The Russian's Proposal (Friends Forever Book 3) Read online

  Everything was in place. Everything but his mind, that is! And it was all because of Katia’s sweet smile and her tentative touches. She was so soft and smelled like flowers. Blossoms! Damn, he was going soft when he compared a woman’s scent to flowers. What the hell was wrong with him?!

  He opened his computer and read through the latest reports, focusing on important things. Once he had all of the information, he sent out new instructions to each section of the transition team. As he worked through the details, he came up with new ways to undermine Sosta’s efforts and gave instructions to have those gaps closed as well.

  When he looked up, it was close to midnight.

  With a guilty start, he realized what a bastard he’d been tonight. He’d left Katia all alone. Her confused look when he’d turned away from her earlier hit him hard.

  He went in search of her and found her asleep on the sofa, a book in her hands and the glass butterfly sitting on the coffee table in front of her.

  Ah hell! Were those tear stains on her cheek?

  He cursed under his breath as he looked down at her in the dim light from one of the side table lights. She looked so beautiful and innocent like this, but he knew her to be a grown woman. And the way she’d kissed him back earlier had sent his mind spiraling.

  None of this should have happened, he admonished himself. He should have been immune to her. There shouldn’t be any attraction to this woman. But Sergei couldn’t deny the intense pull he felt. Innocent or no, he wanted her. His body craved her touch and, all day, he’d struggled to keep his hands to himself. By the afternoon, he’d given up trying and had simply enjoyed the feel of her soft skin under his hands.

  Damn, he shouldn’t have brought her here. If he’d wanted a honeymoon, he should have taken her to Paris or, even better, the arctic. The warm sunshine of the Caribbean demanded bathing suits and…well, his assistant had gone a bit overboard on the bathing suit area. Those skimpy pieces of nothing were going to mess with his head.

  He hadn’t been lying earlier. He’d seen women in more revealing bathing suits. Hell, he’d seen many women in nothing at all and they hadn’t incited his lust the way Katia had in that black bathing suit. Her lush curves and all of that pale skin…he’d been a goner from the moment she’d stepped out of her stateroom.

  And that butterfly! What a silly piece of whimsy. But as soon as he’d seen it, he knew that he wanted it for her. He didn’t even know the cost. He’d just asked the cashier to wrap it up for him and hand it to Katia on their way out. He hadn’t even looked at the receipt when he’d signed the credit card slip, knowing that the cost didn’t matter.

  If anyone in his company had seen him buy that shiny butterfly, they would have stared at him like he’d lost his mind. Never had he done anything so outrageously sentimental!

  Damn, the woman was driving him nuts!

  With a sigh, he gently lifted her into his arms. Carrying her upstairs, he noticed her eyes flutter ever so slightly. But thankfully, she didn’t wake up. He wasn’t sure he could handle her softness against him plus those gorgeous dark eyes looking up at him with a sleepy smile. His good intentions were strained to the breaking point already and he couldn’t take any additional stimulation. Which was odd, since he’d never thought he had any good intentions inside of him to be strained. Everything in his life up to this moment had been focused on avenging his parents’ death at the hands of a cruel animal.

  So why was he so drawn to Katia’s softness? She was the daughter of his enemy. He should hate her. He should be destroying her just as Sosta had destroyed his family.

  And yet, he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t even wake her up. Instead, he used one hand to pull the covers back, then gently placed her on the cool sheets. Her shoes were already off and he thought about pulling off the shorts she’d pulled on earlier in the day. But his throbbing erection wouldn’t allow him to do that. He was tempted to bend over her and kiss all of that beautiful, pale skin or nibble on her extremely sensitive neck.

  With a careful tug, he jerked the sheet over her, gritting his teeth when she sighed in her sleep and rolled over. Her stunning body stretched out now that it was free of the constraints of the sofa and he had to turn away and walk out of the room before he followed through on any of the ideas flashing through his mind.

