking sorry? She had almost gotten her sister raped and murdered tonight. Sorry didn’t come close to fixing all that.

  He wasn’t going to take a hard line with Shay tonight about her sister. She had been through enough and needed to be treated gently. But tomorrow? Tomorrow, he would have to tell her that the relationship she once had with her sister no longer existed. It was the only way for Shay to survive.

  Upstairs, he unlocked the door and was immediately greeted by the sight of Stas striding toward the opening door, his hand on the gun holstered at his hip. The street soldier relaxed and hurried to help him with the luggage and boxes.

  “Is she asleep?” Alexei asked quietly as he carried the ice cream into the kitchen.

  “No, she’s not asleep,” Shay piped up from the living room.

  He glanced toward the television and sofa but couldn’t see her. She must have been huddled down and curled up under a blanket. “You should be in bed.”

  “I’m not five,” she replied lightly. “I can choose my own bedtime.”

  Stas looked terribly amused by the back-and-forth. He was wise enough not to say a word. Instead, he toted her things to the master suite.

  After stowing the ice cream in the freezer, Alexei shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over a chair. He strode toward the sofa and looked down at Shay. Wrapped up in a different blanket, she had her head propped up on a round pillow and watched an infomercial. She was so deeply burrowed he could barely see the side of her face. “What happened to the other blanket?”

  “Stas made me hot cocoa, and I spilled some of it.” She tugged down the blanket and glanced up at him. “I’ll tackle the stain tomorrow.”

  “Leave it,” he said with a wave of his hand. “You aren’t a housekeeper. You’re a guest.”

  “For how long?” she asked rather bravely.

  Alexei chose to ignore that question as Stas reappeared in the living room. “Were there any problems tonight?”

  Stas glanced at Shay and seemed to be waiting for her to answer first.

  She sat up slowly and shared what could only be described as a secret smile with Stas. “We had a nice time.”

  “We’re both reality TV junkies.” Stas jammed his feet back into his shoes. “I think we can make this work.”

  Alexei wasn’t so sure he liked the budding friendship between the pair. “I’m glad to hear it went well.”

  “Do you want me to stay for the rest of the night?” Stas gathered up the plate and cups on the coffee table and carried them to the dishwasher. “I’m on your payroll now so you give the orders.”

  “Try to remember that,” he muttered softly, already worrying that Stas might be trying to get too friendly with Shay. “Go home and get some sleep. I’ll need you back here by nine.”

  “Night, Stas,” Shay called out as he walked her new bodyguard to the door.

  “Goodnight, Shay.”

  Alexei followed Stas into the hallway. “I spoke to Carlos, the night concierge, about our situation. You and only you will be allowed to come and go freely to this floor. Anyone that you bring with you has to be cleared through me. Any of Shay’s visitors need to be cleared through me also.”

  “I understand.”

  “In the morning, I’ll leave some cash in an envelope for your daily expenses.” Touching Stas’ shoulder, he said pointedly, “Whatever Shay wants, she gets. No questions asked.”

  “No questions asked,” Stas repeated with a nod. “You can be sure of that.”

  He watched the young street soldier get into the elevator before closing and locking the door and returning to the living room. Still wrapped up in the blanket, Shay hugged her knees and watched him as if curious to see what would happen next. In truth, he had no idea, but she looked to him for guidance and reassurance so he endeavored to be strong for her.

  Toeing off his shoes, he left them behind the sofa and walked around to join her. He dropped down on the spot Stas had occupied earlier and tugged at the knot of his tie, loosening it and tossing aside the long length of striped silk. Working on the top buttons of his shirt, he said, “I went by the house and got some clothes for you. I boxed up the tools and projects on your table. I grabbed your laptop. Your jewelry is in my jacket,” he said, patting his chest as the memory suddenly hit him.

  “Thank you,” Shay whispered with a soft, warm smile. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” Her mouth slanted with a frown, and she gestured to her forehead. “You’re starting to bruise.”

  “Am I?” He touched the sore spot there and winced. “My head isn’t as hard as it used to be.”

  “You probably should have gone to the emergency room for a CAT scan or something.”

  “I’m fine. This?” He pointed to the small bruise. “I’ve survived much worse.”

  “What will your employees think tomorrow?” She worried her lower lip with her teeth.

  “Don’t do that. You’ll break the skin again.” He touched her wrist and welcomed the spark of heat that traveled through his fingertips. “My employees will think whatever they want to think, but they’ll keep their mouths shut and work.”

  She shot him a perturbed look. “You shouldn’t be so harsh with them.”

  “Selling cars is a tough business. They don’t need me to coddle them.” Alexei held out his hand, silently beckoning her closer. She placed her palm against his and yielded when he gave her arm a gentle tug. He expected her to slide closer and sit next to him, maybe even let him put his arm around her shoulders, but she stunned him by resting her head on his lap.

  The sweetly intimate act made his heart do a wild flip. He wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do now. His need to make her feel safe and secure overwhelmed him. He grasped the blanket and pulled it up around her shoulders. For a moment, he held tight to the blanket before finally surrendering to the urge to brush his fingers through her silky hair.

  “Alexei?”

  “Yes?” He combed
through her wavy locks from the crown of her head down to the very ends.

  “What happens now?”

  Wanting to banish that quaver of fear in her voice, he decided it was time to make his intentions clear. “What happens now is what I should have done months ago.”

  “And what is that?”

  He stroked her cheek and marveled at the flutter of her eyelashes. “I like you, Shay. I’m attracted to you, and I want you.” He trailed his thumb along her jaw. “I think you’re attracted to me. I think you want me.” He traced her full lower lip. “Do you, Shay?”

  “Yes.” Her answer came breathlessly but without hesitation. “I want you.”

  He resumed the steady combing motion, hoping it would lull her to sleep. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the cushion and relaxed his tired, tight shoulders. In the morning, he would probably regret falling asleep like this, but right now, only a fire would force him to shift away from Shay. “Then, as long as you want me, I’m yours.”

  Chapter Eight

  When I woke up a few hours later, I blinked with confusion and glanced around in a disoriented fog. The dim light of a television illuminated a space that was definitely not my bedroom. More perplexing were the strong arms wrapped around my shoulders and holding me close to a warm, powerful and very male body.

  Alexei.

  I didn’t dare move as I tried to figure out how the hell I had ended up on top of him. Sometime after I had dozed off, he had stretched out across the long, wide sofa cushions. He had either dragged me on top of him or—more mortifyingly—I had crawled on top of him like a koala bear seeking heat and comfort.

  Though my dating experiences included some serious heavy petting and wild make-out sessions, I had never, ever found myself in this position. I grew intensely aware of the hard, masculine form beneath me. The scent of his cologne teased me, and I wanted nothing more than to burrow in against him and inhale that intoxicating scent that was so perfectly him.