YURI (Her Russian Protector #3) (5 page)

"What's your name?"

The guard glanced down at me. "Jake, ma'am."

My eyebrow arched at the
ma'am
. "It's nice to meet you, Jake. Thank you for watching over me tonight. I appreciate it."

He nodded but didn't make eye contact again. By now, Yuri stood nearby. He held out his hand and I happily grasped it. As we stepped onto the sidewalk another realization struck me. I hadn't said anything to Tony, the driver, about where I lived or how to get here.

My gaze fixed on Yuri's shadowy profile. "You already knew where I lived. Your driver already had my address."

"Yes."

"But…why?"

"Why not?" He glanced at me. "Let's not kid ourselves, Lena. I knew the moment I first saw you that I'd be making this walk to your front door someday. I didn't know how soon it would happen but I wanted to be prepared."

"I can't decide if that's incredibly romantic or borderline stalker behavior."

Yuri laughed and slid his arm around my waist. His lips brushed my temple. "You have such a way with words, Yelena."

His playfully sarcastic reply coaxed a smile from me. As we neared my apartment, I reached into my purse for my keys. I was still digging around for them when the door suddenly opened to reveal Vivian in a paint-stained tank top and shorts. Paint splatters dotted her bare feet and hands. Her expression turned comical and it was all I could do to bite back a laugh at the shock on her face.

"Oh!" She glanced at me with wide eyes. "I heard voices and thought you were on your phone. I didn't want you to have to juggle your keys and purse." Her gaze turned to Yuri again. "Anyway. I'll…uh…I'll just go now."

Yuri chuckled softly as she scampered out of view. "Ten dollars says she's running to her phone and calling Erin or Benny."

Smiling, I agreed. "Definitely." Feeling a bit awkward, I said, "So…"

"So this is goodnight." His fingers tangled in my hair and he dragged me close for another one of his sensual, toe-tingling kisses. When his lips finally left mine, he traced my swollen pout with his finger. "I'll see you Monday night."

I couldn’t speak. I simply nodded. Yuri stepped away from me but didn't leave immediately. We stared at one another, both of us desperate to take this to the next level but fully aware that waiting would make our first time even hotter and more significant.

Gulping, I turned my back toward him and stepped into the apartment. I shut the door with shaking hands and flipped the deadbolt. Overcome by the night's strange turn of events, I pivoted toward the living room and collapsed back against the door.

My gaze met Vivian's questioning one. Curiosity radiated from her in waves. Grinning, she said, "I'm going to grab a bottle of wine and two glasses. You kick off your shoes and get comfy. I have a feeling we're going to be talking late tonight."

"Girl," I shook my head and toed off my pumps, "you aren't going to believe this…"

Chapter Three

"We headed home, Boss?"

Yuri caught Jake's gaze and shook his head. "Take me to 716."

"The back door?" Jake's expression told Yuri that his bodyguard had overhead what that pig had done to Lena.

"
Da
." Yuri slid into the back seat and fastened his seatbelt. He interlaced his fingers and tried to calm the rage threatening to overtake him. That any man should put his hands on any woman was despicable enough but for that prick Danny to put his filthy paws on Lena was unforgiveable.

He finally understood what Ivan and Dimitri had experienced when faced with defending their women. The fury burning his gut stunned him. He couldn't get Lena's brave, beautiful face out of his mind. She'd spoken so calmly about being violently manhandled, as if was a common occurrence, and it pained him.

Yuri knew only too well the environment of Lena's childhood. His own had been just as miserable. At an extremely young age, he'd learned how truly cruel other people could be. He'd grown hardened and callus and angry. Luckily, he'd been smart enough to listen to a mentor who urged him to turn that anger into fuel that drove his ambition and got him out of the shithole of his youth.

Lena seemed to have done the same thing. When he'd first become enamored with her, he'd gotten her old address from Nikolai and had instructed his driver to take him through the neighborhood where she'd been raised. The place could have easily served as the backdrop for a post-apocalyptic movie set. Broken-down cars, ramshackle houses, drug dealers and whores on the street corners—it sickened him to think she'd had to navigate that hellish landscape every day of her young life.

But it also made him so incredibly proud of her. There weren't many success stories to come out of places like that and she was one of them. This mess with her current job situation was only a bump in the road. He had no doubt she would find her way around it and on to better things.

Not that she would ever work for him, of course.

He didn't like being told no by anyone, but when Lena did it, he found it oddly exciting. He believed her when she said she didn't play games. There was something enticing about taking it slow with her. He'd get her in his bed eventually but that wasn't his overall goal.

With other women, sex had always been the ultimate, final step—a romp or two in the sack and he'd send them along with some expensive gifts to remember him by. With Lena, making love seemed like a step along the path. One they would both enjoy immensely but a step nonetheless. It was everything else that he craved with her.

Their impromptu, casual date tonight had convinced him that she'd been worth the wait. He couldn’t remember the last time he'd been so relaxed and at ease with a woman. There were no expectations from Lena. She truly didn't have any interest in his money. In fact, he suspected it made her wholly uncomfortable.

He'd heard that line from other women—that they weren't interested in the cold, hard cash stacked in his bank accounts—but Lena was the first one he'd ever believed. With one swift strike, she'd taken away his most seductive power. His usual M.O., to shower a woman with wildly expensive gifts, wouldn't work on her. It occurred to him that his initial plan to fly her to New York for dinner at the city's best restaurant probably wouldn't have the same effect he desired. At best, she'd find him pretentious. At worst—well, he wouldn't think about that.

So what to do about their Monday night date?

