Trouble: An Alpha Billionaire Romance by Lane, Ellen (5)

Chapter 7 - Staying Warm

 

Russia hadn’t changed.

It seemed, to Vladimir, that it never really changed. It was always the same place he had been plucked from as a child. Chill, frosty and covered in white for most of the year - at least in St. Petersburg. The moment they landed, a rush of nostalgia almost overwhelmed him. He didn’t miss this place, per say. As a child, Russia held nothing but pain for him - he had been glad to escape.

Luckily, growing up with a father like Jackson Kensley had given him the opportunity to relearn all of his roots. As with all his children, Jackson encouraged Vladimir to return to Russia - to discover a love for his homeland. He never lost his language, and after his first, albeit reluctant, return visit at the age of eighteen, Vladimir had been almost every year.

He learned to enjoy the city that had almost been his demise - to appreciate the beauty of the architecture, the warmth of the people, and the beauty of his heritage - even if it had taken him almost twenty years to get to this point.

At thirty-five, he welcomed his trips to his homeland - he considered in an extension of his home, despite the painful memories he had.

Charlotte, however, was seeing all of this for the first time, and Vlad found himself entertained by the sheer awe on her face. The moment they stepped from the airport into the decidedly frosty air, she wanted to see everything and anything. Vlad occupied himself with finding the car that had been sent for them and greeting the driver in Russian. Charlotte was staring at the snow-covered peaks in the distance and at the crush of cars going through airport drive. Of course, all the writing was in Russian, and she inspected a sign just outside the terminal door closely, as if inspection was enough to teach her to read it.

“Charlotte.” When he called her name, she whirled, pink-cheeked at being caught in her fascination. Vlad barely managed to keep from smiling. “Let’s go.”

She was over to the car in a trice - and as she slipped inside, her frigid skin brushed against his throat. While he frowned at how cold she was, his rebellious body reacted in a far less appropriate way, and he had to arrange himself carefully when he sat. “Didn’t you pack warm clothes?” He admonished her, even as she pressed her nose to the window curiously.

“Yeah,” her voice came back muffled, “In my luggage.”

Vladimir made a low sound of frustration in his throat. “Charlotte, you’re going to make yourself sick - and that won’t help anyone.”

“Aww,” She glanced over her shoulder at him with a teasing smile. “Are you worried about me, Mr. Kensley? Perish the thought.” She had teased him like this before - and usually, Vlad merely ignored her. She was remarkably child-like for a thirty-year old - something that both drew him in and annoyed him all at once.

But this time wasn’t like the others.

He reached over and took a gently, but firm hold on her arm, dragging her across the back seat and up against his side so he could reach her better. Without any other pretense, Vladimir’s hands covered her shoulders and he began to rub up and down her bare arms vigorously. What the hell did she think she was doing, wearing a tank top in this weather? She really did have little to no regard for her own health. “Where,” he demanded, in a tone that booked little argument, “Is your damned coat?”

Charlotte stiffened immediately - and Vlad was surprised to see that he’d intimidated her - she, the unintimidatable. “I…” She managed after a moment of his vigorous ministrations. “It’s in my duffel. In the trunk.”

Vlad merely exhaled an exasperated sigh, sweeping his suit jacket from her shoulders to drape over her shoulders. “Take that for now. But you’re changing as soon as we get to the hotel - no arguments.”

“...Ok.” Charlotte merely peeked at him out of the corner of her gaze, her expression all at once tentative. It was completely and totally unlike her, and, for a moment, Vladimir feared he might have gone a bit too far.

It was impulsive, really. After finding out that she had literally worked herself to the point of exhaustion in LA, was it really so strange that he would worry that she’d fall short in other areas. Certainly, she was more than capable where her work was concerned...but in other areas? Vladimir was beginning to realize that Charlotte wasn’t first on the list of her own priorities - and that made him angry for reasons he couldn’t explain.

Even so, her tentative tone was enough to make him want to apologize - the words even rose to hips lips. Before he could release them, however, Charlotte said something else. Something that stopped him in his tracks. “Thank you.” The words were so soft he almost missed them - he might have, if he hadn’t been so damned absorbed in her. But he didn’t.

Vladimir found himself swallowing thickly. He could deal with her yelling at him - arguing with him, laughing at him and even teasing him. But thanking him? That was a bit much. It played too well into the changing dynamic between them - a dynamic that he was dead set on beating off for as long as he breathed.

Or at least as long as his resolve held up.

Thankfully, he didn’t have too much time to linger on her thanks, as Vlad was soon back to watching Charlotte marvel at almost every sight that raced by their windows. They passed the luxuriously appointed Hermitage museum - a sea of gold and white - along with the Winter Palace, where the Romanovs had fallen from power, and St. Isaac’s Cathedral, spiraling into the sky.

When he was a boy, these places had seemed to belong to an entirely different world - but now, he had visited each and every one of them. He had overcome his past, grateful for the new life his parents had given him. Without them, he certainly wouldn’t be where he was now.

And that included sitting a mere twelve inches away from a woman who was temptation incarnate.

As lovely as he believed the sites of St. Petersburg to be, Charlotte was practically agog. She took in the architectural wonders with an open mouth and wide, staring honey-colored eyes. Vladimir remembered that she was seeing all of this for the first time and busied himself telling her the names of streets and the more famous sites. Charlotte did nothing but nod, too wrapped up in the experience to say anything more than a few words.

After about forty minutes of driving through heavy traffic, they reached the Four Seasons Hotel at the heart of the city. It had been fashioned from the old Lion Palace, and when the car slowed to a stop before it, the sound that left Charlotte could be defined as nothing less than a squeal of delight.

She darted from the car before he could say a word, staring up at the huge structure almost reverently as she clutched his coat to her shoulders. It was only about ten degrees above freezing, despite the fact that it was well into May, and her sharp breaths of excitement frosted on the evening air.

As he helped the driver pull their luggage from the car, Vlad let his lips quirk upward in an unfettered smile.

It was refreshing to see someone so absorbed in their art that they were utterly and completely consumed by it. That didn’t happen very much these days, but Vlad had known Charlotte was just the type the moment she had first argued for the validity of her plans in his office. Now, that seemed so long ago, and the rampant wonder in her eyes made his insides twist in some unknown emotion - unrelenting in its intensity.

At that precise moment, she was the exact opposite of polished and prepared. He had taken her from her house in a thin-t-shirt, leggings and sneakers, and she still wore them now. Her hair was mussed and she was wrapped in a jacket several sizes too large for her - but Charlotte cared little.

A look that might have been unflattering on other women only seemed to enhance her beauty. The flush of her cheeks - the way her eyes gleamed and her full lips parted as she took in every stimulus she possibly could...it was remarkable how lovely she was.

“Mr. Kensley!” He snapped from his reverie to see the hotel manager, Yuri Vasiliev, hurrying down the main steps to greet him. Every time Vlad - or any of his family, for that matter, came to St. Petersburg, they always stayed at the Four Seasons. By now, Vasiliev always prepared to greet them warmly whenever they arrived - a gesture that Vladimir found he appreciate more than he might like to admit. “Welcome back to St. Petersburg!” He extended this welcome in Russian as he wrung Vladimir’s hand enthusiastically, so when Charlotte turned, she looked at the both of them in confusion.

“Always good to be back, Yuri. Is everything in order?”

“Of course.” Vasiliev was an earnest, balding man in his mid-fifties with a ready smile. Vlad had, on several occasions, met his wife, who reminded him of what his mother might have been like had circumstances been better during his childhood. “I have prepared the penthouse suite for you, and a deluxe suite for your guest.” His gaze slid to Charlotte, who merely provided a small smile and a wave, clueless as to what they were discussing. If Yuri found her appearance strange in the least, he didn’t say a single word. Instead, he merely smiled at her in return.

“Welcome to St. Petersburg, Ms. Gardner. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Charlotte beamed, moving forward to slide her hand from one of Vladimir’s sleeves to shake his outstretched one. “Thank you. You have a gorgeous city.”

“I’m sure it will be improved by your adding to its skyline.” At the compliment, Charlotte reddened visibly, looking away.

“You’re far too kind.”

How the hell was every man on the planet so much more adept at complimenting women than Vlad himself? Of course, Yuri had always been a charmer. Even Vlad’s mother thought so on the few occasions she came to visit. The man was a hotel manager, so, of course, it was his job to charm; but that didn’t mean Vlad was any less jealous at how easily he elicited a smile from Charlotte. “I’m sure you are both weary from your trip. Please come out of the cold.” He gestured to two hotel employees who, between them, scooped up their luggage and followed the three into the hotel.

When the entered the building, of course, Charlotte paused for a full five minutes to take in the grandeur of the foyer. She stared up at the intricately sculpted ceiling and sighed in pleasure at the gilded trim and marble floors while Yuri beamed in pride. “It’s absolutely breathtaking,’ She breathed, grinning at him.

No matter how many times he had seen that smile of hers, Vlad was never as immune as he thought - and he was constantly fighting the need to have it directed at him.

“Constructed almost two hundred years ago,” Yuri answered her with grave pride, “Though, of course, now the building is equipped with all the amenities one could ever need.” Charlotte followed him like an eager puppy, eager to learn more about the building, as Vladimir hung back, torn between amusement and envy.

It was almost enough to make him wish he knew more about architecture. There was a clear path there to Charlotte’s attentions…

Even if he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about pursuing them.

About thirty minutes after they entered the hotel, they actually made it to the fourteenth floor and their rooms. By now, Yuri was fully invested in Charlotte’s visible obsession with the hotel and was commenting on everything from the carpet to the wood paneling on the walls. When he opened the door to her suite, however, he fell silent, allowing the young woman to take in the full majesty of the room.

And that was exactly what the redhead did.

She took a few steps into the luxuriously appointed suite, taking in the gorgeous chandelier over the sitting area, the gleaming kitchenette and the jaw-dropping view of St. Petersburg beyond. Wordlessly, she ran her hands over the smooth leather of the furniture and the brilliant sheen of the gold and mahogany wood paneling on the wall. Then, she headed over to the window to look out open the city without speaking a word.

It was like she was lost in her own little world.

Chuckling softly, Yuri prompted her lowly. “I trust everything is to your satisfaction, Ms. Gardner?”

“Oh yes…” Charlotte breathed - and, to his shock, Vladimir thought he heard the edge of tears in her voice. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

He cleared his throat, breaking free of his own haze. Watching her was a little too absorbing for him - and it would be better if he gained the upper hand sooner rather than later. “Charlotte, we need to be at the Dansk center tomorrow afternoon, but I’d like to get breakfast and discuss things. Meet me in the restaurant downstairs around nine.”

“Mmmhm.” He couldn’t tell if she heard him or not - she was so relentlessly absorbed in her surroundings that she might not have known if the world was ending around her.

“Goodnight, then.” She didn’t reply - and Vladimir didn’t quite expect her to. Instead, he merely followed Yuri from her suite before the elder man broke the silence with a soft laugh.

“She is quite in tune with her art, Ms. Gardner.”

That was certainly one way of putting it. “Indeed, she is. I only hope she can bring herself to leave her suite by tomorrow morning.”

Yuri smiled. “I’m sure that if you were to tempt her with the rest of the city, the two of you could come to an accord.”

“If all else fails.” It was the second time in twenty-four hours that Vlad found himself so restlessly irritated - the second time it was hard for him to put a finger on what irked him so relentlessly.

“You have the penthouse suite, as always, Mr. Kensley.” Yuri led the way down the hall to the corner and opened it for him. As impressive as the deluxe suite had been, the penthouse was even more so. Vlad was floored every time he saw it - the careful detail put into the work on the ceiling and walls, the impeccable placement of the furniture and the fresh flowers arranged in the sitting room. Though he was a man who liked his showers, he knew that a gigantic marble bathtub was waiting for him down the hall, all but trumpeting its charms.

But all of that seemed, somehow, diminished. “Thank you very much, Yuri. I’ll be getting a bit of rest now.” He was, perhaps, dismissing his old family friend with a bit too much abruptness, but Yuri, ever professional, said nothing. He merely inclined his head respectfully.

“Certainly sir. I’ll see that your usual papers are brought up tomorrow morning. Have a pleasant evening.”

And with that, he was gone, leaving Vlad alone with his thoughts.

Which only made his irritation worse. It was, he realized, as if the moment they landed in Russia, Charlotte had become a different person. Everything and everyone enchanted her - except for him, of course. He was still her overbearing, logical-beyond-all-else superior - so it made sense that he would hold even less appeal for her now.

Appeal.

Months ago, the very thought would have made him laugh. Who the almighty hell cared about appeal? They were here to do a job. Charlotte had never been to Russia, so it made sense that she would be enchanted by everything around her. Was he going to be jealous of the entirety of St. Petersburg simply because she liked it so much? It was ridiculously childlike.

And yet, here he was. Wanting a woman he shouldn’t want, and completely out-of-control in a situation that demanded nothing but his strictest, coldest attentions.

As his brother Ethan might say, he was very clearly up shit creek, without a paddle in sight.

 

**

It took Charlotte quite a while to come down from the high of being halfway across the world. She lay awake in the heavenly bed in her suite for half the night, convinced she was going to wake up back in LA, still working for the same firm that had hired her right out of school.

Still miserable.

After a number of painful pinches, she accepted that this was really happening to her. She was really in St. Petersburg, about to work on the second biggest project she had ever tackled, and she was really in the old Lion Palace, which had been nearly flawlessly renovated into one of the most beautiful hotels she’d ever had the pleasure of setting foot in.

Kensley Enterprises, she realized, must like to treat their employees in style. This suite couldn’t have been cheap, and she had been assured that all her expenses were going to be taken care of.

Truth be told, she’d done her best to sleep on the plane trip over because being in a private jet was a bit much for her to handle. It was a thing of luxury, with its comfortable leather seats, kitchen, and even a working shower. That, of course, she had taken advantage of, though she had no choice but to slip right back into the clothes she’d worn before when she was done.

Though she had known that Vladimir Kensley, Jackson Kensley, and the entire Kensley family were all rolling in dough, this was the first time she had seen any of that come to bear. That jet probably cost more than she would ever make in her life, and she didn’t even want to imagine how much this hotel room might have cost.

But she did.

She thought about the hotel room, the jet, the amazingly kind Yuri Vasiliev and everything that awaited her here because it was easier to think about all of that than it was to remember the way that Vladimir Kensley had all but yanked her away from the window - into the heat of his body - and forcibly warmed her.

Charlotte had absolutely no idea what to do when it happened. All at once, his hands were moving briskly over her skin, her entire body had broken out in goosebumps, and desire rose so thick in her throat that her mouth dried.

He smelled good - far too good for a man who had been travelling for the past eight hours. And despite not wearing a thick coat of his own, he was ungodly warm.

There was no way she was going to be able to delude herself into not wanting him for three whole weeks. Not if she was expected to work closely with him every day. When she was as close to him as she had been in the car, all her bluster deserted her in favor of raw desire, and it was all she could do to talk to him.

Because all she could think about was him kissing her the way he’d kissed her in his office - and this time, they wouldn’t stop.

With a low groan, she covered her face with a pillow. Maybe she could call Lila every day and pour her frustration into her best friend...but that, she knew, wasn’t fair to the masseuse. Lila had her own issues to worry about, and here, Charlotte knew she would have to spend the majority of her time convincing the good people of Dansk that they’d made the right choice.

Jumping Vladimir in front of him definitely wouldn’t be perpetuating that ideal.

But she would manage. Somehow, she would manage the three weeks, and when they got back to LA, it would probably only be another two or three months before they hardly needed her at the jobsite. She would have done her duty, she’d have the money she needed to start her firm, and she’d be through dealing with Vladimir fucking Kensley.

But she still had three weeks.

Three weeks of being in the same room as him, of taking his orders and hearing that already ridiculously sexy voice of his speaking in low, fluent Russian. God, for all she knew, he was just counting to a hundred, but it was enough to wet her panties straight through.

Only three weeks. Only three weeks.

God help her.

 

Charlotte spent a decidedly sleepless night before rising early to take advantage of the amenities in her suite. She ran the huge bathtub full of hot water and luxuriated for over an hour, scrubbing herself clean of all the travel grime from the previous day.  It took her a while to decide what to wear, but she decided that she would change into something more suitable for work after breakfast. She donned a long-sleeved black top, the heaviest black jacket she had brought, and a pair of slacks with pumps before assessing her reflection critically in the mirror.

She caught herself about a minute in, her full mouth pulling into a frown. What on earth was she doing? This wasn’t a date. Vladimir Kensley didn’t give a damn how she looked - and even if he did, she reminded herself, all those little cogs in his brain could turn his sex drive on and off at will. He was, as he’d so keenly reminded her, an adult. One kiss between them meant nothing to him - the fact that the sexual tension between them could be cut with a knife meant even less.

Which meant that she was left to bear the brunt of it all.

Lucky her.

She reached the dining room downstairs at ten minutes til nine and was unsurprised to see Vladimir already there. He stood near a table, deep in conversation with the hotel manager, and the young woman took a stuttering breath as she listened to his voice rise and fall effortlessly over the rough, Slavic syllables that comprised the Russian language.

Fuck. She couldn’t do this. Not when she could smell the clean, crisp scent of him from five feet away, when she couldn’t tear her eyes off the huge breadth of his shoulders or the way his large hands curled into the back of the chair he leaned on.

The man was sex incarnate, and he didn’t seem to give a damn.

