The Cost Of The Forbidden
CAROL MARINELLI
The price of endless pleasure!Clients, women, money…ruthless CEO Sev Derzhavin is a master at getting whatever – and whoever! – he wants. Rejected as a child, Sev has never been refused since. So when his personal assistant, beautiful brunette Naomi Johnson, resigns Sev can’t resist the challenge of enticing her to stay…Naomi knows she has to walk away before she gives in to the chemistry with her infamous heartbreaker boss and opens her heart to yet more bruises. But on their last business trip to Dubai Sev makes a shocking suggestion to relieve the tension between them…enjoy some overtime – in his bed!
Sev kissed her in a way he perhaps shouldn’t if Naomi was going to keep her head.
Side on, eyes open long enough for them to know that what they were doing was breaking their rules.
Their legs were entwined, but now there was time for more. And so Naomi kissed him in a way perhaps she shouldn’t. Three months of restraint had ended on the plane, but a different restraint ended this morning. She had never known a kiss like it. Their tongues swirled, mouth played with mouth. She took in his lower lip just to feel it between hers, they stroked at each other’s mouths, caressed the other’s tongue. Yes, she had never known a kiss like it—and she guessed after this morning she never would again.
Irresistible Russian Tycoons (#ulink_f4d6c2ba-e1d3-531f-ad5b-b873154bb07d)
Sexy, scandalous and impossible to resist!
Daniil, Roman, Sev and Nikolai have come a long way from the Russian orphanage they grew up in. These days the four sexy tycoons dominate the world’s stage—and they are just as famed for their prowess between the sheets!
Untamed and untouched by emotion, can these ruthless men find women to redeem them?
You won’t want to miss these sizzling Russians in this sensational quartet from
USA TODAY bestselling author Carol Marinelli—available only from Mills & Boon Modern Romance!
The Price of His Redemption December 2015
The Cost of the Forbidden January 2016
And watch for Nikolai and Roman’s stories … coming soon!
The Cost of the Forbidden
Carol Marinelli
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CAROL MARINELLI is a Taurus, with Taurus rising, yet she still thinks she’s a secret Gemini. Originally from England, she now lives in Australia and is a single mother of three. Apart from her children, writing romance and the friendships forged along the way are her passion. She chooses to believe in a happy-ever-after for all and strives for that in her writing.
Contents
Cover (#u660015ef-57e8-509c-9001-3206abcecf1b)
Introduction (#u048c43ca-b976-504e-b84e-81975884965b)
Irresistible Russian Tycoons (#uf204e5bc-9c50-596f-888d-296de7b313ea)
Title Page (#u211c670b-916f-5b1c-b315-9ee2fa81b601)
About the Author (#ud734a337-d057-5cbf-b1ee-8efd8684df69)
PROLOGUE (#ub422c046-2179-5328-afe8-00e7b0639f65)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua76995ce-61e3-52b5-ad93-1868ea3d9302)
CHAPTER TWO (#u61202f03-84e4-57fb-a841-f0d6848d623a)
CHAPTER THREE (#u3ed74395-8450-5493-b75c-5d4b5abb24ae)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u3563c768-a10b-5bd0-9354-871f25c6540b)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#ulink_87feda09-aa8a-5a18-ba69-9285417827a5)
‘YOU’RE ENGLISH?’ NAOMI watched from the other side of a large polished desk as Sevastyan Derzhavin flicked through her résumé with little enthusiasm.
He’d already made up his mind that she hadn’t got the job, Naomi decided. So it was now just a matter of going through the motions.
What she didn’t know was Sevastyan never went through the motions.
Social niceties did not apply to him.
‘I was born here and my father lives here in New York,’ Naomi answered. ‘So I’m legal...’
‘I wasn’t asking for that.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m not really big on red tape. It was your accent that had me curious. How long have you been here?’ He continued to look at her résumé and frowned as Naomi answered him.
‘Twelve days.’
‘You’re staying in a hostel?’ he checked.
‘Just till I find somewhere to live, though that’s proving harder than I thought it would.’
He glanced up and saw that she was blushing—she had been since the moment he’d called her name, or perhaps her complexion was just perpetually red?
‘I thought that you said that your father lived—’
‘His wife just had a new baby.’ Naomi interrupted.
‘I don’t blame you, then.’
‘Sorry?’
He stiffened.
It was the third time that she had said it.
‘I don’t blame you for not wanting to stay with him if there’s a screaming baby.’
Naomi didn’t respond but her slight swallow and blink told him that, very possibly, his comment was the wrong way around—that her father didn’t want Naomi staying with him.
He had been about to tell her that they were wasting each other’s time. Sevastyan didn’t deal in emotion. Computers were his thing. Books too. Not people.
There was no point in dragging things out and so he would tell her that this wasn’t going to work; that she could never be his PA.
And he would tell her why if she asked.
Naomi Johnson had one of those apologetic personalities that irked Sev.
One of the last English words he’d learnt had been ‘sorry’ and he rarely used it.
Naomi had said it twice even before taking her seat.
She had said sorry when he’d gone into Reception to call her in for the interview and she had knocked over her glass of water as she’d stood. Then, as she had taken a seat in his sumptuous Fifth Avenue office, he’d politely asked how her morning had been. Naomi clearly hadn’t made out what he’d said and it had been ‘sorry’ again.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ had been his irritated reply.
And now she had just said it again.
‘I don’t think it will work,’ Sev said.
‘Mr Derzhavin—’
‘Sev,’ he interrupted. ‘I’m not a schoolteacher.’ He looked up into serious brown eyes and, seeing her rapid blink, he reeled back a touch from his usual abrupt dismissal. She—Naomi—had clearly made a huge effort for the interview today. The hostel she was staying at was a dive yet she was here in a smart suit. It was a touch tight, Sev thought, noticing her curves. Her dark brown hair was neatly tied back and she looked...
Sev couldn’t quite place it.
She reminded him of something, or rather someone.
He didn’t really want to examine who or what it was, there was just, he decided, no need to be brutal.
‘Look, Naomi, you’re clearly qualified and for a twenty-five-year-old you have a lot of experience and you interview well but...’ He watched her nervous swallow and found himself wanting to let her down gently. ‘You’ve an extensive list of hobbies—reading, horse riding, ballet, theatre... It goes on. The thing is, the only hobby my PA can reasonably expect to have is me.’
‘Felicity has already explained that to me,’ Naomi said. Her first interview with his current PA had been thorough enough to leave Naomi in no doubt that the role would be a demanding one. Sevastyan Derzhavin’s skills in cyber security were globally in demand. Apart from an impossible workload he was a rich playboy and had a little black book that was his PA’s to juggle, along with his private jet and helicopter.
