Midnight Alpha Read online

  Oh not outwardly. On the surface he was controlled, smooth, very urbane in his designer-label suit and handmade Italian shoes, and with that overlong dark and tousled hair obviously professionally styled.

  But there was something about his eyes.

  The eyes were the windows to the soul, and this man’s eyes were expressionless, flat, the iris so dark in color it was barely distinguishable from the pupil.

  Gaia had no doubts that whatever—whoever—was behind Gregori Markovic’s gaze, it was coldly decisive and ruthlessly lethal.

  He brushed past her now, leaving a lingering and delicious smell of lemons and sandalwood in his wake as he moved to sit in the black leather chair behind his desk. “You may continue with your search, Miss Miller.”

  Gaia spun quickly around, eyes wide and guilty.

  “For your hairpin,” he drawled with a nod towards the space beneath his desk.

  Gaia glanced down, only to look away again, her cheeks warming as she realized exactly the level her face would be on, if she went back down on her knees beneath the desk the Russian now sat behind.

  Gregori had no idea what possessed him to play with Gaia Miller in this way. Not only was she not his type—he preferred tall and slender blondes—but she was also an employee, and one of the rules of employment here was no fraternization between the staff, or any of the staff and members of Utopia. Gregori made a point himself of never stepping over the employer/employee line with members of his staff.

  In this particular case, a female member of his staff who obviously had something to hide.

  The excuse of cleaning his office may be a true one: it was too easily verified for it not to be. But there was still something decidedly suspicious about Gaia Miller’s behavior.

  Even more reason for him to keep his distance.

  Except, for the moment, he found he didn’t want to.

  Maybe it was that enticing wiggle to her ass that had caught and held his attention. Or her surprisingly curvy figure. Or maybe it was having spent four days with a couple who couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other—Katya and Dair made no secret of the fact that they spent half of the day and most of the night sharing screaming orgasms—but for some reason Gregori had left Venice feeling restless, and with an underlying dissatisfaction for his own solitude.

  That solitude was necessary, of course. His position as head of the powerful Markovic family meant he couldn’t afford to have any weaknesses, such as allowing any woman too close to him.

  When was the last time he had even fucked?

  Before his father died.

  Maybe he would talk to Nikolai and arrange for a couple of women to join them here later tonight, and the two men could have a couple of hours of enjoyable fucking, as they had done dozens of times before he took over as The Markovic seven months ago. Maybe then he wouldn’t get a hard-on just from having a curvy woman wriggle her ass at him.

  Talking of which…

  Gaia Miller, after her initial surprise at the invitation, was currently back down on her hands and knees beneath his desk, supposedly looking for a hairpin.

  A glance down between Gregori’s parted thighs showed that her face was on level with his crotch. An aching and rapidly hardening crotch as that golden gaze became locked with his.

  What would she do, he wondered, if he were to unzip his trousers, pull out his lengthy cock and tell her to suck?

  God, just thinking about having his cock in the heat of that luscious mouth, and watching her head bob up and down, with that thick swathe of auburn hair loose and caressing against his bare abdomen, was enough for the pre-cum to dampen his boxers.

  He shifted restlessly in his chair, half tempted to do exactly that—

  “Gregori!” The door to the office swung open to reveal his head of security. “I had no idea you were—” Whatever Nikolai had been about to say came to an abrupt halt, a smile curved the hardness of his mouth as he looked down at that curvaceous bottom sticking out from beneath Gregori’s desk.

  Chapter 2

  OMG. OMG!

  Could this situation get any worse, Gaia wondered in a complete panic. Not only had she been caught snooping by the coldly dangerous Gregori Markovic, but now the equally scary Nikolai Volkov was in on the act too.

  “Maybe you should have put the lock on your door, Gregori,” Nikolai drawled mockingly. “Although I now see your reason for coming in early this evening. You should have given me a call. It’s been too long since we shared a woman.”

