Chapter Three

FIVE YEARS AGO, DMITRYAdrianov had been the typical European playboy: he worked hard and played harder, and he would not have minded living the rest of his life in such a way.

A personal tragedy, however, changed all of this for him and his younger brother, and it was then he decided to establish Strakh Inc., a secret organization that was to operate under one non-negotiable credo: audacia pro muro et scuto opus.

Boldness is our wall, action is our shield.

Furious and bitter at the way even the world"s most powerful governments proved unreliable - and at times even hostile - in his family"s quest for justice, Dmitry had since made a vow to go where others didn"t dare go.

He risked everything without hesitation, putting his own life on the line and doing everything that his money could afford him to destroy those who had amassed their personal fortunes by preying on the weak and the oppressed.

Sasha, upon learning of his older brother"s plans, had been on board to join him from the start, and after that, Dmitry had only needed a couple of months to complete Strakh Inc."s inner circle.

While the other guys hadn"t any problems with Dmitry taking on the mantle of leadership, the lot of them had also made a pact to never let their personal affairs affect the activities of Strakh Inc.

And so when the organization had a need to add another analyst to its payroll, and one of the prospective recruits turned out to be T.G. Baskerville...

Dmitry had allowed nature to take its course while privately hoping the girl would fail the comprehensive battery of tests meant to weed out the unsuitable and untrustworthy. But when test results came out, the girl"s scores had been better than everyone else"s across the board, and at that point, Dmitry"s only recourse had been to hope that she wouldn"t end up working directly under him...

But instead, once again, Fate decided to fuck things up.

Not only did the girl end up choosing his number, she had also turned out to be someone Dmitry found infinitely fuckable and damn near impossible to resist...despite all the reasons he had to despise her.

TAHEY was staring at him again. He had heard her on a video call with her friend once, and the other girl had called his secretary "Tahey". The name had stuck since then, not that she was ever meant to know.

As he worked on the next set of contracts Stelios had sent him, Dmitry could still feel his secretary"s gaze darting on him every so often, and the knowledge was making it harder for him to concentrate. It was also making his pants uncomfortably tight, and if this fucking continued...

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Dmitry switched his hold on the papers to his left hand and then used his right hand to rub his erection, all the while imagining it was Tahey who was doing it.

God, he was sick, desiring the girl he despised.

But it was her fault, too, dammit.

Did she really think she was being subtle with the way she kept staring and licking her lips every so often?

In the four months Tahey had started working for him, Dmitry had hoped that his interest in her would eventually wane. He had hoped that his attraction to her would be a flash in the pan, and that he only found himself desiring her because she was something new and different.

Tahey was remarkably attractive, certainly, but being a billionaire, Dmitry had met countless women who were more sophisticated and whose countenances were so heavenly they could drive a man crazy with need.

And yet...

None of those women had ever made Dmitry feel the way she did. It was her face, always just her face, that he ended up seeing the moment he closed his eyes in the shower. Always her image that he found himself jacking off to like a fucking boy who had yet to have his first taste of pussy.

Everything about her fascinated him.

Every goddamn thing.

She always had her hair neatly pinned up in a chignon, and seeing it made him want to see her long blonde locks ripple down her naked back. So many moments he"d catch her doe eyes avidly studying him through granny-styled prescription glasses, and every damn time, it would make him want to yank her glasses off so he could fuck her mouth with his tongue. Or cock.

The fucking point was, he was obsessed with her when he wasn"t supposed to be, and he had no fucking idea why.

Every second spent in her company was a struggle against the temptation to yank her close, and it only got worse with every day that passed. Just fucking worsened to the point that Dmitry could only curse himself out loud, every time his cock threatened to overrule his mind.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

It was what he ended up saying every time he caught Tahey doing something that had his mind going blank, and all he"d know was this sudden, desperate need to have even the smallest taste of her.

It could be something as simple as her lips absently curving in a smile when she was lost in her thoughts or seeing her doe eyes light up every time he walked into the office.

But in other days, it was a lot dirtier. Since only a glass partition separated his private office from her own workspace, there were a lot of times he was able to study her from the comfort of his desk, and fuck if he didn"t often catch her in the most delectable positions.

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 STRAKHInc. 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.