The Russian's Assertive Lover (The Tonov Triplets Series Book 2) (8 page)

“Unbelievable,” Dimitri said. “Have you completely lost your mind?”

“Of course not,” Nikolay shot back. “In fact, I have full control of it for the first time in a long time.” Even though his mind had been wandering back to Courtney throughout the day, he wasn't obsessing over her like he had been before. He was actually able to get some work done.

That is, until Dimitri came into his office. Apparently, he had dropped by the night before to pick up the money and instead of announcing himself, he’d walked in and seen them mid-orgasm.

“This is unacceptable. You know the rules. You know what happens when you let others in. Do I have to remind you of Samantha?”

“Of course not,” he snapped. “But Courtney isn't Samantha. She isn't going to sell me out for a few bucks and she doesn't know anything anyway.”
Not yet.

“You're acting as stupid as Val is,” Dimitri spat. “Have you forgotten everything father taught us?”

“He didn't teach us anything!” Nikolay said, jumping to his feet. “He threw us onto the streets when we were five years old and he told us that if we didn't earn enough money by the end of the day he would kill us.”

“He taught us how to survive,” Dimitri shot back. “How well do you think coddled, spoiled children survive after their parents' money ran out? Do you think that they would ever make a name for themselves?”

“There's a difference between responsibility and cruelty, Dimitri.”

“There's also a difference between sense and hopeless romanticism,” Dimitri sneered. “If you're not careful, then she will run your business into the ground and ruin it.”

“I find that hard to believe when she is my best server. Now get out before I throw you out myself.”

“Nik-”

“Shut up, Dimitri! Leave! Now!”

Dimitri turned and slammed the door on his way out, leaving Nikolay shaking with anger. He clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to calm himself down but unable to. What right did his brother have reprimanding him like that? They were both adults and it was none of his business who he saw and didn't see. If he felt so strongly about it, then he should just stop talking to Nikolay and give them both some damn peace.

Scarlett came in and set a cup of tea on Nikolay's desk. “Don't let him get to you,” she said. “He doesn't know the meaning of love.”

“I don't love Courtney,” he said. “But aside from that I agree with you.”

“Sure you don't,” she said dryly.

“I don't.”

“I'm not arguing with you.” She smiled at him and waved before leaving.

Nikolay took a sip of tea before taking a deep breath, letting the warm liquid relax him. It was going to be a long day unless he could get thoughts of his wretched, misguided brother out of his head.

He glanced at the clock. Courtney's shift was going to start in an hour. That made him happier even though he knew he would have to wait until after the club closed that night before he was able to do what he wanted with her.

*****

“You are definitely very tense,” Courtney said, rubbing Nikolay's shoulders. “Even worse than me. What happened today?”

“Dimitri paid me a visit,” Nik said. “Apparently he saw us together last night and decided not to announce his presence.”

“Shit,” Courtney replied.

“It's no big deal. I don't care what he thinks.”

“I know, but won't he be ruder to you now?”

“If that’s even possible. But he will have to get over it if he ever wants to be in good favor with Val or me.”

She laid her head on his shoulder. “I'm so sorry the two of you are fighting.”

It was after hours again, and the two of them went into Nikolay's office to relax. Nik made sure the front door and the office door were both locked as well as the blinds closed on the office windows so they would definitely have full privacy. He turned around then and kissed her, gently. “Enough about my day,” he said. “How was yours?”

“Same old, same old,” Courtney answered as she smiled. “It was much better because of you.”

“I'm glad to hear it,” he said, kissing her again. “No regrets at all?”

“Absolutely none as far as you are concerned,” she said, smiling. Nikolay gathered her into his arms and pulled her down onto the couch with him. He kissed her temple and slid his hand down her legs to her feet.

“These shoes cannot be comfortable,” he said. “Let's get you out of them.”

Courtney giggled and let him slip them off her feet, feeling immediately better with them off, even though they weren't uncomfortable in the way he thought they were. “You know what I really think is uncomfortable?” she whispered.

He smiled. “What's that?”

“Your belt,” she said, swiftly unhooking it and pulling it out.

Nikolay grinned. “I believe I can see what you want.”

“Don't act as if you haven't been thinking about it all day.”

“I don't think I can even pretend,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss. 

Courtney unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off him, her hands exploring the muscles she already knew so well. He gasped at her touch and kissed her even harder. She let him undress her, losing herself to his touch.

Pulling her to him, he buried his head against her chest as her hands roamed over his body. He felt so strong, so powerful, as his muscles rippled in response to her touch. Lifting his head, she kissed him all over his face, as he moaned. Tangling her fingers in his hair, she straddled his body, as she nibbled on his lower lip. Mimicking the way he sucks on her, she slowly drew it into her mouth and sucked on it gently, as he groaned.

“What you do to me,” he told her, as he flipped her onto her back and threw her legs over his shoulders. Entering her swiftly, he kept eye contact with her as he plunged in and out. Every time she would start to close her eyes, he would pause and wait until she opened them again before continuing.

As Courtney began to pant, he sped up, as he felt her body shake in anticipation and need. He loved how he could arouse her with his touch. With a cry, she began to come as her muscles clenched tightly around his cock. Groaning, it became increasingly difficult for him to move as she clutched at him. His own orgasm crept up on him, as he shuddered, trying not to collapse on top of her.