Yes, she had been told exactly what the role would entail. He was arrogant, emotionless, worked you to the bone but he paid through the nose for attention to duty.
Him.
From the bitter twist to Felicity’s voice Naomi had soon guessed that there might be a more personal reason for the sudden vacancy.
‘Even so.’ Sev went to drop her résumé on his desk and, Naomi was sure, terminate the interview and send her on her way.
‘Would it help if I told you that I’d lied on my résumé?’
‘Probably not.’ Instead of standing, he leant back in his seat. ‘Go on.’
‘Well, I do like the ballet and theatre but it’s stretching it to say that they’re hobbies of mine and I haven’t been on a horse since I was fourteen...’
‘What about reading?’
‘I’ll read in bed.’
Sev opened his mouth to say something and then, very sensibly, he closed it.
God, he could so easily and so very inappropriately have responded to that. Clearly Miss Awkward had recognised the opening she had just given him because just as those full cheeks had been starting to pale, they had once again flushed pink the second she’d said it.
‘Well, I can’t command your time in the bedroom,’ Sev said, and he hesitated again because, actually, he wouldn’t mind doing just that...
He made a very abrupt verbal U-turn. ‘I warn you—if I offered you the role then most of your waking hours would be devoted to me. Your time would be spent on a laptop, or the phone, sorting out my life. You wouldn’t even have time to read your horoscope, it will be mine you turn to first.’
‘I don’t believe in them.’
‘I bet you still read them, though?’
‘Is that relevant?’
She was tougher than she had first looked.
Sev gave her an intense stare, barely noticing her full lips and round cheeks as her deep brown eyes drew him in.
And with that look Naomi revisited her need for the role—twelve-to eighteen-hour days didn’t trouble her, rather it was the company she’d be required to keep that did.
‘I see you’re engaged.’ Sev glanced at the ring she wore before returning her solemn gaze.
‘Again,’ Naomi asked, ‘is that relevant?’
‘Actually, it is,’ Sev tartly responded. ‘Because you’d have to have the most understanding fiancé in the history of the world to put up with the demands that I would make on your time.’
‘Well, my fiancé isn’t here in New York with me, however...’ Naomi hesitated for a moment and then decided that, no, if by some miracle he did offer her the role she wouldn’t accept it anyway.
Twelve minutes ago her world had been complicated yet ordered.
Well, not ordered as such but twelve days ago she had arrived in New York.
Twelve minutes ago she had texted her father to suggest that they catch up for lunch after her interview.
She had just put her phone back in her bag and gone to take a drink of water when Sevastyan Derzhavin had walked out of his office and called her name.
‘Naomi.’
He was beautiful.
Just that.
Dark haired, pale skinned, he had very long legs and despite the immaculate suit he looked as if he should be wandering out of a club or casino at 5:00 a.m. he was so rumpled and unshaven.
His tie was loosened, his grey-black eyes were a touch heavy lidded and he gave her not a smile as such, just a nod in the direction of his office and a vague, unrelated memory had popped into her head—she had remembered the time she’d gone to see her lovely familiar female doctor for a pap and a sexy-as-hell locum doctor had come out.
Naomi had flunked it and had asked the sexy doctor for a flu injection instead. And she’d flunked it again as Sevastyan had come out of his office and greeted her. As she’d stood, she had got all flustered and knocked over her drink. When he’d enquired, in a deep, Russian-accented voice, about her day, she’d been so entranced that she hadn’t really heard what he’d said and he’d had to repeat himself twice.
With every question he’d grown sexier.
With every vowel he uttered she wondered if the chair she was sitting on might be battery operated. Somehow even her list of hobbies had led them to bed and so now all Naomi wanted to do was stand up and get the hell out of there.
I’m an engaged woman, she wanted to say. How dare you make me feel like that?
No, she didn’t want the role.
‘You don’t speak a second language,’ Sev checked.
‘No.’ Naomi shook her head. ‘I don’t.’
‘At all?’
‘Non,’ Naomi said, and then laughed at her own feeble joke.
He didn’t laugh, just stared back at her.
‘You know,’ Sev finally said, ‘the English are lazy.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I mean the English-language-speaking world.’
‘Oh.’
‘They rely on others speaking their language.’
‘How many languages do you speak?’ Naomi asked him.
‘Five.’
Good, Naomi thought. She didn’t have the job.
‘Still, given that most everyone speaks English,’ Sev said, ‘I’m sure that we can work around it.’
Help.
‘I just want to clarify that I’m only going to be in New York for a year,’ Naomi said, giving him an out now and rather hoping that would be it, but he merely shrugged.
‘You’d burn out long before then. I don’t think I’ve ever had a PA last longer than six months. Three months...’ He gauged. ‘Yes, I think you would last about three months, though I’d hope for more.’
‘Look...’ Naomi flashed him a smile. ‘I don’t want to waste your time. Though your assistant was very clear that the hours were demanding I didn’t realise that it would be quite so full on. I like my weekends...’ She gave him another smile, which he didn’t return. ‘I’m actually here to get to know my father a little better and so—’
‘You’d get weekends off.’ Sev dismissed that obstacle. ‘Unless we were overseas.’
‘And also,’ Naomi added, just to make certain that he didn’t hire her, ‘I don’t really have experience in your field.’
‘Experience in my field?’ Sevastyan frowned and he knew exactly what she meant but he was enjoying watching her get flustered. ‘I’m not a farmer.’
‘I meant that I don’t know much about cyber security.’
‘If you did then you’d be my rival.’
She stood and held out her hand.
‘I’m sorry, I—’
‘Part of the package is an apartment overlooking Central Park. Well, once Felicity moves out. It’s nice...’ he mused. ‘Well, I like living there.’
‘We’d be in the same apartment block?’
It got worse and worse!
‘It’s huge. Don’t worry, I shan’t be knocking on your door to borrow a cup of sugar. It’s convenient if there’s an early morning or late-night meeting. And it saves time when we’re travelling, which there’s a lot of. Being in the same building shaves off ten minutes if I don’t have to pick you up from another address and there’s a helipad.’ And then he told her what her wardrobe allowance would be, which should have had her cheering.
‘No, really...’
Naomi wanted her life back.
She wanted a world where she had never seen this man. But Sev now wanted her.
She was as plump as forbidden fruit and, God, but he loved the word ‘no’. He considered it a pesky firewall to get around or disable.
It really was a great motivator.
‘Thank you for your time,’ Naomi said, still holding out her hand, but he didn’t offer his.
‘Sorry,’ she said again, only this time it didn’t irk him. He simply sat in silence and watched her leave.
He picked up the next résumé and read through it.
Yawn, yawn, Sev thought, his mind still on the girl with the sad brown eyes.
