“Something like that.” I’m also bringing dessert, but he doesn’t need to know that it’s in the form of me living out an office fantasy on my knees and behind the boss’s desk.
It’s been two weeks of utter bliss with Mikhail. We’ve kept our relationship under wraps for obvious reasons, but eventually, our families will have to accept that we belong together. I’m tired of lying and sneaking around. I’m too old for this bullshit, and so is he.
When the elevator doors slide open, I exit and smile at the kind stranger on my way out. A redhead with the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen sits behind a desk. She side-eyes my heels and pencil skirt, then lifts her gaze to my low-cut blouse, probably wondering whether I’m an employee even though we’ve never met.
“Name?” she asks, without so much as a greeting.
Rude.
“I’m here to see Mikhail Petrov.”
She arches an eyebrow and feigns an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Petrov has no visitors on his schedule today.”
“That’s okay.” I shrug.
“No, you don’t understand. He can’t see you if you don’t have an appointment.”
“I don’t need one, Heather. When I rolled out of his bed this morning, I told him I’d be by for lunch.”
Now those eyebrows nearly hit her hairline. “I’ll let him know you’re here.”
I flash her my most cynical smile and continue down the hall. “No need. I can find it.”
As I near Mikhail’s office door, I can see it’s cracked open, and a woman’s voice is coming from a speaker. I don’t want to eavesdrop, but her tone has a strange undercurrent of familiarity, and the things she’s saying don’t add up.
“Your father lined everything out in the contract, including the mergers and assets. He said he’d talk to you, but since you haven’t called, I figured I’d reach out.”
“I’ve been busy.”
There’s a stretch of silence before she responds.
“Mikhail, the original date for our wedding is in a month. I won’t wait any longer than that.
My father has...other prospects. I expect an answer by this weekend.”
The room suddenly feels like a vacuum, sucking all the air from my lungs.
“Celeste,” he says through clenched teeth.
“The ball is in your court. Goodbye, Mikhail.”
I hear my boyfriend sigh like the world’s weight is on his shoulders. Although I’m sure juggling a girlfriend and a fiancée will do that to a man—or rather, a cheating sack of shit.
I take a moment and swallow the crippling pain of betrayal before bursting through the door. “You better not keep her waiting.” No matter how much I try to hold back my traitorous tears, they come flooding forward.
Mikhail jumps to his feet and tries to approach me, but I step back and shake my head.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
“Baby, it’s not what you think.”
I slam the bag of food on the floor. “Oh, I’m sorry; please tell me how you having a fiancée is somehow a miscommunication on my part.”
He reaches for me again, but I recoil, threatening to toss milkshakes all over his expensive suit. “Leah, Celeste is not my fiancée in the way you think. I’ve never met her, and this was our second time speaking. She’s business. That’s all. And this was before you.”
I squeeze my eyes closed. “I told you not to hurt me. Please, don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying,” he says, taking the milkshake tray from my shaky hands and placing it on his desk. I feel the warmth of his presence just inches from me and his lips on my forehead.
“So why not tell her the wedding is off?” I open my eyes when there’s no answer and look up at his weary expression. “Mikhail?”
He rakes a rough hand across his face. “Things aren’t that simple.”
Again, I feel the gut punch. “What do you mean?” No answer. My heart thumps in my throat. “Mikhail, answer me right this moment. Are you going to marry her or not?”
“Leah, fuck— I thought... I have obligations to fulfill. I haven’t been thinking straight.” My mouth falls open. “If I don’t go through with this, not only do I fail my father, but I implicate you with yours, my family.”
I shake my head in complete disbelief. “You bastard.”
“Leah, please. This kills me.”
“You weren’t too torn up this morning when you had me on my knees in the shower or last night when you fucked me on the kitchen counter— Oh no, you weren’t worried then.” I slap his hand away when he tilts my chin.
“Because I wasn’t,” he grits out. “But it’s like the whole goddamn world started burning around me on the same day. Your father all but threatened me and my family because he suspects something is going on between us. He showed up this morning, surrounded by his lackeys, trying to intimidate me. Then my father pressuring me with this Celeste bullshit. Of course, he tells me it’s my choice, but I know what he expects at the end of the day.”
Mikhail knocks over a stack of documents and pounds his desk. Maybe it’s naive and stupid of me to feel for him. But I understand the pressures he’s facing. I’m in similar shoes.
I place a hand on his back. “Mikhail,” I nearly whisper. He whirls around in a flash and scoops me into his arms.
