Russian Billionaire's Fiancée (Chekov Billionaire Series Book 3) (2 page)

“Well, Mr. Chekov, it’s good to see that you are finally awake,” he told him as he walked toward the bed. As the nurse took his vitals, the doctor ran him through a series of tests to make sure that there wasn’t any nerve damage. Giving him some crushed ice, the nurse set the cup down by the bed. “Now, it’s going to be a bit difficult to talk, but can you tell me where you are and your name?”

“Vi-Vitaly ChCh-Chekov. Hosp…hospital,” came his raspy reply.

“Do you know what happened to you?”

“Car. Brakes.”

Nodding his head, “And this lovely woman? Who is she?”

“Sarah. Mmm…my Sarah.”

Sarah covered her mouth, as she fought back tears. She couldn’t believe that he was awake AND talking. Reaching for her phone, she texted Ivan that he was awake, as the doctor turned to speak with her.

“We won’t know until all the tests are run, but this is promising,” the doctor told her with a smile. “But he has a long road ahead of him.”

“Couldn’t you have stopped with the good news?” Sarah asked as she reached to shake his hand.

“Nope. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have rounds.” Turning back to Vitaly, “Mr. Chekov, you’re going to have a busy few days while we check you out to make sure everything is working properly.”

After both the doctor and nurse left, Sarah sat on the edge of the bed. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she couldn’t believe that he was finally awake.

“I feel as though I’m dreaming. That any minute now, I’m going to wake up in that chair and you will still be in a coma.”

Vitaly squeezed her hand as he looked at her. He still felt incredibly drowsy and while he felt as though he should be doing something, his body and mind were in complete disagreement. Tilting his head back, he closed his eyes. This was one time that he was going to have to take things slowly.

Chapter 3

Three days had passed since Vitaly woke from his coma and he was rapidly losing patience. All of his tests had come back negative, his MRI was clear and he had been able to stand and walk ten steps with assistance. He was certain that if he were released, he could hire the necessary help to speed up his recovery process, but his doctors were still insistent that he remain in the hospital.

Since waking, he’d had a steady stream of visitors all eager to see him, but all he wanted was his Sarah. His room had rapidly filled with flowers and other get well gifts, none of which he cared about. Ivan walked in carrying a large gift basket.

“Oh no, not you too,” he said as Ivan set the basket down.

“Me? Not a chance. I intercepted it from the cute Candy Stripper as I was getting off the elevator,” Ivan answered as he looked through the basket. “Mmmm, and this one has food in it,” he added as he pulled out a bag of mixed nuts and settled down in the chair.

“You know, I might have wanted that. And don’t you mean striper?”

“Not the way she was wearing it,” he said with a smirk. “As to this,” he said as he waved the nuts at him, “Not a chance, boss, they still have you on baby food. I figure I’m doing you a favor by getting rid of any temptations,” he replied as he tossed cashews into his mouth.

Glaring at him, Vitaly chuckled. “Bring me up to date on everything.”

As Ivan talked, Vitaly closed his eyes. He was overwhelmed at everything that had happened since his accident. Not only had Sarah and Simon managed to keep all the east coast contracts, but Simon had brought in several new clients and between the two of them, they had succeeded in streamlining the process through Customs, which pleased the Russian clients who were anxious to gain a foothold in the US.

He simply could not believe how smoothly everything was running.

His last memory of Sarah was the hurt look on her face when he had accused her of selling secrets. He had been a complete and utter fool and while she could have easily walked away, she had managed to stumble upon the real betrayer. And after the accident, she had put her own feelings aside and rushed to his side.

Even the nurse had shared with him how she spent most nights at the hospital reading or simply talking to him. After everything he had done to her, she stayed by his side. He cursed himself for the lost time he could have had with her, and swore that it wouldn’t happen again.

“Earth to Vitaly.” Opening his eyes, Vitaly looked at the bemused expression on Ivan’s face. “If you’re tired, I can come back later.”

“No, it isn’t that. It’s just…”

“Sarah,” Ivan finished for him.

“Yes.”

“The way I, and well, the entire tenth floor, as well as the New York office, sees it; you have some serious making up to do. Starting, now,” Ivan finished as Sarah walked in. Looking at the basket filled with food items, Sarah sighed.

