Bad Nerd Falling (48 page)

Good luck finding a super
soldier like that
.

Aleksi’s eyes grew cold. “We need to
send a clear message to those looking at us as a tasty
morsel.”

He smiled, sure his smile and eyes
were as warlike as his prince’s. “We’ve already made excellent
progress in that area.”

“
Yes, we have.” Aleksi
tapped the arm of his chair. His eyes narrowed. “There is only one
man in all of Rurikstan who is capable of this.”

He has someone in
mind?
He sat up straighter as a flash of
awareness hurtled through him.

“
I would like
you
to head our
military.”

Everything spiraled out of focus for a
moment before it all coalesced into the perfect job for
him.

It was a dream come true. A dream he
never realized was his. “Yes,” he said thickly.

Aleksi smiled and his eyes weren’t
cold any longer. “Does that mean you’ll accept the job of running
our military?”

“
Yes.” He had been so busy
focusing on the goal he had never looked beyond it.

His eyes lighting with mischief this
time, Aleksi said, “Good. I totally support nepotism so the more
cousins I can employ, the better.” Then he sobered. “The thing is,
Vlad, I need a man I know is loyal, hard working, and
ruthless.”

It was his turn to smile. “Like you
said, we’re cousins.”

It took Aleksi a moment to realize
that he had turned those qualities back on him.

“
Got to love our de Leos
genes.”

“
Yes, I do.”

“
Now, you do understand
that due to duties performed this week, you earned the rank of
Colonel?”

He cleared his throat. “No, I did not
realize that.” That was a jump, since he’d barely been a Major
before.

“
Your years of training,
in addition to the extensiveness of that training, and the years
all combined actually already made you a Colonel. You were behind
in your rank. Therefore, and in light of your new duties, you will
now be ranked and paid as a General.”

His mouth dropped open as
he struggled to process that. “A
General
?” He gaped at
Aleksi.

“
A first tier General, so
you still have room to grow but you’ve
earned
that rank. I have not given
it to you. You do realize there aren’t any other men like you in
the world, right?”

“
There are plenty of them,
especially in the States.”

“
No.” Aleksi shook his
head. “They excel in what their government has trained them in.
They
are
impressive. But you’ve been trained extensively by many other
governments and you’ve excelled at it all. You’re the epitome of a
warrior. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to award you the rank of
General, and make certain you lead our military.”

“
Thank you.” He couldn’t
utter anything else.

“
I have reason to believe
my father was heading in this exact same direction. He was a man
with incredible vision.”

“
His son is exactly like
him.” He stared hard at Aleksi, because it was true, and Aleksi
needed to see that he was as capable a leader as his father had
been.

“
I appreciate that, Vlad.
But I still have a lot to learn.”

“
So do I. We’re awfully
young for our current positions.”

“
Yes, you’re young, but
you’re the only man who can lead our military.”

He grimaced. “There will be a stink
made about this.”

“
No, there won’t be.
Everyone who has ever met you will understand why you were awarded
this job. Anyone who is a naysayer will learn soon enough why you
were chosen.”

Since he couldn’t think of a response
to that, he nodded instead.

“
Now, go share this news
with Helena or she’ll come after me for keeping you so
long.”

With a handshake and a nod, he
left.

He didn’t have the heart to tell
Aleksi that Helena had broken off their relationship.

Then he thought about it.

General Wellington - General Vladimir
Wolfgang Wellington was not going down without a fight. Generals
didn’t run from the battle. They planned a strategy, a battle plan,
so they won.

With so much at stake, he couldn’t afford to
lose.

Chapter 39

His heart beat in rhythm to his quick
footsteps as he hurried up the stairs. Outside her doorway, he took
several deep breaths in an attempt to regain control of himself. He
left Aleksi’s office and came here first. Like he could do anything
else.

He knocked and heard movement on the
other side of the door before it opened. Helena stared up at him
like he was everything before a ripple of pain erased that gorgeous
expression. He sighed.

“
May I come in?” He kept
his voice low so as not to startle her.

She nodded and moved out of his way,
then shut the door and locked it. It didn’t take a genius to
realize she wasn’t quite certain what to do with him.

To ease her, he took her hand and led
her the few steps into her living room. Helena made a sound he
couldn’t define, so he stopped and stared down at her. The urge to
kiss her senseless spun through him in undulating waves. With the
willpower that had kept him alive all these years, he resisted the
overwhelming temptation.

Instead he smiled and brushed some
curls off her face. “Aleksi offered me a new job.”

Her eyes widened and she looked
relieved that he hadn’t delved immediately into their relationship
status. “You have a new job?”

He couldn’t help himself. He grinned,
happy about this at least. “You’re looking at General Vladimir
Wellington, Commander in Chief of the Rurikstan
Military.”

Helena’s mouth dropped open.
“Commander in Chief of the entire military?”

He couldn’t seem to wipe the grin off
his face. “The entire military.”

“
Oh my goodness, Vlad. Oh
my goodness,” she repeated, her eyes still wide, but glowing with
awe and pride. “That’s
huge
.”

“
The thing is, I’m the
only person in Rurikstan right now who can do this. Those long
years of training, all over the world, with all the different
branches means I have the knowledge of how each branch of the
military works. With me leading each branch, I can also make
certain they work together.”

“
What will you be doing
exactly?”

“
Overhauling the entire
military to turn us into top fighting machines so terrorists and
such understand we are capable of defending our own.”

