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?