Bedded and Deceived Read online

  She'd be typing on her computer, and with her back so straight, he'd find it impossible to ignore the way the firm roundness of her breasts were straining against the tight fit of her blouse.

  A few times, he'd catch her bending down to pick up something she had dropped, and all Dmitry would be able to do was clench his fists against the urge to spank her tight little ass.

  Other times, it could be something as random as Tahey absently crossing her legs, and the sight of it would have Dmitry imagining her long, shapely limps wrapping around his waist as he fucked her hard and good.

  She was a sick and twisted obsession of his, and unreasonable or not, he hated her all the more for it. He goddamn despised everything she stood for, but despite this, Dmitry was not so blinded by the past that he no longer saw the woods for the trees.

  Her hourglass figure, with curves so sinfully dramatic that they'd still be discernible even if she were to hide herself under a big old sack, was nothing but false advertising.

  His secretary might seem like a fifties pin-up girl who knew every trick there was in a porn star's bible, but Dmitry would stake his life on the fact that she had somehow made it to the sweet, ripe age of twenty-three without losing her innocence.

  He wished he could convince himself it wasn't so, but he knew a gullible, virginal fool when he saw one.

  And Tahey?

  She was one of the biggest fools out there, to still feel attracted to an asshole like him, and the time had come to do something about it.

  EVEN BEFORE STRAKH Inc. was formed, Dmitry had never been the type to conduct his affairs in public. That was more Stelios' thing, not his. And rather than having a string of one-night stands, he had always preferred the convenience of long-term mistresses. Rita was there to keep him company when he was in the States while Jacqueline was his on-call lover, ready and willing to jet to wherever he was at a moment's notice.

  Both women had been meticulously chosen, not for their beauty or even their wit, but mainly for one thing: their willingness to play by his rules, no questions asked. And so when Dmitry had asked Rita to join him in his office - something he had never done in the past - she hadn't even questioned the oddness or rarity of it.

  His plan for that night had been simple: let his secretary know he had other women in his life, and hopefully that would be enough to extinguish the stars in her eyes. What he had not counted on, however, was Rita being able to size up the situation at a glance, and upon realizing that Tahoma could be a threat to her position, she had then decided to make it seem as if she was Dmitry's girlfriend rather than merely someone the billionaire had on his payroll to warm his bed.

  Rough sex, Rita had once candidly admitted to him, was the only thing that turned her on, while all those post-coital cuddles and affectations made her skin crawl with disgust. But upon seeing Dmitry's secretary, Rita had turned herself into an adoring girlfriend in a heartbeat, using the most ludicrous nicknames to refer to the billionaire and clinging to him like she couldn't even bear being separated by mere inches.

  Dmitry had seen through her act easily of course, and it irritated the hell out of him. Didn't Rita realize she was laying it a little too thick, and only an idiot would fall for her ruse?

  Pissed at the way his mistress was giving the whole thing away, he then turned to face Tahey...and that was when he realized how big of an idiot his secretary was.

  One look in her eyes...

  Fuck.

  Their gazes clashed for a fraction of a second, but it was enough. She quickly spun around, but it was too late. Dmitry had learned a lot about her in the past few months she had been working for him, learned quite enough that he knew...

  Right now, Tahey was doing her very best to keep herself from crying, and her pain, silent as it was, seemed to poison the very air he breathed.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  He hated himself for caring. Hated her for making him care. But even so, it was suddenly no longer bearable to have Rita or any other woman's lips brushing against his skin—-

  Not now.

  Not when the woman he both despised and desired was struggling to contain her hurt—-

  FUCK.

  He watched his secretary spin around to face them again, but this time she no longer lifted her gaze to his, and her words, upon tumbling out, were barely audible as she excused herself and wished them an enjoyable date.

  She left without looking back, and he let her leave, knowing that she hadn't seen him push Rita away. He let her leave, even knowing that she was convinced Rita was his girlfriend. He let her leave, knowing that after this...

  It just had to end.

  He would stop hurting her.

  Stop despising her for something she wasn't responsible for.

  Stop punishing her for something she knew nothing about.

  And after that...

  He would find a way, would fucking die trying if that was what it took.

  He would not stop until he was rid of his desire for Tahey, permanently.

  Chapter Four

  Tahey only had her heart broken once. It was when she had learned the truth about Thomas, and the world she knew had instantly become revoltingly evil. Even now, the wound of her father's betrayal still hurt, and she had come to accept that it would always do so. What Thomas had done was unforgivable, and if she compared it to what Dmitry had done...

  Her father was still the bigger asshole hands down, Tahey thought numbly, so why, dammit...why was she hurting like this? Why did the pain seem just as bad, so damn bad she found herself struggling just as hard not to give in to tears?

  The billionaire owed her nothing. He had not made her any promises. He hadn't even done anything that could be categorized as remotely evil. He had simply let her know that he already had someone in her life...and rubbed salt in her wound while he was at it. Douchebag move, definitely, but it still wasn't evil.

  Was it because she wasn't just infatuated with him?