Despite the way her pride prickled, Charlotte turned to flee. She needed another five minutes - she needed her second wind. But her hopes were dashed in seconds.

“Good morning, Miss Gardner.” Before she even got two steps, Mr. Vasiliev’s heavily accented voice reached her ears in an enthusiastic greeting. “I trust you slept well.”

She was trapped.

Forcing a smile onto her face, Charlotte turned to meet his gaze. “I did, thank you.”

“Good Morning, Charlotte.” Was it some kind of superpower that all Vladimir had to do was say her name and her knees turned into fucking jelly?

“Morning.” She managed, making her way to the table to grasp at it before she fell down. Vladimir pulled out the chair he was clinging to, and she realized that he expected her to sit in it. She didn’t sit so much as collapse into the damn thing, his scent all but enveloping her in heady masculinity.

“What will you have for breakfast then?” Vasiliev asked them both, eager to please.

Thankfully, Vladimir rounded the table to sit across from her before he answered, and Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. “We’ll have the blintzes and buterbrody, along with a pot of Earl Gray, please.”

Charlotte wasn’t sure what either of those were, even though blintzes sounded vaguely familiar. “Sure.” She continued smiling at Yuri as she forced herself to take a deep, steadying breath. “Sounds good.”

“I’ll put the order in right away then.” With a congenial bobbing of his head, the elder man headed off towards what Charlotte could only presume were the kitchens. When she turned to face Vladimir again, to her shock, he was frowning at her. And not only frowning...he might as well have been downright scowling.

“What?” She couldn’t help but ask, her heart in her throat. What on earth had she done now?

Vladimir’s gaze dropped to her shoulders. “Is that the warmest coat you brought?”

Charlotte looked down at it in surprise. It was the ski jacket she’d brought for the one-time Lila insisted that they step out of their comfort zone. She’d ended up getting the entirety of two afternoons of use out of it before she shoved it into the back of her closet. That had been close to three years ago. To be honest, she was surprised the damn thing still fit -and it certainly seemed warm enough.

“Well...yeah…” She ventured sheepishly, knowing, even before she opened her mouth, that wasn’t what Vladimir wanted to hear. His frown, if anything, deepened even further.

“You’re going to freeze.” His almost disgusted tone made her eyes widen at its severity. “I told you to pack for cold weather.”

“Well, excuse me,” As cowed as she was by his sudden seriousness, Charlotte wasn’t going to let him push her around unfettered, “But I was born and raised in LA. We really don’t know about cold weather.”

“It’s Russia.” He deadpanned, his eyes narrow. “I’m sure you’ve seen pictures.”

What the hell was wrong with him? Yesterday, he was almost relentlessly nice to her. He hadn’t woken her up before leaving her apartment because he was concerned she wasn’t getting enough sleep - which meant he must have carried her. He’d explained all the sites she saw as they made their way downtown to the hotel in St. Petersburg. What had changed between yesterday and today?

“Who the hell pissed in your cornflakes?” She found herself asking, more than a little irate now. “Get up on the wrong side of the bed or something?”

“No,” he replied crisply, blue eyes frosty, “I’m merely continually shocked at your inability to follow direction.”

Oh, now she was pissed. After a night of tossing and turning over the man, now he decided to be nasty to her? Two could play at that game.

“Direction? Jesus, Vladimir, the last time I checked, I was your colleague. If you were going to start going all super-superior on me, you could have dropped a warning at least,” she hissed, trying to make it look as though she was pouring over her menu. The only problem with her ruse was that it was in Russian, and they had already ordered - but Charlotte was so angry she hardly cared.

“Charlotte, can you really blame me? After seeing the way you neglect your health, I find myself unable to ignore your carelessness any longer.”

She stared at him, absolutely flummoxed. Her health? No way he was going to try to make this about her health.  “I’m in perfectly fine health,” she retorted, her voice barely above a whisper, “Except that maybe my blood is running a little hot just now, sir. Even if my jacket is what has you so wrapped up, what the hell are you going to do about it? Hold a grudge for three weeks? This is all I brought, so you’re going to have to deal with it.”

She didn’t know what kind of game they were playing now, but this clearly had nothing to do with the damn coat.

Or did it?

Suddenly, Charlotte wasn’t so sure, because Vladimir was shoving back from the table and gesturing to a nearby waiter. The young man hurried over to him for his customer to bark a short command in Russian that sent him scurrying. “What did you tell him?” She demanded almost immediately, now wary of the dangerous look in his face.

Even as angry as she was, as angry as he somehow was, she couldn’t help from being aroused at how sexily authoritative he could be when he got a handle on something. “I cancelled our order,” he returned, his voice taut, as he rounded the table to take hold of her arm and haul her unceremoniously to her feet. “We’re going out.”

Out? Out where? She had barely dressed for breakfast! “Vladimir,” Charlotte suddenly found her voice unsteady as panic crept in. “Where are we going? What the hell has gotten into you?” She kept her voice low in an attempt to keep from drawing attention to them, but several people were already looking anyway.

She didn’t, after all, want to give the wrong impression. It wasn’t like he was hurting her - far from it. But this wasn’t like the Vladimir she knew at all. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him lose his temper. In fact, the most genuine outpouring of emotion she’d ever witnessed from the man before this was the little episode in his office…

But Vladimir didn’t answer her - at least not right away. He dragged her right back through the restaurant and into the elevator bay, which was, thankfully deserted. When he turned to her, his expression was both intense and unreadable, and Charlotte inhaled sharply. She thought, for a brief moment, that he might yell at her. But when the dark-haired man spoke, his tone was strangely soft and a bit uneven.

“Charlotte...I’m sorry. Look...I had a difficult night. I didn’t get much rest and... well, now that we’re here in Russia, I have to be honest: I’m worried about you.”

Her eyes widened slightly. It wasn’t as if Lila didn’t worry about her all the time - but this? This was something entirely different. Vladimir hardly talked about anything he didn’t think served a bigger purpose. Hell, their “getting to know one another” had never really counted toward friendship because she had always imagined he had an ulterior motive. The logistics in his brain were still ticking away, trying to discover how best to understand her.

But this didn’t seem like that. This was something else entirely. “You’ve taken on another project.” She started to open her mouth in argument, but Vladimir forged on.  “And while I have nothing but congratulations for you in that arena, your roommate confided in me that you’ve been neglecting meals. And sleep. As long as you’re within a stone’s throw of me, I won’t allow this to continue.” The young woman blinked, wondering what was coming next. The man had thrown her for a complete loop. “We’re going to get you a new coat.”

Ok, now she couldn’t keep quiet. “Vladimir, I appreciate your concern, but I-”

“You need to keep warm. You need to eat, and you need to sleep. If you get sick in one of the coldest environments in the world, it will help neither of us - especially you.”

For a long moment, Charlotte just stared at him. A large part of her could hardly believe what she’d just heard. She thought that little speech might end with him telling her that if she was out of commission she couldn’t work, and she would be useless. On the contrary, he had just, in all essentiality, told her that he was watching her. Just her.

She took a deep breath, at a loss for words. Vladimir’s deep blue eyes burned into hers, and, for the life of her, she couldn’t look away. This was what she had been afraid of - being so close to him that she couldn’t ignore his warmth. She couldn’t ignore his scent, his intensity...and she certainly couldn’t blindly swallow the way her body reacted.

And she certainly couldn’t ignore what her mind was screaming at her.

In that moment, she was so confused that Charlotte could do nothing but follow her impulses. Swallowing thickly, she reached up to cup his smoothly shaven face and rose onto her toes to peck him very softly and carefully on the mouth.

It was only the barest contact - she lingered for perhaps two or three seconds, tasting the minty remains of the toothpaste he used that morning. She felt the firmness of shoulders beneath her fingertips, heard the way his breath rushed from him and, for the briefest of moments, his heavy hand grasped at her waist and she knew he wanted more. God knew she wanted more.

But now wasn’t the time or the place. Perhaps there would never be a time and place.

What Charlotte wanted, more than anything in the world, was for Vlad to stop analyzing her.  To stop trying to put two and two together, to stop depending on that brilliant mind of his to take him everywhere and to simply feel.

“Ok.” She breathed, moving out of his grip swiftly - before her body switched on the autopilot and everything got a lot more heated. “A coat. That’s fine.”

It took Vladimir a full minute to snap out of his reverie. His hand still hovered in the air where she had been only seconds earlier a moment before it snapped into a fist and his gaze cleared. When he raised his eyes to hers once more, the desire she saw there was enough to take her breath away.

But, as quickly as it affected her, Vladimir’s mask of control slipped back into place. “Alright.”  He stepped out of the alcove, running a hand through hair still damp from the shower. “Come with me.” Now, instead of taking her arm, he offered her his own. It was still hardly appropriate for what they were supposed to be. She, an architect and he, her boss.  But, Charlotte took his arm anyway and let him lead her down the front steps and into the chill morning.

He was right. It was cold - freezing, in fact. Charlotte might not have noticed the previous day because she was so wrapped up in the city before her, but now it was rather hard to ignore the frigid air creeping in through the lining of her ski jacket. Automatically, she huddled closer to Vladimir.

When he glanced down at her, she could have sworn the corner of his mouth kicked up in a knowing smirk before he raised his hand to hail a taxi.

Of course, when Charlotte agreed to buy a coat, she hadn’t expected the man to take her into the heart of St. Petersburg’s upscale shopping district. She had hoped there might be shops close to the hotel - somewhere she could get a fairly cheap, thick and sturdy garment. Instead, within twenty minutes, she found herself facing lines of designer shops - only some of which she was familiar with.

Before she could protest, Vladimir was urging her towards a Prada storefront, and her eyes were wide as saucers. Perhaps she might have protested a little more if she hadn’t still been relishing the memory of how his mouth felt on hers...and luxuriating in the fact that he seemed, for the most part, to be taking the entire affair in stride.

At the very least he hadn’t dropped the line about both of them being adults again. She knew very well how adult she was. That was what had gotten her into this whole mess in the first place.

The moment they stepped into the shop, they were swarmed by at least three saleswomen, all dressed impeccably in black. They were, Charlotte noticed, all tall, slim, and beautifully blonde - whether that blonde was natural or bottle, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that all three women positively drooled over Vladimir - she was surprised their jaws didn’t hit the fucking floor.

The moment they reached him, they immediately started babbling in rapid Russian - she could have been chopped liver for all the attention they paid her.

Charlotte felt something awful, hot and uncomfortable welling in her stomach. She had never been the violent type - at least not physically - but at that moment, she would have been perfectly fine snatching every single blonde hair from their three collective heads. She stood back, glaring daggers at the throng of people before her - and she would have marched right out of the store had Vladimir not chosen that moment to look back at her, his expression far from impressed at all the attention the blondes lavished on him. “Charlotte, come here please?”

She didn’t want to. The moment the three sales women laid eyes on her, their gazes turned sour enough to wither even the heartiest of weeds. But she’d be damned if she’d cower now. These bitches were all but challenging her. Vladimir might not technically be hers, but he wasn’t theirs either, shared language or not.

Chin in the air, she made her way over to them, her gaze challenging them to say a single word about her - even in Russian.

“We’re looking for a winter coat,” Vladimir instructed them, in English now, “And perhaps a few other winter effects.”

“Of course,” the tallest blonde all but gushed in a thickly accented tone. “We’d be delighted to find something to suit your…. wife.” Charlotte opened her mouth to correct her - she was sure the blonde would be happy to hear the details - but Vlad’s hand on her wrist stayed her words. She glanced at him once, incredulously, and he met her gaze with an incremental shake of his head.

He didn’t want them to know she wasn’t his wife? Why the hell not? It was only natural that these women would look at him differently if they assumed he’d married an American. Why wouldn’t he want to bask in the glow of their attentions? Even as she was confused, Charlotte found herself oddly pleased.

He was pretending to be her husband.

She had no idea why - she really didn’t think her minute kiss had scrambled his brain that much.

As the women left to begin pulling things from the shelves, she inched closer to him, gazing up at him skeptically a moment before she tried a whispered inquiry. “So now we’re married?”

Vladimir merely sighed before giving her a surprisingly uncomfortable look. “Don’t give me away? They’re like hawks, and I’ve no intention of flattering them the way they seem to think they deserve.”

“What, because they’re condescending bitches?” The comment left her before she could even think about it, and Charlotte’s face reddened the moment she realized how callous she must have sounded. “I mean...I just wanted to point out that…”

“They’re the kind of women I once thought were my type.” Vladimir interrupted her, his expression contemplative as he watched the three attendants gather their treasure from the shelves.

Charlotte’s mouth all but fell open in shock. “What, them?” She returned in a low hiss, “Those stuck-up, overly coiffed brats? You can’t be serious.”

“Are you really so surprised?” He returned wryly, his brow arched in inquiry. “I like things predictable, Charlotte. I like to know what I’m getting into, and I like to be able to see all possible outcomes. At least,” he paused for a moment, his brow knitting together thoughtfully. “I thought I did. Once.”

Charlotte found her throat drying in odd anticipation. “And now? What kind of woman is your type?” That, she knew, was none of her business. But he’d started this, and she was damn well going to finish it.

Vladimir merely chuckled knowingly. “Well, for the next little while, it’s you, isn’t it?” Charlotte made a small sound of surprise as his arm slid around her waist to pull her close against him - far too close for comfort.

The entire world was going to hell in a handbasket. That was three times Vladimir Kensley had touched her voluntarily in the past hour, and if he didn’t stop, they were going to be in serious trouble. Perhaps her impulsive little show in the elevator bay had done more than she thought. She had meant to shock him - to catch him off guard.

And now he was doing the exact same to her. They were supposed to be concentrating on killing the attraction between them - it was quite obvious now that it wasn’t working. “Freckly, gangly, and completely tactless? Well, thank you, Mr. Kensley, for lowering your standards.” She teased him, resisting the urge to kiss him again - just to see how he’d react.

If Vladimir meant to say anything else, his reply was cut off by the return of the saleswomen, each holding more clothing than Charlotte might have thought their skinny arms able to carry. “Please,” their forced smiles amused the redhead now more than they upset her, “Come right this way.”

And she did, unable to help the way her lips curved upwards in triumph.

Unfortunately, Charlotte’s smile didn’t last for long. If she remembered correctly - and she was sure she did - the entire point of this outing was supposed to be for her to buy a coat. One coat. These women were plying her with literal mountains of clothing options, and the price tags on some of them were enough to make her faintly ill.

While she could safely afford perhaps one or two pieces, she didn’t know how she felt about splurging spontaneously like this - especially on things that made her look so...well...it was more what Lila would consider sexy. Everything was leather or silk, completely form-fitting, and more revealing than she thought winter clothing had any right to be.

Worse, she couldn’t even try on the clothing in peace. As the saleswomen were convinced that Vladimir was her husband, they paraded her out to show off each and every piece, which, as far as Charlotte was concerned, was a serious as baring her soul before the man.

There was a reason she didn’t wear things like the alluring, “sophisticated” getup Lila insisted upon at her first formal meeting with Vladimir. It was because she didn’t like the idea of making herself intentionally attractive for him. She knew what that meant, and it was worse than getting naked - at least in her opinion. She was baiting him -drawing him in.

Though she couldn’t deny she enjoyed the flagrant want on his face every time she was paraded before him in her skin-tight outfits. He stared at her from where he was seated on a posh leather couch, one leg crossed carelessly over the other, and Charlotte felt herself flushing to the very roots of her fiery-colored hair. It didn’t help, she supposed, that he looked pretty damned delicious himself in that tailored suit of his, under a thick wool coat that suited him perfectly. It was really no wonder the women had been all over him.

She wanted to be all over him - though she supposed that was conveyed perfectly enough when she strutted her stuff in a dress that seemed to be made entirely of buttery, gray suede. Feelings of nervousness and pure sex appeal warred within her almost continuously for the hour they were in the shop, and Charlotte told herself that, at the very least, if she and Vladimir were supposed to be husband and wife, at least they were giving off a rampantly sexual vibe.

After being subjected to no less than ten outfits, Charlotte finally called mercy and redonned her own clothes before stepping from the dressing room-still pink-cheeked. The only thing she was even considering actually purchasing was a thick, shockingly white wool coat lined with faux fur that was luxuriously warm and soft. It was twelve hundred dollars, and the notion of spending so much money was intimidating, to say the very least. But it wasn’t as if Charlotte hadn’t been getting paid for all the hours she was working for Kensley enterprises. This would be her first gift to herself...if she ever got over all that money leaving her bank account at once.

To her surprise, however, when she came back onto the sales floor, she found Vladimir already in deep conversation with the lead saleswoman. On the counter besides them were two elegantly appointed Prada bags that were visibly full to the brim. Frowning, she made her way over to the counter to speak with them.

“I’m sorry,” she tried to be as magnanimous as she could - a stretch, considering how she’d been greeted when she entered the shop, “But I didn’t want everything. I was just thinking about the coat…”

“It’s all been taken care of.”  The blonde turned to look at her with an envious, wistful expression. “You are so lucky to have a husband who cares for you so. You should take good care of him.”

The statement left Charlotte completely confused. Already taken care of? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

But Vladimir was already reaching into one of the bags to retrieve the coat. He smoothed the slight wrinkles from where it had been folded and held it out for her. The price tag, it appeared, had been cut away. Which meant it was already bought. “Come darling.” He could already see the rebellion brewing in her eyes - the combination of shock and horror, and there was enough warning in his tone to keep her from exploding - but only just.

