Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (63 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

Lexi

I
chose another form-fitting wrap dress, this time in emerald green, to wear for
the store's grand opening. Viv did a smoky eye and neutral lipstick before
pronouncing me drop dead gorgeous and then told me to leave my hair down. I
questioned her judgment and told her that I was going to work, not a nightclub,
and that the smoky eye was dramatic enough as I pulled my hair back into a
loose bun at the nape of my neck.

I didn't own any
really nice jewelry and I didn't feel like today was the right day for my bold
fakes, so I slipped on my watch and the necklace that Max had given me on my
first day and decided that the makeup and dress would have to do. Anna was
beside herself as she chirped and hopped around the bathroom while I got ready.
Viv laughed when the kitten tried to jump into the shower with her, but fell
backwards onto the soft bathmat. Anna haughtily marched out of the bathroom,
humiliated by her ordeal, but was quickly soothed with a fresh bowl of kitten
food and a snuggle under my chin.

An hour after we'd
woken up, Viv and I exited the apartment and headed in opposite directions. She
told me I looked like a knock out before she turned and headed toward Michigan
Avenue. I walked to the El stop, this time certain that I'd grabbed my wallet.
Ten minutes later, I got off the train at Wabash and headed to the store. As I
descended the stairs from the platform, I ran through the list of all of the
things I'd learned about gems and jewelry. Max had been good about tutoring me
as we worked, but my brain felt overloaded with the information on top of the
words I had to remember for my audition, and I felt nervous about trying to
sell.

When I buzzed the
office to be let in, I noticed that the name of the shop had been painted on
the window in large gold letters. It looked classic and simple, and when I
pushed open the door and stepped onto the sales floor, I got a rush of
excitement as I realized that this was what our customers would be seeing for
the first time today. Large glass cases stood at attention and shined
brilliantly under the chandelier lights hanging from the ceilings. Everything
in the cases sparkled and dazzled under the lights and I inhaled deeply as I
took it all in. The sales floor looked like a wonderland of exotic jewels and
metals, and I instantly knew we were going to be a hit.

"Lexi, are
you okay?" Max called from the back room. "What's going on?"

"I'm
coming!" I called as I quickly headed toward his office and set my bag
down in the corner. "Where are you?"

"In the store
room getting the diamonds," he answered. "Come help me, please?"

When I entered the
storeroom, I gasped. Max was wearing a navy blue suit that fit him like a
glove. His dress shirt was a shade of blue I'd never seen before and it matched
his eyes perfectly, making them even more mesmerizing than usual. He'd let his
hair go a little wilder than usual, giving him the look of a thoughtful artist.
I was rendered mute and couldn't look away.

"Um, good
morning," he finally said.

"Good
morning," I replied as I stared up at him, unable to tear my gaze away
from his handsome face.

"Are you
ready to sell today, Lexi?" he asked in a voice that made me shiver.

"Uh
huh," was all I could manage in response before he handed me a stack of
display boxes that contained our diamonds.

"Why don't
you start putting these out on the floor and I'll bring the rest out to
you," he said as he turned back to the safe and began pulling out more
cases.

"Um, okay,
I'll put these out and you can bring me the rest," I repeated dumbly as I
backed out of the room and headed for the display case. I silently cursed
myself for being so awkward and stupid as I arranged the boxes in the displays.
Max brought out the rest of the boxes and set them on the end of the counter
before turning and heading to the office. He didn't say a word.

The awkwardness
lingered until a man in a very expensive Isaia suit rang the doorbell and was
buzzed in. He crossed the floor and approached me. "Good morning, young
lady. I want to buy some jewelry for my wife and I need something that will
apologize for forty-five years of being her forgetful husband."

I stared at him
for a moment before I burst out laughing. A smile spread across his wide face
as I tried to contain my mirth.

"And what
kind of piece do you think would best represent your heartfelt apology,
sir?" I asked before I began laughing again.

"Well, I
don't know. That's why I came to the experts. I thought you could tell me what
was required of me," he said, sending me back into a fit of laughter that
brought Max out of the backroom to see what was going on.

"I'm Max
Malin and this is my-" Max began, firmly shaking the other man's hand.

