Prince Voronov's Virgin (11 page)

But, no, it wasn’t that, either.

Paige’s warm body was limp, her breathing even, and he knew she’d fallen asleep. He wanted to sleep as well, but he could not. He was still inside her, still hard, but he needed to withdraw while the condom was still tight.

Except that he didn’t want to move. He wanted to lie here, sated and content, and enjoy the warm woman in his bed. He wanted to enjoy the companionship with her, however brief.

Paige knew what it was like to lose family too soon. It was a connection they shared. Another reason everything about this night seemed so strange to him. He didn’t usually share details about his family with the women he dated.

Hell, he didn’t usually share details of his life and family with
anyone.
He’d learned that life wasn’t fair, and that you couldn’t trust another soul with the burdens of yours. No one was what he or she seemed. Everyone had an agenda of some sort.

And his was to destroy the Russells.

Not that he’d told her much, but he’d said more than he usually did. In the instant when he’d told her that his family was in the crypt, he’d felt a wall of loneliness pushing down on him that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Somehow, she’d recognized it. He’d wanted to open up to her even more in that moment, but he’d stopped himself from doing so.

She did something to him, something he did not like. She made him long for things he’d forgotten, and feel remorse for things he could not help if he were to avenge his family. He had no room for sentimentality, no room for tender feelings of any kind.

A glance at the bedside clock told him it was nearly ten. A few more minutes, and he would wake her—though part of him wanted to keep her in his bed all night, to slide into her body in the dark hours before dawn, to lose himself.

But he would not. The sooner he returned her to Moscow, the better.

The sharp, insistent ringing of a cell phone startled Paige into wakefulness. Beside her, Alexei whipped back the covers and shot from the bed. His phone was still clipped onto his trousers, but he managed to grab it before it stopped ringing.

“Da?”
he barked.

Paige sat up, her body protesting the movement. Though she wanted to stay snuggled into bed, where it was warm, it was time to return to reality.

Reality for her was not a naked billionaire pacing the room and barking into his phone in a language she didn’t understand.

She took the opportunity, while he wasn’t paying attention, to slip from the bed and start collecting her clothes. It took a few moments to locate her underwear, but when she had everything she darted into the attached bathroom.

Paige leaned back against the closed door, blinking in
disbelief. Yet another beautiful, fairy-tale room. Though at least there were modern fixtures—a shower, toilet and claw-foot bathtub with jets. Clearly Alexei had upgraded a few things.

She wondered why he and his mother and sister had been sent away from this place, but she’d hardly been able to ask. What must it have been like to be so young and to not only lose your father, but to also find yourself thrown out of your home? How had his poor mother handled everything with two young children to look after?

Paige felt a pang of emotion for the woman lying in the church crypt. And for the man who seemed so in control and detached when he spoke of his family, yet who was so alive and full of fire. A fire that had nearly incinerated them both when he’d focused it on her.

She set her clothes on a tufted bench and turned on the water in the sink so she could wash her face.

And did a double take at the woman staring at her in the mirror. My God, was that her?

Her hair was mussed, of course, but it was her face that shocked her. Her lips were red, swollen from kissing, and her eyes were lazy, sensual. Her mascara had smeared, but instead of looking like a Gothic vampire, it made her look tousled. Like she was a sex goddess who’d been making love all night long.

She took a step back, let her gaze wander down her body. Her skin glowed. She looked happy. Pretty. Was that what sexual satisfaction did to a person?

If so, she’d certainly missed out on a lot. She could barely process that she’d technically still been a virgin. She was slightly sore, but not so much so that her body didn’t leap at the idea of doing it all again.

A sharp rap sounded on the door and she jumped. “Yes?”

“We must go, Paige,” Alexei said. “The helicopter is waiting.”

His voice was impersonal, sharp, and her stomach dropped. Whatever she’d expected after tonight, the indifference in his voice hadn’t been it. Hadn’t they just shared something beautiful? And, more than their bodies, hadn’t they shared a bit of their souls with each other?