Somewhat stiffly, she worked her arms into the sleeves and allowed the dark-haired man to fasten the buttons over her front. Before meeting him, she hadn’t known it was possible to be simultaneously pissed as hell at someone even as you wanted to tear their clothes off.

It was a novel sensation, to say the least - but Vladimir seemed to have no qualms about inciting it in her.

They had barely stepped back into the frigid air before she was whirling on him, incensed. “What have you done?” She demanded, gazing, shell-shocked, at the two bags of clothing he held.

“I’ve bought you clothes.” He replied, as if it was the smallest thing in the world - and then, at her obviously upset expression, he breathed a long sigh. “You’re upset.”

It wasn’t a question. “Damn right I’m upset!” She insisted, feeling her cheeks heat. “That must have been hundreds, no ...thousands of dollars! I don’t need clothes!”

“There are a great many things we don’t need,” he countered, his tone just as steady as hers was erratic, “But I thought it a crime to pass up outfits that did your figure such justice.”

Her figure. Her figure? Charlotte had already opened her mouth with a witty retort when the enormity of what he’d just said struck her and she fell completely silent.

In plain English, Vladimir Kensley was telling her that he’d brought her thousands of dollars’ worth of name brand clothes because he liked the way she looked in them. He liked looking at her. “You…” She finally managed, the wind somewhat stolen from her sails. “You want me to wear that stuff.”

His mouth quirked in a wry smirk. “That is what clothes are for, aren’t they, Charlotte? Wearing?”

She scowled, slapping his arm briefly and wincing at how much the cold, along with the solidness there, combined to make her palm sting.  “Vladimir Kensley,” she finally replied, staring at him steadily. “Are you trying to tell me I’m pretty?”

If she wanted him to give her a compliment, she was going to have to set the damn thing up for him. That was just the kind of man Vladimir was - and damn if it didn’t intrigue her as much as it frustrated her.

He seemed to consider her for a moment, his intense gaze roaming over her from head to toe. Though she was wearing a coat that might as well be a piece of art, Charlotte, who had done nothing with her hair that morning, who was wearing no makeup and had sworn to herself that she didn’t give a damn what Vladimir Kensley thought about her, was suddenly self-conscious.

“You’re gorgeous, Charlotte.” His words took her breath away - and for a moment, Charlotte thought she might have actually forgotten how to speak. Gorgeous? She hadn’t even known Vladimir had the wherewithal to find women gorgeous. Appealing or sexually satisfying, certainly, but this...this was completely unexpected.

She swallowed thickly, struggling to remember even the simplest of words.  “Did you expect anything less?” Vladimir finally continued, reaching down to cup her cheek in a large, surprisingly warm hand, “Isn’t it obvious that I’m at my wits end trying to resist your decidedly singular charms?” When his thumb brushed over her lower lip leisurely, she shuddered. She couldn’t help it. “You’re not making it easy.” His tone now lowered to a soft growl that sent waves of molten desire trickling downwards to pool in her lower belly. “But if I can’t have you in my bed, I’ll have to be happy knowing you’re wearing clothes I bought you. Are you really going to rob me of that pleasure?”

She could barely breathe now.

Vladimir was the only man she had ever met - in her entire thirty years on planet earth - who could so deftly switch personas. One moment, everything was cool, precis logic. The next, he was pretending to be her husband and telling her he got off knowing she wore slinky dresses he purchased for her.

It was enough to make her head spin.

“No.” She finally replied, pressing her thighs together as her womb all but clenched at the quiet sensuality in his voice. “I won’t.”

“How very kind of you.” His hand left her face to smooth over her shoulder. Any passers-by might have assumed that he was merely admiring the material of her coat. But Charlotte felt him moving his palm over her shoulders, squeezing - touching her. Wishing there were nothing but bare skin between them.

By the time he released her, she was just as aroused as if she’d woken from a particularly vivid dream, and he hadn’t even done anything. But the moment had passed. In a trice, Vladimir went back to being all business. “We should head over to the Dansk building. We’re running low on time to get there for the meeting.”

“Right!” She was glad of anything to say - anything at all that might help her forget how flagrantly they wanted one another. A business meeting would be welcome right now. And later...if Vladimir asked her to dinner, she might just wear one of the dresses he bought her. Just to give him the pleasure of her wearing it.

 

**

The meeting went off without a hitch. The men who ran the Dansk branch of Kensley Enterprises spoke perfect English, so Charlotte didn’t have to worry about a language barrier. When she laid before them the plans that she’d made, they reacted far differently than Vladimir had. Mind you, her design for Dansk wasn’t quite as outlandish. She’d done her best to incorporate at least a few tropes of Russian architecture to tie it to the surrounding buildings. She had, of course, been more cautious because it was her first international project.

But, apparently, she needn’t have worried. The executives were over the moon for her plans, and even referenced a few facets of the building in LA that they wanted to know if she could add.

Vladimir, for his part, did little more than supervise. He sat at the head of the table and watched the executives gush over the drawings she showed them. The building was already being prepared for renovations, and they would be ready to begin in as little as two days. Charlotte found herself swept up in their enthusiasm. It was the kind of response she’d often wondered if she would ever get from Vladimir - so she knew she should be enthused that she had gotten so lucky. After all, these men wanted few, if any, revisions to the material she set before them.

But, after Vladimir, she couldn’t help but think this was all surprisingly easy. Sure, the man was complicated, but he’d provided a challenge for her - one that she’d been eager to overcome; and the way he’d reacted to her designs had led them, inevitably, to where they were now, hadn’t it?

Of course, the quality of “where they were” was questionable at best - somewhere between friends and colleagues, desperately trying not to undress one another with their eyes when other people were in the close vicinity.

The redhead forced herself to focus on the task at hand. There would be plenty of time for her to obsess over Vladimir later. For the moment, she would just revel at how wonderfully her first overseas project was shaping up to be. Once she did that, Charlotte didn’t even notice how quickly time passed. They arrived at the Dansk office around two in the afternoon, but by the time she finally looked at a clock, it was close to seven and the sky was dark outside.

Her eyes widened in surprise - even more so when she looked up from the plans she’d been pouring over to find that, at some point, Vladimir had left her and now it was simply her with the executives, all wrapped up in their respective excitement.

Her stomach growled, and she realized, all at once, that she hadn’t eaten anything all day. She wondered if Vladimir was off somewhere eating without her, and resolved to give him the third degree if she discovered he’d left her with all the work. She politely excused herself from the executives of one of Russia’s highest spending companies and found her way back to the lobby of the fifteenth floor office.

Where she found Vladimir speaking in quiet tones with a man far less broad than he himself, his black eyes and dark hair slicked back from his brow pronouncing him of Asian descent. Charlotte only had to take one look at the pair of them to see how relaxed they were with one another - far more than Vladimir had ever been with her.

She knew in an instant that he had to be Toshiro - his Japanese brother.  Besides the two of them, there was only one other occupant of the lobby. A young woman with hair blacker than either of theirs - so dark it contrasted starkly with the pale, almost porcelain color of her skin, was curled against a sofa at the far end of the lobby, her heels lined up neatly below her. She seemed to be completely absorbed in the laptop screen she stared at, her fingers flying over the keys at near the speed of light.

Toshiro saw her first, raising his gaze to hers. If he was surprised to see her standing there, he said nothing, merely murmuring to his brother in a low voice.

Vladimir, however, reacted as if he’d been burned, turning and all but leaping from his seat as he looked in her direction. “Charlotte.” It was almost as if she’d caught him with his pants down - but all he’d been doing was talking to his brother; who he now promptly introduced her to. “This is my brother, Toshiro. He arrived this morning.”

Charlotte promptly stuck her hand out, still somewhat flummoxed by what she’d stumbled onto - if, indeed, it was anything at all. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Unlike his brother, Toshiro had no accent - and his voice wasn’t quite as deep. “That’s Athena over there. She’s my...assistant.” He hesitated slightly before defining the dark-haired woman’s role - and that instant was enough for Charlotte to know that Athena was certainly more than his assistant. She raised breathtakingly blue eyes from the laptop before her to smile at Charlotte.

“Hi. I’d shake your hand but I’m in the middle of something just now. So, so sorry.” She spoke, Charlotte realized, with the twang of the Northeast. She wouldn’t be surprised if Athena was from New York, just as Vladimir and Toshiro were.

“No problem.” Charlotte returned her smile before turning her attention back to the two men before her.

“Have you finished up with the gentlemen back there?” Vladimir asked her, an undertone of tension in his voice. He didn’t want her here. She realized she was correct in her presumption that she’d interrupted something.

“We’re about done,” she replied, looking from him, to Toshiro, and back again. “I can head back to the hotel, if you need to finish up here.”

She presumed it would mean she didn’t get to wear any of her new clothes, but that mattered little just now. The last thing she wanted was to intrude on a family moment.

“That sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast.”

And just like that, she was dismissed. Charlotte tried not to show her disappointment, merely nodding with a smile. She returned to the conference room for just long enough to grab her things, promising each of the executives that she would see them in two days’ time to begin the renovations. As she slid her arms into the sleek material of her new coat, she remembered that it, at least, was something else Vladimir bought for her.

The thought gave her no small thrill.

The redhead made her way to the elevator bay, but before she could press the button to go down to the first floor, another hand beat her to the punch. She jumped, surprised to see none other than Toshiro Kensley at her shoulder.

“May I see you out?”

She had no idea what to think of this. “...Sure?” It was more of a question than a confirmation, but Toshiro didn’t seem to mind. He stepped into the elevator behind her and Charlotte noted that he was also about a head shorter than Vladimir - putting him at just above six feet. Tall for a Japanese man, by anyone’s standards.

And he wore it well - along with his slanted eyes, sharp cheekbones, full mouth and regal posture.

She wondered, vaguely, if all the Kensley men were this attractive? Did Jackson just pick the manliest little boys in every country he visited? The very notion made her smile at its silliness as she shook her head incrementally. Though she didn’t know him personally, Charlotte knew enough to be sure that Jackson Kensley had adopted each and every one of his children for a reason.

After all, anyone with eyes could see how capable Vladimir was within seconds of meeting him.

“So how are things going with the new project?” Toshiro’s question surprised her. She hadn’t actually expected him to initiate conversation. The redhead had been under the impression that he was just being polite.

“Great,” she found herself smiling unabashedly. “The Dansk executives are in love with the design.”

“I imagine that’s an entirely different story from your first proper meeting with Vlad.” His wry tone was enough to make her stiffen, and Charlotte was immediately nervous. Please don’t tell her he was just accompanying her down to the first floor to test her mettle. It was hard enough dealing with his brother.

“Well...yes.” She finally managed, fiddling with a stray strand of her hair.  “At the very least though, Vladimir’s easy to work with now.  He has certain...expectations…”

“Oh, don’t give me that.” To her surprise, Toshiro chuckled softly. “I imagine that he’d be your dream boss if you interests ran towards logistics and numbers - but that isn’t you is it, Ms. Gardner?”

Charlotte stared up at him warily, choosing to wait for him to continue rather than answer his possibly rhetorical question. “I’ve looked through some of your work, as well as your information. I don’t think Vladimir’s ever had to work with someone as different from he is as you are.”

The young woman still wasn’t sure what to say. “Well,” she venturing, “Considering I’m the first person he’s bumped heads with in a long time, I’d say he’s probably handling it about as well as to be expected.”

“I’m sure.” Toshiro leaned against the wall of the elevator as the floors continued to decrease. “Which means to say that he’s being stubborn and pigheaded - fighting against that a-type personality of his.”

That honestly sounded exactly like what Vladimir was doing - as if he couldn’t decide whether or not to cross the boundaries that he himself had put into place. It would have been so much better, Charlotte knew, if she were just able to think of him as her boss - if she could just work on the job and let it go the moment things finished. But she knew she would always wonder what would have happened if Vlad let her see past that thin veneer of control he was always so intent on keeping? What would she learn about him?

“He’s a great man,” she finally replied, choosing her words carefully - but just because she was careful about what she said didn’t mean Charlotte was lying. “He knows exactly what he needs at any given time...what the company needs.” Her voice lowered somewhat before she continued softly. “He’s not so great at dealing with what he wants.”

She realized, far too late, that she’d let the words slip in front of the man’s brother and her face turned cherry. “That is...I mean...I don’t mean to-”

“To what? Know him as well as you do?” Toshiro smirked, obviously amused. “No harm in that. It will save you a lot of trouble in the future, I think.” And was doing her no good now - that much she knew. She bit her lip, curling a strand of hair around her finger absently, wondering what on earth Toshiro was trying to get at.  She knew, for a fact, that he was director of International Business -which meant that pretty much the only person he answered to was Vladimir himself. Was he trying to tell her how to ease business proceedings with Vladimir...or something more personal?

“As we get to know one another better, he accepts the way I work more and more gracefully. As long as we maintain that kind of working relationship, I think our projects will turn out splendidly.” It was as diplomatic an answer as any she’d ever come up with.

And it tasted sour on her tongue.

“The nature of the relationships that keep Kensley Enterprises running smoothly is immensely important.” Toshiro nodded, “Vladimir has always prided himself on running a tight ship. Maybe that’s why he never seems to cut himself any slack. I love my brother to death but he’s wound tighter than a bowstring. He could use a little rest and relaxation.”

Before Charlotte could ask what, exactly, Toshiro thought Vladimir would consider rest and relaxation, the elevator reached the ground floor and he stepped from it. She hurried to follow him through the lobby and the glossy revolving door that led out onto the street beyond. “It was lovely to meet you, Charlotte.” The dark-haired man extended his hand again, and Charlotte realized she might never get to ask her question. “Be sure to let Vlad know when you get back. I’m sure he won’t rest easy until you do.”

“Nice to meet you as well, Toshiro,” She responded, still trying to read his intentions through that benign, handsome smile of his. “Good night.”

When it came to impassable expressions, he could give Vlad a run for his money.

As Charlotte stepped out onto the sidewalk, she shivered, drawing her coat closer around her. Usually, she wouldn’t play into anyone’s attempts to baby her - there was no real need for her to call Vladimir when she got back to the hotel. He’d probably still be busy with his brother. But she would - as a gesture of goodwill.

He had, after all, admitted to worrying about her. The least she could do was alleviate some of the pressure there - even if she would far rather be catering to Vladimir’s less clandestine needs.

Christ.

The young woman blew out a breath, clutching her two Prada bags in frigid fingers. Though she was going back to one of the most expensive beds she’d ever lain in, and an entire menu of room service was open to her every whim, she couldn’t help the feeling of unease churning in her belly at the thought of another long, sleepless night.

 

Chapter 8 - Sound Advice

 

He didn’t like prying.

Vladimir hated it when his mother did it, hated it when his father tried to slip past his defenses to manipulate things the way he wanted, and he hated when his brothers tried to interfere in his personal affairs.

The moment his brother had arrived in the office, he’d taken one look at Vlad and pronounced that he looked like hell. The woman aside him - Athena, he believed, was her name - took one look at Toshiro before rushing off to make coffee for the both of them. Coffee she never returned with.

Instead, she left the two of them alone while she worked at the opposite end of the room.

In all honestly, the moment Toshiro visited his proclamation on Vladimir, he tried to flee. It almost would have been better to head back to the conference room, where he was torn between staring at Charlotte’s radiant smile as she spoke with the executives and the tantalizing line of her cleavage beneath the top she wore. He had done his best not to remember how sensuously the clothes he bought her hugged the lines of her body - the way she’d looked at him and the way he looked at her in the damn store...And so he’d left the room. Charlotte had things pretty much handled anyway. Later on, the execs would come to him with the logistics and he’d answer all their questions.

Of course, his escape was foiled when he ran into his brother - who hadn’t even warned him that he arrived in the city. He was hardly given the courtesy of a greeting and a brief hug before Shiro commented on his appearance. Everything went downhill from there.

“Well, when Lucas called me, I assumed it was bad, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.”

Vladimir’s mouth fell open - he didn’t know what to address first - the fact that Lucas had obviously ratted on him, or that the whole damn family was now privy to what he considered to be a very private dilemma. Ultimately, he decided that, perhaps, playing dumb might be the best policy.

“What on earth,” he responded, his voice more than a little strained, “Is so horrible?”

“You.” Toshiro didn’t waste any time beating around the bush. “I assume you’ve taken the noble route and haven’t been with any other women since you met Charlotte Gardner.” If anything, Vlad went even more rigid than he already was, glaring at his brother. “Might have saved you a little frustration.” Shiro added, his tone somewhat gentler than it had been. In his gaze, there was something horribly like sympathy, and Vladimir found himself growing angry.

“Last I checked, it wasn’t the family’s business who I slept with,” he snapped - perhaps a little too loudly. If Athena heard him from across the room, however, she didn’t make a peep, continuing to work devotedly on her laptop. She was a pretty, pale little thing - about half Charlotte’s size, perhaps, and Vladimir found himself wondering why on earth Shiro had hired an assistant. He seemed to work quite well by himself before.

“You’re right,” The Japanese man answered succinctly, drawing his chair even closer to Vladimir’s, “But it is my business to make sure my brother is happy and healthy. And it’s apparent to see that you’re not happy, Vlad.”