Spaniel brown.
Like some puppy expecting to be kicked but hoping for love.
And a stray he did not need.
He headed out to call Emmanuel in.
The waiting room was empty.
‘Felicity...’ he called out to his PA, but her seat was empty too.
And her bag was gone.
There was her farewell message to him on the computer screen.
I FAKED IT!!!!
‘No, you didn’t.’ Sev grinned but his smile faded as the lift opened and Emmanuel, presumably, dashed down the corridor.
‘I’m so sorry that I’m late, Mr Derzhavin...’
Sev frowned. He recognised him. That’s right, he had interviewed Emmanuel a couple of years before and now he was back for another go.
And he was five minutes late.
‘Not the best first impression,’ Sev said.
‘I know but—’
‘Let’s not waste each other’s time.’
‘But...!’
Sev didn’t wait to hear his excuses. Instead he headed back to his office and caught the last floral notes of Naomi Johnson. His mind made up, Sev picked up his phone.
Naomi was just checking hers when it rang and, given her recent text to her father, naturally she assumed it was him. He’d actually seemed impressed when Naomi had told him about the interview with Sevastyan. Maybe he was ringing to find out how it had gone?
‘Hi, Dad, I was just—’
Her voice was all gushing and needy and not one she’d used on him, Sev thought. ‘It’s not your father. This is Sev.’
‘Oh.’
He heard the sag of disappointment in her voice, which was a first for Sev—women were usually falling over themselves to get a call from him. ‘Your boss.’
‘Sorry?’
‘Ha!’ Sev said. ‘We’ll have to work on that one. Congratulations, Naomi, you’ve got the job.’
Naomi stood in the foyer and knew that she should end the call.
Simply hang up and get the hell out of there.
‘I thought that I’d made it clear—’ Naomi attempted, but Sev interrupted her.
‘How about I sweeten the deal with quarterly trips home to the UK? I’m actually going there in November for a private visit. You can have a couple of weeks off. I’m sure your fiancé will be pleased to see you.’
Naomi swallowed but then frowned at his next question.
‘Why didn’t he come with you?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘To New York?’ Sev said. ‘Why did you come alone?’
‘We trust each other...’ Her voice was shrill because, bizarrely, at this very moment, Naomi didn’t trust herself.
‘I wasn’t talking about trust, I’m just curious why he didn’t come.’
Oh, he was like a shower of needles, getting into her skin. His question was one that Naomi had asked herself several times.
‘He has an important job.’
‘So do I,’ Sev said, then he decided it didn’t matter. A fiancé, and an absent one at that, was completely irrelevant to him so he deleted her fiancé from the file in his mind named Naomi Johnson.
Irrelevant.
‘Come and work for me, Naomi,’ Sev said, and Naomi closed her eyes and then opened them but she still felt giddy.
Breathless and dizzy just at the sound of his deep voice.
‘Do we have a deal?’ Sev asked.
She was playing with fire, Naomi knew, but then again it was an internal one, and she doubted whether a man as suave as Sevastyan was, at this moment, self-combusting at the thought of her.
It was just a matter of keeping her private feelings in check and, Naomi knew, she was extremely good at that.
She’d been doing that for most of her twenty-five years after all.
She thought of telling her father that she’d scored such a prestigious job, that maybe, finally, she might see a flare of approval in his eyes.
It might be the new start they needed.
‘Naomi,’ Sev pushed. ‘Do we have a deal or not?’
‘We do,’ Naomi croaked. ‘When would I start?’
She hoped that he’d say a month, or even in two weeks’ time.
Or Monday.
She just wanted a little space to clear her head before she faced him again but then came the deep of his voice.
‘Turn around and get back in the elevator,’ Sev replied, and then, like some expert quizmaster, he hit the stopwatch on her life. ‘Your time with me starts now.’
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_b6a121cf-c7e6-5c34-8c78-46649e9350d1)
NAOMI WOKE UP lying in a very warm, comfortable bed. She just stared out into the darkness and waited for dawn with butterflies dancing in her chest.
Last night she had called Andrew and had told him that they were over.
As expected, he hadn’t taken it well at all.
But, then, he hadn’t taken her coming to New York to spend time with her father well either. In fact, they had broken up the night before Naomi had flown out. The next morning he had turned up at Heathrow with an engagement ring, telling her that he would wait.
Now she didn’t look back at that time with tenderness. She had been sideswiped, Naomi knew. It had taken these months apart to see that she had said yes under pressure and that she didn’t need him to magnanimously grant her a year’s leave of absence.
It was done and while she should feel relief and did, Naomi wasn’t thinking about Andrew any more.
Instead the butterflies had turned into a flock of sparrows and she felt sick with dread at another difficult conversation she would be having at some point today.
With Sev.
Of course, Andrew had asked her if there was someone else and Naomi had hesitated for a beat too long before answering him.
No, there was no one else, she had told him, and that was the truth.
Sort of.
Naomi had been working for Sev for three months now and, yes, he’d tried it on a couple of times.
Once when they had been stuck in his jet for hours on a runway in Mali and he’d put down the book he always read on take-off and had suggested she might want to go for a lie-down.
With him on top.
Or she could be on top.
He was generous like that, he’d told her.
Another time had been in Helsinki when he’d come to her hotel suite to bring her up to date on a business meeting and to tell her that he’d changed his security code. Naomi had been making notes when Sev had declared himself permanently cured of his yen for blondes.
And had suggested bed.
Of course Naomi told him that, as flattered as she was by his offer, not only was she engaged, she would never get involved with her boss.
He was the least romantic person she had ever met.
And Naomi was completely in lust with him.
For all she had been told how cold he was, Sev didn’t seem that around her.
Despite dumping Andrew, Naomi looked down at the ring on her finger and was grateful for the decision she had made last night to keep wearing it while she worked out her notice with Sev.
So, while technically there was no one else, Naomi would take all the help she could not to succumb to Sev’s charms.
Oh, she’d love to sleep with Sev just to have slept with him.
It was the aftermath she did not need.
Or the absolute lack of aftermath on Sev’s part.
Her phone buzzed an alarm and Naomi turned it off and then pulled back the covers and padded out to the kitchen and fixed herself a coffee.
It was a beautiful apartment, with thirteen-foot-high ceilings, mahogany doors and gorgeous fireplaces. Not that she used them. Instead she relied on the regular heating, worried that she’d burn the whole complex down.
Sev had the penthouse suite and he had been right—apart from the occasions when they prearranged to meet in the foyer their paths rarely crossed out of work.
The problem was work and very long days spent together and even longer trips abroad.
Or rather Naomi’s problem was her feelings for him.
She took her drink back to bed and wondered if she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life by quitting her job, and then, as if in answer, her phone rang.