"Yes, yes,
yes, you and your wife have a beautiful shop here, Mr. Malin, quiet beautiful
indeed," interrupted the man as he kept shaking Max's hand. "Sergei
Petrov, that's me, and I have been watching your store with great interest. I
wanted to be the first to stop in and do business with you this morning."

"Mr. Petrov,
we're not…" Max tried to correct the man's error, but Petrov wouldn't stop
talking long enough for him to get a word in edgewise, and over the next thirty
minutes as I pulled out piece after piece, Mr. Petrov told us his story about
making a fortune in the tech industry, but wanting to invest in something more
stable. I listened to what he was saying and was skeptical at first, but the
more he talked and the more pieces he looked at, the more I realized that this
man was interested in backing the store as a silent partner and that the amount
of money he was offering meant that Max would be able to buy the best quality
pieces and not have to worry about the expense.

"I've got a
lot of connections in the shipping industry," Petrov said as he pointed to
the amber ring I was holding and a matching necklace in the case next to it.
"I'll take both of those, Mrs. Malin. And, could you wrap them up nice and
pretty so that I can surprise her?"

"It would be
my pleasure, Mr. Petrov," I smiled as I pulled out two of our signature
black boxes with gold writing on the top and proceeded to wrap them at the
front counter. It was a good thing I did because Max seemed intent on killing
our sale and our deal.

"Where's your
ring, Mrs. Malin?" Petrov asked as I wrapped the boxes.

"Oh, she's
not-" Max began.

"I'm not
wearing them because Mr. Malin bought me such a beautiful ring that I don't
dare wear it in the store," I smiled, then dropped my voice to a
conspiratorial whisper and added, "He's got exquisite taste, but sometimes
he goes a little overboard."

"Well, if
that's the case, then you've got to use that taste to bulk up the exquisite
collection here in the store, Malin," Petrov bellowed. "Only the
best, no expense spared is my motto!"

I shot Max a look
that told him that if he knew what was good for him, he would shut up and not
say another word. Max nodded and listened to Petrov talk about the ups and
downs of the tech industry and his frustration with the way in which he
couldn't find good people to run the factories he had bought in Moscow and
China.

"I need old
school guys, you know? The ones who knew what it meant to work for a union! The
loyal guys who knew how to work a full day," he sighed as I placed the
wrapped boxes in a black bag and handed them over. Mr. Petrov gave me his heavy,
black American Express card and I ran it, knowing that there would be no issue
with it going through. After he'd signed the receipt, Petrov shook Max's hand
and told him that a lawyer would be around in the morning with all of the
paperwork, and that Max should have his own lawyer read it before signing
anything.

"Never sign
anything without reading it, Mr. Malin," he warned. "I learned that
as a child in Moscow. A beginner's mistake."

"Very well,
sir," Max said as Petrov headed toward the door.

"Good day,
Mr. and Mrs. Malin!" Petrov called over his shoulder. "It's been a
pleasure doing business with you both!"

And then, he was
gone.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

Max

After
Sergei Petrov had
left the store, I turned to Lexi and asked, "What in the hell was
that?"

"I believe
you just landed yourself a new business partner," she replied with a
smile. The smile quickly faded as she added, "And, if I'm not mistaken, a
wife."

"I'm not even
sure who I am right now," I said as I stared at her, shocked by the turn
of events and overwhelmed by the amount of confusion I was feeling. She looked
at me and then burst out laughing.

"Apparently
you are my husband, Mr. Malin," she laughed and then kept laughing until
she was holding her sides as tears ran down her cheeks. "Max, we've been
open for exactly two hours and this shop is going to go down in history as one
where the most money, mergers, and marriages took place all at the same
time!" She dissolved into laughter again and had to lean against the wall
to keep from sinking to the floor.

"I have no
idea what just happened," I said as I started chuckling. Soon, I was
laughing as hard as Lexi was, and from the outside of the store we must have
looked absolutely insane. "He just offered to bankroll this business,
didn't he?"

"Yes, he
certainly did!" she replied, wiping her eyes and checking her makeup in
the mirror. She looked even lovelier than she had when she'd walked through the
door this morning. The green dress hugged her curves and laughter had made her
beautiful amber eyes sparkle. I'd had the urge to reach around and undo the
pins that held her hair in the twist at the nape of her neck this morning in
the storeroom, but I'd stopped myself just in time. Now as I looked at her, the
urge was even stronger and I was afraid of what I wanted to do – of what I
might do if she gave me even the smallest sign of encouragement.

