YURI (Her Russian Protector #3) by Roxie Rivera Page B

they stared at one another. Finally, she sighed dramatically and stepped aside. "You'd better come in."
    "Thank you." He entered the apartment but didn't dare go farther than the entryway. Glancing around, he noticed the bohemian décor. Everything looked so cozy and welcoming. Unfortunately the look on Vivian's face wasn't.
    "You're a real jerk." She addressed him in Russian. "I don't know why you led her on like that but it was cruel and mean. I've never seen her cry like that. Never. "
    Yuri winced. "It wasn't like that, Vivian. It was a mix-up. An honest-to-God mistake."
    "Well, don't tell me! Tell her."
    "Will you see if she'll speak to me?"
    Vivian glanced at the hallway. "She's going to be a real beast with that hangover but I'll see if she'll talk to you."
    Vivian left him standing there and disappeared into the room on the left. He strained to hear but their voices were muffled by the half-closed door. When Vivian came out some time later, she gestured to the couch. "You'd better get comfortable. It's going to be a while."
    He didn't think he could sit still so he paced instead. Vivian grabbed some books from the coffee table and stuffed them inside her backpack. "Are you leaving?"
    "I'm not sticking around for this shouting match."
    He knew enough about Vivian's family history to understand why she was sensitive to couples yelling at one another. "I'm not going to yell at her."
    "I wasn't talking about you." She hefted her bag onto her back. "Just a fair warning—Nikolai is in a really bad mood after last night. He was groped and kissed and had his ass smacked by about five different drunk guys before we got Lena out of there. It was mayhem."
    "Shit." Yuri closed his eyes and wondered if this situation could get any worse. With Nikolai's background, he could only imagine the awful memories being groped and manhandled had dredged up for his friend. "I am sorry that you two were dragged into this."
    She stared at him for an unnerving moment and then left without a word. It was another five minutes before Lena finally emerged from her bedroom. She looked like hell but he wasn't about to tell her that. Her dark hair was pulled into a low, messy bun. A rumpled cotton camisole and stained, ripped yoga pants completed her ensemble.
    Her angry gaze seared him. Gulping, he took a step toward her but no more. "Yelena, please, let me explain."
    She held up a hand. "I need coffee and something for this damn headache before you start with the groveling."
    A flutter of hope invaded his chest. "Where do you keep your coffee?"
    "You can manage that on your own? Are you sure you don't need to email one of your assistants for help?"
    The barb hit its mark. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left it to my assistant. I wasn't—"
    She put up her hand again. "I said coffee and pain killers first."
    "Right." He followed her into the kitchen. While she dug around in a basket for some acetaminophen, he found the little cups for the coffee maker. She hadn't been far from the mark with her assistant come-back but he did still remember how to make a cup of coffee.
    While she washed down the tablets with some water, he made two cups of coffee and carried them to the dining room table where she waited for him. He found a spoon in a drawer and a bottle of flavored creamer in the refrigerator
    Sitting across from her, he watched her stab her spoon into the sugar bowl on the table and dump the heaping scoops into her steaming hot cup. She splashed in a liberal amount of creamer and stirred the syrupy sweet slurry. He wasn't sure how anyone could drink coffee that sweet and sipped his cup of strong black coffee.
    "I suppose you expect me to say thank you for sending Vivian and Nikolai to rescue me from that den of iniquity."
    His lips twitched at her description of the rowdy gay bar where she'd been partying. "No. I was simply worried about you. I heard all those men and I was terrified you would be taken advantage of or hurt."
    "I don't think there was