It was 6:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, but that meant nothing to Sev.
Naomi was available pretty much 24/7 and there was no space from him. There was little to no time to catch her breath from the roller-coaster ride, no time to slow her racing heart down and regroup.
‘Hi, Sev.’
‘What time is it?’ Sev asked.
Naomi bit back a smart retort—oh, she could have said that she wasn’t his personal talking clock but she conceded that he paid her enough for her to be one, if he so chose. ‘It’s six,’ Naomi said. ‘Six a.m.,’ she added.
Just in case.
‘Okay, can you cancel my morning?’ Sev said. ‘Actually, just cancel the rest of my day. I’ll be back on board tomorrow.’
Oh, no!
Now she understood the odd question about the time. He wasn’t even in the same time zone.
‘Sev, where are you?’
‘On my way back.’
‘But from where? You’re supposed to be meeting Sheikh Allem at eleven and then we’re having dinner tonight with him and his wife. It’s been booked in for ages, it’s taken weeks to arrange.’
‘I know all that.’
‘So you have to be here.’
‘What’s the flying time from Rome to New York?’ Sev asked.
Forget the time zone, Naomi thought. He wasn’t even on the same continent. ‘Just over eight hours,’ Naomi sighed.
‘So you see it’s not possible.’
She could almost envisage him shrugging.
‘Sev,’ Naomi appealed. ‘Allem rang last night to say how much he and his wife are looking forward to this visit. He’s been so patient.’
Sheikh Allem had been. He had asked Sev to come to Dubai to review his hotel’s security system yet Sev had been putting the visit off. Now he had flown with his wife to visit him.
They were friends more than business associates but Sev didn’t need friends—he wanted Allem and his wife to back off.
They refused to get the message.
‘Okay, okay,’ Sev snapped. ‘I’m on my way to the airport. When I get to the plane I’ll ask the pilot to put his foot down or whatever it is they do. Look, I haven’t a hope of getting there before three.’
‘What should I say to him?’
‘That’s what I pay you to sort out,’ Sev said. ‘Just use your charm, Naomi.’
‘It’s all used up.’
‘I have noticed,’ Sev responded. ‘You’ve been very...’
‘Testy?’ Naomi offered.
‘I don’t know what that word means.’
‘Bad-tempered, irritable.’
‘Yes, you have been very testy of late.’
‘Because my boss keeps disappearing on me. Just what exactly are you doing in Rome?’ Hell, she ran his diary, booked his flights, arranged his schedule and, Naomi knew damn well that he wasn’t supposed to be there.
‘You want to know exactly?’ Sev checked.
Naomi closed her eyes. She knew, of course, that it would be about a woman.
And that was why she was being so testy. Naomi, more than anything, loathed confrontation, or rather she could not stand to be the one who brought things to the boil. In fact, she actually wanted Sev to fire her. It would be better than having to resign later today.
‘I mean, why are you in Rome?’ Naomi said. ‘I’m just trying to work out what to tell Sheikh Allem.’
‘Well, I guess it just seemed a good idea at the time.’
‘And I guess that time was Saturday night.’
‘You know me so well. I was at a party and—’
‘I’ve changed my mind,’ Naomi snapped. ‘I don’t need to know. I’ll come up with something for Allem.’
‘You’re sounding very English,’ Sev said. ‘Work something out. Oh, and can you organise some flowers from me?’
Naomi closed her eyes.
‘If you can send two dozen white roses...’
He really didn’t need to tell her that—it was always the same routine with Sev.
On a Monday Naomi would arrange flowers for whoever he had seen over the weekend. Around Wednesday he might ask her to organise a hotel for the following one.
The next Monday it might be a case of more flowers but generally he’d lost interest by then.
‘What’s her name?’ Naomi asked, as she reached for her pen. ‘And what message do you want?’
‘Actually,’ Sev said, ‘don’t worry about the flowers. Apart from Allem, am I missing out on anything else?’
‘Just a scheduled beginning-of-the-month meeting with me.’ She had been going to tell him then that she was resigning.
Sev was silent.
‘It’s November,’ Naomi said.
‘I know that.’
‘I’m just checking that you do.’
‘Anything else?’
‘No, everything was cleared for Allem.’
‘I’ll be there as soon as I can. Tell Allem...’ He thought for a moment. ‘Just tell him what you have to and if he acts up remind him he’s the one who wants to see me.’
He didn’t say goodbye, he simply rang off, and, no, Naomi thought, she wouldn’t miss this part of the job—reorganising his schedule at a moment’s notice and letting people down. At least that was how it felt to her. His clients didn’t seem to mind in the least. That he was unattainable made him all the more desirable. The more elusive he was the more in demand he became.
‘Bloody Sev,’ Naomi grumbled, then sank back on her pillows to enjoy a rare lie-in.
There was no need to rush in now. She could work here for a couple of hours, so she lay back and waited for sunrise and thought about what she was about to do.
Most would say she was mad to give up such an amazing job and all the perks that came with it.
For the past three months Naomi had been telling herself the same.
Yet she was fast learning that location, location didn’t equate to happiness. A designer wardrobe and manicured nails and a fabulous haircut didn’t magically put the world to rights.
On sight she had fallen for Sev.
Hard.
And, like her many predecessors, Naomi knew how futile hoping for anything other than the briefest of flings with him would be.
She should get out before she succumbed, Naomi had decided. She was already conflicted enough, trying to forge some sort of relationship with her father as well as ending things with Andrew.
A temporary fling with Sev she certainly didn’t need, for though it might be temporary for him, an encounter of the sexual kind, Naomi knew, would add a permanent tattoo to her heart.
He wasn’t cold at all. In fact, sometimes it felt as if he had been put on this earth with the sole reason to make her smile.
Which he did.
A lot.
He was inappropriate, yes.
But he was no more inappropriate than her own thoughts.
The chair in his office still felt battery operated.
His voice made her stomach curl.
And as for emotionless...
Whether he was or he wasn’t, he brought out all of her emotions effortlessly.
The morning was arriving and it looked crisp and clear from the warmth of bed. Somebody must have been out with a paintbrush last night for Central Park was a rich palette of burnt reds and oranges and she wondered what it might look like to lie in bed in winter with the bedroom fire lit, looking out at the trees stripped bare and heavy with snow.
She wasn’t going to be here to find out.
And she would tell him so today.
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_c72ab5ba-46a3-532e-a8a7-fd37c7e4b299)
THE VIEW WAS just as impressive on Sev’s part of the planet.
Not that he saw much of it.
He wore dark glasses and the tinted windows of the hotel’s black Mercedes blocked out the midday sun as he called Naomi while being driven to his plane.