  That voice grew closer and closer as the intimidating Russian crossed the room on silent feet. Just how close became obvious when Gaia felt a hand caress the cheeks of her bottom.

  She gave an indignant squeak, knowing that hand couldn’t belong to Gregori Markovic because both of his hands were resting on his muscled thighs in front of her. The same went for the rigid hardness and heat now pressing against her bottom.

  What the hell—

  And what was with the ‘shared a woman’ comment? Did that mean that these two men…

  No way!

  She may have been caught between a rock—she could clearly see the hardness of Gregori’s arousal now tenting the front of his tailored trousers—and a hard place, what with Nikolai’s arousal pressing between the cheeks of her bottom, but she wasn’t about to become the filling in a Gregori and Nikolai sandwich.

  Then why was just the thought of it making her feel so hot and bothered? Causing her nipples to swell and harden, and between her legs to grow damp with her arousal?

  And totally overriding the fear that had held her in its grip since Gregori Markovic entered the office so unexpectedly.

  “Not this time, Nikolai,” Gregori answered irritably as he pushed his chair back before standing up. “You may as well come out from under there now, Miss Miller,” he added hardly.

  Her face was bright red, her eyes snapping darkly with indignation as she emerged from out of his side of the desk before turning to glare at Nikolai.

  Gregori couldn’t say he was too happy about the other man’s assumption himself. Gaia Miller didn’t look like the sort of woman who would enjoy being shared; surprisingly, Gregori hadn’t enjoyed seeing Nikolai rubbing himself suggestively against that curvaceous bottom either.

  He gave the other man a reproving frown. “Miss Miller was merely looking for a lost hairpin.” God, now he was using that same ridiculous excuse.

  And it was utterly ridiculous. He was convinced Gaia Miller had another reason for being here; he just had no idea what it was yet.

  Nikolai’s pale brows shot up to his equally pale hairline. “A hairpin?”

  “She lost it while she was cleaning my office,” Gregori answered pointedly.

  Silver eyes narrowed—the eyes of the wolf that Nikolai’s family was named for—as he assessed the still-bristling Gaia Miller. “You work in the bar of the casino,” he stated evenly. “This is your fourth day working here.”

  Gaia had a feeling from the hard and calculating look she saw pass between the two men that it may just be her last day too.

  The low rumble of sensuality she had previously heard in Nikolai’s voice had completely disappeared, and the hard angles of his face looked almost cruel as he studied her with those pale, assessing eyes.

  She wasn’t just caught between a rock and a hard place—she was in danger of being pulverized by the sheer intimidation of being in the same room as these two men.

  She forced a smile onto lips that felt stiff and unresponsive. “Well I still have work to do, and I’m sure that the two of you have things you want to discuss.” Oh that was definitely not the right thing to say, she realized, when she would obviously be the subject under discussion.

  She kept her head held high as she carefully stepped around both the desk and Gregori, and then detoured around Nikolai too on her way to the open door—

  “Miss Miller…”

  Gaia closed her eyes as she froze in the doorway, drawing a deep breath before turning, h
er heart pounding loudly in her chest as she met Gregori’s hard and uncompromising gaze.

  “Didn’t you forgot something?” he prompted abruptly.

  Gaia’s brow furrowed into a frown before clearing again. “I can do without one hairpin,” she dismissed lightly, sincerely hoping the knocking of her knees wasn’t visible to these two men. She was sure that one or both of them would pounce if she were to show the slightest sign of weakness.

  “I was referring to this.” The owner of Utopia held up the yellow duster she had dropped on the desktop before going down onto her knees to begin her second search for an imaginary hairpin.

  The distance between the two of them immediately seemed to double, made worse by the presence of the ever-watchful Nikolai, the air in the room thick with…something.

  Suspicion?

  Oh God…

  Gregori made no effort to meet her halfway as she returned jerkily across the room to snatch the duster from his long and elegant fingers, her back unnaturally stiff and her palms damp as she hurried back to the open doorway. And freedom.

