Alexei (Her Russian Protector #8) (52 page)

Shay approached their small group. When Besian spotted her bandaged hand, he asked, “Did your sister shoot you, too?”

Shay frowned at him. “No, I burned myself.”

Besian glanced at Alexei. “All this time and all those women and you still haven’t found one who can cook?”

Shay rolled her eyes. “I burned myself on a pyrography pen. I’m fully capable of cooking a meal without setting a kitchen on fire.”

“You’ll have to prove that by cooking dinner for me,” Besian teased.

“Fat chance,” Shay shot back rudely.

Alexei watched Besian to see how he would respond to Shay. The loan shark surprised him by offering an olive branch.

“And would my chances improve if I arranged a sit-down with your friend and made things right for her?”

Shay hesitated. “I’m not sure that’s possible. She’s carrying around a lot of hurt and anger over the way that all went down. It isn’t just taking her horse and humiliating her father that she holds against you. Her mom died in that awful homeless shelter. Kylee couldn’t even scrape together the money for her mother to have a proper burial. They forced her to cremate her mom and put her in that terrible pauper’s field. She doesn’t even have a real grave or a place to mourn her mother.”

Besian’s face darkened. “That wasn’t all my fault.”

“I know that. Deep down inside, I’m sure Kylee knows it. You’re just an easier target to hate than the banks and the SEC and everyone else who ruined her life.”

Looking at Besian, Alexei wondered if this was the first time he had ever considered what really happened to the families connected to the debts he collected. Or maybe it was the first time someone had ever laid it out so plainly to him. Judging by the change in his demeanor, Besian was troubled by the facts that had been presented to him. Alexei was left to wonder what his friend would do about it.

Standing back, he gave Shay and her sister some space as they hugged and cried. He hated to see Shay so upset, but there was no other way to help her sister. Hector wouldn’t be able to keep the local boys from going after Shannon now that the body in the morgue had been identified as Lalo’s. Mueller would want revenge once Zec used that information he had just obtained to blackmail him.

With his trademark coldness, Zec rasped, “It’s time to go.”

Shay and Shannon reluctantly separated. They whispered and smiled one last time before Shannon turned her back and headed straight for the stairs leading up into the jet.

Zec eyed Shay with some interest. “So you’re the girl who stood up to Lalo and then killed him, huh?”

Shay didn’t correct him, and Alexei was glad for it. Sometimes it was better to be the star of an underworld legend.

Nodding with approval, Zec addressed him in Russian, “This one will do, Lyosha.”

Confused, Shay looked to him for an explanation but he simply shook his head. Later, if she asked again, he would tell her. Taking her hand, he tugged gently and coaxed her to follow him back to the SUV.

Besian fell into step beside him. “Are you headed home?”

Home sounded so good right now. He wanted to drop into bed with Shay and sleep for the next twenty-four hours—but it had finally occurred to him that he and Shay needed to have a real discussion about their future. Tonight had changed everything. “I need to make a stop first. Why?”

“I can send my doctor to visit you. He can get you patched up if you need it.”

“I do.” Alexei could feel the bandage on his arm growing wet. “Send him in an hour?”

“Sure.” Besian broke away toward his own idling car.

Alexei wiped the tears off Shay’s cheeks and kissed her before helping her into the SUV. The heartache of sending her sister away wouldn’t leave her anytime soon. She needed time to grieve, and he needed to remember that. He’d promised Shannon that he would be good to Shay. He was determined to keep that vow.

“Where are we going?” Stas asked after sliding behind the wheel.

He rattled off the address as he buckled his seatbelt. Shay kept her gaze glued to her window as they backed out of the hangar and then twisted to look out the rear window. She seemed unable to tear her gaze away from the plane that would carry her sister away.

“She’ll be fine, Shay.” He didn’t want her worrying unnecessarily.

“Are you sure?” She bit her lower lip with concern. “That guy with the scar on his throat looked really dangerous.”

“He is dangerous,” Alexei confirmed. “But he won’t hurt your sister. We made a deal. He is duty bound to honor it. In a few days, Shannon will call you and you’ll see that everything is fine.”

“I hope so,” she answered softly.

The drive across the sleepy city was quiet and uneventful. They rode in silence, each of them mired in their own thoughts. Alexei suspected Stas was thinking of all the ways he could get out of bodyguard duty as quickly as possible. In the last week, Stas had been through a baptism by fire. He’d gained a better understanding of the city’s underbelly and the players and the loyalties and grudges that would always complicate things.

Alexei smiled ruefully as it finally dawned on him that Nikolai had planned this from the beginning. He now suspected Nikolai had known all along that Besian and Zec were scheming to pull off that massive identity theft. Assigning Stas to Shay had been the boss’s way of ensuring he had an inside man to report back with information and that Stas got a much-needed introduction to the city. Before he could turn Stas loose on the streets, Nikolai had to test him and be sure that he was trustworthy and loyal. If this week with Shay hadn’t proved that, nothing would.

Nikolai truly was a master when it came to the game of surviving in the underworld…

“Pull in there,” Alexei instructed when they reached the half-completed retail center. Stas stopped in the parking space Alexei had indicated. He glanced at the hulking enforcer. “Wait here. We won’t be long.”