Sev looked out briefly at the sights of Rome as he was driven through the busy streets. He’d possibly get there quicker if he jumped on a moped but, though cross with himself for sleeping in and thus being so late for Allem, he wasn’t about to go to such extremes.
Instead he had pulled out his phone and decided that Naomi would just have to fix things.
She wasn’t best pleased with him but a moody PA he did not need so he snapped off the phone, relieved as his car pulled onto the tarmac near his waiting plane. What the hell had possessed him to call out his crew on a Saturday night to fly here when now he couldn’t even remember her name?
It wasn’t as if it was for sex that he’d gone to such extremes. Sex had been taken care of long before they’d boarded.
And it hadn’t been about conversation—he wasn’t particularly fluent in Italian.
Sev wasn’t feeling very good about another reckless night and he certainly didn’t need Reverend Sister Naomi’s silent tsk tsk of disapproval.
Shannon, his flight attendant, greeted him and knew him well enough to wait and ask how he wanted his coffee before making it.
It varied.
‘Long and black,’ Sev said, taking off his jacket. ‘With one sugar.’ He took a seat but by the time he had Sev had already changed his mind and called Shannon back.
‘A strong latte, two sugars.’
Maybe the milk would help his stomach but Sev knew he was, thanks to Naomi, suffering from a rare spasm of guilt.
He liked Allem and his wife and knew that they were in New York primarily to catch up with him as, thanks to the excuse of work commitments, Sev had declined their last two invitations to visit them in Dubai.
It had been Allem who had given him his first break.
Sev’s past should mean he lived on the streets but he never had.
His grades at school had been outstanding and had meant he had received a scholarship to a very good school and then an internship.
It had been cell phones that Sev had been into then and he had come up with the design that Allem had run with.
Yes, Sev’s cynical voice reminded him, that design had meant that Allem had made an absolute fortune out of his idea.
Yet Allem had then bankrolled Sev, allowing him to delve deeply into the cyber world. Now his genius sat in a range of one step behind or two steps ahead of the bad boys. This meant his services were in expensive demand from governments to law enforcement, airlines, royalty and show business. Sev fought his virtual enemies with talent and respect.
It was an endless, relentless game and one, more often than not, he won.
His success wasn’t down to Allem—he owed him nothing, Sev thought, draining his coffee, as Jason, the captain, spoke and told him he was hoping to catch a tail wind and they should arrive just before three.
Shannon came to take his cup and any moment now they’d be on their way.
‘Do you want me to fix lunch after take-off?’ she offered, but Sev shook his head.
‘I don’t want anything to eat, I’m just going to go to bed. Don’t wake me unless the plane is going down,’ Sev said. ‘Actually, don’t wake me even if it is.’
He opened up his book, the one he always read during take-off, but not even that could distract him today.
Sev avoided friendships, he avoided getting close to anyone, yet Allem insisted on sticking around.
As soon as he was able to he made his way to the bedroom.
He stripped, had a quick shower and then got into bed but sleep eluded him.
That needle of guilt was still there so he called Naomi again.
‘I can’t sleep,’ Sev admitted.
‘Where are you now?’
‘An hour out of Rome. Have you spoken to Allem?’
‘Not yet. I’ve sent an email telling him that you’ve been delayed,’ Naomi said. ‘I’ll call him closer to nine when I’ve worked out a reason why.’
There was a slightly tart edge to her voice.
‘Go into my bureau,’ Sev said. He had actually bought a gift for Jamal and Allem. ‘There should be a polished box there you could wrap for me. You could give it to him as a little sweetener until I arrive.’
‘Okay.’
‘Is it there?’ Sev asked, wondering if he might have left it in his apartment.
‘I’ll look when I get to the office.’
‘You’re not in yet?’
‘No,’ Naomi said. ‘Caught.’
‘Caught what?’
‘Having a lie-in.’ Naomi said, but then hurriedly added, ‘I’m up now, though.’
‘Liar.’
‘You trained me well,’ Naomi responded. They were both in bed and both knew it.
‘Go up to my apartment before you head into work. It might be in my desk there. If not, then it’s in the bureau at work. It’s got a statue in it.’
‘Okay. So what lie do you want me to feed Allem?’
But Sev’s mind was on other things.
Yes, he’d been feeling bad about Allem but knowing that Naomi was in bed, hopefully as naked as he, was, well, a bit of a turn-on.
She drove him crazy.
He could not read her.
It was like a weather report telling you it was sultry and hot and then stepping out to sleet and ice.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘No,’ Naomi answered. ‘About Allem. What am I to tell him?’
Oh, that was right. The reason for his call.
‘Just tell him there was a family emergency that I had to attend to. He’s big on family. Tell him that my mother was taken ill and I’m on my way back from Russia.’
‘Sev, is your mother alive?’
‘Yes?’
‘Is she sick?’
‘She could be.’
He heard a slight noise as she sucked in her breath. ‘You don’t like the idea.’
‘It’s not for me to judge...’
‘Oh, but, baby, you do,’ Sev snapped. ‘Over and over you do. And do you know what? I don’t need it. I’m warning you—’
‘Officially?’ Naomi checked, more than happy for him to fire her now, even the dark rise of his voice turned her on.
‘Unofficially,’ Sev said.
God, but he even liked rowing with her.
Sev didn’t row. Usually he simply couldn’t be bothered to.
They both lay in tense angry silence but neither ended the call and then Sev said it again but his voice wasn’t angry now.
‘Can I ask you something?’ No, he wasn’t angry. His voice had that low edge to it that had her pull up her knees.
‘Go ahead.’ Naomi sighed.
‘It’s personal.’
She had guessed that it might be.
‘I’m just curious about something.’
Somehow he didn’t offend her.
Naomi was curious about him too.
She just lay there naked in bed, trying to imagine how that low voice might sound while making love to her, and she was terribly, terribly tempted to find out.
To just finally give in to the suggestive air they created.
‘Ask away.’
‘Well, I’m assuming, if you’re engaged, that you must love your fiancé.’
She didn’t answer.
‘And fancy him.’
Naomi said nothing.
‘So how do you...?’
‘How do I what, Sev?’
‘You’ve been in New York for three months and in that time I can’t recall him coming over to see you.’
‘He hasn’t.’
‘So,’ Sev asked, ‘how do you manage?’
Manage!
Oh, it was as basic as that to Sev, Naomi thought. An itch to be scratched, a line on his to-do list to be regularly ticked off.
‘Sev,’ Naomi crisply replied, when she would far rather dive under the covers and prolong the call, ‘I’m giving you an official warning now.’
She hung up on him. Sev tossed the phone down in frustration.
Bloody Naomi, Sev thought as he lay there. He was hard for her and had been left hanging. And then he remembered why he’d come to Rome.