He continued to mull that over as the car wound its way through traffic. When it slowed to a stop in the alley running behind 716, his thoughts turned darker. He wanted nothing more than to give Danny a taste of the pain he'd probably caused Lena but he recognized the risk in doing such a thing. A man like Danny would want to sue and make problems. Lena would be furious with him for interfering in a situation she considered already handled.

But he couldn't let Danny get away with manhandling her and leaving bruises on her beautiful skin.

When one of the bouncers watching the rear entrance to 716 approached the vehicle, Yuri rolled down his window. The man bent down for a better view. His eyes widened. "Mr. Novakovsky!"

"Tell your boss I want to speak to him."

"Uh—out here?"

"Yes." He rolled the window up and unbuckled his belt. Comfortable in the back seat, he waited for Danny to make his appearance. As expected, the scuzzy bastard practically ran out the rear entrance. Derek, Yuri's other guard, was waiting near the car. He stopped Danny and frisked him. From the way Danny jerked from side to side, it was clear Derek was purposely being rough with him.

The door opened and Danny slid inside. Breathless, he ran a hand through his hair. Yuri caught the scents of perfume, sex and alcohol wafting from him. Was this how he conducted business? Such a disgrace!

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Yuri?"

Yuri arched an eyebrow at the impertinence of the man using his first name. They weren't peers. They weren't colleagues. They definitely weren't friends. "I wanted to discuss some business with you."

"Business?" The weasel-eyed bastard grinned. "Why don't we take this into my office?"

"I prefer my turf."

"Oh. Well. Okay. So what's up?"

"I want to talk about a PR rep who worked for you."

"Worked for me? Oh.
Her
." Danny sneered. "Lena Fucking Cruz, huh?" He blew out a noisy breath. "You want my advice, Yuri? Stay the fuck away from her. She's trouble with a capital
T
."

"Really? I understood she was quite a hard worker and very capable at her profession."

Danny laughed. "Who told you that? Shit, Yuri! The only positive performance reviews Lena Cruz has ever gotten came from her blowjob skills."

Rage exploded within Yuri. He balled his hands into tight fists at his sides and barely managed to maintain control.

"If you're looking for a side piece, you can snatch her up cheap. She quit tonight. I have it on good authority that the firm is going to fire her in the morning. I wouldn’t let her run PR for any of your businesses, but she's got one hell of a mouth on her, if you know what I mean."

"I don't." Yuri fixed Danny with a furious glare. "In fact, I doubt very much that you know anything about her."

Danny held up his hands. "Hey, man, don't get so defensive. You think a girl like that got out of the projects with a full-ride scholarship without sucking a few dicks along the way?"

And just like that Yuri's control snapped.

With the stealth and swiftness of his military days, he threw out his arm and caught Danny across the throat. In an instant, he had the man pinned on the backseat. Eyes wild with fright, Danny spluttered and shoved at Yuri's arms but it was no use. He had the upper hand and he wasn’t ready to let go.

"Listen to me, you little shit. If I hear one whisper of such nasty things about
my
Lena from anyone, I'll know the source. Believe me, Danny. You don't want me to come back here." He shoved hard enough to make the bastard's eyes bug out of his head before releasing just enough pressure to allow the club owner to drag air into his oxygen-starved lungs. "Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes, Yu-Yuri." Danny stammered and coughed. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't know. I didn't know you were fucking her."

Yuri backhanded him. "Is that what you think this is about? That I'm jealous?" Disgusted, he slid off the man and let him sit up. "Lena isn't that kind of girl, but you wouldn't know that because all you see is where she came from and some stereotype of what
girls like that
are supposed to be. It must eat you up to know that she wouldn't give a prick like you a second glance."

Danny put his hand to his bloody nose and mouth. "You fucking Russian dick! I'm bleeding!"

"Be glad you're only bleeding and don't need a hospital." He grabbed Danny by the front of the shirt and jerked him forward for one last warning. "If you ever put your hands on a woman again, it will be the last time you have hands to use. Understood?"

Danny paled. "She pissed me off, man. Okay? But, look, I didn't mean to hurt her."

The man's justification for grabbing and bruising Lena made him ill. "That wasn’t what I asked."

"I understand. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

"You know I'll find out if you do."

"I do. I do know."

Yuri let go of Danny. He sat back in his seat and fixed his mussed cuffs. "In the morning, you're going to call Lena's firm and tell them you amicably parted ways. You'll let them know that you had creative differences but you'd recommend her to anyone. And when someone calls you seeking a recommendation, you'll give her a glowing review—a review that she deserves."

"Yes, Yuri."

"Good. Now get the fuck out."

Danny didn’t need to be told twice. He bolted from the back seat and rushed to the rear entrance of his club. One of his bouncers took a menacing step toward the car but Derek and Jake stood should-to-shoulder and scared him away. When his bodyguards were safely in place, Yuri addressed Tony. "Take me to Faze."

By the time they'd arrived at Faze, his anger had nearly dissipated. Now he was ready to sniff out the saboteur among his staff. Even if it hadn't been Lena hurt by the subversion, he would have been just as upset by it. He'd seen enough of that underhanded, backstabbing bullshit during his early foray into the business world.

At Faze, it was nearing closing time. He found Araceli, the club's manager, and asked her for a private word in her office. The surprise and anger in her expression convinced him she'd had no hand in this.

"If I had to put money on anyone, it would Jeannie, the new go-go dancer we picked up last month. Her boyfriend, Trey, is one of the bouncers at Faze. She tried getting him a job here but Dimitri wouldn't hire him. He said the guy had a bad handshake."

Yuri's mouth curved with amusement. That sounded exactly like Dimitri. "She sounds like a good place to start but let's be perfectly honest, Araceli. A girl who dances in our cages and on our tables to keep the crowd pumped isn't the one who would benefit most from taking that VIP party."