His eyes searched mine and I smiled. “That wasn’t my intent,” I quickly objected. His eyes returning to the road, I continued talking, “I recognize it is a good thing; otherwise I might not be alive.”
He didn’t answer, so I changed subjects. “What do you do anyhow? And what kind of business do you want to legalize?”
For a moment, the question lingered and then he answered, “I have several businesses on the West and East Coasts back in the States. Some here in Russia and over Europe too. I have two businesses left to legalize.”
“So what else do you do? Any other interesting businesses?” I asked. “Besides casinos.”
“Shipping businesses, hotels, security businesses.” I frowned, hoping he wasn’t some kind of smuggler.
“You didn’t really say what kind of business you need my father’s help in legalizing,” I retorted dryly.
“No, I didn’t,” he replied with a hint of a smile on his lips. “It is a casino.”
A silent o formed at my lips.
“Why do you ask Anastasia?”
“Just trying to figure you out,” I uttered teasingly. “Scared?”
“No.” Of course he wasn’t scared. Dimitry was the hottest and the most dangerous guy I have ever met.
“How long have you known my father?” I asked. I recalled my father dodging the question when I asked him.
“About ten years.”
“Where do you live?”
“Mostly in San Francisco.”
Dimitry Alexeyev was not the type to talk about himself, that was for sure. He seemed locked tight. It wasn’t exactly like I was an open book but I certainly wasn’t locked tight as him. It seemed strange that my father and Dimitry would have known each other for the past ten years if Dimitry had an illegal business. Then it occured to me that maybe Dad ran into him during one of his cases. Although Dad spent most of his time focused on organized crime and killers.
Then I remembered where I had heard his last name before. Alexeyev! My father attempted to prosecute him, tying him to organized crime. I didn’t keep up with my father’s cases but I was sure he complained Dimitry Alexeyev was the criminal that got away. One of the only ones that got away. It would seem Dimitry got away because he wasn’t a criminal. And now Dimitry helped Dad in my rescue. What a bizarre world!
How was it that Dimitry made me feel so safe but I barely knew him at all. The few things I knew about him should make me feel exactly the opposite of safe. Dad would have a cow if he thought I was swooning over this man although I had a nudge after our last phone call he might have guessed.
I desired Dimitry; my body came alive around him. Just a look at him, and my heart raced and I melted.
I thought back to my first serious boyfriend. He was a family friend, three years older than me going through law school. He was tentative, polite and nice. An open book. But for the entire duration of our relationship my heart didn’t speed up once. We dated for about nine months before we decided to call it quits. It took me a good three months to get comfortable enough to start fooling around with him physically. Although we didn’t have sex, we did plenty of other things but his touch never made me burn. I wanted to experience what happened this morning again with Dimitry but I wasn’t quite sure where we stood.
He told me to be sure of who I wanted and I told him I wanted him.Didn’t I?
The sun was already setting and I wondered how far we were from the airport. I didn’t want to interrogate him so I settled for the sights out the window. There wasn’t that much to see, occasional homes, fields, old energy plants.
There were parts of Russia that were beautiful with vast history, some parts that were breathtaking, and then there were depressing parts. This one seemed to be the latter. It almost looked like a desolate desert full of abandoned lands and factories.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dimitry
Lost in her thoughts, Anastasia stared out the window and I wondered what she was thinking. Usually women fell all over themselves to get noticed by me, didn’t care who I really was. They were blinded by the money and power I had. They didn’t care how I earned the billions, or what I had done to get to the place I was.
Anastasia was different. She wanted to know me, the real me. She didn’t care about the money nor power, although she came from both.
But Anastasia Manciatti was soft. Her reaction to the discovery of who my brothers and I truly were and her forgiveness to Sergei were a testament to it. She forgave Sergei too quickly for kidnapping her. Maybe forgiving was too strong of a word but I sure as hell was still furious with Sergei for putting her into that situation. I would have to settle that score with him later.
Noting the exit number, I glanced back at Anastasia. “Five minutes and we’ll be at the airport.”
She startled out of her thoughts and her eyes shifted towards me. I found that I loved her eyes on me. I liked it when they flashed with desire, or when she bit her lip gently as if she was deciding how she should kiss me.