Read The Russian's Furious Fiancee Online
Authors: Elizabeth Lennox
The Russian's Furious Fiancee (16 page)
She looked at him in the dim light coming from the hallway. Asleep, he looked just as determined as he was when he was awake although his hair was messed up, probably from her fingers as much as from sleep, and the sheet was barely covering his amazing butt. She even smiled at the discovery that the man had two dimples on either side of the base of his spine. An interesting discovery, but pointless since she needed to get out of there or she was going to be late for her early morning class.
With one last look, she walked out of his apartment, ignoring the security guard who was stationed outside of his door. The man bowed to her and called the elevator. Eva was extremely grateful that Damon’s penthouse had a private elevator. It would be an awkward few moments as she tried to figure out what to say as she slipped away, obviously after having spent the night with his boss.
Back at her apartment, she quickly showered and changed, pulled her supplies together for her class and grabbed her purse before heading out the door.
Her class was packed this morning with many of her students wanting to learn before heading to their various occupations. They were all eager and excited as she described the various investing aspects. It was a good class even though some had questions on how to avoid losses, which she laughed and shook her head. “There’s no way to avoid losses. It comes with the territory of investing. I can’t give you a magic bullet that will protect you from the pain.” The class laughed but she was serious, knowing that sometimes investing was dangerous.
When the class was over, she turned and headed towards her office, only to find a long line of people that were blocking her office door.
“What’s going on?” she asked, curious about what could create such an interested set of people.
“We’re putting in applications for jobs at the new Kelopatros Industries.”
Eva stopped trying to unlock her office door and looked back. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah! There are about three hundred jobs and the people in this area get to put in our applications first. If we qualify, they say that we get the jobs before anyone else has the chance to apply! Isn’t that wonderful?”
Eva could barely breathe as the full force of her fury descended on her. Damon was trying to buy this community? How dare he! It was one thing to try and buy her. She could defend herself. She wasn’t going to be fooled by Damon’s tricks and his attempts at doing something horrible and then just tossing money their way.
“Money can’t buy everything,” she muttered.
“Yes, but it can sure help buy milk for the table,” another man said as he continued to fill out his application.
She tossed her class materials onto her desk and dug her cell phone out of her purse. She found that there were already five messages from Damon, all of them furious that she’d left him again this morning.
“Good!” she snapped. The force of her exclamation caused several of the people standing in line outside of her office to jump or look over at her. “Sorry. Just angry at a man!” The women nodded with full understanding while the men nearest who heard her comment looked to the right and left, still confused.
She glanced at her watch, knew that her next class wasn’t scheduled until the lunch period and wanted to get this off her chest. She was so angry with Damon right now, this couldn’t wait.
Had she really given herself to a man who thought money was everything? Was he really going to buy all these people to convince them that destruction of their community was okay as long as there was a job to make the transition okay? It wasn’t okay! They were a community! Not a commodity!
At his office building, she found a parking space right out front. She stormed into the building and stopped by the security office, getting a badge that would allow her to confront the man she was definitely back to hating!
“Are you Ms. Fontini?” an efficient looking woman asked as soon as Eva stepped off the elevator.
“Yes. Is Damon available? I don’t have an appointment but it’s rather urgent. And I promise I won’t take up much of his time.” Eva tried hard not to growl, but she was gritting her teeth with the effort.
The woman smiled and shook her head. “Mr. Kelopatros called, letting me know that he’d received your voice mail but hasn’t been able to get back yet. His helicopter is in transit but asked me to show you to his office and not let you leave until he’s spoken to you.”
Eva thought about leaving, simply because Damon had instructed his assistant not to ‘let’ her leave. But this was too important.
She paced back and forth in the office, trying hard to smile as the woman came in occasionally to place something on Damon’s desk or to find a file. After twenty minutes of pacing, the woman stopped. With her hands folded in front of her and looked curiously at Eva. “Perhaps there’s something I can do to help?”
“Not unless you can empty that man’s bank account so he can’t harm any other communities,” Eva snapped. At the surprised expression, Eva sighed and stopped pacing. “I’m sorry. I’m taking my frustrations out on you and it’s really Damon I’m furious with. Between the destruction of the Savos family and trying to buy up all the people around the rec center with the promise of jobs so they won’t cause problems with his next billion dollar project!”
The woman smiled kindly and shook her head. “Well, I don’t know all the details, but it’s Kelopatros’ standard operating procedures to offer positions to any qualified applicants to the communities that are impacted the most. We’ve done it on several projects and it’s been a significant help. We get a large group of skilled employees that live close to the building, loyalty is high which means they are satisfied employees and are more productive. Most of those employees advance more quickly so Damon has instituted this process across all his companies for any project that impacts a community. I don’t know how long it’s been in place though. I can talk to Lila Monroe, Damon’s head of human resources if you’d like.”
Eva looked at the woman, stunned and embarrassed. Everything she was saying was absolutely true and it was even something she encouraged her students to look for in a company when they’re investing. A strong workforce with high morale had a much better chance of surviving than a company that pushed people down and took away their benefits.
“The other issue,” she tapped her chin with her finger as she tried to remember, “I know that Leroy Savos was the man who killed Damon’s mother about ten years ago. Horrible tragedy,” she said as she shook her head. “Leroy Savos was drunk, speeding down the road and Damon’s mother was coming home from a friend’s house. She was hit by the man’s car while he swerved onto the sidewalk. There was nothing the doctor’s could do to save her. It was a horrible time in Mr. Kelopatros’ life. I’d just come to work for him and I could see that he was torn up about it but he never spoke about it.”
