Page 29 of Ruthless Rustanovs

Alexei was once more struck by the urge to break his promise to Eva and get a full dossier on this man.

But he tamped the urge down knowing there would be no need.

His publicist had more than come through on the publicity angle.

She’d expanded on his original idea by not only pitching an entire South Padre story to her Dallas media contacts, but kept the photog on so he could covertly take pictures of Alexei and Eva all over the island.

She’d manage to get the Dallas Times to run a special feature in their travel section on South Padre Island from the point of view of a Russian billionaire vacationing with his Texas-born lover.

So, Alexei didn’t have to seek Aaron out because their relationship would be blown to pieces in less than seven days when the Dallas Times piece ran, letting Eva’s boyfriend know exactly where she’d been and who she’d been with.

In less than a week, Aaron would no longer be in the picture.

Still, Eva’s sudden silence disturbed him. Was she thinking about Aaron? Wishing she were on South Padre with him instead of Alexei? The thought of her having sex with another man after they parted in two days caused his heart to thud with jealous anger.

“What would you like to do tomorrow?” he asked to get his mind off the subject of Eva and Aaron.

She wrapped both her hands around his large one, an affectionate habit she’d picked back up over the last few days. It bothered him that it felt so natural to be with her.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s our last full day so maybe you should pick? I’ve been monopolizing all our out-of-bed time with stuff I wanted to do.”

“I do not mind,” he said. “Your version of vacation is much better than mine.”

“Oh, yeah? What do you usually do when you have a few days off?”

“I visit my family in Russia. My aunts overfeed me.” He thought about how there was usually some mess to clean up courtesy of Uncle Sergei who still liked to use violence to solve both business and personal problems. Usually a few bridges needed mending and a few officials were paid to look the other way.

But to Eva he only said, “I pay my respects to my uncle. He’s semi-retired these days but still involved with a few of our divisions. ”

Her grip tightened and he felt her stiffen against his arm. “Are you all right?”

Eva let go of his hand and shook her arms out. “Yeah, I am. But I think my arms might still be a little stiff from windsurfing. Who knew it would require so much upper-body strength?”

They arrived at the elevators and Alexei resisted the temptation to take her hand back.

“Um, so your semi-retired uncle in Russia…is this the same uncle you used to get into arguments with all the time back when we were at UTD?” she asked.

“You have a good memory.” As they stepped into the elevator he settled his arm around her shoulders and tried not to think much about the fact that he only made it a few seconds before needing to touch her again.

“Yes, this is the same uncle. But we do not argue anymore. I think it’s safe to say we are finally on same page. More or less.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” she said. But Alexei could feel her stiffen up again beneath his arm.

Perhaps she could tell what he’d told her about his uncle wasn’t exactly true.

He didn’t bother arguing with his uncle anymore.

Instead, he just let the older man do as he pleased and cleaned up the mess afterward.

Though, he had to admit he was annoyed Sergei had called him three times in the last two weeks to suggest Russian oil companies they might want to invest in.

Alexei had humored the old man and given the company names to Emilio to research, but as he suspected, every one of them were either owned or managed by former Russian criminals who had not done nearly as much to clean up their acts as Alexei had.

After Eva left on Sunday, he would have to call his uncle and make him understand that despite the Drummond Oil purchase, Rustanov Enterprises would not get involved in Russian oil.

But right now, Alexei was more concerned with the woman beside him in the elevator.

“You are not okay,” he said.

Eva gave him a forced smile. “You got me. I’m a little cold but I didn’t want to complain.”

No, that wasn’t it. He could tell she was lying but he also had a feeling he didn’t want to know what was really bothering her—especially if it had anything to do with her boyfriend.

Eva nuzzled into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, saying, “I’m just going to take advantage of some of this heat you’re kicking off if you don’t mind.”

“I do not mind,” he said. He didn’t mind at all. And that was the problem.

“Just got the beach photos from your guy and sent them on to the publicist,” Emilio said, when Alexei came down to meet with him in the suite he was occupying a few floors below his own.

“She said that should be enough for the feature, so you don’t have to worry about showing off in public anymore. ”

He felt a twinge of sadness at the other man’s statement.

As much as he hated to admit it, the past ten days with Eva had been the best he’d had since she left him.

He liked pretending to go along with her outdoor activity suggestions when he’d known all along that it was making it easier for the photog to get pictures of them together.

And though he’d never been a fan of PDA, he’d welcomed the excuse to kiss and hold Eva close.

“I will keep acting like this so she does not get suspicious.”

Emilio raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I kinda doubt she’ll suspect that you’ve been doing all that stuff in public with her for the sole purpose of exposing her to everyone back home.”

