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swell of cleavage peeking over the red fabric of her dress. Any other night, the sight of her photo would have revved his engines and had him thinking about sex—rough, sweaty and hard and exactly the way he liked it.
    Now? Well…he felt only irritation. He didn’t want another empty encounter. Marissa was a nice woman, and they had had some truly fun times together but she was only in it for the perks. He wasn’t innocent in that, of course. His predicament was one of his own making.
    Not wanting Marissa stuck inside waiting for him when she could be out enjoying herself with friends, he sent her a quick text message. Not tonight .
    She didn’t answer.
    Tossing aside his phone, he eyed the container of cookies he had placed on the bar. Unable to help himself, he got up to grab them and poured more whisky into his glass. He examined one of the sugary snowflakes and thought of Shay. Beautiful, talented, smart, determined to better herself and a skilled baker? Of course, Shay had to be the whole fucking package.
    Loosened up by another two fingers of scotch, he considered asking the janitorial company to take the two sisters off his contract and give him a different cleaning team. Men, he thought sourly. He needed a team of men cleaning his establishment. There would be no temptation that way.
    Despite the attractiveness of that solution, he acknowledged it was the wrong one. He simply had to keep his distance. No more late nights when she was due to clean the dealership. If they had to interact, he would keep their conversations short and light.
    Thinking of the car he had arranged for Nikolai, he decided that was the template he would follow. He could keep an eye on Shay and make sure she stayed out of trouble. If that sister of hers was intent on hanging with the cartel crowd, Shay would need his help sooner or later. He might not be a hero, but he could step in when necessary to shield and protect her.
    Taking another bite of the delicious cookie, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Shay’s smiling face flashed before him. After all the terrible things he had done in his life, maybe Shay was his chance to do something truly good…
    Catch up with Alexei and Shay in ALEXEI (Her Russian Protector #8) to be released in Summer 2014!

From Russia, With Love
    VASYA
    Smile. Laugh. Pretend .
    Ty Weston repeated the silent mantra as he mingled with his parents’ guests at their annual black tie Christmas Eve gala. The boozy bash was the hottest ticket on Houston’s holiday event calendar. It was a who’s who of Houston’s elite. The old money oil barons, the new gas tycoons from all that fracking going down in the Eagle Ford Shale and the Permian Basin, the athletes, the tech whizzes like Bee Langston, the shipping magnates—everywhere Ty looked he spotted dollar signs.
    If it hadn’t been for the new crisis PR firm he was starting in the New Year with Lena Cruz, he would have bowed out of this schmooze fest, but it was the cost of doing business. With Lena out of the country on a whirlwind winter vacation with Yuri, that deliciously sexy Russian oligarch she had wrapped around her little finger, the burden of finding clients fell on him.
    Despite wanting to be anywhere but here, Ty accepted his duty to their fledgling firm, plastered on a megawatt smile and move around the room. He zeroed in on the group of newly minted gas millionaires because he knew the lot of them were tied up in media scrutiny over fracking practices. Considering his dad came from very old oil money and their wealth was tied up in the energy sector, Ty had all the necessary contacts and knowledge to go after those types of clients.
    Though the men welcomed him warmly, he had long ago learned to spot the ones who were uneasy around a gay man. The tightness in the jaw, the smile that never quite reached the eyes, the stiff laughter—he mentally checked the boxes as he chatted with the group. Of the five men, two would never be clients