“Finally, someone thinks to send food,” she said as she reached for a package of crackers. “I can’t tell you how many times this would have come in handy.”

“Yes, well, he was in a coma,” Ivan responded as he reached for a cracker.

“Fair point,” Sarah replied as she munched on a cracker and continued to sift through the basket. “But it would have been nice if someone took his visitors into consideration. I mean, it’s not as if he could have appreciated all the flowers either.”

“I can hear everything that you’re saying,” Vitaly ground out as he glared at the two of them. Turning to look at him, Sarah couldn’t keep a straight face as she burst out laughing.

Leaning down, she brushed her lips across his, “And I can’t even begin to tell you how very glad I am about that,” she replied, as she brushed his hair off his forehead.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Ivan stated as he stood up. Reaching out, he clasped his boss on his shoulder before giving Sarah a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll check in with you tomorrow,” he added as he headed out the door.

After he left, Vitaly tugged at Sarah’s hand. “Where were we?”

Kicking her shoes off, Sarah lay on her side next to him, as she stroked the side of his face. Smiling, she kissed his forehead as she worked her way around his face with feather-light kisses. When she reached his lips, she gently nipped at his lower lip before sucking it into her mouth. Groaning, Vitaly rubbed the back of her neck as they deepened the kiss.

When their lips parted, he was panting as Sarah looked at him with concern. “Are you okay?”

Nodding, “Yes, it’s going to take me a while to return to my old strength. And while I would dearly love to make love to you, even kissing you tires me out,” he answered with regret.

“We can take it at whatever speed you need. I’m just so happy to have you back,” Sarah replied, stroking his arm. Reaching up, Vitaly brushed the tears from her eyes. Laughing, Sarah tilted her head back as she went to rub her eyes, but he stopped her, as he kissed the palm of her hand. Fisting her hand, Sarah closed her eyes.

“There’s something that I need to tell you.”

Tightening his grip on her hand, he looked at her fearful that she was leaving him again. Sarah knew that if she looked at him, she would falter, which she couldn’t understand since she’d been saying it to him every night since his accident. Hugging his hand to her chest, she took a deep breath and kept her eyes tightly closed.

“It’s just that, I’ve been saying it for a while now, but this is the first time that you will actually hear it and I don’t know why I’m having so much trouble with it, but you can really get me tongue-tied at times and well, you could talk to anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I have no trouble speaking my mind.” Sarah’s voice trailed off as she realized that she was talking too much.

“Sarah, I-” Shaking her head, she stopped him.

“I love you,” she finally blurted out. She couldn’t look at him, at least not yet. “I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but the night of your accident, I realized that life is too short and no matter how you feel, I was going to tell you. So, I love you, Vitaly Chekov.”

At his silence, Sarah slowly opened her eyes, unsure what she would see. She was surprised to see his lips tremble as his eyes welled up with tears. “Vitaly, I-” she started to say.

“I love you too; my kotyonok, but I didn’t realize it. I had so royally screwed things up that I thought I’d lost you forever. When the accident happened, I thought that I might never see you again and then to wake up here, with you holding my hand. I can’t even begin to express how I-” but before he could finish, Sarah had wrapped her arms around him, as she cried quietly.

“Oh, Vitaly, I don’t ever want to be apart from you again.”

“Neither do I, kotyonok,” he replied as he stroked her hair.

Chapter 4

After two more weeks in the hospital, Vitaly was finally released home and told not to overdo it. While he still tired easily, he was able to walk the entire floor of the hospital with minimal assistance. His doctor was against him returning to work immediately, but he acquiesced, so long as it was on a part-time basis and he stopped if he became too fatigued. He arranged for a physical therapist to come to the house three days a week and Vitaly attacked the exercises assigned to him.

While he was anxious to return to his physical condition before the accident, he was more interested in making love to his little blonde kitten. Well, if he was truly honest with himself, he was more interested in taking her in every room and on every piece of furniture in his house.