Alexei grabbed the envelope holding the legal paperwork before getting out of the SUV and walking around to Shay’s door. She eyed him with confusion as he took her hand and led her to the dark and unfinished building. He hadn’t been to the building in a few weeks, but the lockbox combination on the sealed door was the same. He punched in the code, retrieved the keys and opened the door.

“What are we doing here?” Shay followed close behind him and latched onto the back of his jacket so she wouldn’t get lost in the dark.

“We’re going to talk about our future.” He found a light switch. Only one side of the room was illuminated but it was enough for them to see each other.

“Our future? Here?” She glanced around the unfinished building. “In this abandoned place?”

“It doesn’t look like much right now, but it will. Give me some time.”

“And what will it look like when you’re done?”

“Read this.” He handed her the envelope. “You’ll understand.”

Gawking at him as if he were crazy, she took the envelope. “You realize it’s almost two in the morning, right?”

“Humor me,
ptichka
.”

“All right.” Shay opened the envelope and removed the papers inside. She scanned the first document, and her eyes widened. She glanced up at him as if unsure that she was actually understanding them and then started reading each one. “Alexei, what is this?”

“The paperwork for incorporating your business is straight-forward, but you’ll need an attorney to review them and make recommendations. I have the names of a handful that I trust.”

She flashed a page at him. “And this?”

“Nikolai and I have decided to turn this into a high-end shopping destination. Vivian will have a gallery of her very own down on the other end. Kazimir and Zoya will move their jewelry store into the larger center space. And this space,” he gestured around them, “will be your handbag shop. Maybe you can let Kylee share the space with you.”

“My own shop?” she asked in shock.

“I spoke to An Trinh a few days ago. She knows people in the fashion production industry here. I’m going to get some quotes from her so we can figure out a way to increase your production while still keeping your designs handmade and unique.”

“Employees? Me? A boss?”

“You’ll be good at it,” he assured her. “You have what it takes to build something truly special here, Shay." Pointing to the real estate paperwork, he said, “After you sign those, you’ll own this building. Forever,” he added. “It’s yours.”

“Mine? Forever?” she repeated in disbelief.

“Whatever you decide about me, this place will be yours irrevocably.”

“Whatever I decide about you? What does that mean?”

“It means that we can’t go on as we are, Shay.” Even before Shannon had shot him, even before the misunderstanding with Marissa, he had come to accept that as fact.

Visibly crushed, she asked, “Are you breaking up with me? Is this your parting gift? Is this supposed to make up for not having you? Because if that’s the case, I don’t want it. I only want you. Just you. Always.”

“Shay,” he said with a tired laugh, “of course not. You and I are so tangled up in each other we can never be separated. The only way I’m walking away from you is if you walk out the door first and leave me behind.”

“That’s impossible,” she said simply. “I don’t ever want to let you go.”

“Good.” His heart thudded powerfully in his chest. “Because I love you, Shay.”

She burst into tears. Taken aback, he wasn’t sure if they were tears of joy or sadness. Crossing the distance between them, he embraced her with his uninjured arm and kissed her cheek. “Shay, talk to me.”

She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. Rising on tiptoes, she deepened their kiss to one of such passion that it left him throbbing and lightheaded. “I love you, Alexei,” she whispered as she gazed adoringly up at him. “I love you so much.”

“Then there’s only one thing for us to do,” he said firmly.

“And what’s that?”

“Tomorrow, we both fly to Vegas to celebrate my birthday. We’ll bring Stas and Kylee with us.”

“And then?” she asked breathlessly, her eyes alight with hope and excitement.

“And then we get married,” he said matter-of-factly. “We make it official. You and me.” He kissed her until she started laughing. Pulling back, he smiled at her and brushed his fingers down her cheek. “What?”

“Is this really a proposal?”

“Do you want me to kneel? I will.” He started to slide down to one knee but she stopped him.

“Don’t be silly!”

With a mischievous grin, he reminded her, “You enjoyed yourself the last time I was kneeling in front of you.”

“Alexei!” A blush darkened her cheeks and ears.

Laughing, he kissed her again. More serious, he traced her lower lip and asked properly, “Will you marry me, Shay?”

Her lip trembled beneath his thumb. “Yes, Alexei. I’ll marry you.”

This time their kiss seemed never-ending. Neither wanted it to end as they celebrated their decision to spend their lives together and to build a family.

“Are we really going to do this?” she asked as he combed his fingers though her beautiful hair. “Just run away to Vegas and get married?”

“It’s the most obvious thing, isn’t it? You love me. I love you. It’s what people do when they love each other the way we do. I didn’t know it was possible to love like this until you, Shay.” He took her hand and put it over his heart. “I didn’t know it was possible to feel like this.”

“Neither did I,” she admitted. Lightening the mood, she pointed out, “We won’t have much of a honeymoon. You’re probably going to end up with stitches tonight, and I have a gauze paw complicating things.”

“Shay, you underestimate me.” He let his hand ride the curve of her back right down to her plump bottom. “I can think of twenty different ways to have you that won’t hurt either of us.”

She arched her brow. “Only twenty?”

“Careful,” he warned. “Twenty-one includes leather cuffs and silk rope.”

“And twenty-two?” she asked with a playful smile.

Alexei laughed and kissed her again. He loved her so much. After everything they had survived in the last week, there was nothing they couldn’t face now. Hand in hand, side by side, they would create a new life together, one filled with love and passion and happiness

And nothing in this whole wide world would stop.

The End.

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