  Could she be hurting this much because she was in lo—-

  "No!"

  Tahey was so horrified at the direction of her thoughts that she actually found herself shooting up to a sitting position in her bed, heart banging against her chest at an alarming rate.

  She was not that.

  Right?

  To be that would be the height of insanity and idiocy, and surely even she had her limits when it came to being an idiot...right?

  She fell back on her bed and stared at her ceiling.

  Could she be that?

  Could she?

  Tahey asked herself this over and over until she fell asleep in a state of exhaustion. A part of her had drowsily hoped that she would have her answer when she woke up, but when her alarm clock went off, she opened her eyes and realized two things.

  She still didn't know if she was that.

  And secondly...

  REGRET had never been a part of Dmitry's vocabulary. Instead of dwelling pointlessly on past mistakes, he would rather perceive them as a learning tool and act accordingly. Change what he should change, eliminate what no longer worked, and this he never hesitated to do, in both his work and personal life.

  In the case of his secretary, however...

  He tried to convince himself that it was not regret he was feeling even as he unceremoniously sent Rita packing...for good. But when he was alone in his bedroom and unable to make himself forget the look of dazed hurt on his secretary's face...

  Fuck!

  Cold showers and prolonged hours at the gym were usually enough to clear his mind for sleep, but this time none of it worked. Instead, he felt himself seething and on edge to the point of violence, and since he knew that agitation was a close kin of regret...

  Damn her!

  Why the fuck couldn't he make himself stop thinking about Tahey? He could have any woman in the world. Any woman, dammit. And yet it just had to be her that he found himself obsessing over. The one girl in this world that he had every right to despise.

  In
his desperation to exorcise his thoughts of her, he found himself grappling with the zipper of his pants with unusual clumsiness. He would jack off like he usually did, maybe keep doing it until he was completely spent and the thought of her would disgust him—-

  But this time...

  Dmitry stared at his semi-flaccid dick in disbelief.

  What the fuck?

  It was almost as if both his mind and body were rebelling against him, almost as if they had taken away his right to imagine himself fucking his secretary.

  But that was fucking crazy.

  Wasn't it?

  He tried to get his dick up with furious strokes, but it remained unresponsive.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  He knew this had to be purely psychological, but no fucking way was he going to consult a shrink about this. If he wanted his cock back, he first had to make things right with...

  Tahey.

  It was Monday again, and as soon as the reception doors slid open, Dmitry was stunned to see his secretary already inside his office, standing in her usual spot, and still waiting for him with a cup of coffee.

  He hadn't really been certain he would see her again, and a conflicting mix of emotions had kept him from making the necessary inquiries to find out if she had turned in her resignation. Pride had something to do with it, but there were other messed-up factors. There was his sense of self-preservation, for one thing. If he had allowed himself to ask about her, then he might as well acknowledge she had become important to him.

  And she couldn't be.

  Just fucking couldn't, even if she hadn't done anything wrong.

  Tahey wasn't surprised when she started trembling the moment she saw her boss stride past the reception doors, and she found herself trembling even harder when his steps stilled into a halt as his golden eyes clashed with hers.

  He looked chillingly beautiful as always, austere and elegant in his dark suit, and though he wasn't clean shaven for a change and now sported a day-old stubble that added a roguish edge to his looks...

  Tahey's heart sped up.

  Something's different about him.

  But there was no time to ponder what exactly this was, with her boss now inside his office and standing right in front of her.

  Dmitry's jaw clenched as he took in her appearance. Still curvy, pretty, and fuckable, but even though there was nothing physically different, he could somehow feel how so much frailer she was. So much more breakable, and of course he knew why that was so.

  Tahey tried her best not to fidget under Dmitry's brooding gaze. He usually couldn't bear the sight of her, usually acted like having his eyes rest on her for more than a few seconds were enough to give him visual ulcers. It was an unexpected change, and it worried her. What if this meant he had come up with more ways to hurt her over the weekend?

  The thought made her feel sick, and it had her gulping several times before she could make her voice work. "G-Good morning, Mr. Adrianov."

  She waited for him to sail past her after this, like he always did, but instead...

  The billionaire gave her a curt nod, and she almost had a heart attack in her shock. Did he just...actually...acknowledge her existence?

  "Good morning."

  Tahey felt close to fainting now, and she could only dazedly follow behind her boss. He had actually said 'good morning' back. She had obviously made a mistake earlier. It wasn't that something had changed. Rather, something was clearly and patently wrong with her boss, for him to be so...nice.

  Dmitry took his seat and reached for today's set of financial statements just as Tahey placed his cup of coffee on the side of his desk. His hand accidentally bumped into hers, and a drop of coffee spilled over her hand. He cursed in his mind at this, expecting her to cry out in pain at any moment...but she never did.

  His gaze sharply swung up towards her, and while an expression of pain briefly crossed her face, having a drop of hot liquid burn her skin didn't seem to shock her. It was almost as if she was used to this...

  Comprehension struck, and Dmitry's teeth gnashed.

  Fuck.