  Chapter 10

  Several days later, Katia sat on the cool stone patio and poked a fork at the fruit in her bowl.

  He was avoiding her.

  She didn’t blame him. They’d been in Grand Cayman for almost a week now and during that time, she’d gotten to know the man. Sergei was a big, gruff man who, on the surface, didn’t show emotions. He pretended not to feel anything, but after spending almost every moment of their days together, she’d learned more about him.

  When he was angry, his face became very still. His shoulders tensed up ever so slightly. Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed that about him, but Katia had been paying close attention.

  Yes, that fascination had grown over the past several days. It was more intense now. With every small gift she found, her…caring…for the man had increased. It wasn’t the gifts that had shifted her fascination to…caring. It was the thought behind each of the gifts. The butterfly had a place of honor on her dressing table, peering up at her as she put on her makeup or brushed her hair. But beside that sweet, sparkling item was a stuffed animal that she’d laughed at – just a silly frog that she’d spotted on the table of one of the street vendors. Also a pair of beautiful diamond earrings that she wore every day. He laughed at her when she took them out to go swimming, telling her not to worry about them. And of course, Katia ignored him, placing them carefully in a special box she’d bought to keep them safe.

  The day they’d visited a perfume factory? Wow! At each section of the process, someone had explained how they made the various perfumes and offered various scents for her to choose from. At the end of the tour, she was presented with her very own scent in a lovely crystal bottle.

  Other small gifts were chocolate or a small bag of locally grown nuts, a box of strawberries, which he must have had flown in from some other place, because it was definitely too hot on Grand Cayman to grow strawberries! But she’d mentioned that her favorite fruit was strawberries. The following morning, a whole bowl of them was right there on the table, looking fresh and beautiful.

  And the touches! Goodness, she loved the way he touched her. Getting into or out of the car, he held her hand, touched her shoulder, her back, her arm…it was crazy to feel so much from just a simple touch, but Katia shivered every time. What was worse, he knew what he was doing. When she reacted, Katia heard that soft, masculine chuckle. Most times, he would pull her closer, intensifying her reaction.

  With a sigh, she pushed the bowl of fruit away and lifted her coffee. He wanted her. Katia knew that. And she also knew that he was waiting for her to make the first move. Unfortunately, her only role model for male and female interactions was her father. And he wasn’t a very positive role model.

  Rationally, she knew that Sergei would never treat her the way her father had treated her mother. She knew that, but she couldn’t stop the irrational side of her brain from picturing it.

  And then there was the issue of what would happen next. If they became more intimate, what would come next? As she thought about the possibilities, she shivered. But Katia couldn’t deny the excitement that hit her at the idea of making love…no, she corrected herself, having sex…with Sergei. She imagined that he would be the most incredible lover - kind, gentle, passionate, demanding. Another shiver hit her, this time stronger. She thought about the way he touched her. It was always sweet and gentle, but she could feel the power in his hands, the intent in his touch. Yes, he would be amazingly gentle, but…oh, my, so powerful and passionate.

  Katia choked on a sip of coffee as she thought about his strong hands touching her breasts, her stomach…everywhere! Yes, she wanted that. She wanted to experience more intimacy with Sergei.
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  What would happen when all of this was over?

  They would both go their separate ways.

  What she also realized was that she would be living. Katia had escaped her father’s prison, but she hadn’t been living. Not really. Hayden, Natalie, and Arianna had broken her out of her normally cautious existence, but she’d still held most of herself back.

  Katia had no idea how much longer they would be here in Grand Cayman. She and Sergei discussed the daily progress with her father, but not the future. Apparently, Sosta was furious at being kicked out of his homes, but his fury had become explosive when he discovered that he had no money other than his illegal sources. And even those were drying up, the business owners pulling away now that her father didn’t have the resources to intimidate anyone with paid goons.

  So now, this moment here in the sunshine…this was it, she thought. This was her opportunity to experience life and…

  With a sigh, she lowered her head. “Love,” she whispered. Yes, this was her chance to experience love.

