Lisa hadn't meant to moan out that loud, but the pain in her head had decided otherwise. The man in the dark suit cast his eyes on hers casually, as if her little outburst had disturbed his peace, even though he wasn't doing anything. At least, nothing that Lisa could see. But that was more than enough to get her hyperventilating. Lisa swallowed impulsively and tried to calm her raging breaths as he got off the couch and approached her, taking his time to reach the bed. He obviously also loved doing things at his own convenience.
Who the hell was this guy?
"Now that you are awake, do you care to tell me what that stunt you pulled was all about?"
Lisa was right! He towered over her easily, his tall frame looking perfect on his build.
His voice sent tremors down her spine, and Lisa resisted the urge to go with her emotions and scrambled to safety. A lot of people probably already responded that way to him. Even before she knew Nikolai fully, Lisa had already decided that she would not be one of them.
"What stunt?" Lisa felt embarrassed that her voice came out in that croaky tone when his voice was as hard and deep-set as a lieutenant in the army. Maybe that was exactly what he was.
"I've seen the results of your scan. You don't have amnesia."
Lisa blinked twice, and the lights made her feel dizzy. No! No! No! She couldn't possibly fall asleep right now - at least, not when this familiar stranger was talking to her.
The next time Lisa woke up, Nikolai was in the room with two other people, one of them obviously a doctor, decked in white, and the other was dressed similarly to Nikolai, although without the swagger. The second person was not as tall as Nikolai, but he looked more buff and had an even harder look. Lisa noticed how his eyes never seemed to leave Nikolai, watching him like a hawk. A bodyguard, maybe?
His eyes fell on hers as if he could sense she was watching them, and he looked at her oddly, like he didn't want her anywhere near them. Lisa could sense the hatred coming off him, but she had no clue what she did to make him hate her already. Or was that part of his job as a bodyguard too? To hate everyone his Boss comes in contact with?
As if affirming her thoughts, Dmitri nodded to Nikolai. "Boss, she's awake."
Oh well! There went her opportunity to ogle a bit more without being discovered. Lisa had already decided that she hated the bodyguard.
Boss? Is that what they call him?
Nikolai wordlessly approached the bed and lifted her in his arms easily, as if she weighed nothing. Lisa oddly remembered something similar happening after the accident: a pair of large hands picking her off the ground. She couldn't remember the scent of whoever it was, so there was no way to decipher if it was the annoying bodyguard that had brought her here, even though the chances were high.
Although it was really petty, Lisa prayed Nikolai was the owner of that pair of hands.
Still saying nothing, Nikolai carried Lisa out of the room and walked through the waiting room outside while the nurses looked on with a tinge of jealousy in their eyes. Lisa, on the other hand, squirmed in his arms as she struggled to get back to the safety of the ground. And it wasn't that she felt uncomfortable in his arms, far from it. Lisa didn't know this man, yet his strong, woody, and earthy scent wafted through her nostrils and cloaked itself around her, tightly pulling at the strings attached to her senses.
She held her breath, not wanting to do this to herself. This man wouldn't hesitate to throw her on the floor the moment he discovered what she was thinking.
"I can walk by myself!" she protested countless times, and each one of them fell on deaf ears. Nikolai didn't put her down until they were by the car. Dmitri appeared suddenly beside him, and pulled open the door of the backseat, while Nikolai dropped her carefully inside. She could see the look on Dmitri's face as Nikolai paused for what was longer than necessary after dropping her.
Was this unusual?
Lisa wondered if he too thought she looked familiar. Perhaps, that was what was going through his head in those few seconds.
Nikolai, however, couldn't vouch for the exact reason his body refused to move. He found himself pleased with the color of Lisa's eyes - unexpectedly gray. Watching her, he imagined how it would feel to have those eyes rolled to the back for him and only him. The mere thought of it made him hard.
Now, that only added to the number of strange things that had happened in the space of twenty-four hours.
The Russian Bear wasn't a horny bastard because he had great control over his desires. But this woman… this woman!
"Address?" Nikolai asked as he got into the driver's seat. Lisa gave it to him, and they began the short journey to her home. As they approached her neighborhood, Lisa couldn't help but feel so self-conscious that this man was about to see how she lived. No one had ever been to her home or even had a clue where she lived, for that matter, yet everything changed in the blink of an eye. How would she get out of this without looking like some desperate beggar?
"You can leave me here," Lisa said in a low tone, putting her hand on the lock. "My apartment is just ahead."
"Where?"
Was he always this bossy?
"It's fine…" Lisa struggled with what to call him. Boss didn't sound ideal to her. But then again, why not? "Boss. I can manage on my own."
Nikolai smirked, oblivious to both Lisa and Dmitri. He liked it when she called him Boss - it made him think of some great ideas. Looking ahead, Nikolai's eyes fell on the only building in sight - an apartment complex painted cream, although he was sure it must have been a brilliant white about a hundred years ago.
One moment of stretched silence abounded in the car, and every pair of eyes was fixated on Nikolai, whose eyes were still fixed on the building. It was wobbly at one corner; give it another few months and it would have collapsed totally to the ground. There was an ugly green patch of spirogyra covering the base walls of the building, as well as a puddle of water Nikolai was sure bred a lot of insects.