The Russian man snorted, still loathe to discuss what Toshiro was attempting to bait him with. If he discussed it, that gave the issue power - and in his mind, the damned thing already had enough power as it was. “I’m perfectly happy. Two of our biggest building projects are going according to schedule and, if things continue this way, I’ll be back in New York by the end of the year.”

“Right. Ready to take father’s place.”

“Perfectly ready.” The mere thought was enough to give him heartburn.

“And three thousand miles away from Charlotte Gardner.”

Vladimir opened his mouth to reply - and found that he couldn’t. Inexplicably, the words stuck in his throat.  Toshiro merely stared at him, waiting - and Vladimir cursed him silently. “Vlad,” His brother started, carefully, “I know how you feel about workplace relationships.”

“Do you?” That unstuck his throat. The sheer force of his sarcasm was enough to force the words from him. “Then you know that they don’t exist for me, Toshiro.”

“Right. And I also know that you’re probably driving yourself crazy in increments trying to deal with this. So I’m going to give you a piece of advice.”

“It better have to do with the construction,” Vladimir warned him, his tone deadly soft. Toshiro, however, merely ignored him.

“Get her out of your system.” Shiro deadpanned, unblinking. “You look as if you’re fit to kill someone, Vlad. I’m surprised you managed to go all this time without touching her.” As he said the words, his gaze flickered towards where Athena sat in the corner and Vladimir realized, with no small amount of incredulity, that Shiro was finding his fuel from his own love life. If he had taken leave of his senses and was engaging in a relationship with someone who was supposed to work for him, that was his business. Shiro wasn’t going to tell him what to do.

“Shiro, I’m not talking about this.”

“Vladimir, you’re thirty-five years old. I’d hope by this point that you might have realized talking about things helps sometimes.”

“Not with this.” Vladimir was adamant. When Charlotte wasn’t near, he could afford to be. It might make up for the times she was close to him and he felt himself losing control - micrometer by torturous micrometer.

But then she was there. She walked into the room completely unexpectedly, and he was forced to introduce her to Toshiro and his “assistant” like nothing had happened. Worse, Toshiro went with her when she decided to leave, and God only knew what havoc his brother was wreaking when he wasn’t there to supervise.

Toshiro, Vladimir knew, wasn’t as discreet with his affairs as he himself. That didn’t make him Ethan, who was emblazoned across the cover of some of the world’s most prominent news outlets with a new woman every week, but it certainly didn’t make him enough of an authority on relationships that he could afford to lecture Vladimir on the prospect of one.

The impossible prospect.

Kissing her was one thing - buying her clothes and indulging himself in a few, fleeting moments of her touch...that was all he had allowed himself so far; and Vladimir knew that going any further was dangerous. He wouldn’t do it. Couldn’t do it.

Even if something almost animal inside him threatened to spring free whenever Charlotte was near him.

“Mr. Kensley.”

“What?” The answer ripped sharply from him before he could stop it, and he looked up to see Athena standing over him, her expression somewhat startled. He’d all but yelled at her, with no provocation at all.

It was completely unlike him, and he was immediately ashamed. “My apologies, Athena.”

Christ, he really was losing control. “What did you need?”

The young woman looked hesitant, and Vlad found himself momentarily worried that he’d put her off speaking with him altogether, when that hadn’t been his intention. It was Shiro he was mad at, not Athena. Hell, he didn’t even know anything about her, other than the fact that there was obviously something between her and Shiro.

She took a deep breath before answering him. “Mr. Kensley, I know you and I just met, and I have no business speaking to you on your personal affairs. But Shiro has been really, really worried about you. He’s been losing sleep over it.”

Vlad knew he should cut her off there. The moment she’d mentioned “personal affairs” his wariness had slammed back full force. It was one thing to have Shiro lecturing him, but this slip of a girl? He’d rather be rude than show her a single iota of his vulnerability.

But the young woman continued before he could pass judgement on her - and, to his shock, Vlad found her words cutting him to the quick where Toshiro’s had fallen on deaf ears. “Mr. Kensley, I love Toshiro.” As she spoke the words, Athena’s face reddened. “He doesn’t know it, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell him. I know you two are close - that he depends on you for guidance when he comes up short. Now, he’s trying to help you. I don’t think it’s him trying to lord over you or tell you what to do...he wouldn’t dare. He just wants you to be happy. I think...I think he’s worried because it’s been a while since he’s seen you truly happy...he doesn’t like to know you’re struggling. I’m...quite aware that what’s between Shiro and I is only temporary, but I’d like to do the best I can to make him happy. At least, as long as we’re together.”

It was a bit much for him to process.

Athena was right on all the facts: They didn’t know one another, and she had no place drawing him into the tangle of she and Toshiro’s affair.

But that didn’t mean her words didn’t touch him.

As much as he relied on his logic to guide him, Vladimir wasn’t made of stone.

She had just poured her heart out to a stranger - a stranger who she had to know could have her job if the notion occurred to him. Who could separate her from Toshiro in the blink of an eye - but someone who cared for the Japanese man just as much as she did. Certainly, Vladimir was pissed at his brother’s meddling, but he was well intentioned - and Vlad didn’t like the idea of Shiro losing sleep just because he was.

It was absurd.

Slowly, the dark-haired man ran a hand through his hair. It seemed as if the universe was conspiring against him.

As if in confirmation, at that moment, the elevator door opened and Shiro returned, a small smile playing about his lips. At the sight of him, Athena flushed slightly and turned to hurry back to her couch.

For the briefest of moments, Toshiro’s smile wavered.  “What did the two of you find to talk about?” He inquired, attempting to keep his voice light. It was that strain that gave him away, and Vladimir glanced from him to Athena, who was already buried in her work once more.

He stood, grabbing his coat from where it was slung over the back of his chair.  Striding over to his brother, he clasped him on the shoulder firmly. “Nothing you need to worry about.” When Shiro arched a dark brow, Vlad allowed himself a small smile. “Get some rest, Shiro. Lord knows you must be jetlagged out of your mind. If you want to argue, we can argue tomorrow. I’m tired and it’s been a long day.”

“Vlad, I think-”

“Tomorrow, Shiro.” He repeated, squeezing his brother’s shoulder briefly. “And let’s start with business, alright? If you still want to interrogate me after that, I might be better disposed to listen then.”

Toshiro seemed to take the fact that his brother wasn’t visibly angry anymore as a good sign, and, after a beat of uncertainty, he reluctantly nodded. “Alright. Tomorrow then. I’m coming to your room before breakfast.”

“As you wish.” He was in the elevator before Toshiro - or his surprisingly wily lover - could try anything else.

Vladimir needed air - and a lot of it. He had a lot to think about in the next twelve hours - and he strongly suspected that after all the thinking was done, his resistance would be eroded to next to nothing.

Which couldn’t bode well for the woman sleeping just down the hall from him.

 

**

It was always comforting to be in familiar places. By this point in his life, Toshiro had stayed at the Four Seasons in St. Petersburg so often it was almost like home - like one of many homes. He was always on the move, so any hotel he stayed at more than a handful of times was home.

As he lay back on the bed, staring at the ornate ceiling above him, he wondered what was going on a single floor above him.

That didn’t mean that he was trying to picture his brother’s sex life in his mind’s eye - God no. If the restraint he showed in almost every other aspect of his life was any indication, he could only imagine what might happen once Vladimir did give into his latent desires.

And he would give in.

Shiro certainly knew that now, after losing his own battle with temptation.

The fruits of that little endeavor were currently lying in bed beside him - fast asleep.

Shiro should have supposed his father had an ulterior motive in his “suggestion” that he hire an assistant. The man was infamous for trying to get his sons to settle down and, up until now, they had sidestepped him at every turn.

But, in Shiro’s opinion, there was no way his father could have known just how compatible he and Athena were. It was...perplexing, to be sure. Here, lying next to her, listening to the way she breathed, he could almost be convinced that nirvana truly existed - and this was coming from a man who had seen a good portion of what there was to see in the world.

Once Shiro had allowed himself to give in, everything had changed.

But he and Vlad were two different people, to be sure. While the younger man was fairly sure that it wasn’t a question of if Vlad would crack, but when, Vlad was Vlad. He could turn around and surprise his brother - reject his inner impulses and shock the hell out of them all.

But, this wasn’t just about impulses. One simply had to take one look at the way Vlad changed when Charlotte walked into a room to know that it was more than sexual between them. Oh, certainly, it was immensely sexual… but there was something more there. Something Vlad might never have experienced before in his entire life…

“What are you looking so pensive for?”

He looked down to see Athena’s wide blue eyes fixed on him and his stomach did a funny little twist in his gut - completely and utterly beyond his control. “I thought you were sleeping.”

She made a soft, tired little sound that beckoned his libido tantalizingly. “I was on my way.” When her lips curved into that radiant, full smile, he knew he was lost. Of course, she didn’t know it yet - and he planned on keeping it that way for as long as possible.

“Well, since you’re awake, maybe you can tell me just what it was you and my brother were talking about?” He’d been trying to get it out of her ever since they left Dansk, but Athena wasn’t budging - not even under the assault of his most persuasive techniques.  At his question, the dark-haired woman merely smiled, two spots of color appearing on her cheeks.

“I told you already, Shiro, it was nothing. Just small talk.”

The Japanese man rolled his smaller lover under him in a smooth motion, relishing her soft sound of surprise.  “I don’t think I quite believe that.” He nestled himself in between her pale, milky thighs - a place he increasingly believed he belonged. “Want to tell the truth?”

Athena laughed - if a bit breathlessly. “I am telling the truth!”

“Oh, really?” Shiro cut off the sound of her mirth by pressing his mouth soundly to hers. Within an instant, the kiss became deep, sensual and tantalizingly arousing. “Let’s see if we can’t get you to open up?”

**

 

She hadn’t expected to sleep, so when Charlotte woke at four in the morning to a firm knock on her door, she was momentarily disoriented. She groped blearily in the dark for her phone on the bedside table, and the moment she saw the time, she cursed lowly.

Who the hell could be knocking on her door so early?

Charlotte dragged herself out of bed, struggling to keep her eyes open. A combination of jetlag and the bottle of wine she’d indulged in for dinner was doing everything it could to keep her unconscious. Yawning hugely, she stumbled over to the door and shoved a mess of curls from her face before yanking it open.

The sight that met her gaze made her straighten almost immediately.

Vladimir stood in the doorway - wearing the same clothes she had seen him in before she left the office, his collar undone and his gaze intense. Beneath his scrutiny, Charlotte found herself growing slightly nervous. She was wearing only a double XL t-shirt that barely came down to mid-thigh and absolutely nothing else. If she were in her own apartment, she would be sleeping naked, but the luxury of the Four Seasons St. Petersburg demanded something a little more modest.

All at once, she wished her purchases from the previous day had included some sort of flannel pajamas. She felt woefully exposed in front of the man before her, but Charlotte was still so fuzzy from sleep that all she could do was stare up at him.

Goddamn, he was gorgeous. The thought was even more flagrant when she didn’t have her good sense to dissuade her from it. He kept himself buttoned up in those tight suits all the time - and while they did justice to his broad shoulders and narrow waist, without a suit, he was simply more impressive. It was almost as if the strong lines of his body were about to pop the seams of his shirt...and, shamelessly, a part of her wished they would.

“For Christ sake, don’t look at me like that, Charlotte.” His sharp tone was enough to jerk her gaze back to his, and the redhead’s cheeks colored. For the briefest moment, she thought Vladimir was admonishing her like a child.

Until she saw the flagrant heat in his eyes.

He was staring at her as if she were the main course at a particularly decadent dinner, his blue gaze intense and focused as it moved over her from head to foot. Charlotte swallowed thickly, doing the best she could to pull her t-shirt lower over her thighs as her body reacted blatantly. Her nipples hardened beneath the thin cotton material covering her breasts and, all at once, she could hardly breathe.

But, somehow, she managed to force a single question past her lips. “Vladimir...what are you doing here at this time of the morning?”

The tall man raked a hand through his dark hair - which Charlotte noticed looked as if he’d been doing much the same the entire evening. She was fixed with the ridiculous urge to rise to her toes and smooth it back into place - completely and utterly reproachable.

But that was honestly one of the least risqué thoughts she’d ever had about the man who was supposed to be her boss. “I... came to check on you.” He finally managed, prompting Charlotte’s brows to join her hairline. Check on her? The last time she checked, she wasn’t five. “Make sure jetlag hasn’t gotten the best of you.”

Like it had obviously gotten to him? Charlotte didn’t quite know what to say. It was obvious that there was more to this, but she didn’t feel like starting an interrogation when she was still half-asleep. “I was asleep.” She finally managed, as another huge yawn that threatened to dislocate her jaw. “I’m fine. You should try and get some sleep, Vladimir.”

His hand swiped through mussed black locks once more and he stared at her a moment longer before nodding, curtly. He looked faintly embarrassed, as if he himself didn’t know why he’d shown up on her doorstep. “Right.” Vladimir spoke more to himself than he did to her, before turning to go. “Goodnight then.”

Charlotte had no idea why she reached out. She should have let him go. That would have been the smart thing to do. Instead, she found her fingers catching in the sleeve of his shirt. “Vladimir, wait.”

Dear sweet God, she was out of her mind. But when Vladimir slowly turned back to her, his expression somehow hungrier than before, Charlotte ceased to care. All that mattered was that she had wanted this man for weeks. Months. And here he was, outside her hotel room, thousands of miles away from anyone that might interrupt them. “Do you…” she swallowed thickly, hoping she wasn’t being too forward. “Do you want to come in?”

The dark haired man stared at her for a long beat before the sleeve she gripped twisted. All at once, Vladimir had a firm hold on her wrist and was backing her into the hotel suite, kicking the door closed behind them. Within four steps, he had her hips hedged against a heavy venetian sofa, trapped against his own.

And evidence of what he’d really come for.

“Charlotte.” When he spoke, his tone was low, gravelly and almost pained. “I can’t...I need…”

The mere sound of him on the edge of begging was enough to take her breath away. Here was a man always steadily, obsessively in control. One of the most powerful men on the planet...and he was in her hotel room. “What do you need?”  When she finally managed a reply, her own voice was breathless with desperate want.

She had to hear him say it.

“You,” He growled, without hesitation, “I need you.”

And then he was kissing her - just as hot, heady and hungry as he had in his office all those weeks ago. Charlotte’s arms were around his neck and his tongue thrust hungrily past her lips. He tasted like vodka, chocolate and everything good in the world.

Charlotte wanted more. Her hands sifted through the dark ebony of his hair and Vladimir made a low sound of approval in the back of his throat, nipping at her lower lip before sucking at her mouth tantalizingly so a soft moan escaped her. As she was still trapped against the couch, there was little the redhead could do but writhe against the rising jut of his erection against her lower stomach. She wanted to wrap her legs around his waist - to feel the pressure lower, where she needed it so desperately she was almost willing to climb the man like a tree.

As her tongue tangled with his, Charlotte rose onto her toes, arching against him shamelessly in a bid to feel the full length of his body against hers. With a groan, Vlad’s hands slid down, from her minute waist to cup the curve of her behind and pull her even more flush against him. In a smooth movement, he lifted her from the floor to perch precariously atop the back of the sofa. Charlotte’s grip on the man held her in place and, all at once, her t-shirt hiked up so that the clothed bulge of his erection pressed against the most sensitive part of her.

With nothing else between them.

A sharp breath hissed from her as Charlotte’s fingers curled tightly into the back of his neck. “Fuck…” She undulated against him slowly, creating hot, delicious friction that soon had her all but gushing against him as their mouths devoured one another. Perhaps later, she would worry about ruining what had to be an expensive pair of slacks and an ungodly dry-cleaning bill, but at this particular juncture, Charlotte cared little.

It wasn’t long, however, before Vladimir noticed the mess she was making. He tore his mouth from hers for long enough to glance down and realize the thin cotton shirt hiked up to her waist hid absolutely nothing.

He stared at her bare lower half for long enough to make Charlotte’s cheeks burn - but Vladimir was too preoccupied to noticed. He muttered something low and dark in Russian a moment before one of his hands trekked down to curl into her thigh. A thumb stroked teasingly over her lower stomach, making the muscles there quiver, and Charlotte gasped as Vladimir worked on kissing and biting a series of dark, livid marks over the line of her neck. She squirmed in a blatant attempt to escape his grip - to somehow gain control of the heat spiraling through her in ever-cresting waves.

But the moment Vladimir touched her between the legs, she was absolutely lost.  A soft cry escaped her when he used a muscular thigh to brusquely part her legs even wider before his hand slid down to cup the blazing heat of her.

For a long moment, he held her - just like that - and Charlotte could feel her heart beating between her legs. She didn’t know if she wanted him to just cut pleasantries and fuck her, or if she wanted to endure his teasing until her brain melted into a puddle of mush between her ears. All she knew was that she never wanted it to stop.

“You are so hot here…” When Vladimir growled the words, low, in her ear, his suddenly thick, Charlotte shuddered.

“For you,” She breathed, her fingers tugging so hard at the buttons on his shirt that they popped off, scattering on the floor in an instant. “You’re damn right I am.”

“Only for me,” Vlad affirmed, biting at her neck sharply so she yelped - a split second before two fingers sank deeply into her.

Charlotte gasped at the sudden intrusion - the digits were long, thick and glorious - so much more substantial than her own. But then, she couldn’t even compare her own ministrations to what Vladimir was doing to her. Long, agonizingly deep thrusts of his fingers that soon had her writhing against him, whimpering and bucking her hips into the very welcome intrusion.