  This probably did happen once in a while in the past, but she had probably kept her pain to herself, not wanting to further draw his ire.

  After carefully positioning her boss's cup on the desk, Tahey was about to step back when she saw the billionaire take out a pack of wet tissues from one of his drawers. She heard a tearing sound after, and the next thing she knew Dmitry's long fingers had already curled around her wrist...

  A gasp escaped her, and Tahey could only blink in confusion as her boss pressed the cold sheet on the bright red spot on her skin.

  "It should take the sting out in a bit," Dmitry said roughly.

  Tahey finally realized what had changed about her boss, and it made her feel quite ill.

  Dmitry was caught off guard when Tahey suddenly yanked her hand out of his hold. He was about to ask her what the fuck was wrong when he saw the glisten of tears in her big, dark eyes. Fuck.

  "I don't need your pity, Mr. Adrianov," Tahey managed to say in a steady voice. "You've made your point last night, and in my defense, I only...I was...I mean, I didn't know you already had a girlfriend—-"

  "She was my mistress," Dmitry heard himself say.

  Tahey's eyes widened. Mistress? That woman was his mistress? Like a woman paid to warm a man's bed? But...wait...did he just say—-

  "Was," she blurted out, "as in past tense?"

  He nodded curtly.

  Oh no.

  She swallowed hard.

  Oh no.

  She had promised herself this morning that she would continue working for Dmitry to prove to herself that she could do so, and that she was able to do so because she wasn't...that.

  But after what Dmitry said—-

  Oh no.

  "I wish you hadn't said that," she whispered.

  "Then just pretend you never heard them," he couldn't help snapping.

  "But I can't—-"

  "The fuck you—-"

  "Because now it's made me realize I've been lying to myself."

  Dmitry's gaze narrowed.

  Tahey breathed deep. "Mr. Adrianov..."

  Shit. Something about the tone of her voice immediately made him feel wary and cornered, and he actually found himself taking a step back from his secretary. "Don't say another word—-"

  "I'm in love with you."

  "Fuck."

  For some reason, rather than feeling hurt, Tahey actually found herself biting back a smile. It was probably because of the way her boss looked right now. He actually looked seriously ill, almost as if those five words had given him indigestion. Not a fairytale reaction obviously, but it was still a lot better than having Dmitry still acting like she was invisible.

  "Fuck."

  Oh no. Two F-bombs were never ever good, and so Tahey hurriedly jumped into speech. "Please be assured that I will never let my feelings get in the way of work, Mr. Adrianov. And I would totally understand if you ever end up falling for another girl. I mean, yes, it's probably going to hurt like crazy, but it's not like I can force you to ever like me back. And you've never ever made me any promises - not that I'm expecting you to - but what I'm saying is that you liking another girl isn't like you're cheating on me or something, and..." Shit. She forced herself to stop, realizing too late that she had ended up rambling in her nervousness.

  And Dmitry...

  The billionaire still looked rather sick, but at least he didn't seem ready to throw her out of the window like he usually did. So that was a good thing...right?

  Chapter Five

  Tahey stared at her boss, not quite sure she had heard him right. "I'm sorry, sir," she said finally. "Did you just say—-"

  "We're flying to Paris in three hours." The billionaire's tone was impatient. "Is that clear enough for you," her boss asked sarcastically, "or do I have to repeat myself again?"

  Tahey quickly shook her head. "No, um, I heard that—-"

  "Then get to your ap
artment and start packing." Dmitry's attention switched back to the papers in his hand, and Tahey knew that was as good as being dismissed.

  Paris. She was still a little shocked, but her excitement was also growing with every second, and it had her legs wobble just the slightest bit as she walked out of her boss' office.

  It had been a week since her "revelation", and everything between them had been rather...unpredictable. She had hoped that Dmitry would eventually feel attracted to her, but she had also feared that her revelation would make things permanently awkward between them.

  But instead, it was just the usual, sort of. Dmitry was still cold and aloof, and most times he was also rather impatient and brusque. But one thing that did change was how he no longer acted as if she was invisible.

  When she welcomed him to the office with her usual 'good morning', he'd usually nod back, and if she were lucky, he would actually say the words back. She would give him his coffee, and he would grunt his thanks. Small things obviously, and if Keagan knew about this, her friend would probably tell her she was being a little too optimistic, to think that was progress...

  But still.

  And besides...they were flying to Paris tonight!

  Paris!

  Her phone vibrated just as the elevator reached her floor, and her heart did a little dance when she saw that it was Dmitry texting her. This was another thing that had changed between them. He texted her more often now, and sure, it was always about work...but still.

  Maybe Keagan was right, Tahey thought ruefully. Maybe she was being a little too optimistic...but still.

  Dmitry's text provided further information about their Paris trip.

  Dmitry: Forgot to tell you that we'd be there for the weekend and be back in Miami by Monday. Bring something formal.

  She sent a quick text back to acknowledge receipt and turned into a whirlwind right after as she took a shower, changed into something a little "nicer" for the trip, and finished packing in about an hour.