  “And Miss Miller…”

  Gaia’s shoulders ached from the tension of the past few minutes and her shaking legs really weren’t going to support her for too much longer either.

  She kept her gaze fixed unerringly on the dark-haired Russian when she turned for a second time, but she was totally aware of the blond-haired Nikolai watching her just as intently. “Yes?”

  Gregori’s jaw tightened. “Do not come back into this office again unless you are invited to do so.”

  Gaia had never been spoken to so coldly or so harshly, and despite the precariousness of her situation, it took every effort of will on her part not to reply in kind. Who the hell did this man think he was?

  Gregori Markovic didn’t think he was anybody, he was the powerful head of the Markovic family, and a man who’s reputation alone was feared by many—including the police, if Gaia’s recent experience was anything to go by. This man only had to issue an instruction and snap those elegant fingers for that instruction to be carried out by one of his minions. No questions asked, no explanation given.

  Nikolai Volkov’s much larger hands looked as if they could snap her neck without any effort whatsoever, and the ruthless man she could see lurking in the depths of those pale grey eyes indicated he would probably enjoy doing it too.

  She gave an abrupt nod of acknowledgement before once again turning to leave, telling herself to be grateful that she was being allowed to do so.

  “Miss Miller.”

  Oh God. Oh God.

  Gaia’s hands were shaking almost uncontrollably now, and her legs felt like bendable rubber, a reaction not lessened in the slightest when she once again looked into those jet-black eyes. It was as if Gregori Markovic could see deep into the heart of her, and know that she was not only lying, but that she was a lie, just as her reason for being at Utopia at all was a lie.

  He held her transfixed in that cold and unwavering gaze for several long, excruciating seconds before speaking again. “Close the door on your way out,” he instructed softly.

  Gaia bolted—she wished she could say otherwise, but there really was no other way to describe the way she almost ran from the room, though she took the time to close the door softly behind her. A disapproving slam might have given her more satisfaction, but it might also have resulted in Nikolai hauling her back inside, and she doubted she would get away a second time.

  She didn’t stop running until she reached the end of the carpeted hallway, her boots clattering inelegantly as she ran down the stairs, her breath coming in short, shaky and panicked sobs.

  Bastard, bastard, bastard.

  He had enjoyed that, damn him. Had toyed with her like a cat with a mouse, allowing her to think she had escaped—twice—only to drag her back again.

  Bastard, she swore again as she drew several deep breaths into her starved lungs. Calmer now, she made her way to the staff room where she changed into her uniform to prepare for her evening working in the bar of the casino.

  Just knowing Gregori Markovic was in the building too was going to make it a long, long night.

  After the past few minutes she would rather have just gone home before burrowing her head beneath the sheets and remaining there. The only thing stopping her was the knowledge that it would make her being in Gregori Markovic’s office look even more suspicious if she just disappeared.

  Besides which, her employee file would tell those two men exactly where she lived…

  “What the hell was that all about?”

  Gregori could feel Nikolai’s narrowed gaze on him as he resumed his seat behind the desk. For once he felt reluctant to share his thoughts with the other man.

  The two had been friends for twenty years, and once they were old enough, he and The Wolf had spent many evenings getting drunk together, often sharing women, occasionally confiding in each other.

  But for some inexplicable reason, Gregori didn’t feel inclined to do so where Gaia Miller was concerned.

  In the same way he hadn’t liked witnessing Nikolai’s physical familiarity with her minutes ago.

  He gave an uninterested shrug. “She was in here when I arrived. Cleaning.” His mouth twisted wryly as he recalled Gaia’s comment about ‘cleaning fairies’. No doubt as a reference to the fact that he had never even considered how or when his office was cleaned, it just always was.

  “And is that what she was doing when I came in?” Nikolai leaned his hip against the side of the desk. “Has it been so long since you fucked that she had to remove the cobwebs first?”