Vladimir held her in place with a hand on her hip as he pleasured her, his mouth still busy mapping the landscape of her throat. When he fastened on at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, biting down firmly as he rubbed some ungodly place inside her, Charlotte shrieked, clutching at his shoulders as she tried in vain to keep herself grounded.

Vladimir had hardly been touching her five minutes and she was already painfully close to orgasm. To be frank, she had never been this absorbed in a lover the first time they were together. She usually took the first time she slept with a man to scout him out - to write up a mental dossier of his strengths and weaknesses.

But with Vladimir, she hardly had the wherewithal for that. “Oh God…” She groaned, as his fingertips rubbed and pressed at that heavenly spot high inside her. “God...Vladimir...please. Right there….” She had no idea where there was - only that she had never been able to reach it herself and that it was rapidly ruining her for every sexual experience that would follow.

“Yes… kukla…” He hissed against her throat. “Come for me.”

She could hardly have refused him.

Charlotte found herself gasping his name, every muscle in her body clenching as her orgasm crashed over her with the force of a tsunami. It was centered right in that spot...the one that he kept stroking...exploiting while she was contracting around his fingers -  and it felt so good she could hardly breathe, let alone think. 

Charlotte was jolted back to the present, her already short breath hitching as Vladimir stroked over her lower folds gently - almost soothingly. At least, it might have been soothing if she weren’t already so over sensitized from the high she’d just come down from. She moaned lowly, reaching out to grasp at his hand in a plea for mercy.

In reply, Vladimir merely kissed her, soundly, as his fingers slid from her. He caught her gasp of sensation in his mouth a moment before they parted and she watched him taste her, sucking a single glistening finger into his mouth. When he groaned in in unadulterated pleasure at her flavor, Charlotte shuddered, her womb clenching in blatant desire for the rest of him. She tugged him back into another kiss, tasting herself on his lips, a moment before he hauled her into his arms to carry towards the bedroom.

The brief period of respite gave Charlotte a minute to gather her wherewithal. The moment Vladimir set her on the bed, she was on her knees, her mouth molding to his as she pushed his shirt from broad shoulders.

God, he was just as mouthwatering as she had imagined. More so, even - broad shoulders, tight, lean abdomen, and a sprinkling of hair that led inexorably southward towards the tent he was pitching in his pants. Charlotte ran her hands over the firm muscles of his chest and felt his abdomen clench under her exploring fingers. When her mouth left his to bite briefly at the line of his throat, he groaned, and his fingers curled into her forearms as if he meant to stop her.

But he didn’t - and for that, Charlotte was unspeakably glad. She wanted to explore every inch of him...taste him until his flavor was burned onto her tongue. When she reached down to undo the fastening of his slacks, Vladimir made a low sound of disapproval in the back of his throat. In a trice, she had been pushed onto her back on the bed - just in time to give her a lovely view of the man above her shucking his pants.

He wore boxer briefs beneath, which flagrantly displayed the size of the erection he boasted.

But before Charlotte could appreciate it fully, Vladimir was climbing onto the bed - looming over her body and capturing her mouth once more. Quickly and efficiently, he peeled her shirt up over her bare body to toss away into the darkness.

And then there was nothing at all to hide her from his lustful gaze.

Charlotte had never been shy about her body. If anything, she was absolutely shameless in her own home, to the point where Lila had to warn her to put clothes on when Benny was on his way.

But now, she found herself suddenly self-conscious beneath Vladimir’s gaze. His eyes roamed over her restlessly, from her burning face to her bare, ample breasts, her flat stomach and legs she’d always thought far too long and gangly for their own good. Any thoughts of her own inadequacy, however, fled her mind the moment her lover lowered his head to tug a nipple between his teeth.

Charlotte inhaled sharply, her fingers threading through Vladimir’s hair reflexively. He worked on her slowly - teasingly - suckling her alternatively with soft, hungry bites that soon had her all but trembling in need. When he finally lifted his head from her breast, a trembling cry escaped her and her fingers tightened against his scalp in an attempt to guide him back to where she wanted him.  He obliged her with one final, brief bite to her nipple before his hands clamped over her hips and he shoved her northwards with a strong motion of his arms.

A small sound of surprise escaped the redhead as her crown brushed against the headboard. Vladimir’s mouth was now situated right over the heated core of her. This wasn’t what she wanted. Charlotte had a fool-proof plan to have the man inside her and he was ruining it-

At the first touch of his mouth to the most sensitive parts of her she gasped his name and twisted, gripping the headboard in an attempt to escape. But Vladimir was even stronger than she had imagined. He held her hips firmly in place as he tasted her at his leisure.

And his leisure was torturous.

At first, Charlotte did her best to concentrate her efforts towards freeing herself - but in under a minute, Vladimir’s shockingly talented tongue had turned all her protestations to ecstatic undulations.

The man pressed his lips to her, mouthing her between the legs with such enthusiasm that Charlotte was soon begging him for succor. Every lap of his tongue, every subtle, hungry suck devastated her. And she couldn’t pull him away. To every man she’d ever been with, this, more than anything else, was a chore - a treat that she might get after a particularly creative blowjob. But it was clear that Vladimir’s head was between her quivering thighs for the sheer enjoyment of it.

All too soon, Charlotte lost her grip on the headboard entirely, grasping at pillows, sheets, the coverlet - anything she could for purchase. But it did no good. She came twice more to the tune of Vladimir’s low, sinful sounds of pleasure against her lower lips. The staggering pleasure left her breathless - boneless- against the coverlet, and she realized, dimly, that there was no way she gained the upper hand here. Vladimir had her right where he wanted her.

And she hadn’t a single protestation.

He dragged his body up the length of hers as she tried to slow her breathing. Of course, the attempt wasn’t helped by the drugging kisses he trailed up over her stomach - or the brief suck he gave each of her nipples. When his face finally came level with hers, his eyes were dark and desirous, his mouth glistening with her leavings. “If I didn’t need to be inside of you,” He murmured, his tone gravelly with want, “I would live between your thighs, Charlotte.”

It was, by far, the hottest thing any man had ever said to her. Ever.

Though Charlotte had been doubtful of her ability to move just seconds before, she found herself reaching blindly - frantically - for the waistline of Vladimir’s underwear. This time, he let her, and she yanked the cloth down to feel his heated erection spring up against her hand.

It was safe to say that everything was proportional. Vladimir was a sizeable man, and that equaled an impressive member. But despite his imposing size, Charlotte had never been so desperate to have a man inside her. She wrapped slender fingers around the girth of him, stroking slowly from base to tip, and was rewarded with a low, throaty groan.

Inside a single second the man caught her wrist in his hand, shaking his head. “Not now,” he growled between clenched teeth. With his free hand, he hoisted one of her thighs over his, parting her legs once more. When Vladimir’s erection slid against the seam of her, there was no resistance at all. Charlotte caught her breath and held it as he began to push inside her.

It was glorious.

A low, ragged moan escaped her as he slid deeper and deeper - filling her up completely as her inner passage clenched around him in warm welcome. A low curse escaped the man above her as his hips finally came to rest against hers and Charlotte raised her head to kiss away the lines around a mouth pulled taut with restraint. “Let go,” she murmured against his mouth, pressing her hips up against him to take him even deeper as one slender leg wrapped around his waist.

And that’s exactly what he did.

With an almost pained sound, Vladimir withdrew slightly to slam back home with a force that took her breath away. Each additional stroke went deeper, drew shuddering breaths from her until she was moaning his name, clutching frantically at his shoulders and back as she bucked back against him.

There was something animal in the way that Vladimir took her. While he had taken his time seducing her, this was nothing but fucking - pure and simple. The demonstration of months of frustration. And like everything else that Vladimir endeavored upon, he excelled at it.

Charlotte was sure she must be scratching welts down his back, moaning and gasping and screaming his name as he pounded into her. It was rough, carnal and absolutely breathtaking in its intensity.

Despite her exhaustion, the redhead’s body urged her towards another orgasm. How could she resist? Vladimir’s grip on her was iron, the fingers of one hand tangled firmly in her hair and the other at her hip as he drove into her - his erection cleaving through parts of her already seared raw by sensation.

Charlotte couldn’t help it - she toppled over the edge with her lips parted in a silence scream. When her inner muscles seized hungrily around Vladimir’s powerful thrust, his rhythm faltered. He clutched her even tighter, stroking twice more into her shuddering body before he succumbed as well, a hoarse shout and the flood of him inside her announcing his completion to the otherwise silent bedroom.

Dear God.

Dear fucking God.

For almost a full five minutes, Charlotte lay beneath the weight of the man atop her, unsure which direction was up. She had never, in all her thirty years, had such an earth-shattering sexual experience.

She wasn’t even sure if she remembered how to move.

Vladimir, however, was already stirring atop her. He straightened, propping himself up on strong arms to look down at her, his expression unreadable. When Charlotte merely smiled lazily up at him, his lips turned downward into a frown.

In a trice, he rolled off her and stood from the bed, headed for the bathroom in the darkness. Charlotte stared after him as her smile faded.

It would be just like Vlad to withdraw back into that impermeable shell of his now that their ardor for one another had finally been cooled - she just hadn’t expected that it would be so soon.

With no little amount of effort, she rolled onto her side, reaching for the nearest sheet to cover herself. It was a scant minute or so until Vladimir returned, and she half expected him to start dressing to leave. Instead, however, he merely scowled at her, one knee dipping the bed as he climbed back onto it.  For a moment, Charlotte was struck, once again, by how mind-bogglingly gorgeous his body was. At least until he urged her onto her back once more. “Lie back. Don’t move.”

Charlotte watched, surprised, as Vladimir revealed a damp washcloth. Gently, painstakingly, he parted her thighs and wiped her clean between the legs. It was a surprisingly intimate gesture that caught her completely off guard. All she could do was watch as he continued to use the cloth to wipe the dampness of their sweat from her - over her stomach and breasts and up her neck before finally setting it aside. When he finally spoke, his words only further perplexed her. “I apologize.”

Charlotte’s brows raced towards her hairline as she turned onto her side once more to face him. “What the hell do you have to apologize for?” She might have reassured him that he had ruined her for any other man, but she didn’t want to stroke his ego too much.

Vladimir made an oddly displeased face. “I was rough with you. I could have hurt you.”

At that, Charlotte merely rolled her eyes. “Is that all?” On impulse, she reached up to cup the stubbly line of his jaw, forcing him to look at her. “Vladimir, I’m fine. You warmed me up plenty...besides that, I’m not a little girl. You’re not going to break me.” When he still refused to smile, she went on. “I liked it. Just like that.” Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his firmly, nipping sharply at the lower one so a soft sound of surprise escaped him as she withdrew. “And don’t you dare treat me like one of your little debutantes because I’m not. I can take anything you can dish out, and that includes a thorough fucking.”

With a groan, Vladimir covered her mouth with a hand, his expression simultaneously exasperated and aroused. “Dear God, woman, your mouth.”

Charlotte only laughed against his palm before peeling his fingers away. “You like it. Come on, admit it.” She traced a finger across his chest. “I’ve got a mouth like a sailor and I’m built for rough handling. Isn’t that new for you, Mister Kensley?”

With a low growl, Vladimir caught her hand as her finger began to drift southward. “Charlotte, I’m warning you…”

Charlotte felt proof of his renewing erection against her thigh and glanced down in surprise. Sweet Jesus, the man’s recovery period was nothing at all. She herself was completely tuckered out…. but she couldn’t deny that the feel of his cock stirring against her skin had her growing warm in places she wouldn’t have thought possible so soon after he’d thoroughly blown her mind the first time. “Vladimir…” She kissed him again, lingering and slow this time, and when she drew back, her hazel eyes held a blatant invitation. “Do me again?”

His eyes went wide a moment before skimming over her still mostly naked form. When he answered her, his voice was low and tentative. “I didn’t hurt you?”

“No. You can’t,” Charlotte replied, wrapping an arm around his neck to press her body flush against hers. Dear God, it was like she’d somehow turned into a succubus. She didn’t know if her body would hold out but her mind was definitely willing. More than willing, “So do me again. Please. I want it. I need it.”

Vladimir groaned, his restraint giving way as he wrapped an arm around her to bear her back to the mattress once more. “I need it more.”

 

Chapter 9 - Letting Go

 

Charlotte didn’t sleep for long. Technically, she had hardly known she was asleep. Sometime after the second time Vladimir had shown her the full brunt of his attentions, she had drifted into a doze that lasted for almost two hours before she woke again.

When she did, the first rays of the sun were beginning to filter through a gap in curtains she thought she’d drawn and she winced slightly, turning her face into the pillow. She wondered, sleepily, if the light was what had woken her after only an hour or two - before a soft, exploratory touch smoothed over the length of her bare spine and up towards the back of her neck. She made a small sound of contentment in the back of her throat, letting her eyes slide closed as Vladimir continued to touch her.

For all the fuss he’d made about being rough the previous night - how obviously upset he’d been over the prospect of hurting her - he was more than gentle now. Slowly, almost lazily, he trailed his fingertips back and forth over her spine. When he reached her neck, he pressed his fingers in to work at the tension at her nape before beginning the process all over again.

Charlotte had never guessed Vladimir might be so touchy feely. During sex was one thing, but even afterwards, it seemed like the man couldn’t get enough of skin to skin contact. He pulled her close, skimmed his hands over every bare patch of skin he could find and hadn’t stopped.

She wondered if he had even slept. For all she knew, he might have been doing this for hours. Trust Vladimir Kensley to become entirely and utterly fixated on a task.

Charlotte wasn’t the intimate type herself. If anything, she was the one to get up and leave after a sexual encounter. She didn’t have to be told, and there was never any awkwardness the morning after.

But she found that being with Vladimir was different. She didn’t mind his touches so much...especially when she remembered what he’d said to her the previous night.

That he needed her more.

Maybe he hadn’t intended to say it. It was probably a slip of the tongue in a moment of blind lust. But that didn’t mean that Charlotte wouldn’t covet the words selfishly. She had gotten the high and mighty Vladimir Kensley to admit to needing her.

Her own private victory.

Somehow, she thought she might feel smugger. A part of Charlotte believed that once she’d slept with Vladimir, she would finally be able to prove him just as human as she was. Just as fallible and subject to mistakes. But all she had discovered was that the man’s need was huge, powerful, and devastating.

And only made her want him more.

Any assumptions she might have made that Vladimir believed her asleep were quickly cast aside as his hand moved lower and lower over her spine with every pass. In short order, he was running his hand over the curve of her behind flagrantly, massaging and squeezing indulgently. Charlotte hid her small smirk. Beneath that tough exterior, he was just as susceptible as any man to his desires - perhaps even more so. It would make sense. The man had the patience of a saint.

But Charlotte couldn’t be gladder that patience had finally run out. She opened her mouth to tell him good morning, only to inhale sharply as the man’s teeth grazed the curve of her buttock. “Vladimir!” The word left her on a low curve as she attempted to look over her shoulder to see what mischief he was up to.

Vladimir, however, prevented her with a firm press of his hand, forcing her back onto her stomach. “Don’t move.” He murmured against her skin. “I’m tasting you.”

Well that much was damned obvious, but the words were still enough to make Charlotte’s thighs clench in anticipation. Vladimir had tasted her quite enough just a few hours ago, but she certainly wasn’t about to protest. But the dark-haired man made no move towards the sweetest part of her. Instead, he merely continued his ministrations, biting and kissing at the line of her hip, the curve of her buttock, and the trembling line of her thigh.

It was ridiculously arousing. “Vlad…” She murmured after a few agonizing minutes, reaching back to tangle her fingers in his hair. “Please….” Vladimir merely took her wrist hostage, holding it firmly as he drew his mouth up the path his fingers had drawn just moments before to the base of her neck. Then, he moved her hand back to her own hip, curling his fingers over hers to tilt her onto his side as he fit himself against her back.

At the feel of his erection pressing up between her thighs, Charlotte squirmed - but not enough to disengage Vladimir’s grip. He slid up and into her in a smooth motion that took her breath away as Charlotte forgot everything but the press of him, huge and hot, inside her. “Is this what you wanted?” He inquired darkly against her ear, making her shudder.

He was far too good at this for a man she hadn’t been sure had a sex drive until a few weeks ago. “Yes…”

Then he was kissing her neck, all the way up to the soft, tender spot behind her ear, and Charlotte might have died happy at that exact moment. 

If a knock hadn’t come on the door.

At the sound of it, they both froze. The query was faint - coming through the sitting room and down the short hallway to where they lie on the bed - but there was no mistaking it.  Charlotte fully intended to ignore it until the knocking sound came again - louder this time.

“Charlotte?” To her surprise, it was Toshiro’s voice that reached them. “Charlotte, are you awake? I’m sorry to bother you, but, do you know where Vlad is? He’s not in his room.”

Shit.

She could hardly tell him the truth - that his brother was currently very intimately joined with her and had been in her room half the night. But she could hardly pretend to be asleep either. Toshiro sounded worried. Charlotte opened her mouth to speak - even though she had no idea what she was going to say - only to be interrupted by the man behind her. “I’m fine, Toshiro. I’ll meet you in a few hours.”

Her eyes widened in shock. If nothing else, Charlotte would have thought the last thing Vladimir wanted was for his brother to know that he was with her. At the very least, he might have made some excuse about an early morning meeting.

