Not Just the Boss's Plaything(14)

"I have a better solution," he said, in the confident and commanding    tone she recognized from the conference room. "I don't need to fire you,    necessarily. It will serve my purposes far better to use this   situation  to my advantage."

Alicia could only shake her head, looking for clues on that face of his that gave nothing away. "I don't know what that means."

"It means, Alicia," he said almost softly, a wolf's dangerous smile in    those winter eyes if not on that hard mouth, "that I need a date."

* * *

He could use this, Nikolai thought, while Alicia stared up at him as if    he'd said that last sentence in Russian instead of English. He could   use  her.

A problem well managed could become a tool. And every tool could be a weapon, in the right hands. Why not Alicia?

He'd expected her to want more than Saturday night-they always did. And    the sex they'd had had been...troubling. He'd known it while it was    happening. He'd known it in between, when he'd found himself talking of    things he never, ever talked about. He'd known it when he'd opened his    eyes to watch her tiptoe from his room on Sunday morning, and had    discovered he wanted her to stay.

He knew it now, remembering her sweet, hot mouth against his tattoo as    if she'd blessed that snarling representation of the monster in him. As    if she'd made it sacred, somehow. The moment he'd seen her, he'd    expected she would try to leverage that, take it from him somehow. He'd    planned to make it clear to her she had to go-before she could try.

But she claimed she wanted to ignore him. He should have been thrilled.

He told himself he was.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was carefully blank when she finally spoke, to    match the expression on her face. "Did you say you needed a date?"

"I did." It occurred to him that he was enjoying himself, for the first    time since he'd looked up and seen her standing in that conference   room,  in clear violation of all his rules. "There is a Christmas ball   in  Prague that I must attend in a few weeks, and it will go much more    smoothly with a woman on my arm."                       
       
           



       

These things were always better with a date, it was true. It didn't    matter who it was. The presence of any date at his side would repel most    of the vulturelike women who always circled him like he was fresh  meat   laid out in the hot sun, allowing Nikolai to concentrate on  business.   And in the case of this particular charity ball, on  Veronika-who had   only this morning confirmed that she and her lover  would attend.

Because Nikolai had realized, as he looked at her in the light of the    streetlamps and thought strategy instead of containment, that Alicia    could very well turn out to be the best weapon yet in his dirty little    war.

"I'm certain there are hordes of women who would love nothing more than    to fill that opening for you," she said, with none of the deference or    courtesy he was used to from his subordinates and dates alike. There   was  no reason on earth he should find that intriguing. "Perhaps one of   your  many assistants has a sign-up sheet? A call list? Maybe even an    audition process to weed out the lucky winner from the multitudes?"

He'd told her he liked sweet and biddable, and he did. But he liked    this, too. He liked the way she talked to him, as if it hadn't occurred    to her that she should fear him like everyone else did. It made him   want  to lick her until all of that tartness melted all over him, and he    didn't want to examine that particular urge any closer.

"Something like that," he said. "But it's all very tedious. All I want    is a pretty dress, a polite smile. I don't have time for the games."

"Or the person, apparently," she said, her voice dry. "I'm sure that's    very rewarding for whichever pretty dress you choose. But what does  this   have to do with me?"

Nikolai smiled, adrenaline moving through him the way it always did before a tactical strike. Before another win.

"You want nothing to do with me." His voice was a silken threat in the cold night. "Or so you claim."

"You're right," she said, but her voice caught. "I don't."

"Then it's perfect," he said. "It's only a handful of weeks until the    ball. We'll allow ourselves to be photographed on a few dates. The world    will think I'm smitten, as I am very rarely seen with the same woman    more than once. More specifically, my ex-wife will think the same. And    as she has always greatly enjoyed her fantasy that she is the only  woman   to have any power over me, and has never been one to resist a    confrontation, it will put her right where I want her."

She stared at him. "And where is that, exactly?"

"Veronika and I need to have a conversation," Nikolai said with cool    dismissal. "Hopefully, our last. The idea that I might have moved on    will expedite that, I think."

"How tempting," she said after a moment, her voice as arid as that look    in her eyes. "I've always aspired to be cold-bloodedly used to make    another woman jealous, of course. It's truly every girl's dream. But I    think I'll pass."

"This has nothing to do with jealousy," he said impatiently. "The only    thing left between Veronika and me is spite. If that. I'm sure you'll    see it yourself at the ball."

"Even more appealing. But still-no."

"Your whole office saw me stare at you today." He shrugged when her eyes    narrowed. "They could hardly miss it. How much of a leap will it be   for  them to imagine that was the beginning of an infatuation?"

"But they won't have to make that leap." Her eyes were glittering again.    "I've declined your lovely offer and we're going to ignore each   other."

"I don't think so." He watched her take that in. Knew she didn't like    it. Found he didn't much care if she was happy about it, so long as she    did it. "I'm going to take an interest in you, Alicia. Didn't you  know?   Everybody loves a romance."

"They won't believe it." Her voice sounded thick, as if the idea of it    horrified her, and he was perverse enough to take that as a challenge.    "They won't believe someone like you could get infatuated at all, much    less with me."                       
       
           



       

He smiled. "They will. And more to the point, so will Veronika."

And he could kill two birds with one stone. He could dig into this    attraction, the unacceptable intoxication this woman made him feel, and    in so doing, strip away its power over him. Make certain he never  again   felt the need to unburden himself in such a shockingly   uncharacteristic  manner to a total stranger. At the same time, he could   use Veronika's  smug certainty about her place in his life against  her.  It was perfect.

Alicia stared back at him, so hard he thought he could hear her mind racing.

"Why bring any of this into the office at all?" she asked, sounding    frustrated. Panicked, even. "If you want me to go to this ball, fine.    I'll do it, but I don't see why anyone needs to know about it but us. No    unlikely romance necessary."

"And how will that work?" he asked mildly. "When pictures of us at that    ball show up in all the papers, and they will, it will look as if we    were keeping our relationship a secret. As if we were hiding something.    Think of the gossip then."

"You said you're not an actor," she said. "Yet this seems like a very elaborate bit of theater."

"I told you, you're a distraction," he replied, almost gently. He wanted    to show her what he meant. To bury his face in that crook of her  neck.   To make her quiver for him the way he knew he could. Only the  fact he   wanted it too much kept him from it. "I don't allow  distractions,   Alicia. I neutralize them or I use them for my own  ends."

"I don't want to be in any papers." Her voice was low, her eyes intense    on his. It took him a moment to realize she was panicked. A better man    might not have enjoyed that. "I don't want pictures of me out there,   and  certainly not with you."