Her Russian Protector 2 Dimitri

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assistant exited and shut the door behind him.
"What?" Yuri sipped his water.
Dimitri leaned back in his seat and got comfortable. "You didn't flirt with her."
He looked unhappy. "I don't flirt with every woman who works for me, Dimitri."
"No? Because you have a certain reputation "
Yuri made an irritated growling sound. "People change."
"Some do, but you?"
Yuri glared at him. "Yes. I can change."
Dimitri considered how defensive his friend was acting. "Are you changing to better
yourself or to make someone else happy?" He laughed as it all started to make sense.
"Who is she?"
Yuri got a far off look in his eye. "Someone who despises me."
"I find that hard to believe."
Yuri gave a little self-deprecating laugh. "Well believe it, Dimitri, because it's
happened."
"Does she work for you?"
He shook his head. "I tried to headhunt her but she shot me down. She's brilliant
and everyone talks about her keen eye for PR. Then she walked through that door," he
gestured to entrance, "and I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I just gawked at her like
some stupid little boy& " His voice trailed off and he frowned. "Apparently my reputation
makes me the kind of man she won't work for or date."
Dimitri sensed Yuri had been hurt by the rejection. He wasn't a man used to hearing
no from anyone. "I'm sorry, Yuri."
He waved his hand. "And the worst part of the whole sad affair? She's Erin and
Vivi's best friend so I have to see her anytime I'm around Ivan or Nikolai."
Dimitri blinked as the pieces fell into place. "Wait. Lena? Lena Cruz?"
Yuri nodded. "You know her?"
"Sure, she's close with Benny. They're working together on a project at the bakery."
Yuri got a mischievous glint in his pale eyes. "Ah, yes. How is your sweet little
landlady?"
Dimitri shot him a warning look. "She's fine."
"Still chasing after her like a puppy dog?"
Dimitri shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly."
Yuri laughed. "Oh, I see. Did we finally work up the courage to make our move?"
He waggled his eyebrows. "How was she? It's always those petite quiet ones who turn
out to be the real firecrackers between the sheets."
Dimitri's jaw tightened. He would let Yuri bust his balls about a lot of things but
Benny was off-limits. "Don't, Yuri."
His friend's eyes widened. "I see. That serious, huh?"
"It's complicated," he said finally. "I'm not sure we're on the same page yet."
"Well I'm sure you didn t come here for relationship advice. You'd better look to
Ivan for those answers."
Dimitri snorted at the thought of seeking advice on long-term relationships from a
billionaire oligarch playboy, but the suggestion to bounce ideas off Ivan was a good one.
"No, I'm not here for that kind of help. What do you know about UpStreet Properties?"
Yuri's playful demeanor fled. "Nothing you'll like to hear. Why?"
"They want to buy Benny's bakery so they can put in a retail center. She said no and
they sent around one of their men to scare her this morning."
Yuri's eyes narrowed and a flash of anger darkened them. Like Dimitri, he had a real
problem with that particular scare tactic. Going after women was weak and cowardly.
"Jonah Krause owns the real estate development company. He has deep pockets.
Not as deep as mine, obviously, but deeper than yours. It's not the money that makes him
dangerous, Dimitri. It's his connections."
"To?"
"Anyone and everyone important in Houston," Yuri continued. "Make no mistake. If
he wants that property, he's going to get it. He owns a lot of people in the city
government. He'll put pressure on them to use imminent domain. If she beats that, he'll
find a way to stop the permits she needs to do repairs or improvements. If that doesn t
stop her, he'll blacklist her with contractors and make it impossible for her to get any
work done. Push back hard enough and he might use some of the knee-breakers he keeps
on his payroll to bring her into compliance."
Dimitri rubbed the back of his neck. His muscles tightened painfully as the picture
of what Benny stood against became clear. "What do I do? How do I help her?"
"You tell her to raise the fucking price and sell out while the money is still good."
"She won't. That business and that building are her family's history."
"The business can be moved. A building is simply a building. It's bricks and drywall
and wires. It's nothing." Yuri jabbed the air with his finger. "You'd better change her mind
or she's going to get totally fucked on this. These are not the kind of people she wants to
take on, Dimitri. This will be a nasty fight and it's one you will not win."
Yuri's ominous warning made his stomach pitch. While he respected Benny's
feelings on the matter, he worried that she was letting her emotions cloud her judgment.
With enough money from a sale of the building and a sale of her home, she could start
over in a better location. He'd help her with funds, if needed, to make sure she stayed
solidly in the black.
Getting her to agree to that proposal wouldn't be easy. He never wanted her to feel
like he didn't have her back. He feared she'd see it as a betrayal if he urged her to sell but
what else could he do? Yuri never exaggerated. If he said this Jonah Krause was trouble,
it was true.
"Shit." Dimitri wiped a hand down his face. "We haven't even had a full twenty-four
hours together as a couple and we're going to have our first huge fight."
"Now this is something I can help you with, Dimitri! I may not be a relationship
expert like Ivan but I know exactly what to do in this situation."
Dimitri eyed him warily. "And what's that?"
"You stop at the jewelry store on the way home and you buy something obscenely
expensive. Diamonds are always a good choice. It softens them up and makes it less likely
you're going to need a trip to the emergency room."
Dimitri scowled at Yuri. "I can't imagine why Lena thinks you're such a womanizer."
"That hurts, Dimitri." Yuri put a hand to his chest and feigned injury.
His pocket vibrated and he grabbed his phone. A text message from Benny made his
chest flutter. He felt like a damn teenager as he opened the message. A grown man
shouldn't feel this much excitement from something so simple but he did.
Having dinner with the girls tonight. Hope that's okay.
Before he could type an answer, Yuri asked, "Is that from Benny?"
"She's just letting me know that she's having dinner with friends." He didn't
mention Lena because he didn't want to touch that sore spot.
"Is that all she says?"
"Well& "
"Because it's probably a test, Dimitri."
He laughed. "It's a message, Yuri. That's all."
"Except when it isn't," Yuri replied. He held out his hand. "Let me see."
Dimitri pulled the phone closer to his chest but Yuri was able to bat it out of his
hands. He glanced at the screen and hummed knowingly. "See? A test!"
Dimitri narrowed his eyes. "Give me the damn phone."
Yuri slapped it back onto his palm. "She's feeling uncertain, Dimitri. I know I joked
about the shy, quiet types earlier but I'm being serious now. Women like Benny need to
be reassured. She's funny and sweet but she's not the most confident woman. This
message?" He pointed at the phone. "That's her way of establishing boundaries."
"Boundaries?" Dimitri rarely felt out of his depth but Yuri's knowledge in the field
of women trumped his.
"You have a dominating personality. Like me, like Ivan, like Nikolai," he said. "Some
women love that, yeah? Some women are put off by it. Some women aren't quite sure.
Benny's somewhere in the middle right now. She loves it and fears it. She's telling you
that she's going to have a night with her friends to remind you who makes decisions for
her. But," he emphasized, "a small part of her wants to know if you'll be bothered that she
made a decision without you. She's feeling you out. She's trying to figure out how this
relationship is going to work."
Dimitri stared at the screen and considered Yuri's advice. Last night, he'd been a bit [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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