Eva was stunned at hearing this news. She’d asked him about the saddest day of his life two nights ago and he’d never answered her question. But losing one’s mother, especially in such a tragic and completely avoidable manner would have ranked very high up on anyone’s list. “Why didn’t Leroy Savos go to jail?”
The woman tsked and shook her head again, her motherly instincts coming out. “According to a report I saw later, Mr. Savos had some very good lawyers, said that he hadn’t been drinking, claimed that he wasn’t driving, even though the police photos clearly showed him at the scene of the accident with a cut on his forehead and the initial blood alcohol level was well over the legal limit. It was shocking,” she said with emotion.
Eva stood there, her mind whirling around what she’d just learned. Every time she’d found something about Damon to hate, it turned around on her. What was she doing? Why couldn’t she just…give in and admit that she was in love with him?
She gasped and looked around her. Damon’s secretary was moving out of the office, still shaking her head at the memory of the previous legal battle despite more than a decade’s history.
Was she really in love with Damon?
She hated him. How could she be in love with him? That was ridiculous.
But as she stood there in his office, she tested the idea and sighed with resignation. She was in love with him. She didn’t understand how her mind had changed so dramatically, and in less than two weeks but it was true. She’d fought so hard against his claims, refusing to give an inch.
Until last night.
Her knees gave out on her and she sank into the soft leather sofa, grateful for its support. She couldn’t believe how she’d changed, how her life was so much more exciting now that Damon was in it. She genuinely looked forward to their evenings together, relishing their arguments. No other man could make her as furious as Damon. And no man could make her shiver with excitement and make her so crazy with desire like he could.
Yes, she was deeply in love with the arrogant man.
She should tell him. She should just throw herself into his arms and thank him for being so conceited and arrogant and not giving in when she was horribly rude to him.
A fraction of a second after she came to this decision, the door to his office slammed shut and an enraged Damon was striding toward her, fire in his brown eyes and she could practically see the steam blowing out of his ears as he slammed the office door and closed the distance between them. He was furious although she had no idea why. Hadn’t she come here to confront him? How the tables had turned, she thought and braced herself for the fight.
“Where the hell did you go this morning?” he demanded, striding towards her and glaring down into her eyes.
“I went to my class,” she replied, remaining calm despite his anger.
“And you decided not to wake me up and let me know?”
“You were asleep. And we’d been up…well…a lot last night,” she finally finished, her cheeks burning at the memory of her part in the waking.
“Don’t ever leave me!” he commanded.
She thought about his wording, considered her options and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she replied softly.
She almost laughed at his confused expression but thought she might show him a small amount of compassion at this point. Especially since she really wanted to hide her face so she moved one step closer and laid her hand in the center of his chest, one of her favorite places, she’d discovered last night.
“Okay?” he questioned, leaning back to look at her even as his hands moved to her waist to hold her close to him. “Just okay?”
She braced herself for rejection, but since she’d pushed him away so often, it was her turn to put herself out there. “Yes. I promise I won’t leave you.” She said it simply, with emotion, then lifted herself up and kissed his jaw, the only place she could reach unless he was willing to bend down. “What else would you like me to say? I should have woken you up and thanked you for a wonderful night. I should have asked if we could repeat the…” she didn’t get any further since he lifted her up and crushed her in his arms. It was almost painful, but she didn’t mind. She liked the way he held her like this, she knew what he was feeling now and it felt incredible!
“Don’t do this if you don’t mean it, Eva!” he growled. “You’re not anything that I expected but you’re everything I need.”
She smiled against his neck and wrapped her arms around him. “And you’re everything I need, even when I don’t like it.”
“You’ll like it,” he promised fervently. “I’ll make sure you like it. Somehow, I’ll help you love me if you’ll just stay with me.”
“I love you already,” she laughed and kissed his jaw, her hands running along his broad, muscular shoulders. Since he didn’t seem to be in the mood to let her down anytime soon, she wrapped her legs around his waist as well. “You’re a tough man to love, Damon Kelopatros, but you’re also amazingly wonderful and irritating and exciting and everything I need in a husband.”
He stilled with her last words and pulled away from burying her face in her neck. “Are you saying you’ll agree to marry me?”
“If you’ll still have me,” she whispered, her eyes suddenly worried.
“Still have you? I won’t ever let you go!” he replied and carried her over to his sofa, sitting down with her in his lap. “I’ve loved you ever since you told me no for the first time.”
She had to laugh as she looked at his face, the sincerity shining through. “You’re kidding.”
“Not at all. You’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known and I find you fascinating. Irritating as hell, but I love you because of all that stubbornness.”
“In that case, when is the wedding?”
“Soon!”
“Don’t I need to schedule it around your previous business meetings?” she asked, remembering that requirement he’d put out there during one of their discussions.
“I’ll shift everything for you. In fact, I think I need to reschedule a whole lot of meetings.”
“Why? I really am good at organizing events so a wedding shouldn’t be too hard.”
“I’m talking about the honeymoon. It’s going to be long, and away from everyone so I can have you all to myself!” With that, he buried his face in her neck and kissed her until she was shivering in his arms.
“Didn’t you say something about not making me wait?” she asked, gasping when his hand moved underneath her tee-shirt, touching her skin and making her shiver with excitement.
“I love you, you contrary woman!” he growled and stood up with her in his arms. Eva didn’t look at his assistant as they passed by to the elevator. She had eyes only for the man she’d finally admitted she loved.