She had been brunette.
It was as simple and as messed up as that.
He was over Naomi and her moods.
Sev didn’t need some sanctimonious PA sitting on her moral throne. She was there to run his life, not have him account for it.
Who cared what she thought?
He cared about no one.
Only that wasn’t quite right.
God, but he hated this month already.
Sev hated November.
He always had and he always would.
In Russia it was Mother’s Day at the end of November.
At school, the ‘home kids’, as he and his friends had called the students who’d had families, would sit and make cards for their mothers as the ‘detsky dom’ kids stuck rice onto paper for, well, no one in particular.
There had been four at his table, they had been together since nursery school.
Sevastyan had always been the nerdy one, Nikolai had liked ships and then there had been the twins, Roman and Daniil, who were going to be famous boxers one day.
Some day.
Never.
‘If you don’t have a mother then make a card for someone you care about,’ the teacher had suggested each year.
The ‘detsky dom’ kids’ cards had never got made.
A few years back Sevastyan had found out that he did have a mother, but he now knew that she wouldn’t have appreciated a card with stuck-on rice anyway.
He’d send flowers, of course, but rather than rely on Naomi he would try to work out himself what to put in the note.
Each year it became harder to work out what to write.
Thanks for being there?
She hadn’t been.
With love to you on this special day?
It wasn’t a special day to her.
And there was no love.
November also meant that it was his niece’s birthday.
Her eighteenth! Sev suddenly remembered.
He’d stop at Tiffany on the way to the office Sev thought, then decided not to bother.
Whatever he sent would just end up being pawned or put up on some auction site.
Yes, for so many reasons he hated November.
Sev closed his eyes but he still could not sleep.
He stared into the dark and could remember as if it were yesterday, rather than half a lifetime ago, hearing his friend quietly crying in the night.
These had been boys who had stopped crying from the cradle and so Sev had not known whether his friend would appreciate that he knew that he was.
‘What’s wrong?’ Sev had asked. ‘Nikolai, what has happened?’
‘Nothing.’
‘It doesn’t sound like nothing.’
‘Leave it.’
He had.
To Sev’s utter, utter regret, he had.
In the morning Nikolai had been gone.
A week later his body had washed up and Sergio had come back with his bag, in it a ship Nikolai had been making out of matches.
Sev lay there and thought of his friend and his sad end.
And the thought of the others he still missed to this day.
On the twelfth of November, the day Nikolai had run away, Sev would be in London for yet another futile attempt to meet with his past.
He might give it a miss, Sev thought, but he was as superstitious as he was Russian.
If he didn’t go, of course it would be the one year that Daniil showed up.
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_caed80c3-937f-5ce7-9910-f4cb7d1322a4)
SHEIKH ALLEM WAS extremely gracious about the change in plans.
In fact, when Naomi had called him at nine he hadn’t seemed in the least surprised. He’d told Naomi that he would come to the office at four but in the meantime, would she mind taking Jamal shopping?
‘Of course.’
Naomi had dressed in a navy shift dress and flat ballet pumps and she headed up to Sev’s apartment to check if the gift he had bought for Allem was there.
His apartment took up the entire floor.
She was often in there, packing his case, doing little jobs, showing through a designer because he’d decided he had changed his mind about a wall or a light or whatever it was that he might suddenly decide that he wanted changed. She basically took care of many details of Sev’s life so that he didn’t have to.
His maid was in there, changing the flowers and making sure everything was perfect for his return.
Naomi said hi and went through to Sev’s study.
There was no polished wooden box that she could see in any of the drawers.
She looked on top of the desk.
There was no box there either, just a rather scruffy little ship.
It was odd, Naomi thought, picking it up and examining it. It was old and poorly put together, unlike anything else in the apartment.
She put it down again and then headed into his bedroom, deciding to take the opportunity to take a couple of fresh shirts to the office.
His bedroom was her favourite room.
Not because of him.
Well, maybe.
But it kind of fascinated Naomi.
The mahogany door she opened didn’t close as the same thing.
Bored with the trimmings, he had made a few alterations to a heritage building and the other side of the door was ebony.
As were the rest of the trimmings.
Another maid was in there, changing the bedding on his big black wooden bed.
It was beautiful.
The view was amazing and the curtains were black on ivory with a dash of pistachio-green—the only dart of colour in the entire room, apart from the view.
Because it was the beginning of the month, Naomi took out her tablet and made a quick inventory.
He had one woman who shopped for his clothing, who Naomi liaised with. He had another who dealt with food and beverages.
His PA dealt with personal items.
She went to his dressing table and saw the cologne she had ordered last month from Paris. The container was still half-full but she made a note and then, joy, went to his bedside table and made another note of items that needed to be replenished!
She would not miss this part of her job in the least. In fact, she was so annoyed that she forgot to go through to the bathroom and instead took the shirts and headed into work.
Sure enough, in the bureau in his office was a gleaming wooden box and Naomi had a peek inside and frowned.
He’d bought it in Mali, she remembered.
And she’d wondered why at the time.
It was a fertility statue.
Naomi considered whether she should call Sev and tell him that this might not be the best gift to give the sheikh but what the hell, it was his faux pas and she was still cross with him and not in the mood for another little chat with a naked Sev.
Naomi wrapped the gift and decided that Sev could give it to him and deal with the consequences and she placed it back in the bureau. She then went to meet Jamal and spent a few hours shopping and chatting before Naomi saw her back to her hotel. She got a call from Sev’s driver to say that his plane had landed but she came back to an office still devoid of Sev.
Damn.
Allem would be here soon.
She felt terrible, lying for Sev. Till today she hadn’t even known that Sev had a mother. She knew everything and nothing about him.
He never spoke about family.
She was never asked to send presents or flowers for anyone other than girlfriends.
Naomi pulled up his account at the florist and looked at May.
No, judging by the messages sent that month, a Mother’s Day bouquet hadn’t been sent.
It was none of her business, Naomi told herself.
She just wanted to know some more.
She was alerted that Allem had arrived and Naomi greeted him. He was robed and wearing a kafeya and just so polished and well mannered she wondered if he was royal.
‘His plane has just landed,’ Naomi said, and fired Sev a text as they waited.
And waited.
Allem didn’t seem to mind in the least.
‘How long have you been working for Sevastyan?’ Allem asked, as Naomi poured tea.
‘Three months.’
And with her notice served it would be three months and two weeks. Naomi had absolutely decided that she was going to do it.
Finally Sev appeared, as rumpled as if he had flown economy to get here rather than on his luxury private jet.
Still beautiful, Naomi thought, but though she smiled a greeting it didn’t quite meet her eyes.