Shame came creeping in at Emilio’s words.

Though Alexei kept telling himself he was doing this to make sure he completed his revenge, guilt had dogged him for the last few days.

The more she told him about her life in Drummond, the shittier he felt knowing her reputation would probably tank right along with her relationship because of what he planned to do.

“You okay, man?” Emilio asked. “You got quiet there all of a sudden. You sure you don’t want me to just look into this boyfriend of hers? It’d be way less complicated than this plan, and maybe we could come up with something that wouldn’t be so hard on Eva.”

Alexei shoved his hands into the pockets of the linen suit he’d changed into for dinner. “Why should I care what is easier for Eva? This is revenge.”

“Yeah, that’s what you keep saying,” Emilio said. He made a big deal of straightening the stack of contracts he’d placed on the table for Alexei to sign. “But in my limited experience, revenge doesn’t involve signing an oil company over to a girl and then breaking up her relationship.”

“My intention is to destroy her relationship, not her reputation. This will ensure she is not completely shunned by the people of Drummond.” He echoed what Eva had told him. “Small towns are not like big cities.”

“Again, revenge usually doesn’t typically entail protecting the reputation of the person you’re getting back at.”

Alexei ignored him and skimmed over a copy of the contract. “This looks like it is all in order. I will let her know tonight. You can bring the papers up tomorrow morning and we will sign them then.”

Emilio shrugged, not saying anything.

Alexei slammed the contract back on the table, more irritated by Emilio’s unspoken judgment than he cared to admit.

“By giving her Drummond Oil she will always know I hold all the power where she is concerned, and I choose how to wield it. Also, it will make it so she cannot see my ultimate revenge coming.”

“That’s very romantic,” Emilio said.

“I am not wishing to be romantic. This is about revenge!”

Emilio screwed his face up and looked at the ceiling. “Okay, Lex. I want to be straight with you about a few things but I need you to promise not to fire me first.”

Intrigued, Alexei turned to face his assistant. “Fine, I will not fire you for whatever you are about to say. But only for the duration of this meeting.”

Emilio shrugged, seeming to decide that was good enough for him. “You can deny it as much as you want, but I haven’t seen you this happy in years. And Eva might have a boyfriend back home, but when I see the two of you together, I can tell you’re who she’s in love with.”

A mutinous flare of hope erupted in Alexei’s heart, but he smothered it as fast as he could. “I told you. We are only pretending.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the way she looks at you and I don’t think she’s pretending. I don’t think you are either. I think you’re in love with her and she I think she loves you back.”

Alexei wanted to deny it, but he no longer could. Instead, he said, “It would never work out. There’s her boyfriend, and also everything between us from the past.”

Emilio shook his head like his boss was being stupid rather than perfectly reasonable.

“Look, I wasn’t a big fan of the way Eva dumped you.

But I liked her before she did, and she still seems like a decent human being.

From what I can tell, she’s grown up and made a lot of positive changes in her life.

She helps others for a living, she’s funny, and not to overstep my bounds or anything, but she’s really easy on the eyes.

I know this isn’t in your book of business tactics, but maybe you could think about letting what she did go.

Eva was young, you were young. If forgiving her means you guys can stay together, then maybe it’s time to let go of the past and of your revenge plan. ”

Alexei’s heart warred with his business senses.

He wasn’t the kind of man who just let things go.

He hadn’t gotten where he was by ignoring his rivals or enemies.

But he couldn’t deny he wanted more from Eva.

Not just more vacation time, but more time with her in general.

Despite his effort not to do so, he could see he was well on his way to falling ragingly, irrevocably, head over heels back in love with her. But…

“Even if I forgive her, how can I convince her to leave her current relationship for me?”

“Well, this is a pretty good start.” Emilio tapped on the contract. “Maybe tell her about it tonight, and then…I don’t know, be real with her, I guess.”

Alexei stroked his newly-grown beard, considering this advice. “You will continue to serve as my assistant for the next two weeks. During that time, you will find your replacement.”

Emilio’s face fell. “You said you wouldn’t fire me for talking straight with you.”

“I am not firing you,” Alexei informed him.

“I am promoting you. You are the first business associate other than my uncle who has given me his honest opinion in years. Also, if I end up green-lighting a Dallas off-shoot of Rustanov Enterprises to be closer to Eva, I will need to leave someone in charge of the New York offices.”

“Are you kidding me?” Emilio said, his mouth wide open.

“As you know, I do not kid.” But the sternness in his voice was betrayed by his wide smile when he said, “Now, I must go convince Eva to be with me.”