But there was none of that. Merely a simple, firm admission before Vladimir’s arm was wrapping around her waist - pulling her closer and reminding her that he was deep enough inside her to make her gasp.

Charlotte had no idea if Toshiro left. For all she knew, he could be listening at the door.

And if he was, there would be no way she could ever face him again. Vladimir quickly set to making sure that she gave anyone who might be nearby an earful, and Charlotte was in no position to think about the ramifications of his actions.

By the time she and Vladimir had finally exhausted their hunger for one another, it was close to ten in the morning. Charlotte wasn’t sure she could stand on her own two feet and she felt her face burning as Vladimir watched her gingerly press her toes beneath the rich carpet of the bedroom.

His scowl came back with a vengeance. “You’re hurt.”

His assumption had her sighing in exasperation as she pushed away the hand he offered her. “Vladimir, calm the hell down. I am not hurt. What I am is recovering from an all-nighter after a year plus of celibacy.” The moment she tried to take a step, her legs collapsed beneath her and Charlotte yelped as Vladimir gathered her into his arms.

This was embarrassing as hell. As far as she knew, she’d never been fucked so thoroughly she couldn’t even walk. She hadn’t even known that was a real thing. “Vladimir, really,” As he returned her to the bed, she caught his face between her hands, looking him in the eye. “I’m fine, I promise. So you can stop with the moping and the guilt. It’s not a good look for you.”

That comment was enough to make him snort in amusement, taking her hands from him a moment before he straightened. When the man next met her gaze, his expression was strange - both soft and lustful at the same time. It was enough to make Charlotte’s stomach clench as she tugged the coverlet over her nakedness. “I’ll run a bath for you.”

With that gruff statement, Vladimir disappeared into the bathroom, leaving her to her thoughts.

It was probably the worst time to do so. In the wake of the past six or seven hours she’d spent with the man, Charlotte’s brain kicked into overdrive. She drew her knees up and against her chest as she contemplated what their sleeping together meant.

And if it truly changed anything at all.

It was, after all, just the culmination of all the sexual tension that had grown between them. If Charlotte was honest with herself, she could admit that she’d wanted Vladimir from the first time she saw him. At this juncture, that was almost four months ago.

Four months was a lot of fantasizing. A lot of sleepless nights, erotic dreams and stifled impulses. When Vladimir had shown up at her suite, part of her had known what he wanted. If he suffered anywhere near as much as she had fighting against her baser impulses...being an adult, then it was no wonder he had taken out his frustrations on her so flagrantly.

The mere memory was almost enough to make her lose her train of thought…

But Charlotte forced herself back to the present moment. After all those speeches Vladimir made about resisting the urges, being adults and not giving in…. the man had seriously screwed her brains out. It was enough to give her fuel to burn for every argument they would ever have in the future.

And once, she might have taken that and run with it.

But things had changed.

For now, Charlotte decided that the only viable option, really, was to take things day by day. For all she knew, once Vladimir left her room, he would pretend that nothing at all had transpired between them. That one might be a little hard to explain to Toshiro, but she wouldn’t be shocked. Vladimir wasn’t the best at confronting controversial topics tactfully.

But she wouldn’t know until they parted - something she had to admit she was strangely reluctant to do.

“Charlotte.” She was jerked from her reverie when Vladimir returned. Somewhere between leaving her and his return trip, he’d found his underwear, and they were all he wore now. The sight, the redhead lamented, was absolutely scrumptious. Last night, she thought she’d had a lovely view of him in the semi-darkness, but in broad daylight...every dream she had about Vladimir was validated without question. “Your bath is ready.”

He looked damn good with his hair mussed and a day’s worth of stubble on his chin. Nothing like the prim and proper man who ran one of the world’s most affluent offices with an iron fist.

This time, when she rose, her legs supported her weight. Charlotte wrapped the blanket around her like a makeshift toga, suddenly shy in the light of day as she made her way towards the bathroom. It took no small amount of effort to keep from flagrantly staring at the long, well-muscled form of the man before her. “Thanks.” She tucked a hank of wild auburn behind her ear a moment before Vladimir’s arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her close to plant an unexpected kiss against her lips.

Charlotte lost herself in it. After all, it might be the last kiss that she and Vladimir shared. Who knew. As their tongues tangled, she swallowed her seemingly insatiable sex drive and fought against the urge to drag him back to bed again. It was past time they began their day, and she was sure Vladimir’s meeting with his brother was going to be awkward enough as it was. “I’m overdue for breakfast with Shiro,” he murmured, once they had parted, “So I’ll see you later.”

“Right,” she managed breathlessly, with a small, irrepressible smile.

Vladimir looked like he might be on the cusp of saying else. He paused and his lips parted a moment before he left her to begin gathering his clothing. Charlotte took that as her cue to close herself in the bathroom. Once inside, she pressed her back against the door, waiting for about five minutes until the audible sound of the suite door closing reached her.

Once it did, she let herself exhale a long breath.

Well...what the hell was she supposed to do now?

 

**

Vlad showered quickly by simple virtue of manners. It hadn’t been his intention to keep Shiro waiting, after all.

But then again, it hadn’t really been his intention to show up at Charlotte’s hotel room at four in the morning and lose himself in her so completely.

At this point, Vlad was forced to admit that his brother had been absolutely right - at least on most of his points. After being with Charlotte the way he had, he expected to feel guilty. In fact, considering his strict viewpoint on workplace relationships, he should feel downright disgusted with himself.

But there was none of that.

Instead, he found himself inexplicably content. More content than he could last remember being. There had been, of course, a few moments where he had been sure that he was too rough with her. The previous night, Vladimir had been torn between taking his time to savor her and pounding into her until he couldn’t think straight. Ultimately, both had happened, and more than once.

But Charlotte had taken it all in stride. She hadn’t called him a brute - she hadn’t hesitated. From the moment he’d reached for her, she had been passionately his...and now he had trouble thinking of anything else.

But Vladimir tried. As he toweled off and dressed, he tried to remember exactly what had driven him to seek her out the previous night. He had gone back to his room and attempted to have dinner, but he hadn’t been very hungry. He was only able to work for about an hour or so until a cold shower had been necessary.

The thought that Shiro planted in his mind had unmistakably taken root. That somehow giving into his urges was the answer to everything, though Vlad knew the notion had to be ludicrous. But the more he thought about it, the more tempting the option was. In a mere three hours, he had burned through all his reservations about workplace relationships and let his hunger overtake him.

But that hadn’t meant anything immediately.

He was far from a monster. He had no intention of barging into Charlotte’s room and demanding succor. That said, he knew that the excuse he’d given her was incredibly lame. He was doing more than checking on her. He was seeing if her desires had as much of an effect on her sleep pattern as his did.

And on that point, he had been sorely disappointed. Charlotte was fast asleep. At least until he knocked on her door.

She had been drowsy right up until the point that he made to leave, determined to deal with his desires on his own. But the moment she’d grabbed for him, Vladimir knew there was no going back. Knew that he wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d taken her for his own.

On that point, however, he’d been wrong.

While his few hours with Charlotte had gone a long way in quieting his sex drive and boosting his mood, he found that he wanted to return to her almost the moment he left her. It would have been nothing at all to join her in the bathroom. To slip into the oversized tub with her and have his way with her again.

Or perhaps even sit flush against her as the warm water lapped against them and they washed one another with leisurely indulgence.

Christ. Since when had he become a bleeding romantic? He was thinking of the kind of things his brother Ethan proposed to get women to warm up to a man. Where Ethan was concerned, there was always some sort of romantic contrivance involved. But these thoughts had come to Vladimir completely unbidden.

His genuine desires.

It was enough to worry him - even if worrying was a struggle when he kept reliving the feel of Charlotte beneath him, sighing and moaning his name. He didn’t think he’d ever had a more delicious experience - with a woman or otherwise.

“Vlad!” He had barely realized he had reached the hotel lobby until Toshiro waved him over. The Japanese man stood at the counter, sipping at a cappuccino as he chatted with Yuri. Vladimir wondered momentarily if the older man ever slept. He seemed to bustle around the hotel perpetually, in one corner or another.

Despite the slight discomfort churning in his gut, Vladimir strode over to join them. The last thing he wanted was to discuss what was going on between him and Charlotte with Toshiro now. He himself didn’t even know. Certainly, they had gotten the impulsive, wild lust out of the systems...but he couldn’t help but think that the mere sight of the redhead would be enough to trigger that hunger in him again.

If anything, she’d only turned him into more of a deviant than he already was - and that was certainly saying something.

“Good morning, Vladimir.” Yuri beamed at him, greeting him in Russian. “I trust you slept well?”

He certainly hadn’t done very much sleeping, but Vladimir couldn’t deny that he’d passed the wee hours quite entertained. “Yes, Yuri. Thank you. I hope my brother isn’t keeping you,” He eyed Toshiro in warning. “It’s my fault for being late.”

“Of course not. Always happy to see Toshiro. You should take a leaf from his book and visit more often.” With that, Yuri winked at the younger man conspiratorially before heading to answer the call of one of the restaurant’s wait staff.

Leaving them alone.

The moment he stepped away, Vladimir arched a brow at his brother, waiting for him to speak. He could only imagine what Toshiro had to say after catching him in a position that he had sworn he’d never be found in. He wasn’t going to hear the end of this for the next three weeks - possibly never. But when Toshiro finally spoke, it wasn’t to accuse him of being a hypocrite.

“Shall we have breakfast then?” He turned from Vlad with a faint smile to start towards the dining room. After a moment of stunned silence, Vlad followed him, hardly daring believe his luck. They were seated and situated with coffee and rolls before his brother addressed him again. “So, let’s talk about Dansk.”

At this line of conversation, Vladimir’s brows shot up to join his hairline. Just like that? Toshiro wasn’t going to question him at all? “What about it?” He finally managed, caught somewhere between amusement and suspicion.

Toshiro smirked. “You tell me. You’re the one who wanted to talk business.”

Vladimir scowled at the younger man’s obvious teasing. “But you want to ask me about Charlotte.”

“What about her?” Toshiro fired his own question back at him seamlessly, and Vlad realized that he had all but stepped into his brother’s finely laid trap. His scowl deepened.

“Nothing. You’re right: let’s talk business.”

“Fine with me,” Toshiro held his hands up in a shocking gesture of surrender. “I’m just glad that you’re in a better mood. If Charlotte helped with that, that’s all I need to know.”

Vladimir just stared at him, completely flummoxed. He had believed that there was no way he was getting out of a full interrogation session. He had never been one to dish on his experiences with women, but Toshiro could never resist gloating when he knew he was right about something. And he’d certainly been right this time.

So why wasn’t he gloating?

“So, what are we having for breakfast?” Toshiro continued blithely. Vladimir found his frown softening somewhat.

“Toshiro…. you-”

“Know exactly what you’re going through,” the younger man cut him off with a small, reassuring smile. “So, I’m not going to give you a hard time about it. You can relax.”

And, strangely, Vladimir did. He wasn’t the type to relax - he never had been. He was always on his guard about something, worried about anything and everything. But, in the wake of his evening with Charlotte, and faced with the sibling he trusted the most, he found that he did relax. And Toshiro grinned. “See there, that’s not so bad.”

Vladimir rolled his eyes as he poured his coffee, but he couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face. “See, I would really have busted your balls if you came down here grumpier today than you were yesterday.”

At the very notion, the elder man groaned. “Absolutely impossible.”

The two of them laughed together, and, for a brief moment, Vladimir forgot the weight of the world pressing on his shoulders. He forgot everything that wasn’t the high of being a man who had spent the night with a beautiful woman - and who was lucky enough to enjoy the company of a brother who withstood his difficult attitude.

It was, indeed, the most relaxed he had been in a decent, long while.

 

Vlad had hoped to catch a glimpse of Charlotte before they finished breakfast, but she still hadn’t appeared in the lobby by noon. There was a part of him that worried at her absence - the same concerns that he’d had the previous night. The only thing that kept him from rushing to her room the moment he and Toshiro finished their meal was the prospect of what she might say if he implied he was worried she’d sustained some long-lasting damage.

The woman demanded that he didn’t consider her fragile or breakable - but Vladimir couldn’t help but be concerned. He had never let himself go with another woman quite the way he had with Charlotte. He had seen the slight bruising on her hips from where he’d held her tight enough to leave marks. Marveled at the mess he’d made of her neck and shoulders - of the softly tanned skin on the underside of her breasts...He’d held nothing back.

And she hadn’t complained a single time.

He liked that about her. She was an enthusiastic lover who gave as much attention as she got, and could hardly keep her hands off him.

Vlad turned to his laptop in an effort to banish the erection that had sprouted when he recalled just how talented that soft, sweet mouth of hers was. Or the horrible things he wanted to do to it.

But Charlotte liked horrible things, didn’t she? She liked to be held down, to be bruised, grasped and fucked until she could hardly remember her own name…

When his phone buzzed, Vladimir grasped at it almost desperately. Anything to distract him from tantalizing thoughts of Charlotte Gardner. When he picked up, he spoke to the CEO of Dansk, who told him proudly that Charlotte was already in the office going over the final iterations of the plans they were working on.

So, she had already gone. Vlad found himself wondering if she meant to avoid him. If she was trying to forgo the awkward period that came in the wake of a “one-and-done” sexual encounter.

That was, of course, the safest way to nip this in the bud. To declare that this morning’s interlude had been a one-time thing and continue on as if it had never happened. And Vladimir actually convinced himself that he might be able to pull it off. When he arrived at the office and spoke to Charlotte, he would treat her cordially - even warmly - but there would be no more sexual intrigue. A lapse in what he had believed to be his very righteous judgement.

He maintained that idealism up until he stepped off the elevator in the Dansk offices. He opened his mouth to greet the receptionist there a moment before Charlotte stepped out of a nearby conference room.

And Vladimir scrabbled to pick his jaw up off the floor.

She was wearing one of the dresses he’d bought her - a light grey suede number - long-sleeved and high collared. Aside from those points of modesty, however, it left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The garment hugged her curves so intimately he might have been jealous if she didn’t look so breathtaking in the damn thing. Along with the dress, she wore a pair of flat black boots that covered everything the dress didn’t, and her curls had been tamed into a sleek bun atop her head.

It was a look that definitely wasn’t Charlotte. Too buttoned-up and sleek. But that wasn’t to say it didn’t flatter her. It did far more than that - which was, of course, why he’d bought it in the first place.

But he hadn’t expected her to actually wear it. Not now, when he’d been inside her just hours ago and he still wanted her far more than he could possibly contend with.

Immediately, any plans he might have had to act as if they hadn’t been together flew out the window. At the sight of him - or, more appropriately, at his expression when she entered the room, Charlotte’s lips quirked upwards into a smile. She crossed the room to him to extend an unmarked manila folder that he assumed contained the details of the plans they’d decided on - but Vladimir was less interested in them than he was the woman who had created them. “Nice of you to show up,” she teased, her hazel eyes mischievous. “I was beginning to think you and Toshiro were taking the day off.”

“Of course not.” He somehow managed to regain the power of speech before taking the folder from her. He glanced around, making sure that no one was observing them too intensely before he leaned down to murmur in her ear. “That dress is sinful.”

Charlotte grinned. “I can barely breathe. This is totally for your benefit, I’ll have you know.”

“Well I certainly appreciate it.” He didn’t think he’d ever appreciated anything more.

“Better watch out, Mr. Kensley.” Charlotte turned away from him with a soft laugh. “Someone might think you’re flirting with me.” Just like that, she sauntered back in the direction she’d come from, leaving Vladimir to trail after her, glad he was still wearing his heavy overcoat.

It seemed as though Charlotte was not avoiding him. Quite the contrary; and though he knew he should feel guilty, instead, Vladimir was glad.

Very glad.

 

They visited the building site for the first time - an immense, half crumbling building constructed almost thirty years ago. Vladimir couldn’t imagine anyone in their right mind - and without a construction permit - would want to go in. But Charlotte barely waited to be fitted with a hard

hat before she was all but dancing over the threshold.

Thankfully, the places that were safe to step had been marked off from those that weren’t by yellow caution tape, and the redhead seemed to stick to those provisions. As the building manager and the CEO conversed rapidly about how much of the building would have to be gutted, Charlotte found delight in every corner - something that Vladimir watched with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

She craned her head to look at fading paint and the shape of molding, used her bare hands to brush away dust and marveled at the window frames as if they were some great work of art, when all he could see as a hazard to human health. “Vladimir, come!” At her sudden shout, he hurried through the next room after her, worried that she might have fallen and injured herself.

What he found, instead, was Charlotte perched precariously on a window ledge, gazing out at the city a good ten stories below her. “It’s absolutely gorgeous,” she breathed. Vladimir swallowed thickly, reaching out to take a firm hold of her arm before he joined her. He himself was more concerned about her falling to her death in an already dangerous situation, but when he followed her gaze to look out over the city, he found that he agreed with her wholeheartedly.

St. Petersburg was beautiful. So different from any other city that he’d been to, and yet, somehow, after decades Stateside, it still felt like home. Not many people understood what it was like to call two places home - and especially not after one of those places had almost killed them. But, thanks to his parents, Vladimir had never come to hate Russia.

“What was it like?” He looked over to find Charlotte looking up at him curiously. “Before you got adopted, I mean. When you lived here.”

It was perhaps the most intimate question a woman had ever asked him. No female he had encountered cared much about what he had been. They were far too absorbed on what he was. Billionaire, CEO in the making, second eldest of the Kensley clan. But Charlotte had never seemed drawn into any of that.

