Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (65 page)

"Anna, are
you coming with us?" I called. Anna chirped and returned to her dinner.
"Okay, but don't blame me if you get lost in here!"

With that, I
turned and followed Max back down the hallway into the enormous living room,
where he began the tour of my new home.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

Max

I
led Lexi through my home, pointing out all of the features in each room and
patiently showing her how to operate the lights and the thermostat so she could
always be comfortable. I took her through the gym, where I'd installed all the
latest fitness machines and weights. There was even an infinity pool tucked in
one corner of the room waiting for someone to flip the switch and get in to
swim. Lexi's eyes got wider with every new thing I showed her, and I took great
pleasure in opening up my home to this beautiful woman.

She'd changed out
of her work clothes and was wearing a light summer sundress in a shade of peach
that brought out her sun-kissed skin tone. She'd pulled her hair back into a
loose braid that for the thousandth time since I'd met her, made me want to
reach around and undo it so I could run my fingers through her auburn tresses.
I distracted myself by mentioning the benefits of tanning on the outdoor deck
as I opened the door off of the gym and showed her the garden I'd started on
the roof. It was a magnificent place to sit and sunbathe, read, or just enjoy
dinner and a drink. I'd done that often, but it always felt rather lonely
unless Natalia was with me, and even then, there was a solitude that penetrated
the space between us.

Showing Lexi these
things felt like I was throwing open the door to something new and fresh. She
oohed and ahhed over every new feature and stopped to admire my herb garden as
she took in the view.

"This is
incredible, Max," she said as she looked out over the city, marveling at
the way the lights were blinking on all over town as the sun set just beyond
the outer edges of the city limits. "What a glorious place to live."

"I'm pretty
happy here," I agreed. "But it's nice to have a guest to share it
with, if I'm honest."

As Lexi turned and
smiled at me, my heart jumped. She was so incredibly beautiful. Everything
about her was light and free. Lexi Wallace was everything that I was not, and
as I thought about this, I felt sad. I wondered how I could drag such a
beautiful woman into such a terrible situation with my father. For a moment, I
felt a deep sense of guilt and I came close to blurting out the truth, but then
I looked west over the city and remembered what I was striving to leave and I
pressed my lips together and continued showing her the place.

We walked back
inside down a long hallway lined with modern paintings and prints. Lexi
commented on several of them until I pushed open the door to what was to be her
room. She stood in the doorway with her mouth open, staring at the room. I told
her I'd have the movers unpack the things she decided to bring with her and that
my housekeeper would arrange everything so that it looked like a home, rather
than a hotel room where she would just pass the time.

To the left of the
door was a long dresser with so many drawers that it had been impossible to
actually fill them. Along the far wall was a window that reached floor to
ceiling and overlooked the four-post bed that sat on the far side of the room,
covered in a thick duvet and many plush pillows. There was a sitting area where
she could enjoy coffee in the morning or read a book, and on the other side of
the sitting area was a large walk-in closet with a dressing table and more
space than she'd had in her entire bedroom in the old place.

I watched her
closely as she took in all the details, and once she'd processed it all, she
walked over to me, rested a hand on my chest, and stood on her tiptoes to kiss
my cheek. I fought hard not to wrap and arm around her waist and pull her
against me. I had no idea if she felt anything towards me the way I felt about
her, but I wasn't going to risk screwing up this deal to find out.

"Max, this is
the most beautiful room I've ever seen in my entire life," she whispered
as she reached out and took my hand and squeezed it tightly. "I love it.
Thank you."

"I'm glad you
like it," I said as I gently squeezed her hand, hoping she could read the
message I was sending. She turned and looked up at me just as Anna came running
down the hallway and jumped on the bed with as ferocious a meow as someone of
her size could muster. Lexi dropped my hand and walked over the to the kamikaze
kitten and picked her up.

"I think Anna
will like it here, too," she pronounced as the tiny puffball head batted
her chin and purred until she drooled. I laughed at the open display of
happiness and told Lexi to follow me. I wanted to show her one more room.

At the end of the
hall were two French doors leading into the master bedroom. It ran the entire
width of the penthouse and was twice as large as the kitchen on the other end
of the place. There was a sitting area with a couch and several chairs
positioned around a large fireplace on one end of the room and a king-size,
four-post bed covered in a large cranberry-colored duvet on the other. It was
the only splash of color in the otherwise gray room. Lexi nodded as she looked
around and noticed my desk in one corner near the soaring window.

"You must
love working here," she observed.

"Indeed, I
do," I agreed as I watched her take it all in. The room was an
architectural masterpiece with the windows starting at the floor level and then
curving upward so that one continuous piece of glass softly bent across the
roof and made the room feel as if it were completely open to the elements.
There was a door off of the side of the bed that led to the private balcony and
the Jacuzzi. I'd spent many nights sitting out in the bubbling hot water,
looking up at the heavens, trying to figure out the mysteries of the universe.

"That must be
a great place to stargaze," Lexi said gesturing at the hot tub. "I'm
envious."

