Page 84 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

I massaged my forehead with the pads of my fingers. “They may be close to him, but that doesn’t mean I want them to know I’m hooking up with him.”

“You’re even more foolish than I thought if you think they’re not aware.”

I slumped onto the bed, loving the bounce that came with it. “What do I do now? How do I look Nico in the face after this?”

Anna chuckled. “You seem to be more concerned about Nico than anyone.”

“Lev is almost a stone statue, barely moves or says a word, but Nico had been giving me looks and eyebrow wriggles like he was onto me since I started working, and now he has his confirmation.”

“Darling, I promise he probably had his confirmation from the first night.”

My shoulders sagged and I looked at the time. It was almost six in the evening and I had yet to hear from any of them.

Kazimir barely entered the suite and had taken off to see a few family members over a family feud.

I knew I couldn’t follow him to that, but I desperately wanted to know what it was about. Anything to catch a glimpse of the man that lay beneath pressed suits and calm expressions.

“You should take the spa appointment to your advantage.” Anna’s voice brought me back to the present. “Get a nice massage and beauty treatment; I’ve heard they work better at night.”

“Yeah.” I stretched, feeling tension deep inside my muscles. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

I ended the call, picking up the brochure the attendant brought shortly after we arrived. She said I was free to pick anything from the list or even everything if I wanted.

After much-needed deliberation, I called her when I decided on the deep-tissue massage, a body detox and scrub.

We had three days to spend and I knew I wasn’t going to exhaust everything on the list, but I could see myself checking off an item or two every evening after work.

The hotel was more of a resort and had multiple activity centres, from ancient Scandinavian rituals to clubs and hot yoga.

I was particularly giddy about this trip after all the tension in the office, and I figured some alone time was probably what I needed to talk to Kazimir and figure out exactly what I wanted with this.

The doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of the attendant. I quickly changed into a free dress as she had instructed and left with her.

When I opened my eyes, tiny rays of sun had begun to peek through the white curtains, illuminating the suite.

The first thing I noticed was that Kazimir’s bags were exactly where they’d been and the other side of the bed was untouched.

I peeled off the masks I was instructed to sleep with, stretching and loving how weightless my body felt.

I reached for my phone but withdrew when I realized I did not have his number. All our communication had been through emails.

Family feuds were strange and could last days, I’ve had a few of my own to know, but I expected some form of communication. It was a new day and according to his calendar, we were due for the first meeting and site inspection in four hours.

My phone vibrated on the table and I hurriedly reached for it, a mild pang of disappointment piercing my chest when I saw a text from Rose asking how I was enjoying Russia.

I shot her a quick reply and decided to send Kazimir an email before I began preparing for the day.

A warm bath was exactly what I needed after an evening of deep massage, a hammam, and my body being infused with different herbs.

The experience was heavenly and I already felt the effects on my skin, but I knew a nice soak would loosen up the rest of the tension.

I wonder what Kazimir would do if he saw how smooth and silky I felt right now.

Nope. I shook my head, shattering the thought into multiple fragments. This was hardly the time to be fantasizing about the man.

I explored the city through my phone, feeling a wave of excitement roar to life within me. I’d never been this far from home and I’ve certainly never been to Europe before. I couldn’t wait to attend meetings and meet the who’s who of the business world in Russia.

Younger me would be stunned to death, but she’d be proud of how far we’ve come too.