Which was, perhaps, why he felt little reluctance in telling her. “It was a nightmare.” He spoke in a fairly neutral tone. At thirty-five, Vladimir was removed enough from the horror of his early childhood to speak of it almost as if they happened to another person.

Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, Jesus…. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“Of course you didn’t.” Vlad stopped her apology before it could really gain any steam. “Thanks to my adoptive family, I’ve long moved on. But the life I live now is a far cry from the one I had here.” He didn’t like to drag over the details, as he never particularly liked talking about his past, but here, Vladimir did so. “My biological father was a drunk. In his brief moments of sobriety, he would eat everything in the house while the rest of us starved. My mother worked herself to the death trying to support us, and my father beat her whenever he found she’d been squirrelling money away.” He exhaled a long breath. “I had a sister...her name was Elizaveta. They took her from the family two or three years before I was adopted but left me behind.”

“Stop.” Charlotte spoke softly, raising a hand to his lips to cover them gently. Her hazel eyes shone with an emotion he’d never seen before. It wasn’t pity, and it wasn’t quite anger...but there was something hurt there. Something that, after so many years, he’d forgotten how to feel. “That’s enough. You don’t have to tell me anymore.”

Reaching up, Vladimir wrapped her fingers in his. “I’ve upset you.”

“Not you,” Charlotte breathed, shaking her head. “What happened to you. For you to rise above all that...it’s no small feat, Vladimir. I hope you know that.”

Vladimir felt something strange stutter in his chest. In all their teasing and all the banter they exchanged, he didn’t know if they had ever really had a heartfelt conversation. Not like this...and certainly not with Charlotte implying that she respected him for overcoming the hardship that had helped create him.

It was a strange feeling. Vladimir had had a few flings in his twenties and he’d been with more than his share of women as he got older, but being with them had never been as complicated as it was to be with Charlotte. She confused him - made him contemplate things he never had before. Made him need with an intensity that, quite frankly, made him wonder if he was somehow evolutionarily regressing. Becoming some sort of creature who couldn’t see beyond their basest desires.

It briefly occurred that, maybe, if Charlotte was involved, that option wouldn’t be too horrible.

“I do believe that you just paid me a compliment, Charlotte.” The corner of his mouth quirked upward slightly in amusement as he pushed the notion back down deep, where it belonged. It wouldn’t do to dwell on whatever was between them. The only thing he could do now was indulge while it lasted. Here, in Russia, there were far away from prying eyes and flapping mouths.

And, in contrast to the way he’d attempted to feel that morning, he planned on relaxing with Charlotte for as long as he was able.

They stayed on site for an hour or two - just until the sun began to go down and they had taken several measurements. Charlotte scribbled several pages of notes and a few more comments were made on the construction that was set to begin the next day.

And then they were on their way back to the hotel.

Charlotte still watched the city like the very first day she had arrived, nose pressed to the window, lips parted in sheer amazement. As Vladimir watched her, he realized that the childish way she could behave was part of the reason he was so drawn to her. Where many people in the world - himself included - were jaded to the wonder around them, Charlotte was not one of them. She didn’t take any threat lying down, but she could also appreciate any situation she was dropped into.

She had certainly dealt with him in a way he had never expected.

“Perhaps tomorrow we can take the day off.” His suggestion made her head swing around as she looked at him incredulously.

“But the construction starts tomorrow. Don’t we have to be there to help oversee things?”

“In the morning, yes,” he agreed, “but afterward, I could show you more of the city, if you’d like.”

“If I’d like?” She cried incredulously. “Why wouldn’t I like?” Her unbridled enthusiasm drew a chuckle from him.

“Alright then, it’s settled. We’ll make our plans at breakfast tomorrow.”

A short beat of silence greeted his statement before Charlotte replied, her voice low and sinuous. “Does that mean you won’t be coming to check on me tonight?”

Vladimir didn’t think he’d achieved erection so quickly since he was a teenager. He’d meant to have dinner with her. A few glasses of wine and some idle conversation...see where things went. But if she was inviting him into her clutches once more, he certainly wasn’t about to refuse.

Charlotte was rapidly teaching him that perhaps a direct approach was the best one; but then again, like him, she had never liked to waste time.

 

Despite the fact that neither of them had gotten much sleep the previous night, they got even less sleep after dinner. Vladimir couldn’t get enough of having Charlotte beneath him, on top of him, around him. With every touch, she begged for more - begged for him, and it would hardly be gentlemanly to refuse her.

He found his appetite insatiable, caressing her even after they’d come apart in one another’s arms, in anticipation of the next time that they came together - over and over. When she finally slept, tucked peacefully against his side, Vladimir found that feeling of contentment once more.

Vladimir had forgotten what it was like to feel like this. To forget, if just for a moment, the responsibilities that awaited him in the outside world. To lose himself in someone so completely that they seemed to be the only other person in existence.

Or perhaps he had never really felt this free at all.

His entire life, he had always worried. He had always concentrated on his next move - on doing whatever he needed to prove himself worthy of the Kensley name. But Charlotte didn’t care about any of that. Certainly, she cared about her career, and the work she was doing for the company, but that wasn’t why she was here, in his arms.

Welcoming him into her bed.

Knowing that, however, didn’t help Vladimir come any closer to why she would do such a thing. Carnal hunger was powerful yes, but they were two entirely different people. When they first clashed, they had been so diametrically opposed that you could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.

So what had changed? A little give a little take...and then...this?

With a low sigh, Vladimir gathered Charlotte closer to him, reveling in the feel of her smooth skin against his. It was better that he didn’t question it. Questioning, he feared, would lead back to his dependence on facts and figures. On trying to ascertain the logic of things.

And this was one situation in which his logic paid him few favors.

He slept for a few hours and dreamed of Charlotte teasing him awake with her lips and fingers. When he did actually stir, it was to the heavenly feeling of her mouth around him. The result was another hour-long marathon of lovemaking that left both of them bonelessly exhausted. Charlotte even protested that she might like to sleep through their eight am call to the building site, but the threat of their day off being rescinded was enough to send her scrambling to the bathroom.

While she showered, Vladimir called Toshiro.

“A day off?” The Japanese man replied incredulously to his proposal, “On the first day of construction? Dear Jesus, Vlad, what’s gotten into you?”

So much for not giving him a hard time. “Are you and Athena coming or not? We can go as soon as we’re finished at the site.”

“Of course we’re coming. I’ll wake her now.” His words were a reminder that the elder man wasn’t the only one wrapped up in a woman. Toshiro, however, was in deeper than he could imagine. With a slight frown, Vladimir remembered Athena’s passionate admission to him just days earlier.

She was in love with Toshiro - or, at least, that’s what she professed. Vladimir didn’t know much about Athena, but she hadn’t told him that she wanted Toshiro to marry her, or raved that she wanted his children. In fact, the love she had proclaimed was surprisingly selfless. She wanted to help Toshiro while they were together.

She spoke as if she knew their relationship had an end date.

Love, Vladimir decided, was a strange and funny thing - one he had no time to get tangled up in. He had his hands full enough with Charlotte as it was - he couldn’t take the time to wonder if Toshiro was sliding down a slope more slippery than he could imagine.

Vladimir worried that Charlotte might be upset that he had invited Athena and Toshiro to come with them. It was, in his opinion, a safer option than being alone with her. Being alone with Charlotte was dangerous - when he couldn’t lose himself in his body, he found his pensive mind betraying him in ways that he didn’t like to dwell on for too long.

Physicality was simpler - and he certainly couldn’t be physical with her when they were out and around the town. Perhaps that was a good thing. After all, he didn’t want to get too used to touching her.

Much as he might like to.

But Charlotte seemed to have no such reservations. When she caught sight of Toshiro and Athena waiting in the lobby, she beamed, glancing at Vladimir in approval.  Athena waved in greeting and the two women quickly fell to speaking to one another in low tones as Vladimir greeted his brother. 

“I am, quite frankly, shocked at your behavior, Vlad.” Shiro smirked, shaking his head teasingly.

“Oh, come off it.” The taller man rolled his eyes. “Before I change my mind.”

“Please, don’t tempt him.” Charlotte piped up, making Toshiro chuckle. “We might not get another day off for the next three weeks.”

“Alright, alright.” They led the way down the steps and to the waiting car, where their grand tour of the city began.

Though Toshiro had agreed to stop his teasing, he made no bones about reminding Vladimir that he had never offered his brother a private tour of the city. In reply, the elder man simply eyed him in warning and Toshiro laughed.

Vladimir guided them to all the sites Charlotte had been so intent on when they first arrived in the city. He didn’t know as much as a bonafide tour guide, but his understanding of the native tongue allowed him to translate what was on plaques and informational posters. Charlotte hung onto his every word, interested in everything from how the buildings had been constructed to the historical events that happened inside them.

While Toshiro and Athena were polite, it was clear that they were far more interested in one another than anything he might have to say. Of course, while they were exploring Cathedrals and, in particular, the Imperial Palace, the women were as thick as thieves. The moment they saw something they liked, they were off to ooh and ahh over the site.

“You make a pretty good host, Vlad.” Toshiro observed a painting that stretched a good forty or so feet across as he complimented his brother. “I’m sure Charlotte’s having a good time.”

“There was never any doubt of that,” Vladimir replied, ever-logical. “Russia is her first international project. Even if we weren’t involved, she would still be ecstatic.”

“I’m sure,” Toshiro’s reply was tactical. He’d spent years conversing with Vladimir, so he knew how to get around his infallible logic. “But the experience is more improved with you here.”

Vladimir made a face. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to bolster my ego with a woman. I’ve never doubted my ability with women, Toshiro.”

“You doubted yourself with this one,” Toshiro nodded discreetly in Charlotte’s direction, where she was explaining something about domed ceilings for Athena. “Because she’s not like you...and she isn’t like any woman you’ve tangled with before.”

Vladimir sighed, raking a hand through his dark hair. “I thought we weren’t going to discuss women.”

“Not talking about them. I’m talking about you.” Toshiro chuckled. “Charlotte’s not the only one having a good time.”

Vladimir shrugged off that particular comment. “I always enjoy coming to Russia. I was born here, after all.”

“Not like this.” But Toshiro didn’t push the subject any further. “I just like seeing you happy, Vlad. I was beginning to think you would always be a workaholic.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” the taller man returned wryly. His work had always given him purpose, and that wasn’t going to stop just because he started sleeping with Charlotte. His work would always be first and foremost, the Kensley name would always be first and foremost.

With a shrug, Shiro turned to gaze up at another painting, his smile faint. “Heaven forbid.”

For the first day he had taken off work in several years, the afternoon went surprisingly well. Of course, Vladimir had hoped to see some of his favorite places around St. Petersburg, but he had never imagined how much doing it with other people added to the experience. Out of all his brothers, he had always been the one who preferred isolation to the company of others. It helped him to think.

But, today, there was little thinking involved. He staved off his brother’s teasing as he led the party around the city, watching with no small amount of amusement as Charlotte marveled over the tiniest details in architecture and city design, and enjoying the sunshine in juxtaposition to the biting cold. After they had their fill of museums and cathedrals, he took them to Palkin, one of the most famous restaurants in the city, for a taste of real Russian fare.

Toshiro, for all his travels, had always been a picky eater, and Vladimir quite enjoyed the furtive looks Athena shot him when he refused to touch something. Though he didn’t really know her, he found he liked her - and Charlotte did as well. That much was obvious by the way the two of them gossiped and laughed when they thought no one was looking.

But, ultimately, their day off didn’t go completely as planned. Around seven in the evening, Vladimir received a call from the building manager requesting his presence. He opted to go alone, leaving the others to their revelry. After all, the manager hadn’t called for Toshiro or Charlotte’s presence.

Only him.

Toshiro tried to protest, but Vlad wouldn’t have it. He refused to ruin their evening simply because he was reverting to his MO. As he donned his coat in the entryway of the restaurant, however, He turned to see Charlotte standing there, watching him.

Her dress really did suit her - far too well, really. “Are you coming back to the hotel late?” She didn’t quite meet his eyes when she asked, and Vladimir arched a brow.

“Why? Worried about me, Charlotte?” At his slight jibe, she merely frowned.

“I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I? You worry about me all the time.”

“That’s because when you work, you do it like a woman obsessed.”

The statement drew a soft, amused laugh from her. “Well I guess that makes two of us.”

Vladimir graced her with a brief, rare smile as he tied his scarf around his neck. Charlotte took a step away from the entryway, as if she meant, perhaps, to cross it and kiss him. God knew it was what he had wanted for half the day. After a split second, however, she merely paused, gazing up at him with an unreadable expression. “Don’t work too late, alright?”

The request was a ridiculous one. Vladimir had spent his entire career working exactly as long as he needed to get the job done. But, somehow, the plea warmed him. “I’ll do my best.”

With those words, he left her, stepping out into the frigid cold.

Though it was the end of a day, Vladimir was dedicated to staying as long as he needed to at the Dansk office building, he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that a part of him hoped, just as much as Charlotte did, that he wouldn’t be all night.

 

**

Charlotte’s time in Russia was, in a word, singular.

From the time she touched down, everything seemed to be turned on its head. She was in a foreign country on her first international assignment, and, while she had travelled to Canada and Mexico, being on the other side of the world was something entirely different.

Was it really any wonder that she was wide-eyed and gawking at any and everything that she saw? She was as much in wonder at the world around her as she was at where her hard work and dedication had gotten her.

Charlotte had always wanted to go far, but it seemed like St. Petersburg was one of the real, true signs of her evolution as an architect; and it was still hard to believe.

And then things had gotten even more outlandish.

In some ways, it was like Russia was a trigger. Everything that she had ever dreamed of, ever desperately wanted had all been hurled at her. And that included her boss coming to her room in the middle of the night.

Of course, she could always have said no. Charlotte was well aware of that. This wasn’t the story of two fated star-crossed lovers - she wasn’t anywhere near that naive. But the look on Vladimir’s face had utterly undone her. The way he seemed somewhere between desperation and animalistic desire. She had understood him because she was right there on the cusp as well.

When she really thought about it, it was insane how much she wanted Vladimir Kensley. Considering the rocky start to their working relationship, she might have been running for the hills. They might have been operating on the very edge of decency - but they weren’t. They were doing all they could to keep from crawling into one another’s beds. Now, even that bubble had finally burst.

Though she told herself it wasn’t safe to be as invested in the man as she was, Charlotte found herself waiting up after their day off. A day that had been, in her mind, the best she’d had in a long time. As much as she loved her work, it was nice to be able to get out and see more of the city that would house it - and she had certainly enjoyed her time getting to know Athena and Toshiro.

Charlotte could see why the Japanese and Russian men got along so well. In a way, Toshiro seemed like a more moderate line of Vladimir’s attitude. He was serious, but not too serious. Where Vladimir might have been a workaholic, Toshiro more readily enjoyed a good time. He smiled and laughed more, but had no problem contending with his straight faced older brother at his own level.

And Charlotte liked him.

Though he and Athena stayed out after she came back to the hotel, he made sure she got into a taxi to the right address, and reminded her to tell Vlad when she got back; though, in all honesty, Charlotte wasn’t sure how much a working Vlad would pay attention to a text from her.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to wait for him - and wait she did. Like a puppy for its master. The very thought should have been off-putting, but Charlotte told herself that her still-jetlagged form would do well from Vladimir’s form of both rough and tender loving. He would put her right to sleep - and some of the best sleep of her life, at that.

She waited until around two in the morning, and even left the man a message on his phone. As soon as she hung up, she wished she could erase it. She had never been the type of woman to cling or be needy, but, here she was, wondering when Vladimir would come knocking on her door.

As it turned out, he didn’t. Not before she went to sleep around four in the morning - and she didn’t see him for breakfast the next day either. After her meal, she ran into Toshiro, who assured her that Vladimir was simply caught up in the work of about three continents, and sleeping in the office was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

Charlotte tried to take it in stride. She did her best to re-evaluate her madcap idea that Vladimir would be sleeping with her for the entire trip. There was, after all, no agreement they had signed mandating anything. In fact, the less time they spent together, the better off they would probably be. While they were far away from the media of the western world, that didn’t mean they were untouchable - and Vladimir was already wary of reporters without her to help his image.

She, herself bundled up in the coat he’d bought her. It was too cold for one of the slinky dresses, so she supplemented with a pair of jeans and a thick sweater beneath the coat, and she made it to the job site close to eight in the morning.

The entire place was bustling.

Upon first seeing the building, Charlotte thought it had a lovely, lonely look to it. Now, of course, most of that allure had been stripped away. The structure was being gutted from the inside out, and the entire square block around it was a mess of dust and old building materials. Charlotte donned her hardhat before diving in, careful not to do any damage to her coat that couldn’t be undone.

She found the building manager fairly quickly. Without Vlad, he was set to be her translator. He was up on the fifth floor talking to a gaggle of construction workers. No sooner had he finished than he waved her over. “Lotte!” While Vladimir’s accent was only slight, Alexei Sokolov’s was so thick it was hard to understand him at times. But he still spoke English, and that was really all she needed.

Out of the management that she worked with at Dansk, he was, perhaps, the most amicable. He had taken up calling her Lotte with her permission, and Charlotte had allowed him because his smile and friendliness helped her feel at ease with her newest project. “Good morning.” Alexei beamed and Charlotte returned the gesture.