  And yes, she was going to take it. She was going to take control of her life and, for once, do what she wanted to do.

  At that very moment, every muscle in her body froze as she watched Sergei step out of the ocean. She vaguely remembered a James Bond movie where the guy currently playing Bond rose out of the surf, his arms, shoulders, and ab muscles glistening in the sunshine. That scene had been the main reason she’d gone to see that movie.

  Sergei was better!

  “Oh my,” she whispered. She couldn’t pull her eyes away. He grabbed a towel that had been dropped onto a beach chair, drying himself off and Katia realized that she was actually jealous of the towel. An insane urge to shred the towel to pieces hit her mind and she had to pull back. Just because she wanted to lick off every drop of salt water on his body was no reason for violence towards terrycloth. That was just silly.

  “Did you sleep well?” he asked as he stopped right beside the stairs to the patio where an outdoor shower had been set up. With a twist of his wrist, water burst out of a shower head set down low, obviously strategically installed at that place so that guests coming in from the beach could rinse the sand off of their feet before walking across the patio.

  The added benefit? She got to watch the muscles on his back ripple as he bent over. Bonus!

  When his eyes lifted once again to her, she blinked. He’d asked a question. What had he said? Darn it, this was embarrassing. “Oh! Yes. Sleeping,” she mumbled, hiding her pink cheeks behind the coffee cup. “Yes. I slept very well, thank you.”

  “Good,” he replied and shut off the water. “You looked pretty wiped out last night.”

  That reminded her that he’d carried her up to her bed last night after falling asleep on the couch reading. Again! He’d done it that first night but last night, she’d fallen asleep reading. She hadn’t even woken up for that little episode, darn it!

  “Thank you for getting me up to a bed.”

  He smiled and slid his sunglasses on. “It was my pleasure. I guess yesterday, and the past few days, were pretty stressful.”

  “Yes. All of the adventures over the past several days…it has been good, but a bit exhausting.”

  He looked down at the food on the table. “And yet, you haven’t eaten anything this morning. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  She cringed and pulled the fruit back towards her. “I’m fine,” she told him. And now that he was sitting across from her, she was famished. Not for food, but at this point, she didn’t care. She just needed something to do with her hands other than embarrass herself by reaching across the table and touching every delectable-looking muscle on his impressive body! Now that her decision had been made, she wasn’t exactly sure how to tell him or subtly indicate that she’d like to experience his touches in a different way. A more intimate way.

  She stabbed a piece of pineapple and stuck it in her mouth, but at that precise moment, he reached over and lifted the pot of coffee. The pineapple turned to dust in her mouth as she watched the muscles in his arms flex. Then he leaned back against the chair, flexing all of those abdominal muscles…

  Katia didn’t have good abs, wasn’t one to spend a great deal of time working out, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate excellent stomach muscles on another person. Sitting here, watching him as he sipped coffee and opened up the newspaper was a perfect example of how good she was at appreciating abs. They were mighty fine. Extremely fine!

  “If you continue to look at me like that, I’m going to pull you over to my lap so you can explore more easily.”

  Katia forced her eyes higher than those magnificent arm muscles and…she couldn’t see his eyes through the sunglasses, but she knew that he was laughing at her. The slight upturn of his lips and a lifted eyebrow told her everything she needed to know.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled, hiding behind her steaming coffee.

  “No need to apologize,” he pushed the cream closer to her.

  Now how did he know that she didn’t have enough cream in her coffee? Looking over at him, it seemed as if he were daring her to ignore her need for more cream. Was he laughing at her for that as well?

  Katia was getting sick of his amusement at her expense. Deciding that she was going to switch things around, become braver and step out of her comfort zone, she stood up and walked inside. Changing into another bathing suit, this one a red one, she grabbed a towel and headed out of her room. At the last moment, she slipped on sunglasses, needing that subtle protection as she stepped back out onto the stone patio.

