Love Regardless: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance (14 page)

“I
thought I was doing a killer job of masking my accent,” he said
and she shrugged.

“Not
as well as you think.”

“I
blame my grandmother. She was always talking to us in Russian.
Something about us not forgetting where we were from,” he said
with a smile.

“That’s
a good thing, right? I mean, heritage is important.” He nodded.
“I would know because my grandmother went the extra mile to
trace our roots. I think I am Somali or something of the sort,”
Athena said smiling. “You’ve got to hand it to
heritage…being important and all.”

“It
is important, don’t get me wrong but mine went the extra mile
to home school us for the first five years because she did not want
us to be ‘corrupted’ by the western culture…it’s
a long complicated story with her, trust me,” he said smiling
and she nodded.

“Clearly,”
she said with a smile.

Evgeni
looked around the foyer and nodded.

“So
you put all this together, huh? This is pretty impressive.”

“Well,
I like to think that anything I put my heart and soul into is pretty
impressive,” she said as she took another sip of her drink.

“Of
course,” he said as he scratched his brow. “I didn’t
mean to be disrespectful.”

“Disrespectful,”
she echoed before she took the last sip and put her glass on one of
the waiter’s trays. “Now I have to ask.”

“What?
What do you have to ask?”

“Do
you know any mafia guys? I mean, I know this is a very weirdly racist
question but…” her voice trailed off when she saw the
way he was looking at her. He suddenly laughed as he shook his head.

“Yes
it is,” he said, still laughing.

“I
am so sorry,” she whispered. She felt even sillier than she
thought she would feel.

“No,
don’t be,” Evgeni said, still smiling. “As it turns
out I think I have a few connections if you ever need a shipment of
Kalashnikovs or something.”

Athena
felt herself blush.

“I
should really be more careful with my words,” she said in a
soft voice.

“Come
on, I was kidding. I would not want you to think that I am such a
shallow person.”

“I
wouldn’t ever think that,” she said. She pressed her
earpiece to her ear when she heard the caterer’s voice calling
“Sorry, duty calls.”

Evgeni
smiled and nodded.

“I
wouldn’t want to be the one to keep you from your job.”

“It
was really nice to meet you, Evgeni. You are actually the first
decent conversation I’ve had all day,” she said and he
reached into her pocket.

“I
will be here waiting to see you casing the foyer again but in case I
don’t get a chance to approach you,” he started as he
took her hand in his and placed his business card in her hand. “I
would love to see you again. Hopefully soon.”

She
looked at the card and then at him and smiled.

“Soon,”
she repeated before she walked away. She could feel his eyes on her
and for the first time that evening, she was not cursing at the world
for wearing those five inch heels. She looked over her shoulder and
saw that he was indeed still looking at her. She turned around and
smiled as she walked into the foyer and disappeared into the crowd.

Her
heart was pounding as she made her way to the back where the caterer
and good friend, Carla was.

“What
is going on? Why are you fussing?” she asked as she looked at
Carla.

“Your
wine guy never came through and we still have a couple more hours of
this damn event,” Carla said sighing. “I mean, how much
money can these people have to give?”

Athena
smiled.

“The
who’s who of America’s Fortune 500 are here,” she
said as she helped herself to a piece of pig in a blanket. “If
anything they are having a pissing contest out there trying to see
who gives the most money.”

Carla
smiled.

“Well,
call your guy. Otherwise this partnership I have with GoCreative is
doomed,” she said as she leaned against one wall.

Athena
sighed and quickly dialed her wine supplier. She walked outside as
she held the phone to her ear. It took a few rings before her
supplier picked up.

“MacGyver,
hi. It’s Athena Davis,” she said. “What happened to
my extra cases of champagne?”

“I’m
sorry,” MacGyver said. From the noise on the other end of the
phone, Athena could tell that he was driving. “I am a few
minutes from the Aquarium. I will not let you down.”

“Well,
I don’t know about that MacGyver. I have a room full of rich
snobs without anything to drink and I am counting on them being drunk
enough to give up their hard earned cash for some charity, dude.”

“I
know, I know. I am driving as fast as I possibly can.”

Athena
sighed.

“Just
how far are you exactly?”

“Like
I said, a few minutes. Maybe ten at the most.”

“Fine.
I’ll get creative in the meanwhile. Just…” she
sighed again. “Just get your ass down here MacGyver.” She
hung up and walked back into the room. She helped herself to another
snack and looked at Carla who was preparing another plate.

“Ten
minutes,” Athena said as she bit into the piece of sugar coated
meatball. “Oh goodness…what is this? It’s like an
orgasm of sugar and bacon.”

“Well,
that’s exactly what it is. Bacon wrapped sugar coated
meatballs,” Carla said without looking up.

“Damn,”
Athena whispered as she bit into the meatball again. “This has
to be the best meatball ever.”

“Decadent,
right?” Carla said smiling.

“Decadent
indeed,” Athena said before she took another bite of the
meatball.

“So,
how is the job so far?” Carla asked as she put another plate
out. “I mean, did you rub shoulders with Richard Branson or
someone of the sort yet?”

“Well,
for starters, Richard Branson isn’t here and no. I didn’t
meet anyone yet,” she said as she pulled a stool and sat down.

“That’s
weird. The place is full of potential boyfriends.”

Athena
raised an eyebrow at her friend and forced out a laugh.