"Well, we're
going to have to figure something out for Mr. Petrov," I said as I ran one
hand through my hair and looked out the front window. "He thinks we're
married, and I don't know if that's a deal breaker, but I'm not so sure I want
to find out."

"Yes, that
would be a bad way to lose out on something that could be so profitable for
your business," she nodded. I watched her as she carefully reset the
displays from which she had taken the ring and the necklace that Petrov had
bought. Her sense of space and design were impeccable, and I got lost in the
movement of her hands as she slid the other pieces around to make a new
arrangement that gave no hint of the missing merchandise.

"I've got an
idea," I said suddenly. It was an absolutely insane idea, but it was the
only one I could think of in the moment. "What if we acted like we were
married? Until the deal is closed and I've got the money?"

"Acted like
we're married?" she repeated as she looked up at me expectantly.
"What do you mean? Like, wear wedding bands while we're in the store?
Sure, why not?"

"No, I mean
all the way," I said. I was pretty sure that if Sergei Petrov was going to
invest millions of dollars in my jewelry business, he was going to also have me
checked out thoroughly, and it dawned on me that if he was going to check me
out, he'd realize Lexi and I weren't married. "We'll plan a wedding, our
wedding, and we'll broadcast it on social media and show Petrov what kind of a
high end event we can produce."

"We're going
to plan our own wedding?" she asked, dumbfounded by my outlandish plan.
"What are you going to do when he discovers that we're two complete
strangers who have duped him?"

"Well, I
didn't think that far ahead," I sheepishly admitted. I'd thought ahead all
right, and a part of me wondered what could happen if we went ahead with it.

"I did,"
she said. "And, I'm looking at a bad ending for this little fairy tale, Mr.
Malin. A very bad ending."

"It could
also end up being really, really good," I smiled. "Are you afraid of
that?"

"What are you
talking about?" she said. "Okay, look, here's how it looks on paper.
Two complete strangers, one of whom has been hired to work for the other in an
acting sales position, decide to plan their own wedding in order to bamboozle a
potential investor into putting money into a brand-new business. Oh, and they
do this soon after they first met! Oh, nothing could go wrong there! Nothing at
all!"

I looked at her
and smiled as she stared back at me, waiting for a response.

"You are
completely out of your cotton-picking mind, Mr. Malin," she said.

"I'll pay you
an extra thousand dollars a week for planning and another thousand if you'll
move into my place while we do the planning," I said, deciding to go for
broke. I had very little to lose in this situation and everything to gain. Lexi
had no idea the kind of timeline we were on in order to bring in our first
million, and I knew that if Petrov backed us, we'd up our chances of making the
money, and maybe even exceeding it, by the deadline Papa had set.

"Are you
insane?" she yelled as a woman hit the buzzer and Lexi let her into the
store. As the woman approached, Lexi turned to me and quietly said, "
Stoya."

"Oh, Mr.
Malin, your wife speaks Russian, does she? How charming!" the woman said.
She was in her mid-fifties and had the elegant style of someone who was well
cared for and looked after. "I'm Ivana Zakharov, and Sergei Petrov said you
have the most beautiful selection of Russian jewelry in the city. I need
something special for a party I'm attending this weekend. A statement piece,
really."

For the next hour,
Lexi and I ran around the store picking out pieces for Mrs. Zakharov to try on.
She bought four of them, and as Lexi was wrapping them up, she smiled and said,
"You've got a good husband, Mrs. Malin."

"Oh, he's not
my husband – yet," Lexi smiled. "We're getting married in August, and
we're planning a huge event! You'll have to come join us!"

"Oh dear,
that will be an event, now won't it?" she said excited to be included in
the wedding plans. "I'm going to have to buy a new dress and I'll need new
jewelry as well! Will you have new pieces in by then, Mr. Malin?"

"Of
course," I smiled. "We'll have all the best pieces to choose from –
after my bride picks, of course."

Mrs. Zakharov
smiled as she signed the receipt and took the bag from Lexi before calling out,
"I'm going to tell all of my friends to come here!"

As I watched our
newest customer leave, it dawned on me that Lexi had agreed to marry me.