Alexei, Her Russian Billionaire

“One bad experience doesn’t mean all of them are going to be like that.” She pointed out.

“I know that but this was bad. Katya did get pregnant.” Alexei rubbed at his unshaven jaw. “She told me it was mine but I wasn’t convinced so I had the hospital do a paternity test once the baby was born. It wasn’t fair to the baby but it wouldn’t have been fair to him, either, if he had been lied to like she had lied to me. Turns out I’m an uncle not a father.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Maya couldn’t begin to imagine how that sort of betrayal must have felt. To be betrayed by your spouse was one thing but to be betrayed by a member of your family as well…that had to be the worst feelings imaginable. Alexei must have suffered badly from it.

He had told Maya that his family didn’t talk to him but hadn’t elaborated on the why. Now Maya knew but she was angry on Alexei’s behalf; he had been the wronged one yet they were treating him like the bad guy. That wasn’t fair.

She wished she was back in New York right now so she could hold him. Maya’s arms itched to do that. But there was a sea and a plane ride separating them.

“I have a problem trusting women now because of her.” Alexei said grimly. “Katya is constantly trying to get money off me even now despite not being entitled to any of it. She signed a pre-nuptial agreement and wasn’t meant to be entitled to anything beyond what would have been left to her but she tried. My family doesn’t speak to me because they believe I got rid of a good thing. They ignore the fact she slept with my brother when we were married and I’ve not done anything wrong.” He paused and looked at her. “I trust you, though, Maya.” He said softly. “You’re probably the only honest woman I’ve met so far since I got divorced. And I feel really bad for the way I treated you.” He rubbed his hands over his face with a heavy sigh. “You don’t deserve someone like me.”

Maya ached for him. He did deserve her. It was her who didn’t deserve him. Both of them obviously had demons but, if Alexei was willing, she was prepared to deal with them. She swallowed.

“Can I see you when I get back? Then we can talk about this face to face.”

“Really?”

Alexei looked like he had been given a second chance at life. Maya nodded.

“I’m back the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll send you my address. Let me know when you get back.”

“I will do.” Maya glanced at the clock. She had an early start the next morning and if she let herself she could be talking to Alexei until the early hours when she needed to sleep. “I’d better get to sleep. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Printsessa.”

Alexei signed off his end. Maya stared at her computer, realizing what he had just said.

Even after what they had said before she left, she was still his princess.

*****

Alexei couldn’t stop himself from pacing. He wanted to sit down but he was much to pent up to do that. All he wanted to do was see Maya in the flesh and grab hold of her to know she wasn’t a mirage. That she was really there and it wasn’t a figment of his imagination.

Their parting earlier in the week had left a nasty taste in Alexei’s mouth. He had told her the truth but that had simply driven a wedge between them. Maybe he should have told her before they had s*x because now Alexei couldn’t get enough of her. Maya was everything a man could want in a woman and she was insatiable in bed. Alexei’s body still tingled as she remembered their night together.

It had been the most natural thing in the world to hold her as they slept. He could still feel the contours of her body against him. But in those few moments when Maya had asked him to not put a condom on, Alexei had had flashes back to Katya and when he found her in bed with his friend and then when she was pregnant with his brother’s baby. Suddenly he was brought back to reality and began to think of Maya as just like Katya. That had been unfair but Alexei hadn’t been able to switch it off.

Maya’s reaction to him was understandable. But at the time Alexei had thought it unfair. Now, after he had thought about it more, he knew that he hadn’t told her in the right way. This should have happened long before they ever slept together, although Alexei had a feeling if he had said something then that night would never have happened. He would have lost Maya long before then.

And losing Maya Featherstone was not an option for him. Not now he knew she wanted to give him a chance. Alexei was not stupid; if he threw this chance away he would never get another one.

Maya was his and he was going to make sure she knew that.

Alexei almost jumped out of his skin when the buzzer went. He didn’t need to look to know it was Maya; he immediately let her in. Less than five minutes later there was a knock at his door. Alexei tried not to act like a schoolboy about to go on a first date.

This was much more important than that.

Maya stood in the hallway. She was dressed in jeans and a red blouse, her jacket slung over her arm. She looked exhausted. But her eyes lit up when she saw him.

“Maya.”

Maya didn’t say anything. She ran into his arms and threw her arms around his neck as she buried her face in his shoulder. Alexei kicked the door shut and hugged her back, leaning up against the door as he nearly sagged in relief. It had only been four days since they had been this close – and closer even then – but to Alexei it felt like a lifetime.

He let out a heavy sigh.

“God, I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”