It had certainly felt like it, especially when he’d insisted on pointing out to her that she’d been living for Emma and it was time to stop. Or when he’d told her with such stark pain in his gaze that his family was buried in the crypt.

“I’m coming,” she said, stiffening her resolve. She would not let him know how far out of her depth she was, how much this night meant to her. He was already behaving as if it was over, so she would do the same. Time to return to their proper roles as wary strangers.

She could do that. She
would
do that.

Paige hurriedly washed her face and got dressed. She hadn’t been able to find the elastic that she’d held her ponytail back with, so she did the best she could with her unruly hair before opening the door.

Alexei stood in the middle of the room, talking on his phone once more. He was fully dressed—in different clothes, naturally, which made her feel rather cheap and, well, transitory. He did not look up when she walked into the room, and her heart squeezed into a painful knot.

What had she expected? She’d known what she was getting into when she’d said yes.

He finally glanced over at her, something flashing across his face before he looked away again. She picked up her coat and stood waiting. He motioned her to the door, opening it for her, then following once she’d gone through. She stepped back to let him take the lead. He didn’t look at her while he walked down the hallway and descended the stairs.

Paige’s skin was hot, but for a different reason than when they’d burst up these steps earlier. Then, she’d been giddy with excitement. Now, she felt like a prostitute he’d picked up on the street. He’d brought her home for a quick screw and now he was done with her.

She lifted her chin, determined not to let him see how much his indifference hurt and confused her. She hadn’t expected a declaration of true love, but she’d thought they would at least act like two people who’d shared something intimate together.

They stopped at the door they’d entered earlier. Alexei put his phone away and donned the coat he’d been carrying. Paige did the same, settling the hat into place and wrapping the scarf around her neck. Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she realized she’d forgotten the gloves. But she wasn’t going back for them.

There was no time anyway.

The man who’d greeted them earlier stood by the ornately carved door. He and Alexei spoke briefly, and then he was opening the door as Alexei turned and took her by the elbow.

“Watch your step,” Alexei said as they emerged into the frigid night air.

“Spokojnoj Nochi,”
the man called out before shutting the huge door behind them.

The
whop-whop-whop
of the helicopter rotors sounded nearby, as well as a scratching sound that she realized was the top layer of snow being disturbed in the vortex.

When they were safely onboard, the craft lifted into the air and banked to the right. Paige stared down at the ghostly shadow of the Voronov Palace, huge and hulking on the pristine snow. She half expected the ground to open up and swallow it whole, like a sacred location that disappeared after you’d completed a quest.

Twenty minutes later, they were boarding Alexei’s private jet. Alexei hadn’t spoken a word to her since he’d told her to watch her step. Instead he’d been on the phone, on his computer, his concentration intense and undivided. A flight attendant came over and asked if she would like something to drink.

“No, thank you,” she replied. After the woman left, Paige tried to close her eyes and rest. It was nearly eleven-thirty, and though she had no idea what Chad’s plans were for tomorrow, she had to get up and be ready in case he needed her to do something.

Hot guilt sizzled through her like a brand. She’d been reckless, and now she was regretting the impulse. The man she’d risked her job for had been ignoring her almost since the moment he’d found his release in her body.

It stung her pride, and yet she’d gone into it with eyes wide-open. She had no one to blame but herself.

She was aware of the moment he snapped his computer closed. Aware of the dark, powerful energy radiating from him as his voice went silent. Presumably he was finished with his call.

He said something that sounded like an order. When the flight attendant answered, Paige knew she’d guessed right.

A minute later something popped. It almost sounded like a gun. Paige sat up ramrod straight, her eyes darting to Alexei. He held a glass of champagne, his smile devilish as he lifted it in her direction.

“Madam,” a soft voice said, and Paige realized the flight attendant was holding out a glass for her. She took it before looking to Alexei again.

His face had been transformed once more, and her heart thumped against her chest. He was so handsome, so sexy. And so lonely, she thought.

No.
She would not feel empathy for him, not now.

