Page 23 of Seduced By the Russian

But in all she did that day, the most important thing was to avoid Nikolai like the plague. She knew how he got when upset.

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Lisa’s hands were poised against the brass knuckle on the door, trying to summon up the courage to rapt her fist against the door. The matron had announced to her that Nikolai wanted to see her in his office, her exact words being, “The Russian Bear demanded you see him immediately, even if you are hanging upside down over the toilet sink. Poor child! What have you done to get on his bad side so soon?”

The matron had no idea. Lisa felt she was always trying not to get on his bad side, yet nature seemed to push her right there every time. And Lisa was weird for even thinking about admitting to the fact that she enjoyed the game, one where she had to relinquish control by force.

The door was suddenly pulled open with Lisa’s hand still on the door, and she all but tumbled into the room, almost falling face flat on the rug in the huge office. Instead, a pair of hands caught her and stabled her for a second before letting her go. He didn’t smell like Nikolai, and Lisa had a good idea who it was.

She whipped her head up, surprised to see Dmitri was the one who had caught her from falling. But almost immediately, as if she had some infection he didn’t want to get, he let her go and stood far away from her in the room. The scowl that Lisa had gotten used to was back up, as well as a closed off expression.

What exactly was his deal?

“The meeting is over,” Nikolai said from the office chair behind the desk, not looking up from the tablet on the table. Despite the fact that she knew she couldn’t be in his office to get flowers handed over to her, his voice still managed to get her head in a frenzy. It dripped off hard masculinity, and it got to Lisa every single time, even when he was barely trying.

Dmitri flashed a glare at Lisa as he stalked out of the office, closing the door behind him. She waited until she couldn’t hear his footsteps again before turning her attention to Nikolai, who still hadn’t moved an inch. The lights in his office were dull, and they cast a soft glow on everything under its purview. But the brightest light in the space was the one from his tab on the table, and it shone onto his hard-set face, which bore nothing but anger right now. Lisa recognized it from how eerily calm he looked, like the next minute he was about to ask her in a calm voice to get down on her knees and suck on his cock till he released.

The mere thought brought a dull pulse in between her thighs.

“What’s Dmitri’s deal?” Lisa broke the silence when it was getting too loud for comfort. Left for Nikolai, he would have loved to have her stand there before him, the silence eating so deep into her that she wouldn’t be able to take it anymore. She broke way too soon, but this was going to have to do.

“He seemed extra angry at me today. I mean, he is always angry at me, but it’s just… too much today, I guess.”

“So, you notice things like that,” Nikolai quietly mentioned, finally looking in her direction. His eyes appeared darker than usual, and the weight of it fell on Lisa. She took a tiny step backward unconsciously, her heart suddenly going erratic. But she had no clue what was causing it - the fact that he looked scary or that she loved how it made her feel.

“What are you aiming at?” Lisa said in a shaky voice, then cleared her throat noisily to try again. “What things did I not notice?” Her voice came out stronger this time, and she mentally gave herself a pat on the back.

“If you noticed Dmitri was angrier at you, then surely you read the room before walking into it dressed like that.”

So that was what this was about!

Lisa thought he had let it go. She should have known better - Nikolai never let things go.

“I didn’t know you were having a meeting there with your men!” She raised her hands in exasperation, and Nikolai’s eyes followed the movement. “I was bored out of my mind and needed to leave my room. And you are not exactly fun material, not one I would run to when I need company.”

The last part was true. Each time she was in Nikolai’s presence, they either argued about the most mundane thing ever, with Nikolai winning all the time, like right now, or they had crazy sex in every corner of the house. Nikolai was hard to keep up with. But was she kidding herself? Lisa knew that from the very beginning.

“But my men are, right?”

“Nikolai, you aren’t being very reasonable right now.”

Lisa realized her mistake the moment she spoke the words, but it was too late to recall them. Nikolai angled his head at her outburst, then got out of his seat and walked over to where she stood by the door slowly, easily towering over her. His long fingers brushed her chin, and he lifted her face up to look him in the eyes. They were as dark as the clouds on a rainy day.

“I’m being unreasonable?”

Lisa squirmed underneath his touch, wanting to put as much space between them as possible, and at the same time, tug at the wool of his black sweater. This wasn’t the best place or time to think about how his lips would feel pressed against hers, and how he seemed to be obsessed with her lips since the last time in his car.

“Nikolai…” Lisa whispered, unable to stop herself.

“You are mine, Lisa,” he declared, like he had all the power in the world to take anyone he wished too.

Maybe he did.

“And I had to stop myself from pulling a gun out and ending the lives of my men who dared to look at you in those damn shorts and a crop top that left nothing to the imagination.”

Lisa would have added that she wore a bra, but she doubted that would change anything in this situation. And why the hell was he acting like she had given them a show or something? All she had done was stumble into the room, and she walked out almost immediately.

But not before he had already registered his displeasure.

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