Trying to maintain some semblance of a work habit, Vitaly had been working downstairs in his home office, but after a grueling hour with his physical therapist plus too many hours sitting upright, he was desperate to lie down. Sarah had been splitting her time between working from his house and the office and had just arrived as the physical therapist was leaving.

Walking slowly up the stairs, Vitaly sweated his way over to his bedroom as Sarah sprinted up ahead of him. She knew better than to mother him, as he had to do it on his own and while it would kill his pride to ask for help, she didn’t want to make things worse by hovering over him.

By the time he walked into his bedroom, she had pulled back the covers on the bed and set his tablet and phone up on the nightstand. Smiling at him, she walked toward him and took his hand. Kissing it, she drew him toward the bed, as he sat down with a sigh.

“I had no idea how much work my recovery was going to be,” he said as he slid back on the bed. “After all, I was asleep for weeks. You’d think that would be enough.”

“The doctor said not to rush it,” she responded as she kneeled in front of him, slipped his shoes off and rubbed his feet before he shifted to lean back against the headboard.

“But then again, I could get used to all this hands on attention,” he added as Sarah continued to rub his legs. “Oh god, Sarah, your hands feel so good.” Vitaly closed his eyes as she gently stroked him all over. She found that since he woke, she couldn’t stop touching him and when they weren’t together, she thought about touching him.

Both their phones buzzed at the same time as Sarah looked up at him.

“Ready to go back to work?” she asked with a rueful smile. Nodding his head, he reached for his phone as she checked her own messages. “Well, that’s good news,” she added as she read the message from Simon. He had been working to rebuild the relationship with the New Jersey Port Authority, and he had successfully negotiated a truce with the labor union.

Reaching for her phone, Vitaly set both of them on the nightstand as he leaned back against the headboard.

“Now would be an appropriate time for me to tell you how proud I am of you and all that you’ve accomplished while I was in the hospital, but I’m loving the feel of your hands too much. Don’t stop.”

Laughing, Sarah stood away from the bed, as Vitaly opened one eye to look at her. “You stopped,” he said flatly.

Picking up a remote control, she clicked on the music button as the sounds of a saxophone playing jazzy tune tumbled out through the speakers.

“I am feeling a little overdressed,” Sarah teased as she kicked off her shoes. Turning her back to him, she closed her eyes as she allowed the music to roll through her. She had never been one to appreciate jazz until she met him, and she found that she now loved how the strains seemed to vibrate inside her as she began to sway in time to the beat. Raising her arms, she tilted her head back as she let the music flow over her like tranquil waves.

Reaching for the zipper on her pants, she slid it down before drawing her pants over her hips and down her legs. Bending at the waist, she stepped out of her pants before tossing them at the foot of the bed. Turning, she continued to dance as she reached for the hem of her shirt and drew it slowly over her head.

Keeping her eyes closed, she let the music overwhelm her as the smooth sounds of the sax played its mournful song. Groaning, Vitaly contemplated all the things that he wanted to do to her as she stood before him in a lace bra and matching panties.

“Woman! The doctor said that I was to take it easy. How can I possibly do that with you dancing like that? Not that I’m complaining.”

Tilting her head, Sarah walked gracefully toward the bed. Climbing on, she crawled slowly toward him. “Well, tell you what, Mr. Chekov. Why don’t you sit back, relax, and I’ll take over.”

Looking down at her, he watched as she reached for his waistband. Releasing the buckle, he shifted as she pulled the belt free. Snapping it in her hand, she smirked at him before reaching across him to set it on the nightstand. As she did so, her thoughts gave her away as she blushed. Gripping her chin, he turned her head toward him, as he stroked her arm.

“So, you remember the feel of the leather caressing your skin?”

Licking her lips, Sarah nodded her head, suddenly unsure how to respond. While he had only spanked her once, while he was in a coma, it had become one of her more regular fantasies, but she had no idea how to bring it up to him now that he was awake. Smiling at her, he was pleased to see that it still interested her.

“Perhaps when I am stronger,” he told her. “But for now, I do believe you have a plan?”

Releasing her, he relaxed again as he waited for her next move. Closing her eyes, briefly, Sarah allowed the music to take her away, as she released the clasp on his waistband and tugged at his zipper. Lifting his hips, he watched as she pulled his pants off.