Page 11 of Seduced By the Russian

She wasn’t expecting Nikolai to give her a response, but to her surprise, he angled his head and said, “Somewhere I love to go. I think you’ll love it as well.”

Lisa’s eyes fell on Nikolai immediately, wondering where that had come from. This was the first time he was speaking about himself and something that he loved doing, and Lisa hadn’t thought it was possible for the hard nut to crack. Or was she missing something? Maybe he was trying to put her at ease so he could get something from her. But what exactly? Did it have something to do with what he was whispering about with Dmitri?

She couldn’t stop thinking about where Nikolai was taking her to. He only mentioned it was someplace he loved, so it could be anywhere at all. He was weird enough, so what if it happened to be a crazy ass place?

But the thought died instantly as Nikolai brought the car to a halt at the entrance of a beach. He did the chore of unclasping her seatbelt while Lisa sat there unmoving, and with a lot of questions in her head.

A beach.

A fucking beach!

In no world would she have placed Nikolai in a place as beautiful and serene as this.

Chapter Six

“Take a walk with me,” Nikolai said, taking Lisa’s confusion a notch higher. He stepped out of the car, and waited patiently for her to do the same. They walked side by side, away from the houses by the beach, silence weaving their way around them.

But it wasn’t those awkward silences where all you wanted to do was to get it over with or just say something for the moment to end. It was a comfortable cloak that settled upon them both, and Lisa thought she could spend all day being this way with him. They had abandoned their footwear by the car, and Lisa loved how the sand got between her toes.

Nikolai stopped suddenly and looked towards the water, watching the oncoming wave. Lisa did the same, staring at the rioting water as it sprung up and thrashed about, roaring as it announced its arrival. Lisa couldn’t take her eyes off it every step of the way, each rise and fall, each crash, each roar, each spray. She walked towards the water slowly until she could feel it wrap around her legs, gently urging her forward. For the first time in forever, Lisa felt at peace. She didn’t have to worry about working at that shitty restaurant or about the drainage in her bathroom that got blocked almost every day. Tears pooled in her eyes and poured unbridled down her face, but Lisa wasn’t even aware of that. All she could see and feel were the air from the water and its coolness on her feet.

Suddenly, Lisa felt warm hands on her face and looked up to see Nikolai wiping her tears off. Her whole body went rigid at first, but she slowly loosened up, allowing herself to feel his warmth. Lisa knew she shouldn’t be doing this to herself. She would only end up getting hurt.

“I knew you would love it,” Nikolai said, standing beside her. “I come here when I want to get away from everything - all the noise, the duties…It’s a really short break, but I enjoy every bit of it.”

Silence.

“I’ve never taken a break before,” Lisa said softly, releasing a deep breath. “I always had something to do, so much so that I forgot how it felt like not having any responsibilities on my shoulders. It was the reason why I went out of my mind when you didn’t show up for two days, but you…”

The unsaid words hung between them, but Nikolai moved past it quickly, even though his dick felt a little excitement from the brief thought.

“Why couldn’t you? Did you have a lot of responsibilities at home?”

Lisa shrugged. “I didn’t think of it that way, but now that you mention it, maybe I did.” Nikolai’s eyes widened a fraction, anxious for the words that would follow. However, Lisa was oblivious to his reaction as she still had her gaze fixed on the water. “I was responsible for trying not to annoy my foster parents, which I failed at woefully because every single thing I did pissed them off.”

“Foster parents? You didn’t grow up with your biological parents?”

Lisa nodded. “More like I moved from foster home to foster home more times than I could count. More often than not I’d end up back at the orphanage, and it happened so many times I did start to think maybe I was the actual problem. Maybe I was, because when I was finally picked up by a family who actually wanted me, it was to be used as a punching bag, and a means for them to let out steam.”

“Lisa…’

“I hate pity from anyone, you know? I liked to think that it was just my destiny - to be used by people. So, I worked so hard to be away from those that I thought had the power to abuse me. But guess what? I ended up right in their laps again. I moved out of their home, but nothing really changed. You saw where I lived. I am still the girl running over people’s commands because I do not have a will of my own. I still get bitched over by people because there’s no way out of that for me. It’s all I’ll ever be.”

“You’re wrong,” Nikolai muttered. “You’re with me now. Things will be different. I’ll protect you.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Lisa blurted.

“Hey,” he drawled softly but firmly. “Watch your tone. I have never made a promise I cannot keep, and I won’t start now.”

Nikolai stared at the waters again, thinking about how wrong Dmitri was. How on Earth had he made that conclusion that Lisa had something to do with the mole that had infiltrated the Bratva? The family the mole mentioned that he was working for used to be a core mafia family, and from what Lisa had told him, she knew nothing about that word. Sure, she could be lying. Nikolai had thought about that possibility. But the look in Lisa’s eyes told a rather different story; a story of someone who had faced real abuse. She was sincere. But there was also that impeccable English accent. Had she always had that?

“Have you heard anything from your birth parents?” Nikolai pushed just for the sake of it.

“No,” she replied. “I don’t know anything about them. When I asked, the orphanage refused to divulge any information.”

“And what about your foster parents? They should know something,”

Lisa looked up at Nikolai, her eyes roaming around his face, drinking him in. This was strange - from the walk to the conversation and his promise to take care of her. No man did that out of the blues, but then again, Nikolai was no ordinary man. Lisa couldn’t even keep up with the numerous sides to him. What was he onto now?

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