"You're
welcome to come out and use it anytime you like," I said.

"I just
might," she smiled. The smile was followed by a wide yawn, and I realized
the tour had taken several hours.

"You must be
really tired," I said as I walked back toward her room. "Do you need
anything? Do you want anything?

"I'm good,
Max." She smiled as she reached out and took my hand again. I could feel
the soft tips of her fingers gently resting against the palm of my hand and the
sensation sent the blood flowing away from my brain toward my groin. I pulled
my hand away quickly as I cleared my throat and ducked my head, trying to hide
the erection growing in my shorts.

"If you need
anything, don't hesitate to let me know, okay?" I said.

"I will, I
promise." She walked into her room followed closely by the tiny kitten.
Once inside, they both turned and looked at me before Lexi quietly closed her
door.

I let out a sigh
of relief and hoped that she hadn't noticed anything, then I went back to my
room and fired up the computer so that I could purchase more stock as soon as
the markets in Moscow opened.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Lexi

After
the tour, I went back to my room and thought about how much my life had changed
in just one week. One week ago, I had been sobbing as Josh dumped me on his way
to Hollywood. Today, I was employed by a nice man who was paying me wages
beyond my wildest dreams, and I was sitting my own, luxurious room in one of
the most expensive penthouse apartments in the city. Granted, the reason I was
here was because I had agreed to a sham marriage in order to help his business,
but still, this was a pretty great gig.

"We're doing
well, aren't we, Anna?" I said to the kitten who was checking out every
inch of the room from ground level. Once she was finished, she jumped up next
to me on the sofa and chirped her approval. I patted my leg until I realized
that I'd left her litter box and toys in the kitchen. I quickly hopped up and
opened the door. I looked around and then remembered that the kitchen was to my
left. I followed the hall back toward the living room, but must have made a
wrong turn because I found myself standing in front of a dining room table that
had to have been fifteen feet long. I cursed my poor memory and then turned
back to retrace my steps. Ten minutes later, I was back in my room with Anna's
bag in my hand. I set up her things so that she could easily find them and then
called her name, but no fuzz ball came running.

"Anna? Anna,
where are you, kitty?" I called quietly. "Little one, don't go hiding
on me now!" Still, there was no Anna. I wasn't terribly worried, since
there was no way for her to get out of the penthouse without one of us opening
a door. But I was worried that she would get lost in the twisting turning rooms
and not be able to find her way back to our room. And she was still a baby, so
I knew that messes were a distinct possibility. I called her name a few more
times, and then retraced my steps back to the kitchen. No luck. "Anna, you
are a little stinker!" I whispered into the dark apartment as I tiptoed
back to my room. I left the door cracked, hoping that she would simply find her
way back. I got ready for bed and crawled under the soft duvet. I called Anna's
name one more time before I fell into a deep sleep that sucked me under until
the alarm went off.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Max

 
The
next morning, I woke up
to the sound of purring as a small gray kitten mushed my chest and drooled.

"Uh, excuse
me," I said as I picked her up and moved her onto the duvet. "You're
supposed to be sleeping in the other room, small creature."

Anna looked up at
me with her big blue eyes and chirped once before she hopped down off of the
bed and headed toward the door. I watched as she slipped out and then grabbed
the remote and turned on the morning news.

"We have
breaking news this morning; there's been yet another shooting on the west side
of the city and we go live to our Action Team reporter Mia Rogers on site. Mia,
what are they saying about this shooting?" the anchor said as she turned
and looked at the screen where the reporter held a microphone waiting to inform
viewers.

"Dana, the
Wicker Park Chief of Police, Randall Washington, says that the shootings took
place early this morning and involved members of at least one known Russian
gang involved in a long-running feud here on the city's west side. Police are
not releasing the identities of the two men who were shot, but they say it has
all the markings of an execution and that the two men may have known their
attackers. This is Mia Rogers reporting for
Action
News
on the scene in Wicker Park. Back to you, Dana."

I shut the
television off and sat down on the edge of the bed as I tried process what had
happened and how I was going to respond. The violence was getting worse. Papa
and Kristov were right: We needed to rein in the younger
bratán
or we were going to wind up with an all-out war on our
hands. I bent over and rested my elbows on my knees as I held my head in my
hands. The last thing I wanted was to be pulled into this war while I was trying
to make a deal with Sergei Petrov. If he smelled the mafia anywhere near me,
he'd turn and take his money elsewhere. I was between a rock and a hard place
with nowhere to go.

"Max, do you
want a cup of coffee?" Lexi called as she tapped lightly on the door. I
got up, walked over, and opened it.

"Sure,
I'd-" I stopped mid-sentence as I looked at Lexi with her nightshirt
slipping off one shoulder, her hair pulled into a ponytail, and holding out a
steaming cup of coffee with a smile. I felt the rush of blood leaving my brain.

"I'm sorry
Anna woke you up," she said as she held the coffee cup out toward me.
"I didn't mean for her to get out of my room. I'll be more careful in the
future."

