"You'd listen to me?" She heard the intrigue in his voice.
"I'd listen to you, I'd agree with you, I'd do anything you wanted me to do." She unzipped her pants, sliding them down. "Anything. I'd be your slave."
"Anything." He unbuttoned his shirt.
"But," she touched his bare chest with her fingertip. "I want Boris back as my bodyguard permanently."
"Agreed." He brushed her fingertip aside. "That day starts right here, right now." He placed his warm hand on her hip, his thumb stroking her stomach.
She checked her watch. It was noon. "Right now." She smiled. "As you request, Boss."
Nik entered Joey Chan's casino pleased with himself. The brat at his side, appropriately dressed for once in a black sheath of a dress, had been neatly outmaneuvered and knew it.
Boris was reinstated, but as her bodyguard, reporting to her, a woman, much to the young man's consternation. Ivan, a happily married and extremely homely man, had been added to guard the brat. Ivan took all his orders from Nik.
As she did, for another eighteen hours. A temporarily submissive Tatyana, the delicacy of this game appealed to the gambler in him. Nik stroked her frizzy hair back. He'd been given an opportunity to fulfill his every fantasy, yes, but if he pushed her too far, there'd be repercussions.
"Kaerta." That dilemma was pushed aside as Joey Chan approached, two men, shorter than Pavel but no less deadly, following him.
"Chan." Hands were shaken, Chan's grasp cold yet firm. "I believe you've met my fiancee, Tatyana." Nik openly showed his displeasure over that situation.
"I have." Chan bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment before turning to the brat. "Miss Tatyana." Nik bristled as Tatyana's hand was raised to his enemy's lips. "I'm pleased you were able to join me tonight. No, not merely pleased, ecstatic."
"I'm at Nikolay's disposal," Tatyana said demurely, tugging her hand away.
"I see." Chan's lips twitched. He was playing some game with Tatyana. Nik didn't like that.
"If you wish to freshen up, Wei," Chan indicated a slim Chinese girl, "will show you the way.
Not that a beautiful woman like you needs to."
"Some would say I'm not so beautiful." There was an edge to Tatyana's voice. "Nikolay?"
She looked to him for direction.
"Go ahead." Chan wanted to talk first, eat later, and Nik wanted Tatyana far away from the man.
Her eyes flashed, but she bobbed her head, the picture of docility, and followed Chan's woman, her two bodyguards in tow. Her temper was already at the boiling point. She wouldn't last the entire twenty-four hours without telling him off.
"You haven't made my mistake. She's a strong woman, one a man could entrust with his secrets." Chan appeared amused. "I presume you weren't too hard on her."
"Leave her alone. My fiancee is none of your concern," Nik warned him as they walked toward the private rooms, Pavel a couple feet behind them.
"If three of my men weren't dead, I'd agree." He indicated a seat.
Nik sat. Pavel and Chan's men stood at the door. "Why do you assume the two are related?"
A woman entered. Tea was poured. Chan waited until they were alone again before speaking. "They were asking questions, showing her photo, and then they were executed, Russian style. At first, I attributed it to you."
Russian style. All nationalities had their own way of solving problems. Was it one of his countrymen or had it been set up to frame them? "What changed your mind?" He sipped the tea. Chinese black. Not his preference.
"My talk with your fiancee."
Nik frowned. "Talk?" What had she told him?
"An aggravatingly uninformative talk. She told me only that there is another threat," Chan added. "That was why you tightened security before the executions." He paused. "I know we aren't the closest of comrades, but I would have appreciated a warning."
They weren't comrades at all. "I would have appreciated not having my fiancee's photo flashed to every lowlife gangster thug operating on the west coast."
"I was unaware that she was your fiancee. You neglected to introduce her to me." Chan calmly refilled Nik's tea, his expression blank.
Nik hated this man, but arguing wouldn't solve his problem. "I didn't know the nature of the threat, only that there was one," he conceded. "I'm investigating. If it is my problem, I'll handle it."
"If it is your problem." A nod of jet black hair. "If the problem is general, I would prefer to take care of it." Nik inclined his head in agreement. If he lost three men, he'd request the same. "I'll send you a copy of what little information I've collected." It would be heavily censored, but better than nothing.
They sat, drinking tea. Partners. Nik would have never thought he'd be teaming up with Chan. Keeping Tatyana safe was the only reason he'd do this.
Chan lit a cigarette. "Should we request the presence of your Tatyana?" His normally grim lips twisted into a smile.
"She is my fiancee, Chan." Nik wouldn't allow him anywhere near Tatyana. Chan a notorious skirt chaser and not kind to the skirts he caught.
"Relax, Kaerta." Chan expelled smoke into the air. "I got badly burned once. It would take quite the woman to tempt me into that fire again."
"He replaced her just like that, can you believe it?" Tatyana redirected all her frustrations into venting about Joey Chan. "His wife hasn't been dead four days. His pregnant wife."
"Pregnant, but not with his child," Nikky, Nikolay, he insisted she call him, pointed out, his head lolled back on the limo seat.
"Yes, well." What the wife was thinking cheating on a primitive man like Joey Chan, Tatyana didn't know. She mustn't have been too bright. "He should still show some respect."
Nikky snorted. "You're talking about respect?"
Tatyana bit her bottom lip, saving her snappy retort for later. "Yes, well," she repeated.
That was the agreement, wasn't it? In a backhanded sort of way. "Joey ChanȄ"
"Enough about Joey Chan." Nikky held up his hand. Then, he waited.
Tatyana knew what for. She sat on her hands to keep
