Alexei, Her Russian Billionaire

Chapter 7

“Not exactly.” Ivan leaned against the dressing table and folded his arms. In the small room he seemed even bigger. He narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s your relationship with Jonny Widecombe?”

“Jonny?” This threw Maya. Where had Jonny come from? She tried to get back on even footing. “We had a working relationship that I’m breaking to severe.”

“Why would that be?”

“Because he was constantly flirting with me and asking me out. I can handle the flirting but he was getting too flirty and it was making me uncomfortable.” She told Ivan about the last time she had worked with Jonny and his sudden outburst. “But my rule remains the same. I don’t date my models and I gave him a warning through his agent.” She frowned. “Why are you asking me about him?”

“He came to the gallery today. He told Alexei that you and he were about to become an item and then you got tempted by the money Alexei had and dropped him like a hot potato.”

“What?”

Maya couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had thought Jonny had acted possessively at her first date with Alexei but she hadn’t expected this. She shook her head.

“No, I would never do that. I’ve never been tempted by money. Why bother when I’ve got my own. I like my independence.” Then she saw the expression on Ivan’s face and the penny dropped. “Wait, Alexei thinks this, doesn’t he?”

“Not in so many words.”

That felt like a slap in the face. He really believed it? Maya knew he was struggling with things between himself and his ex-wife but this was ridiculous. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes.

“I thought he trusted me.”

“He does trust you.”

“Well, he has a funny way of showing it.”

Ivan sighed. Maya opened her eyes and saw him rubbing a hand over his face.

“I presume you know about his ex-wife Katya.”

“I do. He told me everything.”

“Then you know it’s hard for him to just simply forget.”

“I know that but I told him I’m not Katya. He should just listen to me for once.” Maya pushed away from the door, hands on her hips as she paced the room, trying not to trip over Ivan’s legs. “There was never anything going on with me and Jonny and I don’t intend for anything to happen between us. Alexei should believe me. I don’t know what Jonny’s little plan is but he’s nothing to me.” She swung around on Ivan. “Alexei should’ve come here and told me this himself.”

“He wasn’t sure how you’d take it.” Now Ivan was looking uncomfortable. Maya felt sorry for him being stuck in the middle. “I’m used to being shot as the messenger so I said I’d go.”

“I’m sure.” Maya rubbed her hands over her face. Suddenly she felt drained. “I need to call Caroline. This is getting ridiculous.”

“Caroline?”

“His agent.” Maya took out her cell phone and fished out a pad and pen from her camera bag. She scribbled down Caroline’s number and tore off the top page, which she handed to Ivan. “Here’s her number. If Jonny makes any sort of contact with Alexei again, let her know. This could be bad for his career if he keeps going on like this. Despite everything, he is a good model. Hopefully he’ll realize what he’s doing and stop if he is told his work is on the line.”

“Let’s hope so.” Ivan folded the paper and put it into his pocket. “Because I don’t know what Alexei will do if this keeps going on.” He gave her a slight smile. “He really does care for you, Maya. He’s just very delicate about it all right now.”

“That’s understandable.” But that didn’t stop her from feeling angry. Maya put her pad back in her bag, slipping the pen into her pocket. “If Jonny comes back tell him from me if he comes near Alexei again I’ll rip his balls off.”

Ivan chuckled.

“Understood.”

*****

“The nerve of that little sh*t.” Jenny said in disgust. She sat back in her chair and shook her head. “I don’t know what possessed him to do that.”

“Neither do I.”

Maya sipped her coffee and cupped it close to her. It was a startlingly colder day for early March and the wind kept blowing in whenever the door opened. While their favorite spot in the coffee house was equipped with comfortable armchairs it was also in direct line with the wind whenever it came through the shop.

After Ivan had come by to tell her what Jonny had done, Maya hadn’t been able to concentrate. She was angry at his cheek. There would never be anything between them and Jonny knew it. So why was he pushing it and trying to ruin a good thing? Even with his demons Alexei was a good thing and Maya was looking forward to seeing where their relationship went. Maya didn’t want to lose what they had before it had gone anywhere; she had almost lost him last time.

Not this time and Jonny was going to see that.

“I thought he was pushing it a little when he gate-crashed our dinner date but this is taking it too far.”

Jenny sighed heavily and pressed her fingers to her forehead. She was just as outraged as Maya about Jonny’s actions.

“And I thought Jonny was a nice boy. Until I heard from Marcie Doucette.”

“Marcie Doucette?” Maya frowned. “That’s not a name I recognize.”

While she didn’t know all of the models in the world, she was certainly up to date on the American models, even on a first-name basis with most of them.

“She’s not a model, Maya. She’s just joined my team as a hair stylist. You’ll probably meet her soon.”

“I probably met her today but I didn’t notice.”

With everything going on Maya hadn’t been paying much attention. She was amazed she had managed to get through the rest of the day without serious incidence. At least she had Jenny and Howie to keep her in line. They both sensed that something was wrong but Maya wouldn’t say anything. Howie ran interference for her and took over selecting the pictures while Maya simply shot them; her head wasn’t in the right place to choose the best ones.

She was trusting Howie’s judgment to get it right. And he always did.

She frowned at Jenny.

“What’s Marcie got to do with Jonny? Is she an ex-girlfriend?”

“Not exactly. She and Jonny went to high school. They were in the same homeroom.” Jenny bit her lip. “I mentioned Jonny to her to warn her not to let him anywhere near you and she said she’d already met him and knew exactly what he was like.”

Maya sat up. She put her coffee cup down. This sounded like it didn’t bode well.

“What happened?”

Jenny sat forward, lowering her voice even though there was no one in earshot.