"It's
okay." I took the cup wishing it was something much bigger so I could use
it to cover my growing erection. "She didn't do any damage, just a little
drool on the pillow."

"I'll wash
those for you, if you want me to," she offered. I couldn't take my eyes
off of her. Dressed for business and wearing makeup, Lexi was striking, but
without all of the fuss and paint, she was simply beautiful.

"Don't be
silly," I said. "I've got a staff who does all of that for me, and
they'll be doing it for you, too."

"Oh,
right," she said as her smile dimmed. "I know it's weird, but I keep
forgetting you have money. Why don't you act like you're rich?"

"It's a long
story," I said, sipping from the cup. It tasted awful. I tried to maintain
a casual tone as I asked, "How did you make the coffee?"

"I just
scooped it out of the jar on the counter and made it the usual way," she
said looking at me quizzically. "Why, is there something wrong with
it?"

"Well…"
I hesitated.

"You hate
it," she said reaching for the cup. "Here, let me take that. I'll go
make a fresh pot. Maybe that'll be better."

"No, no,
no." I gripped the cup of coffee as I moved toward the hallway. "Let
me make us a fresh pot."

She followed me
into the kitchen were I quickly realized that she'd put the espresso grounds
from the ceramic recycling pot into the coffeemaker.

"Oh, I see,
well, you used the old grounds from yesterday's coffee to make this pot,"
I laughed as I dumped the second-time-around grounds back into the recycling
container, and then opened the cabinet and took out a tin of beans. "The
fresh stuff is here."

"Oh no!"
she said. "No wonder it tasted so awful! And you drank it anyway!"

We both dissolved
into laughter as I ground the fresh beans and put the pot on to brew before I
began making breakfast. Normally I skipped breakfast or ate a protein bar on
the way to the store, but this morning, I played the good host and scrambled
eggs and browned sausages while Lexi made the toast. We each performed our
breakfast duties in silence.

"Did you see
that there's been more killings over in Wicker Park?" she asked as she
buttered the bread and then neatly sliced the stack on the diagonal.

"I did,"
I replied. I scooped eggs onto two plates and then placed the sausages beside
them.

"What do you
think is going on over there?" she asked. "I keep wondering why
they're out to kill each other. Is it drugs, do you think? That's what happened
to the Vice Lords in the ’60s and ’70s on the West side. They turned on each
other when some of the groups started dealing drugs. The Russians seem kind of
barbarian in their approach to dealing with one another, don't you think?"

"Like with
any dispute, I'm sure there are reasons behind it that we can't
understand," I said, carefully avoiding the weighty answer that I knew I
should probably be giving, but wasn't willing to yet. "I'm sure the
reporters will figure it out and there will be something about it on the
evening news."

"You’re
probably right," she nodded as she dug into her breakfast and declared it
delicious. We talked about the store and Petrov as we ate, then suddenly, Lexi
blurted out, "Max, we've got a month to plan our faux wedding! How are we
going to do that?"

"Well, we're
going to have to break it down into manageable pieces and just pull it all
together," I said. "How about you work on the dress, flowers, and
cake, and I'll work on the venue and the decorations?"

"But, Max,
this is a fake wedding," she said. "Why are we going to go to all the
trouble of staging an elaborate wedding if it's just a fake for Petrov's
deal?"

"Because we
need an event for all of Petrov's friends and he thinks we're getting
married," I said looking at her. "And, because I need this, Lexi. I
need this business to succeed."

"Okay, okay,
I'm not arguing with you," she said, backing away from the questions.
"I just have been trying to figure out my motivation."

"Motivation?"

"Yes, as an
actress," she told me. "What's my character's motivation for marrying
you?"

"Um,
love?" I ventured. Lexi looked at me and burst out laughing.

"Obviously!"
she laughed. "I just mean, what's our back story? People are going to ask
how we met and how you proposed, you know."

"Can't it
just be the one that we already have?" I asked. "You came to work for
me and we just fell in love."

"Oh, Max,
that's not at all interesting!" she cried. "We need a story,
something that will give Petrov's friends a show!"

"I'm not good
at show," I said uneasily. "It's not a thing I feel comfortable
with."

"Why
not?" she asked as she tipped her head, popped the last bit of toast into
her mouth, and chewed.

"My father
was very strict with my brother and I while we were growing up, and he taught
us that we should never ever show off," I said, trying to come as close to
the truth as possible without venturing into dangerous territory.

"That must
have been some lesson." Lexi reached across the table and patted my hand.
"It's okay, we'll think of something that doesn't make you feel
vulnerable."

As she looked at
me with compassion and kindness, I felt the words welling up in my chest and I
wanted nothing more than to spill my whole sordid story and unburden myself,
but I knew that if I did, I was risking everything with her. If she thought the
Russian mafia gangs were barbarians, then what would she think of my place in
the hierarchy and that my father was doing everything he could to try and bring
me back to the fold? I swallowed the words and nodded silently.

I would deal with
the situation on my own, as I always did.