  She knew that she’d scored a point. The newspaper dropped slightly as Sergei lifted his gaze to watch her walk by. She couldn’t fully see him since his eyes were hidden by his own sunglasses, but she knew that he was watching her. His jaw slackened slightly as she walked back over to the table. It took every ounce of courage to grab her coffee cup and take a long sip.

  “You’re playing with fire, Katia,” he warned softly. And she could feel his eyes moving over her body. Slowly. Heating up her skin better than the morning sunshine ever could.

  Her intention was to sit down and eat breakfast, enjoy having him squirm as he watched her. But she wasn’t quite up to that level of taunting. So instead, she walked around the table and down the steps, walking steadily towards the beach and the water.

  She could feel his eyes on her back, on her skin, heating her up hotter than the morning sunshine. It was only ten o’clock in the morning, but already the temperature was in the nineties. But Sergei’s eyes made her body feel like it was closer to two hundred degrees!

  With a glance over her shoulder to make sure he was still watching, she stepped into the cool surf. The waves rushed over her feet, but the water temperature wasn’t cold enough to ease the heat hitting her as she locked eyes with Sergei. The newspaper was obviously forgotten as he watched her.

  Deeper she went, glancing back at the patio. When the waves were crashing against her thighs, she turned around so they would be hitting her back. That’s when she saw him.

  With the fluid grace of a panther, he stood up, the newspaper dropping absently to the stones of the patio. Katia went deeper still until the waves no longer crashed over her but, instead, lifted her up with the swells before crashing into the surf closer to the shoreline.

  Closer, he walked into the water, oblivious to the waves. They were nothing against the power of his body as he dove into the water. And still she watched him, her heart pounding so hard against her chest that she worried it might break her ribs.

  She lost track of him for a long moment when he dove down under the surf, gasping when he surfaced right next to her. Strong arms lifted her out of the water, then his hands relaxed as he lowered her body, letting it slide down his own.

  “Am I correctly interpreting your invitation, Katia?” he growled as he held her so that they could see eye to eye. Her feet dangled in the surf and it didn’t feel right, so she wrapped her legs around his waist, breathless at the
outrageous gesture.

  “Yes. You understood perfectly,” she told him, her voice breathless since her lungs weren’t working properly.

  And yet, he continued to just look at her. “Are you sure?”

  Was she sure? “I don’t think I’ve ever been more sure about anything in my life,” she admitted honestly.

  Still, he hesitated, staring at her. Katia could feel his arousal, knew with certainty that he wanted her. Why wasn’t he taking advantage of what she was offering?

  Sergei watched Katia, wanting her so intensely that he could barely breathe. They should have left here days ago when he’d heard about Sosta’s fury. He needed to be close by, ready to counter any move that the evil man tried. Sergei should be there in person, in London or Paris, whichever made the most sense, but also be ready to shift to another city when needed in order to stop the man’s progression.

  But he hadn’t left. He’d been enjoying his time with Katia too much. Way too much. He’d jeopardized the takedown of his lifelong enemy simply because he loved being here with her. After years of planning, the time had finally arrived and Sergei was missing everything because…

  Because being here with her was more important.

  There was no way to explain it. He didn’t understand his feelings, couldn’t rationalize them away. If this plan with Sosta failed, the man would come back more vengeful than before.

  But this week, the time spent with Katia, getting to know her, laughing with her, talking with her…it had been the most innocent and the most erotic time of his entire life. She was innocently sensuous, outrageously challenging, and sweetly beautiful.

  Now she was offering him everything, her whole self. Why was he hesitating?

  Because he wanted her to be sure.

  His hands moved lower despite his mind’s warning to keep his hands on her back. That was an impossible order to follow and his hands curved around her bottom, feeling the softness, pressing her more intimately against his erection and groaning as she shifted against him. It was just a tiny movement, but he felt it right down to his toes.