“Morning, Mr. Sokolov.”

“Please, call me Lexi.” He returned, as he always did. “You have more seniority here than me after all.” But Charlotte had never really been one to care about names or stations. “I have a list of the sections where we will most radically alter the floor plans. We’ll be getting started on those today in order to have the changes complete before you return to the United States.”

“Right.” Charlotte took the list from him, skimming it briefly. There were about eight sections of the building that needed the most serious work, and it made sense that they would tackle them first. “I’ll head up to the tenth floor then.”

“Da,” He agreed, “I’ll come with you, just in case you need to speak with the workers.”

He was, as always, a great help. Not only in crossing the language barrier between her and almost everyone on site, but also with making her way around some of the more unstable parts of the building’s interior. While it could appear, to others, as if Charlotte was rather callous about her own safety, the truth was that she was anything but. Now that they were working on the building, it was a minefield of weak spots which Alexei boosted her over with ease.

Charlotte had to wonder if both he and Vladimir were in a subgroup of Russian men that were literal giants. Alexei was a little shorter than Vladimir, and not quite as wide, but he boasted the same power in his torso.

He could lift her over gaps in the floor and boost her upstairs without getting winded which, while reminding her that she had to work out more, was a great asset. After about three or four hours of moving up and down, Charlotte was beginning to get a good idea of what the finished project would look like, and she couldn’t be more excited. She could only hope that, in six months’ time, she had a week or two to return to Russia to see it. She was sure that if she gave him enough advance notice, Vladimir would allow it.

It was at that moment that Charlotte realized that she hadn’t seen Vladimir in almost twenty-four hours. Even though she knew he was at work, it was odd for them to be separated like this. Since they had arrived in St. Petersburg, he barely left her side.

“Mister Kensley still working hard in the office?” It was almost as if Alexei had sensed her train of that and Charlotte shrugged with a small smile as they watched a group of men begin cutting into a line of rotting drywall.

“I assume so. When he gets absorbed in something, he really commits.”

“Oh, yes,” Alexei agreed with his own rueful smile. “The man is...how you say? A workaholic.”

It seemed to be a common assumption where Vladimir was concerned. “How are you enjoying our city, Lotte?”

“It’s gorgeous,” Charlotte replied. “I don’t think I could have picked a better place for my first foray into international work. I hope that I can come back very soon.”

“And Mister Kensley, he is proving a good host?” Alexei arched a brow. “He finds time between his meetings?”

“Time enough,” Charlotte replied, remembering the slight disappointment she’d felt when he rushed out on them the previous night. Though she knew the man had a duty to his company and his family, part of her had hoped he’d be able to get through at least a single day without bending to the will of the machine.

And that he might make love to her again afterwards. “You know that Russia likes to claim him as our prodigal son,” Alexei chuckled, “Though he isn’t technically Russian anymore. Of course, it’s always in the interest in the media to paint those of Russian descent of have been successful as the heroes of our generation. He is quite the man, Vladimir Kensley…” Alexei’s voice lowered conspiratorially. “Though I have heard that, perhaps, he is not so good with the ladies.” When he chuckled, Charlotte did her best to offer up her own smile.

Vladimir was certainly an enigma when it came to women. She was far from understanding the nature of what was between them, but there were times when Charlotte didn’t know if that would solve anything. She could hardly believe that hearing Vladimir break down the sexual attraction between them into cold, precise terms would do anything to help her confusion. She had seen that the man could be passionate. Seen what he could be like when there was nothing he could find to be worried about.

And it was glorious. There was no other word for it.

But Vladimir wasn’t Vladimir when he wasn’t worrying. Being preoccupied was his quid pro quo - and Charlotte could only imagine that, perhaps, he’d been happy to be called into work after a day of what he might have considered idleness.

“There is a close working relationship between you and Mr. Kensley, is there not?” Alexei adjusted his hard hat atop his blonde head. “This will be the second major project you have worked on together.”

Charlotte nodded, wondering what direction the conversation was headed in. “How does your husband feel about your being so close to him?”

The redhead almost choked on her own saliva. Husband? Dear Lord, she hadn’t expected that one. At her obvious distress, Alexei thumped her on the back until she recovered, his expression concerned. When Charlotte could finally speak again, she managed a weak laugh. “I’m not married, Lexi, so I don’t have to worry about any jealous men in my life.”

“Ah, then that means you wouldn’t mind having dinner with me.”

Charlotte was shocked into silence. The man wasn’t acting lewd or lecherous, but he had certainly just asked her to dinner, completely out of the blue. In the three or four days that she had been in St. Petersburg, Charlotte met with Alexei a handful of times. There hadn’t been a single occasion that led her to believe that he might be romantically interested in her.

She suddenly found herself looking at him differently. The man was tall, blonde and green-eyed - undeniably attractive. And he had an easy demeanor and smile that women must flock to. He was, really, the exact antithesis of the man that he worked for, and, six months ago, Charlotte might have jumped at the chance to get to know him better.

But things had changed.

Charlotte took a brief moment to contemplate how she might let the man down easy - but before she could open her mouth to utter a single word, a low voice spoke her name.

“Charlotte.”

The ice in the word was enough to make her whirl in shock to see Vladimir standing not five feet behind her, hardhat donned and gaze frosty enough to put even the chilly city of his birth to shame.

The redhead felt her heart drop into her stomach. “Vladimir!” She exclaimed in surprise, “I didn’t know you had arrived.”

“Obviously,” he returned flatly, looking from her to Alexei and then back again. “Mr. Sokolov, I’m going to need the morning’s report from you.” Vladimir’s tone was sharp enough that Charlotte flinched, her gut twisting.

Alexei, ever good-humored, did his best to keep his smile even in the face of his obviously disapproving superior. “Of course, Mr. Kensley. I’ll have it for you on the ground floor.” With that, he turned, disappearing down the stairwell and leaving the two of them alone.

Charlotte was turning back to Vladimir before she even knew what she was doing, her own anger rising. “What the hell was that for?”

Vladimir’s eyes narrowed immediately, his ire fairly palpable. “What do you mean ‘what was it for’?” He replied in a low tone. “The man was obviously propositioning to you. He’s lucky I didn’t fire him on the spot.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened in horror. “You wouldn’t.”

“I’m thinking about it,” The dark-haired man returned in a low growl, staring in the direction in which Alexei had disappeared. “I don’t tolerate flirtation in the workplace.”

The statement was enough the force a harsh burst of laughter from Charlotte’s throat. “Don’t you? Well, what the hell are we, then?”

“What we do is done behind closed doors,” Vladimir replied instantly, “There’s no need to parade it around in front of the world.”

“Well, maybe if you gave a little more indication,” Charlotte quipped, “You wouldn’t have to worry about it in the first place.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vladimir’s demand came back swift and sharp.

“Alexei wouldn’t even have spoken to me if he knew you were interested. For your information, I was about to turn him down.”

“I would hope so,” Vladimir returned dryly, his eyes bright with anger. “Considering you’ll be in my bed tonight.”

It was an arrogant assumption that had no place in the current conversation - especially after that bullshit line about flirtation in the workplace. “Am I?” Charlotte challenged, raising her chin in defiance. “You certainly didn’t seem to care much about it last night.”

Vladimir swore lowly in Russian, his temper rising slowly. “I’ve been swamped with work for the past twelve hours. Forgive me for not calling when I knew exactly where you were.”

“Oh, forget this.” Charlotte threw her hands up, wincing as the biting cold nipped at her fingertips. She turned on her heels to start down the stairs only to hand Vladimir’s grip clamp closed around her wrist.

“Where are you going Charlotte?” Vladimir growled, “Surely not after Sokolov.”

And, just like that, everything clicked. This wasn’t about Vladimir’s dislike of flirtation in the workplace. If he was really so anal about the subject, he might have come down harder on Toshiro, brother or no. No, this concerned something completely different.

“Let go of me.” She yanked her hand from his grip, holding her wrist protectively. He hadn’t hurt her, but she didn’t need him touching her just now. His simple touch was enough to make her fury waver, and right now, Charlotte needed to be mad. “I don’t know what universe you’re living in, Vladimir, but I don’t belong to you. And getting territorial is no reason to fire a perfectly fit building manager.” Her voice lowered to a dangerous hiss. “If what we do in our private time is of such little importance to you, you hardly have the foundation to get your panties in a twist if someone else asks me out. You can’t claim what isn’t yours.”

She made to leave again, and this time she got perhaps two steps before she was plucked from the dusty floor and hauled upwards into Vladimir’s arms. The swiftness of the motion took her breath away, and she found herself gathered into a tight corner of the dusty room, hemmed in by the breadth of Vladimir’s body. When she lifted her gaze to his, the combined frustration and want there was enough to steal her breath away. “You’re being very unreasonable, Charlotte.” Vladimir spoke in a tone both dark and promising - low enough to make her squirm, even as she shoved at his chest.

“Screw you.”

“If that’s what you want,” he replied curtly, “I’ll gladly comply. After you tell me what I want to hear.”

Charlotte continued to struggle against him, growing strangely more aroused by the minute. “And what is that?”

“That you’ll allow me into your bed. Into you.” The words made her breath hitch. What the hell was this? She had no right to be getting aroused when he was manhandling her like this. Making demands that he had absolutely no business making! Besides that, anyone could walk into this room at any time. For all she knew, the construction workers were just taking a lunch break. And what if Alexei returned?

“Vladimir, get off me,” she tried, even as her struggling started to ebb. “You’re being an asshole. I don’t like it.”

But she did. Why she had no idea, but the feel of him pressing against her, here, in a public place where anyone could walk in...it gave her a secret thrill of excitement. “I thought you were made for rough handling, Charlotte.” As he said so, one of Vladimir’s hands snaked beneath her hardhat to take a firm handful of her hair to pull taut and she gasped. “Your words, not mine.”

She meant to protest. Really she did, but the only thing that slipped from the redhead was a soft, helpless moan of desire. Vladimir lowered his mouth to hers, muffling the sound as he pressed in even closer to him. Even through all the layers separating them, Charlotte could feel how much he wanted her. God knew she wanted him, even if the man infuriated her sometimes.

Vladimir plundered her mouth masterfully, his tongue tangling with hers as he held her in place. He kissed her until Charlotte was arching against him, her hands curled into the thick wool of his coat as she all but writhed in need. She damned him even as her body screamed for him, and wondered what on earth this man was doing to her usually sharp mind.

When they finally parted, her face was flushed and Charlotte’s heart was pounding against her ribs.

Vladimir’s eyes, she found, had lost their irate edge and, instead, he gazed down at her with an unreadable expression. A long beat passed between them before he spoke. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your call.”

“It’s ok,” she breathed, trying to catch her breath. “You were busy.”

“I could have called.” He returned almost immediately. “Forgive me...old habits die hard.”

“I’m...actually glad you didn’t call.” She returned, the corner of her mouth kicking up in a slight smirk. “You might have caught me thinking of you.”

Vladimir’s eyes instantly dilated at her implication. When he spoke, his tone was ragged and hungry. “And what do you do when you think of me, Charlotte?”

She felt her cheeks burn. Usually, Charlotte was completely unabashed when it came to such talk, but here, now, with Vladimir against her, she found that she couldn’t say the words. Vladimir’s free hand slipped from her waist to her hip, and then he was undoing the third button on her coat to slip his hand beneath it and into the crux of heat between her thighs.

Charlotte inhaled sharply at the contact, her grip on him tightening even as she attempted to squirm away. “Vladimir no,” She pleaded, “Not here.”

“Yes, here.” He returned heatedly. “You wanted me, Miss Gardner, here I am. And I want to touch you.”

This was insane. They were in the middle of a dilapidated building with only God knew how much time before someone walked through the open entryway. But Vladimir was undoing the button of her jeans to find the panties beneath soaking and Charlotte found that she didn’t want him to stop half as much as she might lead him to believe. “Vladimir…” She breathed, “What’s gotten into you?”

The man didn’t even want to kiss her in public and now his hand was covering the most intimate parts of her. When two thick digits slid inside her, Charlotte bit back a scream. Dear sweet Jesus, she was already so close and he had barely touched her.

He kissed her again, muffling her moan when his fingers slid deeper to find the spot inside her that made her see stars. Charlotte was clinging to him so hard that her fingers were numb from the cold. All she could feel was the way he touched her - his low murmurings in his harsh mother tongue against her neck and the way her body seemed to be slowly dissolving.

She came in under a minute, gasping, her toes curling in her boots as her legs almost collapsed beneath her. Vladimir kept her upright with his grip on her scalp - a delicious pleasure in pain that only intensified her orgasm until she was left, panting, in his grip.

In the moments after, the chill breeze made her realize just how exposed they are, and some of her finer sensibilities returned fairly quickly. Luckily for her, Vladimir was withdrawing, buttoning her jeans and redoing the fastening of her coat. “Are you warm?”

His voice, still tight with lust, floated over her, almost as if she was in a dream, and Charlotte struggled out of her haze. “Yes...I’m fine.” She managed, her cheeks pink from a mixture of the cold and the incredible experience he’d just given her.

“Come.” He took her arm to lead her from the room and carefully back through the numerous sites of construction. They reached the main floor quickly, and Vladimir paused only for the five minutes it took for him to speak with Alexei and take his report.

Then he returned to her, and a sleek black car was pulling up at the curb. Once they were inside, he surprised her by pulling her against him - something she had never imagined he’d do in public. “I don’t like you angry with me.”

His words made her eyes widen a moment before she burst into laughter. No fucking kidding. The man had fondled her in the middle of an active construction site of pacify her. “Well you might answer my calls then,” she replied, only half-teasing, before she sobered slightly. “Vladimir, you’re not really going to fire Alexei, are you? He didn’t mean anything by it, he was just-”

“If you stop talking about him, I won’t,” Vladimir cut her off curtly, and Charlotte bit back a laugh at the annoyance on his face.

He was jealous.

The thought shouldn’t please her, but it did. Vladimir Kensley, the ever-logical, the insanely precise, was upset that she had spoken to another man. It was adorable.

 

The workday was hardly over, but the dark-haired man whisked her back to the hotel room and kept her there for the rest of the evening. They called in room service for dinner and got about halfway through it before she fell victim to his insatiable appetite once again. It was more than enough to make up for the previous night, and Charlotte found any and all traces of her ire had completely vanished by the time Vladimir had thoroughly worn her out.

Their days in Russia soon adopted routine pattern of sorts. Charlotte shuddered to think how much the company must be shelling out for a penthouse suite that Vladimir didn’t even sleep in. He always found his way to her bed at the end of the day, and they always rose together to have breakfast in the hotel lobby.

Though they came down separately, Vladimir wasn’t nearly as distant with her as he’d been the first morning after they were together. His touches were subtle and seldom, but he did touch her in broad daylight - beyond the safety of the suite. At the small of her back, when he spoke to her in the office, sliding her coat onto her shoulders after a long day. It was no longer as if he was doing anything and everything he could to avoid even the slightest hint of their involvement.

For Charlotte, these subtle touches were more than enough. Even though she told herself that it was irrational to demand anything more of Vladimir than sating their physical needs, it pleased her that he gave her what she wanted. That he laid claim to her in such a way that Alexei never again brought up the subject of their dinner together.

After breakfast, they split their time between the job site and the office. They weren’t always together, but when they weren’t, Vladimir always called her to update her on his schedule so she was never left waiting for him.

It was, perhaps, one of the nicest gestures he could have paid her, and Charlotte knew that she would be a fool to take it for granted. Sometime in between checking over construction progress and filing paperwork, they managed to make a few more outings into the city. Vladimir even, with a certain amount of reluctance, showed her the neighborhood in which he’d grown up.

It was a run down, older part of the city that hadn’t seen the attention more touristy parts of the metropolis had, and it was enough to remind Charlotte that not everyone who lived here lived the wealthy, privileged life of the elite. For Vladimir to have come from this...it was nothing short of amazing.

“I did little,” he revealed to her, as she lounged against him in bed one night, her fingers playing errantly through his inky raven hair. “I was a petty thief. I stole and they were on the cusp of institutionalizing me...it was my father who saved me.”

“So, you’re saying,” Charlotte replied almost casually, “That a broken, angry thirteen-year-old boy put in no effort, didn’t bust his ass to become the man you are today? I can’t imagine that Jackson Kensley would allow someone like that at the head of his company, even if he is his adopted son. You don’t give yourself enough credit, Vladimir.”

And he didn’t. Charlotte had long known that Vladimir’s most critical weakness was that he himself was his harshest critic. She had known it the moment he revealed to her that he was slated to take over a multi-billion dollar enterprise in a matter of months and it all hinged on the LA project. The man was a perfectionist, no doubt made that way in his efforts to please the family that had taken him in.

He was far from the child that he had once been - and she didn’t just mean physically.

“You are an enigma, Vladimir Kensley.” She murmured with a sigh, her eyes drifting closed. The man had proved to be the cure to her insomnia. After he was through with her, she could do little else but sleep.

“Vlad.” He replied softly, making her eyes open slightly.

“Hm?”

“Call me Vlad.” It was what his brother called him...and Charlotte felt strangely warm and being extended the same courtesy.

Even though she knew this wouldn’t last, for now, Vladimir Kensley was everything that she needed. He was a stern, constructive boss- if a little pig-headed at times. He was her key to the city of St. Petersburg. Her lover and, even if they didn’t quite understand one another, he was somehow her friend as well.

What more could she possibly ask for?