Alexei, Her Russian Billionaire

“I was thinking we could have dinner. Now I’m not a stranger.”

Maya stared at him for a moment. Alexei could reach out and touch her if he wanted to. Finally Maya shook her head with a smile.

“I guess not. You might need to make it tomorrow night, though. It’ll be near midnight when we’re done.”

“Not a problem.” Alexei held out a hand. “I can text you later.”

“Sure.”

Maya took his hand and shook it. The warm tingle appeared again and Alexei swallowed. He hoped Maya left soon or he was going to do something that would have Maya running away screaming. He was making progress and he didn’t want to blow it.

“It was a pleasure to have your company, Maya.” He blurted out.

Maya’s breath hitched and she managed to pull her hand away. But not before Alexei saw her eyes dilating.

At least the attraction was both ways.

*****

Alexei couldn’t wait to see Maya again. She had texted him at half past eight saying they were wrapping up and she would be back in the city at ten. Alexei suggested having dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant he liked and Maya had agreed.

So here he was at a window table waiting for Maya to turn up. He knew she had to get changed before she got to him and hoped she wouldn’t take long to get ready. That was a turn-off for him when women took too long to get ready.

But Maya came into the restaurant barely a minute past the time they had agreed to meet and Alexei was floored. She had changed into a little black dress with spaghetti straps and a dark red wrap. The skirt barely brushed her knees and she was wearing flat sandals with the straps winding up her legs to her knees.

She was stunning. Alexei couldn’t stop staring. Then he remembered his manners as the maître d’ led Maya to his table and he stood, forcing his body to get under control. The moment he had seen Maya his co*k had twitched and was starting to stand to attention. He swallowed and tried not to stare with his mouth open.

“Wow. You look beautiful, Maya.”

Maya rolled her eyes.

“You’re just saying that.”

“I mean it. I don’t pay empty compliments.”

A slight smile touched Maya’s mouth as the maître d’ pulled out a chair for her, allowing her to sit down.

“I’m beginning to notice that.”

The waiter hovered nearby and Alexei waited as Maya ordered before giving his. Then his attention focused again on Maya as the waiter walked away.

“How was the shoot?”

“Hard work.” Maya grimaced. She rubbed at her eyes. “I had a couple of models sick on set and I mean majorly sick. So I had to send them home and then improvise.”

“Did you pull it off?”

“I think so.” Maya paused. “I hope so. Fingers crossed it’ll look good.”

“I’m sure it will.”

Alexei was certain Maya would be able to pull it off. He sat back as the waiter brought their drinks, a beer for him and a white wine for Maya. He waited as Maya sipped at her wine before he spoke again.

“What’s it like hanging around models?”

“A little hard at times but mostly great. Most of the models I work with are brilliant and if they like me then I get more work and they’ll want to work with me.” Maya grinned. “Plus I like to order people about rather than get ordered about. Nobody orders me about.”

Alexei could well believe that.

“But you don’t get involved much, surely? You just point the camera and press a button.”

Maya laughed.

“You obviously don’t know about photographers. I do fashion shows, photo shoots and commercials, plus a few red-carpet events. I get involved a lot.” A twinkle in her eye, Maya picked up her purse, which was smaller and sparkly compared to the bag she had been carrying around earlier, and fished out a picture. She passed it over. “Guess who I found in my millions of snaps.”

Alexei took the picture and found himself staring down at a picture of him. He was dressed in a tuxedo, his hair shorter than it was currently, and he was laughing at something someone had said off-camera.

It was a good picture. Alexei had never seen this side of him and certainly not at black-tie events.

“That’s me?”

“Sure is. It didn’t click that I’d seen you before until I was getting my shots sorted on my computer.”

How had he not noticed that she was there? This picture was at least three months old. Alexei couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed Maya wandering around snapping pictures of him.

Maybe they would have been in this situation sooner.

“Maya.”

Alexei looked up and saw a young man with blond hair wearing a black suit coming towards them. His eyes were on Maya and Alexei didn’t need to be a genius to recognize the look; this guy was focused on Maya.

Maya stiffened. Her expression hardened and her smile disappeared.

“Jonny, what are you doing here?”

So they knew each other. Alexei didn’t like this.

“I came to talk to you.” Jonny pointedly looked at Alexei before turning back to Maya. “We do need to talk.”

“And I have nothing to talk about with you.” Maya said calmly but Alexei saw the tension in her shoulders. “You crossed the line so you’ve brought this down on yourself. Now leave me alone.”

But from his body language Jonny was clearly not going to move. So Alexei stood and laid a hand on the guy’s shoulder.

“Sir, Miss Featherstone is having dinner. Do you normally interrupt people when they’re eating?”

Jonny scowled and pushed his hand away.

“She’s not eating, we are friends.”

“I highly doubt it.” Alexei glanced at Maya, who shook her head. He turned back to Jonny. “Now, would you please leave?”

“No.” Jonny squared up to him, hands clenched by his side. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

He was actually looking for a fight. Alexei wanted to laugh but stopped himself. He took a step closer and felt a rush of satisfaction when Jonny had to step back.

“Maya does not answer to you. Now go before I call for you to be thrown out.”

For a moment he thought the boy was going to throw a punch. But Jonny backed down, giving Maya one last look before he walked away. Alexei waved away the maître d’ and sat back down. He frowned at Maya.

“Who was that?”

Maya looked down at her hands. She looked embarrassed.

“One of the models my friend Caz has on her payroll.”

“Why does he want to talk to you?” Then Alexei felt something akin to jealousy stir. “Is he a boyfriend?”

“Never has been and never will be.” Maya glanced at the door and sighed heavily. “Jonny thinks he likes me. He keeps trying to ask me out and he’s making me uncomfortable. I notified Caz and she said she would have a word. If it carries on he’s getting dropped and losing his contract.”

At least she was taking control. Alexei liked playing Alpha male but he also liked it when a woman could take care of things herself.

Maya looked back as him and reached across, putting her soft hand over his.

“Can we just forget that and focus on dinner? I don’t want to talk about him.”

Alexei could do that. He didn’t want to talk about the guy who acted as if Maya belonged to him.

As far as he was concerned, Maya was his for now.