Free Only One Man Will Do by Fiona McGier Page B

room back to his wife and bent low to talk directly into her ear. She glanced across the room at them and nodded before they walked with her hand on his arm, into the dining room.
    Alexandra had enough. She turned quickly and walked out through the doors left unlocked for smokers to seek refuge on the balcony. She didn’t stop until she had reached the opposite end of it and leaned against the ornate railing.
    Dmitri followed her closely and, as she contemplated whether or not she would break a leg if she jumped, he spoke into her ear. His lips were so close to her skin the hairs on her neck stood at attention and a shiver ran down her spine before taking a detour to send the tingling sensation to the juncture between her thighs, making her legs shake.
    “You don’t appear to be happy to see me,
Sashka
.”
    She whirled around to face him. “What the fuck are you doing here? How did you even find the right place? This is an invitation-only event. What the hell kind of conglomerate are you supposed to represent? And how did you pick my dad out of the crowd, to get him to introduce you to me?”
    Dmitri smiled at her, shaking his head. “You don’t really want to know the answers to all of those questions. The only question you really want to know is why I’m here. The answer should be obvious. I’m here because it’s Saturday night and you’re here. Where else would I be?”
    Sparks flew out of her eyes as she spat out, “At the bar? Fucking one of the biker babes there? Not here, intruding on my private life!”
    He didn’t back off, but stared into her eyes. “Private life? Is there anything more private than what you and I have shared for weeks now?”
    “Okay, my weekday life. My businesswoman persona. You’re not a part of this part of my life. You don’t belong here.”
    A smile played with the corners of his mouth. “But that’s where you are so wrong,
Sashka
. I belong wherever you are. I told you when I met you we both wear many faces and many names. I actually told your father my real name, though your knowing that gives you more power over me than I had intended for you to have at this point. But it will make things easier to explain to him when we tell him we’re going to be married.”
    “
What,
” she shrieked as her face registered anger and shock.
    “Oh, did I say that out-loud? My bad. We’d better get into the dining room or your father and his lovely trophy wife will wonder where we are, since we’ll be missing the soup course.”
    “Of all of the delusional, conceited, over-bearing…”
    “Yes, yes, we can argue later. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
    He reached out and took hold of her elbow and began walking towards the unlocked door back into the brightly-lit great room.
    She walked without thinking about what she was doing, as her mind continued to try to process what was going on.
    “But…” she sputtered as the door shut behind them.
    “Later, Alexandra, we don’t want your father to suspect we have already met, do we? That might lead to some embarrassing questions.”
    He glanced over at her and smiled. She glared at him as they were ushered by the wait-staff into the dining room. A quick look around the room led them to the table her father was seated at, as he stood up and waved to get their attention.
    “There you are, you two. Where did you go?”
    “Your beautiful daughter wanted to show me the view of the golf course from the balcony. She also explained the national presence that a company of your size and stature could offer to my partners, should we decide we need help in introducing our products to your market.”
    Thomas wasn’t sure what to make of his daughter’s face, but he definitely approved of her continuing to demonstrate for their new acquaintance why the company he had built from scratch was so formidable. So he pointed to the two chairs he had saved opposite him from his wife, and he introduced Dmitri to the people seated at