  Only this man could get away with talking to him in this way. And yes, it really had been that long since Gregori last enjoyed a woman. As his right hand and the muscles in that same arm could testify. Even so, he knew that the idea of sharing a woman, or two, with Nikolai later on this evening no longer held the same appeal.

  Because of the curvy Gaia Miller?

  He straightened in his chair. “Check with Claude regarding the legitimacy of her claim of cleaning.” Gregori had a feeling that the excuse would stand the scrutiny, that it was too outlandish an explanation not to have been the truth.

  But with the recent drug problem here in Utopia, he really couldn’t afford to ignore anything that looked even remotely out of the ordinary.

  And Gaia Miller was far from ordinary.

  “Then bring me Gaia Miller’s employee file. And do a personal check on her too.”

  Nikolai’s brows rose. “What do you want to know about her?”

  He gave an irritated frown. “Anything that isn’t in her employee file.” Gregori intended on knowing everything he could about Miss Gaia Miller when—if—they ever spoke again.

  One thing he knew for certain: the smoothness of her dark red hair and the absence of any other hairpins meant that she had almost certainly been lying as to her reason for being under his desk earlier.

  This had to have been the longest night of Gaia’s life. Fraught with tension and the fear that at any moment she was going to be dragged off to a windowless room—discreetly, of course—and interrogated by Nikolai Volkov to within an inch of her life, as he demanded to know exactly what she had been doing under Gregori Markovic’s desk earlier.

  It didn’t happened.

  No dragging. No windowless room. No interrogation.

  Although she was aware of Nikolai’s icy gaze on her every time he walked through the casino—and he walked through a lot. She also had a feeling that one of those twenty security monitors in Gregori Markovic’s office had been trained specifically on her for the whole of the night.

  Not that she’d given him anything to look at as she moved about the casino, a tray of drinks more often than not balanced on the palm of her hand and a bright smile plastered on her lips.

  The cold and dangerous owner of Utopia could make of that what he liked, but the customers had certainly seemed to appreciate her attentiveness, because her tips had been higher tonight than
the previous three.

  Even so, Gaia couldn’t say she was sorry when the long night was over, the club closed down for the evening and the last customer was finally persuaded to leave.

  She gave a sigh of relief as she removed her four-inch-high heels before helping to clear away. She had no idea how any woman could walk around in shoes like that just for the fun of it, but unfortunately they were part of the uniform at Utopia. Along with the thigh-length black skirt and fitted white shirt. And being on the curvy side, the shirt tended to be very fitted on Gaia. But she couldn’t deny the sexy outfit went with the loose tumble of her hair and the heavy makeup also required. A look so totally opposed to the way Gaia usually dressed.

  She considered it a small price to pay if she wanted to work at Utopia. Which she did.

  Claude le Coeur gave a throaty chuckle as he saw Gaia moving about the empty room clearing tables in her bare feet.

  She rolled her eyes. “Please don’t tell me I have to put those instruments of torture back on!”

  “They make your legs looks longer and very sexy.” The tall and handsome Frenchman smiled unapologetically.

  “Sure do,” Rick Turner, the manager of the casino bar, put in enthusiastically.

  Gaia rolled her eyes. “Men!”

  “Can’t live with us, can’t live without us,” Rick said happily as he continued on his way to the bar carrying a tray full of used glasses.

  “You wish!” Gaia called after him. She may have only worked here for a few days, but she already liked both these men. They were both exceptionally good at their job, but also easygoing and friendly.

  The total opposite of Gregori Markovic and Nikolai Volkov…

  “High heels look very sexy on a woman,” Claude assured lightly.

  “They also mean my toes are going to be crippled by the time I’m seventy!” Gaia came back good-naturedly.

  “Ah, but then it will not matter, because you will have caught your man long ago.” He gave a Gallic shrug.

  Gaia had to bite her tongue to stop herself from replying to that typically chauvinistic remark. She wasn’t trying to ‘catch’ a man. She wouldn’t say no if she met a man she fell in love with and who loved her in return, but otherwise she was happy with her life exactly as it was, thank you very much.