His neck was a mess from his weekend of passion and she knew now why it had taken so long for him to get from the airport—from the bag he was carrying it was clear that he had stopped off at Tiffany.
Not for a second did she presume he’d stopped to buy something for her.
‘I’m very sorry to hear about your mother,’ Allem offered. ‘How is she?’
‘Touch and go,’ Sev replied, and jiggled his hand. No, he didn’t say sorry for being seven hours late. ‘Let’s go through to my office.’ He led Allem through and as he closed the door he gave Naomi a smile of thanks.
No doubt he thought he had got away with it and Allem believed that his mother was sick—didn’t he get it that Allem was just too polite to mention the bite marks on his neck?
Naomi was completely over this job.
No, she wasn’t burnt out.
It was far more than that.
He’d lie about his own mother.
Sev was a bastard.
Felicity had told her that at her first interview.
Even Sev had warned her that he was on her very first day.
‘I prefer computers,’ he’d yawned, as he’d called on her, on her very first day, to handle a teary previous date who’d kept calling him on the office phone. ‘No tears, no dramas.’ He’d seen her cheeks redden. ‘I’m not talking about porn.’
‘I never said that you were.’
‘I’m just saying that I prefer computers to people.’
Naomi thought back to her first day and now and the months in between and, really, even if she knew so many details about his life, she knew him no better at all. She didn’t even know how he took his coffee.
It, like Sev, changed on a whim.
* * *
Sev closed the door on Naomi’s silent disapproval and as Allem took a seat Sev opened up the bureau to see that Naomi had wrapped the gift for him.
‘I got this for Jamal when I was in Mali,’ Sev said and handed over the gift and watched as Allem opened it. ‘I remember you saying that she likes statues and I...’ his voice trailed off as Allem started laughing when he took out the ebony statue that had caught Sev’s restless eye a few weeks ago. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Sevastyan, this is a most inappropriate gift to give to my wife,’ Allem said, but with a smile. ‘It’s a fertility statue.’
‘Really! Well, I want it out of this office, then.’
‘Actually, Jamal will laugh when I tell her that you bought this with her in mind. You are in fact a little too late. I’m delighted to tell you that we are expecting a baby in March.’
Sev said all the right things.
Well, he tried.
Allem had been wild once, Sev thought.
Perhaps that was why they had got on so well.
They had used to hit the clubs wherever in the world they were.
But in the past couple of years it had been lengthy dinners with Allem and Jamal and whatever date Sev brought along.
Now, Allem spoke about morning sickness and how Jamal had lost weight and was a touch teary and Sev had to stop his eyes from crossing as Allem droned on.
‘Though Jamal enjoyed shopping with Naomi and is very much looking forward to dinner tonight.’
Sev smothered a yawn.
‘Will Naomi be joining us tonight?’ Allem checked.
‘Of course,’ Sev answered. He knew better than to expect Jamal to come out for dinner without female company.
‘So you and Naomi are dating?’ Allem pushed the conversation to the personal when Sev would far rather that they spoke about work. ‘I see she is wearing an engagement ring.’
‘Well, it’s not mine,’ Sev snapped. ‘What on earth gave you that idea?’
‘It’s just that you don’t often bring your PA to our dinners.’
That was true, Sev thought. Generally he rustled up a date, promising her that if she would sit through the very tame dinner, he would make it up to her later that night.
It had been easier, though, to take Naomi lately.
She really was exceptionally good with his clients.
For all her faults, for all her little digs about his lifestyle, Naomi certainly knew how to smooth the feathers that he tended to ruffle along his decadent way.
Finally they got around to work and, yes, Sev agreed, he would need to come to Dubai. ‘I really am booked out, though, Allem,’ he explained. ‘I need four clear days at least and I don’t have anything like that until March.’
‘Which is when the baby is due,’ Allem said. ‘Sev, I know you are busy but I have been asking for a while now.’
Sev nodded and pulled up his diary onto his computer screen.
This week he had to go to Washington DC and there could be no getting out of that. Next week he was heading off to London, which, despite earlier thoughts about not going, really was non-negotiable to him. But maybe he was growing a conscience—Allem had been asking him to come to Dubai as his guest for months, as well as do some work for him.
And he had been inexcusably late today.
‘I’ll get Naomi to reschedule some of my clients,’ Sev offered. ‘We can be there on Saturday.’
‘Excellent.’
* * *
Naomi looked up when the two men came out of Sev’s office. Allem was all smiles.
He came and thanked her for the tea she had made and for taking care of Jamal.
‘We’re looking forward to dinner,’ Allem said.
‘So am I.’ Naomi smiled.
Instead of only seeing Allem as far as the elevator, which was as far as Sev usually went when saying farewell to clients, he was clearly going to see Allem to his car.
Were they friends? Naomi pondered.
They seemed such an unlikely mix.
‘I shan’t be long,’ Sev said to Naomi on his way out, and, behind Allem’s robed back, he made a gesture with his hand that was Sev language for Pour me a cognac.
Naomi went in to his office and poured him a drink but then, unable to help herself, she slid open the drawer and took out the bag. She looked at the pretty robin-egg-blue box wrapped in a white bow and tortured herself with images of engagement rings.
Was that why he’d flown to Rome?
Oh, God, the white roses were bad enough but she could not stand the thought of Sev actually getting serious about someone.
He had never bought anyone jewellery in all her time here; it had been white roses and that was all.
‘Snooping?’ Sev asked as he came, unheard by Naomi, into the office, and she was just too tired of it all to jump or even blush.
‘I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to wrap it.’
‘You think you’d do a better job than Tiffany’s?’ Sev teased.
As she went to put the box back in the bag Sev held out his hand and she handed it to him.
‘I think I’ve changed my mind about them.’
He tore off the bow, opened the box and stared for a moment then handed it to Naomi for her thoughts.
She’d rather not share them.
Silently she stared at the earrings—two heart-shaped, pink-diamond-encrusted studs.
They were gorgeous.
Seriously so.
‘They’re beautiful,’ Naomi said, but Sev wasn’t sure and he took back the box and looked at them again.
‘I think that they’re a bit too pink, but then again she’s young and the guy who served me said that was what they all wanted at the moment.’
So, no white roses for Miss Roma, Naomi thought.
‘You don’t look very convinced,’ Sev said, noting Naomi’s lack of enthusiasm.
Just how hard did she have to act?
‘Sev, they’re stunning.’ Naomi spoke, she hoped, with conviction. ‘Any woman would be thrilled to have them.’
Especially from you.
She looked at the little frown line between his eyes as still he examined the earrings. This man who cared so little for other’s feelings really did seem to care about this gift and its reception, Naomi could tell.
And so it really was time to leave.
