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An assortment of delays had the plane taking off nearly an hour later, and as the force pushed her back against her seat, she told herself firmly,It’s over.That was that for her and the Russian billionaire. Plopping the plane’s headphones in place, she randomly chose a music station to listen to, and a jazz cover ofClose to Youstarted to play. For some stupidly sentimental reason, the lyrics reminded her of the Russian billionaire, and her eyes started to tear up.
Oh no, this couldn’t be happening. She was an adult for God’s sake, and she couldn’t be crying over someone she wasn’t even in love with!
But despite everything, a lone teardrop still managed to track down her cheek, and it heralded the torrent of tears that followed soon after. Fredericka weepily asked the stewardess for a box of tissues and spent the entire flight crying and blowing her nose as quietly as she could.
Thank God she hadn’t told Alyx she was arriving tonight,Fredericka thought as she crumpled another ball of tissue and pushed it down inside the vomit bag. She didn’t think she was ready to handle all of Alyx’s questions. Right now, she just wanted to wallow in self-pity.
Time dragged ever so slowly, but when the plane finally landed, it still felt too soon. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand one last time, she inhaled several times and told herself she could do it. In Florida, she would be just one step away from being state’s attorney. That was her ultimate goal, and that was something to be happy about.
Sobe happy, Fredericka Spears.
Fredericka got to her feet, and when she stepped out of the plane, trusty black legal bag in hand, the first thing she saw was the achingly familiar figure of Sergei Grachyov. The Russian billionaire stood a few feet away from the stair car, a pair of opaque shades dominating his gorgeous face. In his pin-striped suit and with a dozen of bodyguards surrounding him, the billionaire made a tremendously breathtaking sight, and Fredericka couldn’t blame how the other passengers tended to slow down to get their fill of him.
The old woman behind Fredericka loudly cleared her throat.
Oops.Turning red, she forced her shaking legs to move, feeling all the while that she could topple any second.Was it really him? What was he doing here? What did this mean?The questions swirled inside her mind even as cold sweat enveloped her body. She felt so out of control, with the way the Russian billionaire’s presence had made her mood swing violently like a pendulum. From the pits of despair she now found herself in the throes of bliss, and that it was because ofhimwas infinitely terrifying.
When she made it to the ground, she couldn’t help glancing at him, waiting for any kind of sign, but his beautiful face remained impassive. Fredericka started to walk towards him slowly, her body trembling harder at the way his dark gaze followed her every move.
When she finally reached him, Sergei slowly took off his sunglasses, and she inhaled sharply as their eyes met.Gorgeous, too gorgeous,she thought dizzily.And crafty as hell, damn him!He could have told her he was coming here, too!
Fredericka took another deep breath, preparing to give him a piece of her mind.
But then his lips started to curve just as he murmured huskily, “Hello,pchelka.”
Ah.
She burst into tears instead.
The Russian billionaire laughed softly, which incensed her enough to make Fredericka struggle as he tried to draw her in his arms.
“I hate you, Sergei Grachyov,” she muttered against his chest even as her eyelids closed in sheer relief.Home.It was all she could think of even as his crushing embrace threatened to cut off her oxygen supply. In this man’s arms, she was...home.
“I had a meeting I couldn’t cancel earlier,” she heard him murmur above her head. “But as soon as I was done, I used our jet to get here and still arrived before you did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here, too?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me if I had,” she heard him reason above her head. He pulled away, looking down at her with a mocking smile playing on his lips. “You always seem to forget I can afford to do most things people can’t.”
“It’s hard to remember you’re a billionaire,” she snarled under her breath, “when you always make me pay every time we eat out.”
“Because we’re friends,” he dismissed easily.
She made a face. “Why do I feel like you’re conning me every time you say that?” But she wasn’t really mad, and she had a nasty, shameful feeling he knew she was feeling the exact opposite. When he took hold of her hand and led her out of the tarmac, she could only let him, unable to muster even the strength to murmur a single word of protest.
Immigration controls practically laid out the red carpet for them as they walked past, and Fredericka was shocked to find paparazzi instantly swarming towards them the moment they left the airport. The press wasn’t ever this intrusive back in Rockton, and Fredericka secretly welcomed the way the Russian billionaire drew her protectively towards her side as his security cleared the way to his limousine.
As they drove away, she looked at him ruefully, saying, “I wondered about your diva’s entourage a while ago—-” She caught sight of the way color stained Sergei’s high-boned cheeks, and she said hurriedly, “But I totally get it now.”
Sergei shook his head, half-amused and half-irritated at being called a ‘diva’ by the woman who had been the object of his desire for so long.A diva.Only Fredericka Spears would have dared call him such a thing to his face—-
And survive, he thought with a mental sigh. He wanted to fuck her too much to kill her, after all.
“Where are we going?” Her inquiring voice drew his gaze back to her. Fredericka’s gray eyes were sparkling now, a far cry from how dull they had seemed back in California. “I haven’t checked in yet,” she was saying, and all the billionaire could do was stare at her as she chatted away in an unusually perky voice. That she was happy and excited was very much evident, and knowing thathewas the reason for it made the billionaire clench his fists, the only way to keep his hands off her.
Ah, pchelka.
How could one woman be so impressively smart in one field and be silly in remarkably equal measures in another? How could Fredericka not realize that she was meant to be his forever?