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“Good talk, brother.”
Alexei just needed a distraction. A challenge, even. It was difficult with the background we came from, always looking for the next thing. I was fulfilled because of my company. But my brother was adrift.
Truth be told, I had been somewhat listless myself until Ruth Miracle came along. I just had to find my brother a hobby like this one was turning out to be.
I couldn’t hide my grin in the backseat of my car on the way to the office. My driver painstakingly cleaned everything after each ride, and he had decided to leave me something of a present, neatly folded on the console where I usually got my drinks.
Today was going to be an excellent day.
Eight
Ruth
Today was going to be an awful day.
I felt like the biggest brat in the world, but I couldn’t sleep in the new place. Everything was state-of-the-art, my brand new mattress included, but it just didn’t feel like home. Not to mention going over every single detail of my experience with Maxim. Of all the ways I’d pictured my first time, that was definitely not it.
When I finally dozed off, I was so out of it I snoozed my alarm too many times.
Cue the panicked montage of me slinging on clothes and makeup, rushing around to get all my things while piling my wild curls into a sloppy topknot, kicking myself for surely missing train and bus pickups for my new transit routine that I hadn’t quite memorized yet.
As I dashed out the door of my new building, I whipped out my phone. If ever there was a morning for Uber, this was it. I wasn’t going to make it on time, and this was one day I couldn’t be late for.
“Ms. Miracle?” A polite man in a suit stopped me in my frantic tracks. “Ready to get to work?”
“Wow, Uber is fast,” I blurted out stupidly. “Wait. I didn't even open t
he app.”
“I’m your driver, Chuck,” he said. “Mr. Volkov sent me.”
“I … what?” Everything was happening really fast, and I couldn't hope to keep up with it all. First the dress. Then the sex. Then the condo. And now a personal driver?
Actually, why was I surprised? This seemed to be right on brand with Maxim, who apparently liked to go over the top with everything.
“You’re going to be late if we don’t get on the road,” Chuck said helpfully. “Ready?”
For any of this? No. There was no way I could be. But I did have to get to work. “Let's go.”
Maxim was already in the office when I arrived — no surprise there. I’d tried to do some repair work on my appearance on the ride over, but I knew I still looked disheveled. Of all mornings, this was really not the one I wanted to look crappy for.
“Cutting it close, Ruth Miracle,” Maxim said, looking pointedly at the ornate clock on his wall. “I hope you don't think that last night warrants special privileges for you during business hours.”
Wow. We were really doing this, then. “All right, then. Since we’re on the subject, what is this about a driver?”
“Indeed,” Maxim said. “You should be able to get here even earlier with a driver. That’s why your near lateness surprises me.”
“I don’t need a driver," I said. Was he deliberately missing the point? Or was he so rich that he had no idea what the rest of us thought was normal? “In fact, I don't need a condo. I don’t understand why you’re giving me these things.”
“I want you to excel.” His blue eyes cut right through me. “I’m giving you the tools you need to succeed.”
I had hoped that this wouldn’t be a typical internship. Now it looked like I had hoped a little too hard. What was I supposed to tell my advisor about all of this? The report that would be due at the end of the semester. Would it include all these “tools” I'd been given?
“We should talk about what happened,” I said after a long pause.
Maxim snorted. “What is there to talk about?”
I spread my hands and glared at him. “Um, everything? You know, dinner. After dinner …”