‘Okay, let’s run through my schedule,’ Sev said, snapping closed the box and leaving it for Naomi to re-tie the bow. ‘It’s changed. We’re going to be flying to Dubai on Saturday and then from there straight on to London. I have to be there for the twelfth.’
‘In the morning?’ Naomi checked.
‘No, no,’ Sev said. ‘I want to get there on the eleventh, just to allow for delays and things.’
Naomi raised her eyebrows—Sev was usually the delay.
‘I know that you’ll have to rearrange a few things but I can’t not go to Washington and I really can’t keep putting Allem off.’
‘I get that,’ Naomi agreed. ‘Did he like the statue?’
‘He loved it,’ Sev answered, which only confused her more.
‘Sev, could I have word with you?’
‘Can it wait?’ Sev asked. ‘We’ve got to meet Allem in less than an hour.’
‘No.’ Naomi shook her head. ‘It can’t wait.’
If she didn’t do it now then it would just get harder and, given they were going to be in Dubai, if there was going to be even a hope of finding her replacement she needed to get things under way soon.
‘You’ll have to watch me get changed, then,’ Sev said, picking up the drink she had poured and taking a long sip as he started to undo his tie.
‘Hardly a first.’ She didn’t take a seat, she was too nervous to, and so instead Naomi stood and leant on his desk.
Tie off, he pulled open a door to a dressing room and selected a fresh shirt with no thought as to how it had got there.
It wasn’t his problem.
Sev peered into the mirror.
‘I’d better shave.’
Naomi said nothing as he stripped off his shirt and dropped it to the floor and then walked over towards her to top up his drink.
He just walked towards her with no thought about the effect a half-naked Sev had on her.
That wasn’t his problem either.
His skin was pale and on anyone else it might be too pale yet on Sev all it did was enhance his lithe, toned body and shadowed his chest to perfection. His arms were as long as his legs and his nipples were the same deep merlot of his mouth and just as tempting. His trousers sat a little too low on his hips, just that fraction between notches on a belt, and those were the details she fought not to notice as his hand reached for a heavy glass and held it up to her.
‘Have one,’ Sev said. ‘It’s going to be a very long, dry night.’
Sometimes they had a drink about now, especially if they were going out for dinner, but Naomi declined with a small shake of her head. Even if a cognac to settle her nerves might be nice, she’d rather hold onto her inhibitions than lose them around him.
This was going to be harder than she’d allowed for.
She loved her job.
Her career.
It just wasn’t working.
Oh, there was a reason she could not abide certain parts of her job. Had it been Edward, her previous boss, or any of her bosses before Sev, this would be an unnoted part of a long day—brief downtime before she headed out for a dinner with his clients.
Instead she was trying to work out where to place her eyes when they wanted to rest on him.
‘If it’s about this morning,’ Sev said, lathering up his chin, ‘there’s no need. You don’t have to apologise.’
Her lips moved into an unseen but incredulous smile.
‘We’re reducing your use of the “sorry” word, remember?’
He really took the cake at times!
Yes, she could tell him he had been the inappropriate one this morning yet she was looking at his back and fighting not to go over there.
Naomi was truly tired of fighting her feelings.
Feelings, Naomi knew, that could get seriously hurt.
And neither did those feelings allow her to do her job properly. Naomi knew she had been surly this morning about his late arrival when, as his PA, she had no right to be.
‘That’s not what I’m here about, Sev.’ Naomi cleared her throat and watched as Sev picked up the razor. ‘I’m handing in my notice.’
She watched as the razor hesitated over his jaw but then he commenced shaving as she carried on with her little prepared speech.
‘You said at the start that you’d be surprised if I lasted more than three months.’ Naomi reminded him.
‘I did.’
‘And I’ve loved the work, I really have, it’s just...’
He turned from the mirror. ‘Naomi, you don’t need to give a reason to leave.’
He could be so kind at times—awkward, embarrassing things like resigning he dealt with so well.
‘Will you be sticking around to find a replacement?’ Sev asked, as he carried on with his shave.
‘I’ll do what I can this week but if we’re going to Dubai, it might be pushing it, unless you don’t need me to go.’
‘No, no,’ Sev said. ‘I need you to be there. I go to Washington the day after tomorrow...’ He thought for a moment. ‘I’ll come back on Thursday night. If you can have at least two applicants lined up by then, that would be good.’
‘Sure.’
She’d have little trouble. Applications to work for Sevastyan Derzhavin arrived in her inbox all the time. ‘I’ll go from Dubai to London and there we can part ways.’
‘You’re coming back to New York, though?’ Sev checked.
‘Oh, yes.’ Naomi nodded. ‘I want to have Christmas with my family here.’
‘How’s that all going?’ Sev asked, turning back to the mirror and getting on with shaving.
‘Good! I’m going there tomorrow night.’
‘For dinner?’
‘I’m babysitting,’ Naomi answered. ‘They’re going to the theatre.’
Sev said nothing. He loathed how she jumped to her father’s every wish. They could be in the middle of a meeting and if her father texted or called, even if she tried not to respond, Sev could feel the tension in her.
Then he chose not to say nothing. ‘You like the theatre,’ he pointed out.
‘Not really.’
‘It says that you do on your résumé.’
‘And I told you that I lied about that.’
‘Aren’t you going to ask about a reference?’
Naomi nodded.
‘I’ll do that first thing tomorrow,’ Sev promised.
He rinsed his face and then dried it, splashed on a load of cologne, took a sip of his drink and then put on his fresh shirt.
And that was that.
She’d resigned. It was done with.
And he’d barely so much as blinked.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_3a1c6084-1a55-52f9-a286-8059547421f5)
‘ARE YOU GOING to get changed?’ Sevastyan asked.
Naomi nodded.
His complete lack of reaction only confirmed that she was right to leave.
It was easy come, easy go to Sev, and that hurt a lot.
As she headed out of his office to get changed for their night out, only then did she remember. ‘I haven’t got my dress here,’ Naomi said. ‘I was supposed to pick it up from the cleaner’s in my lunch break but I went shopping with Jamal and I forgot.’
‘No problem.’ He dealt with it as easily as the news that she had resigned. ‘Do you have something at home ready to put on? We can stop on the way to the restaurant.’
Of course she had something at home—given her lavish clothing allowance—and they headed to her apartment. She rather wished he hadn’t shaved or smelled so divine as they took the elevator to the tenth floor, where Naomi lived, rather than his penthouse.
‘So?’ Sevastyan asked on the way up. ‘Where are we eating tonight?’
Naomi told him the name of a very upmarket Middle Eastern restaurant.
‘That’s not very imaginative.’ Sev pulled a face. ‘Won’t they be sick of Middle Eastern food?’
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