The Russian's Assertive Lover (The Tonov Triplets Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

smiled and took a sip of her tea. “If I didn't know better, I would think you were after my job.”
    “Hardly,” Courtney grinned. “It's just that if everything goes according to plan, I'll soon be in a world of debt from medical school.” She slipped off her robe, hung it up, and turned around just in time to bump into Nikolay as he was entering the break room. She jumped back, flushing, acutely aware of the amount of skin she was showing. Hell, if he had a good imagination, then I might as well be naked. And unfortunately, Nikolay didn't strike her as being uncreative.
    Nikolay’s eyes looked down at the ground, at the wall, anywhere but at Courtney. “Ms. Melard,” he said.
    “I was just finishing my break, Mr. Tonov,” she said, her voice overly polite. “If you'll excuse me.”
    “Certainly,” he said, moving aside to let her pass.
    Courtney rushed past him and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was out of there. It looked like things were still awkward between them. Hell, they were probably going to be awkward for a while.
    As she went to wipe down a recently vacated table, she heard arguing at the front door. Cindy was there with a man and they didn't look happy. She kept her head down and tried to ignore them as much as possible until she heard a door slam and Cindy turned to go into the bathroom to change.
    As she turned, Courtney caught sight of her tear-stained face and a bruise on her temple that was poorly disguised by foundation. Cindy met her eye and quickly arranged her platinum blonde hair to cover the mark before going into the bathroom. Courtney's brow furrowed as she went back to washing the table. Just then, a man signaled her for another drink, and she went to the bar to grab another beer, but she couldn’t push the image of Cindy's bruised skin from her mind. Since it was still slow, she darted over to the bathroom.
    Pushing the door open, she entered quietly. Walking up to the closed stall, she heard crying as she knocked softly. “Cindy? It’s me, Courtney, is everything okay?” The crying stopped immediately as she heard shuffling in the stall.
    “I’m fine, Courtney, really.”
    “Are you sure? Because I thought I saw a bruise--”
    “It’s nothing. I…had an accident. Slipped on the ice. Not a big deal. There’s no need to bring it up to anyone, okay?”
    “If you’re sure…”
    “Definitely.”
     
    *****
     
    Courtney didn't see any more of Nikolay that shift, nor did she get the chance to talk to Scarlett as business picked up quickly from the brief spell of peace. At the end of the night, she was exhausted but she worked quickly finishing up so she wouldn't be caught alone with Nik again.
    You're acting as if you are afraid of him.
    She wasn't afraid of him. She simply felt... awkward around him. It was only natural considering what had taken place the night before. It didn't matter if it was natural or not, though. She wanted to be gone.
    Just as she was about to leave, Nikolay came out of his office and locked the door. He caught her eye for a second before he looked out at the floor, where the stripper poles looked like ghosts in the dim light. “Goodnight, Ms. Melard,” he said.
    “Goodnight, Mr. Tonov,” Courtney replied, the polite tone tasting strange in her mouth. She hesitated before she left. Should she tell him about Cindy? No. Most likely he wouldn't care and he would tell her to mind her own business. Or he already knew about it. Maybe both.
    Besides, she easily could have been mistaken. Cindy had told her that she had fallen. So she slipped out, hoping she wasn't making a huge error.
     

Chapter Ten
     
    With her tips supplementing her income nicely, and putting her way ahead of schedule for getting her tattoo removed, Courtney decided to splurge on a night of normalcy and went with Janet to Paddy Murphy's that Saturday.
    As they waited for their food and drinks to arrive, they played tic-tac-toe on one of the activity pads stacked on the