“
That’s a daunting
task.”

“
Yes, but it’s also a job
perfectly suited to my skills.”

She stared at him with more awe. Then
that same flash of pain crossed her face for a moment. “You’re
going to be staying here, in Rurikstan?”

“
Yes. I’m sure there will
be some traveling, and I’ll have to spend time on the various bases
here and abroad, but yes, for the most part I’ll be living here in
Rurikstan.” He paused. “It’s beyond nice to be home.”

She stared numbly at him like she
wasn’t quite certain what to say. Maybe she couldn’t.

With a hand that shook a little, he
caressed her beautiful cheek. “I would like if you shared the next
fifty or sixty years with me.” In the back of his mind, he knew he
was rushing her. She had concerns and fears.

Helena swallowed, and it sounded
painful. Tears didn’t quite well in those gorgeous green eyes
before she turned away and padded to the closest chair where she
abruptly sat. He couldn’t read her expression because her head was
bowed and her long hair concealed her face.

Because he couldn’t stand it, he
scooped her out of the chair and headed to the couch. He dropped
onto it, keeping her firmly on his lap, in his arms where she
belonged. She didn’t resist so that had to be a good sign,
right?

“
Why?” he finally asked in
the silence.

Her head was still bowed, but she
brushed her hair out of her eyes before those glorious jewels
lifted to stare into his. “You’re a superhero.”

“
I’m not. Like every other
man on the planet, I’m just a man.”

A bordering-on-bitter laugh escaped
her. It also teetered on the verge of hysteria. “No, that’s one
definition that will never describe you.”

He tilted her chin so he could gaze
into her eyes. “I’m human, I make mistakes, and often my mistakes
are fatal for someone. I have to control my emotions or it will
lead to someone’s death. My entire life has been learning how to
stay alive.”

He fell silent for a few moments
before he dragged air into his lungs. “After a few years, a few
months, that sort of lifestyle wears on you. I see the very worst
of humankind. It’s not an easy place to live, Helena. I need warmth
and beauty in my life. I need to come home to someone who loves me
and who counters what I do every day.”

For long moments she stared at him.
“You’re going to grow bored with me.”

That was so unlikely he laughed. “No.”
He said it firmly and with utter conviction. “The fear is that I’ll
grow addicted to you. I already am. But when I look around, at my
brother and Sara, our parents, Emerson and Karis, Aleksi and Tia, I
see that’s not a bad future.”

He traced her lips. “In
fact, I embrace it. I’m looking forward to my new job, but I
need
you in my life. I
need you to be a part of my future or it holds no
meaning.”

“
I’m so afraid you’re
going to start to resent me because my life and my job aren’t
exciting like yours. I’m an ordinary scientist and pretty boring.”
She made it sound like that was bad.

His lips curved upwards. “That’s one
of the things I love about you.”

Eyes wide again, hers met his. “You
love me?”

That made him stop. His mind raced as
he thought on her words. All those long, lonely years without
female company finally made sense. “Of course I do,” he said in
wonder. “I was never attracted to other women because I’ve been in
love with you since our teens.”

Staring at him as if she had never
seen him before, maybe because she hadn’t been looking at him
through eyes of love either, Helena’s eyes did fill with tears this
time. “That’s exactly how I feel. I wondered if I was in love with
you. Now I know for certain that I am.”

Judging it was okay to kiss her, he
tugged her close and fastened his lips to hers. It had been far too
long and he took his time. Savoring this woman because there were
no guarantees.

“
So do you still want to
break up?” He wove his hand through her hair because it was there
and tempting him.

“
No. I didn’t want to the
first time.” Her lips were glossy from their kiss and she had never
looked so beautiful. Despite the dark circles under her eyes and
the weary way she held herself. He hadn’t had much time to sleep,
and it looked like she hadn’t been able to.

“
You broke up with me
because you were afraid,” he stated, combing his fingers through
her long curls.

“
Yes.” She laid her head
on his shoulder. “You are a superman, you know. I’d hate for you to
wake up one day and think, ‘You know, this nerd bores me out of my
mind,’ because that would kill me.”

“
Even men, maybe that
should be,
especially
men with my training need a woman like you in their lives.
The flashy ones you probably think of as interesting are shallow
and self-absorbed. They’re not exciting at all.” He lifted her lips
to his again. “
You
are.”

“
I am what?”

“
You are exciting, smart,
beautiful.” He swallowed. “So beautiful I could stare at you all
day. You’re also sexy, funny, sweet—all those things I’ve ever
wanted in a woman. Yet you’re even more than that.”

“
Like what?”

“
Brave. Ingenious, because
I would have never thought to set a man on fire. But you and Mom
kept your heads and used what was available as a weapon.
Impressive, Helena.”

Her lips drew down. “We were
desperate.”

Again he tilted her face to his. “Now
you understand a little bit about my world.”

That made her pause, her head cocked
to the side as she stared at him. “It’s been that bad?”

“
More often than not.
There were some training exercises I didn’t think I’d live through.
Much less some of our missions.”

“
Yet those are the
experiences that forged you into the man you are today, General
Vlad.”

He grinned because he was pretty
certain he would never grow tired of his new rank. “Yes, they did.
Being forged in those kinds of fires aren’t all that pleasant
though.”

“
Of course they aren’t.
That’s why they’re called
adversity
.”