“What are we drinking to?” she said as coolly as she could manage. Two could play this game.

“Triumph,” he replied before taking a long swallow.

Paige’s blood froze in her veins. She set the glass down. “What are you saying?”

But she knew. Oh, God, she knew.

“Chad Russell is broke, is he not? This was his last chance to salvage his company.” He took another sip of champagne while her heart refused to beat. “His financiers have pulled out of the deal.”

Chad would be destroyed. And Emma’s happiness along with him. Paige was halfway out of her seat—to do what she didn’t know—before Alexei’s cruel laugh stopped her.

“Ah yes, you did know something, though you claimed you did not. I can see it written on your face.”

Hatred broke the ice in her veins, pumped hot blood into her heart. She’d known the deal was life or death to Chad, but she hadn’t known the extent of it. “Then I guess we both lied. This was all a game, wasn’t it? You only pretended to want me.”

He stretched like a cat before rising from his seat and coming over to plop down into the plush club chair next to hers. “Ah, no,” he said, his gray gaze slipping over her, “I did not pretend. I think that should be clear based on what we shared tonight.”

Outrage and self-loathing were a vile stew inside her. How had she fallen for this? How? “You brought me here to seduce me. You arranged the nice dinner, the
troika—
”

She broke off, unable to continue. She’d let herself go, let herself enjoy and believe—for a short time—that a prince could be interested in a dull secretary.

What a joke.

“Da,
I arranged it all,” he said matter-of-factly. “But that does not mean I didn’t enjoy it.”

She turned away from him. Evil man. Worst of all, she’d actually felt something with him. The wonder and beauty of what he’d done to her, the intensity of her response—it was more than she’d ever experienced before.

And now the memory was ruined.

“Come, Paige, do not act so hurt. This was war. You and I both knew it.”

She collected her emotions, turned back to him. “Don’t drag me down to your level. I’m nothing like you. I don’t use people.”

“Are you not? I seem to remember that you were the one who wanted me to make love to you last night in my apartment.” He tipped a finger under her chin when she would have turned away again, held her steady while his hot eyes bored into her. “You wanted to use me to forget what Chad had done to you.”

Her conscience burned with the truth of what he was saying. And yet it wasn’t the same at all. “I told you that Chad and I weren’t involved. He didn’t do
anything
to me.”

“But you wanted him to,” Alexei said. “You wanted
him
to be the man who made love to you.”

“No,” she breathed—and yet he’d stated the truth. She’d thought she’d wanted her boss as her lover, thought he was the perfect man. But she knew, after tonight, that she couldn’t have done with Chad what she’d done with Alexei.

“Deny it all you like,” he said. “But we both know the truth.”

“Why do you hate him so much?” she asked.

A shadow crossed his features. “Who said anything about hate? This is business.”

Paige shook her head. “No, it’s more than that. I saw the way you looked at him today.”

“Perhaps you should ask him,” Alexei said, his jaw tightening.
She got the impression he’d said more than he intended with that short sentence.

“I can’t do that and you know it.”

He set the empty champagne glass down on the table in front of them and stood. “You can do anything you wish,
maya krasavitsa.
As of tomorrow, you will no longer be working for Chad Russell.”

“I won’t work for you, either,” she blurted.

He scoffed. “Don’t be stupid, Paige. You need the money.”

Though fear made her pulse throb in her temples, she knew she couldn’t work for Alexei Voronov. It was the one thing she could do for herself, the one way to reclaim her self-respect. After a night of self-indulgent folly, she could stand firm on this one thing.

“I’d rather clean toilets for a living before working for a man I hate.”

He bent over her chair, cupping his hands on either side of her face before she could stop him. His mouth claimed hers in a hard, dominant kiss. Fury whipped through her with tornado strength and she clamped her lips tight against his. He answered her by gripping her jaw hard enough to force her mouth open.

And then he was inside, kissing her with the heat and strength of earlier. When she bit down on his tongue, he laughed and clamped his fingers around her jaw again until she released him.