“Potential
boyfriends for whom exactly because I know that you are most
definitely not talking about me,” she said and Carla smiled at
her.

“Well,
I am kind of seeing someone so you know that I am not talking about
myself.”

Athena
shook her head and took another meatball.

“Kind
of seeing someone is not the same as being committed and those are
your words if I remember correctly.”

“Well,
I don’t want to rush things with Hank. Things are great as they
are right now and I like how it is right now. I don’t want to
complicate things by…” Carla’s voice trailed off
and she put her hands on the counter. “I just don’t want
to complicate anything right now.”

Athena
nodded. She had an idea of what her friend had been through before
she got together with Hank Mosley and maybe she was right not to rush
things. Maybe it would have been a good idea for her to go slow too.
She smiled at Carla and then shrugged.

“Maybe
this is the best way forward. I mean, you are happy though, right?”
Athena asked and Carla nodded.

“More
than you will ever know,” she said. “But what about you?”

Athena
frowned and shrugged.

“What
about me?” she asked as if she had no idea what was going on.

“Come
on Athena. You know exactly what I am talking about,” Carla
said. “You are always avoiding the subject when I talk about
your dating life.”

“Well.
I don’t really want to talk about it,” Athena said as she
looked into Carla’s eyes. She knew she sounded ridiculous since
Carla had been trying to get her to talk for the longest time and
that was always her response. “Look, I know that I have been
saying that for the longest time but…” she started
before Carla reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You
have been avoiding this discussion for almost an entire year,”
she said and Athena nodded.

“I
just don’t…” Athena started before Carla shook her
head cutting her short.

“Listen,
sweetie,” she started as she drew little circles at the back of
her hands. “I love the way you always seem to go all out in
support of everyone else but yourself. I mean it is what makes you,
you. But you also have to remember that your own happiness is
important too. You can’t just shelf off your heart, you know.”

“I
know but I just…I can’t do this right now. I mean right
this minute,” she said in a soft voice.

“That
is always your answer,” Carla pointed out and Athena smiled.
She then pulled her hand out of Carla’s and stood up.
“Whoa…what’s going on? Where are you…”
Carla started before Athena looked at a waiter walking towards them
carrying a case of champagne.

“I
would love to stay and chat but my wine guy came through,”
Athena said as another waiter walked in carrying another case. “Plus
I have to go back to work.”

“Chat
later then,” Carla called after her.

Athena
was walking out as fast as she could but the truth was she was trying
to hide her pain from everyone around. She hated that Carla had
brought up what she had spent months burying. She walked as fast as
she could across the foyer and even when she got outside, she didn’t
stop. She went on walking past the valets until she got to the
parking lot.

Her
heart was beating hard and fast as she leaned against one of the
vehicles there. She had a tightness in her chest that she just
couldn’t understand but she had felt this way before and she
was almost too certain that she was having a panic attack. Tears were
rolling down her cheeks and everything felt tight: her dress, her
shoes…she would have done anything to strip down at that
moment. She sunk down to the ground as she began crying hysterically.
It seemed as though the more she tried controlling herself, the
harder she cried.

She
was so engrossed in her self-pity that she never realized there was a
male voice nearby, Evgeni’s voice.

*****

Evgeni
had been hell bent on not handling any business that evening
especially since he had not really wanted to go to the benefit to
begin with. It was one of those decisions that he was sure he would
regret before the evening was over especially since after going to
almost a million or so of such events, he knew for a fact that he
would not enjoy himself since he was going to have the same
conversation with twenty different people. And there was also the
risk of meeting the one aspiring actress or singer that would most
probably stalk him for the better part of that year.

And
that was exactly what happened. He had already talked business with
Lucas Maines the biggest name in financial management, had a drink
with Sarwal Singh, a known hotelier from India who was looking to set
up some kind of Taj Mahal in New York and in less than two hours, had
been hit on by two different women, both of whom were not his cup of
tea. The evening was playing out exactly how he thought it would, at
least until he saw Athena Davis. There was something about her that
just seemed to call out to him. He was not sure whether it was her
beautifully flawless dark skin or curvy body but as soon as he saw
her, he knew that she was not like the rest of the guests at the
event. He had watched her as she walked up and down the place and
gave orders to the servers and he could almost see the graceful halo
around her. The height of his evening came when he finally mastered
enough courage to talk to her and sure enough, she was different from
everyone at the party. He had been sad to see her walk away when duty
called but seconds after she did, he got a call. In a perfect world,
he would have ignored it but it was important. It was a call from
Moscow, from his business manager Viktor.

He
exhaled loudly and walked out to the parking lot.

“Da,”
he said when he picked up the phone. “I hope you have good
news.”

“Mr.
Markovic, things might be more complicated than we had initially
hoped for,” Viktor said.

Evgeni
rubbed his temple gently. That was definitely not what he wanted to
hear.

“What
is the big deal? Why can’t I have what I want?”

“Mr.
Markovic, we cannot have this discussion on the phone. I would much
rather talk when I come over to your American offices,” Viktor
said. “It is a long and daunting discussion as it is.”

“What
about the Dubai business? At least tell me that you have that
settled.”

“All
your assets are tied up in the one investment you are trying to
liquidate, Mr. Markovic. I don’t think we can make anything
work without causing waves,’ Viktor said and Evgeni exhaled
again.

“Fine.
Get on the next flight to Virginia and we will talk when you get
here,” Evgeni said before he hung up.