Fifteen minutes later, they were lying on the couch, their legs tangled together. Courtney smiled up at him. “So I'm definitely not one of your flings, then?” she asked.

He kissed her, smiling, “Not in a million years would I ever use you as a fling.”

They lay there silent for a few more minutes as Courtney traced the scars on his chest. “So what happened?” she asked.

“Hmm?” he asked, already sounding drowsy.

“Where did you get these scars?”

He brushed her hand aside and sat up. “Nowhere,” he said.

“Come on,” Courtney said, putting her arms around his waist only to have them brushed away. “I was just curious.”

“Yes, well, don’t be,” he snapped, getting to his feet.

“Hey,” she said, rising as well. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push a button.”

“Why did you have to ask?”

“I just thought…”

Nik gritted his teeth, trying to suppress the pain that rose within him. Every scar tingled and burned. “You want to know how my dad beat me if I didn't come home with enough money? Do you want to know how I earned it and what I had to do to survive? Do you want to know what my bosses did to me for their amusement? Is that what you want to know?” His voice had risen to a shout and Courtney took a step back, her own anger rising.

“I just asked a simple question,” she said. “You don't have to be so fucking rude about it!”

“Well, what do you want to know, Courtney?” he asked, still shouting.

“Nikolay, I didn’t mean anything. If you didn’t want to talk about you, you only had to say so. You didn’t have to get so upset. We all have things in our past that we would like to stay --”

“You have no right to ask me about that,” he interrupted. “Dimitri was right. I can’t trust you. I can’t trust anyone!”

“Fine!” She grabbed her shoes and clothes off the floor and unlocked the door. “I don't give a shit anyway.”

“Get out!” he shouted.

“No wonder you've never had a girlfriend, Tonov. You have a major case of trust issues.”

“Like you're one to talk.”

Courtney stormed out of there, tears streaming down her face. It was what she deserved, getting involved with her boss like that. She should have known it was going to end badly. She just didn't think it was going to be that badly and over
that.
He could have just said he didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't like she didn't have secrets.

She barely allowed herself the time to grab her things before she left. Courtney got into her car and drove off, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe that had just happened. So much for a little relaxation.

She was sobbing by the time she got to her apartment building. She ran inside and went to her sleeping bag. She got inside and curled up into a ball, replaying the scene over and over again, as she slowly cried herself to sleep.

*****

Nikolay balled his fists and sighed. Dimitri had been right about women. They were all the same. How had he let Courtney get so close? He was such a fool. He grabbed his car keys and left, slamming the office door behind him.

That felt good.
But it didn't feel good enough. He opened the door and slammed it again. Then again. He kept slamming it over and over until he was exhausted. But he was still angry, no matter what he did, he was angry at that nosy little--
She was curious about you because she cares.

No. She didn't care. She wanted all the juicy details about one of the poor, broken Tonov triplets. She would have gotten enough to give her friend who worked for a damn paper.

Her early adulthood was like your childhood. Do you really think she would use that information against you?

Yes. She wanted money. They all wanted money. That was all they wanted. Well, he would give her the damn money. As long as she worked her ass off for it.

Thirty-five dollars.

That was all Courtney was short. The last day of the deal was tomorrow and she would be short by only thirty-five dollars. She wiped down the last table in the empty strip club and blinked to keep her vision from blurring. She hadn't slept in the past seventy-two hours and it was starting to take its toll.

And it was all for nothing. Even after working out a deal with the landlord, skipping every meal that wasn't free and working twenty-four hours a day for as long as she could, Courtney still couldn't get the damn surgery.
Even though I got both the scholarship and the acceptance, I'm still screwed. I should be elated.

Despite everything that had happened to her, she had managed to keep her grades up and entrance exam scores were in the top twenty percent. Granted, she knew that she would have to work hard, but the admissions office had given her a list of scholarships that she could apply for to help cover her tuition. And none of this would matter if she didn’t get this damn tattoo removed. 

It didn't help that Nikolay and Courtney hadn't been on speaking terms, let alone civil terms ever since their fight. The only reason why he hadn't fired her was because she brought in the most tips, as far as she could tell.

Just then, Nikolay came out of his office. He glared at Courtney for a second before shutting his office door and putting on his jacket. “I trust you can lock up without burning the place down?” he spat.

“Oh, so you trust me that much, huh?” Courtney shot back. “That's so generous of you.”

“Go to hell,” he said and left the building, slamming the door behind him. Courtney rolled her eyes. What she had ever seen in that son of a bitch, she didn't know. Men were all the same. As soon as they had what they wanted from you, they kicked you out and told you to go to hell.

Courtney finished the last table and tossed the towel she was using into the dirty laundry bin. “Thirty-five dollars,” she muttered. “Thirty-five fucking dollars.”

She grabbed her things, putting on her clothes and then her coat before stalking to the door. She paused near the bar, where the cash register was. Even though most of the physical money was put in a safe in Nik's office at the end of the night, some of it was left in the till for change-making purposes. She took a step toward it, then stopped and shook her head. What was she thinking? She should just cut her losses and leave. She has had the tattoo this long, what was a few more months?

Or she could see it gone by tomorrow...

Besides, she would pay the money back.

She walked to the register and before she could stop herself, she opened it up and took out three tens and a five. She slammed the drawer back in place, put the money in her pocket, and walked out, locking the front door behind her.