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She gaped at that, and I got some blessed silence for the rest of the ride.
Dinner started well. Soon, however, it became obvious that something was going on. The clients, including Tatiana, an old business friend, refused to sign. This was not the way I had planned for dinner to go. There was no reason they should be putting up such a fuss. We had a close relationship, and everything should have been primed and ready to go. This dinner was just supposed to be a formality. I had to wonder who the hell had gotten to them before I had.
“Excuse me.” All eyes around the table zeroed in on Ruth. It had been a solid hour of bullshit, and this was the first time Ruth had said a word besides introductions. She smiled gently, and took a tiny sip of the water she’d preferred over wine. I just noticed that she’d barely touched her food in favor of filling the pages of her notebook with careful notes, scrawled across the lines and filling up the margins. “You’re going to have to forgive me.”
“What’s your name again?” Tatiana asked almost sharply.
“It’s Ruth.” She dabbed at her lips delicately, apparently taking care not to smear her lipstick. She had brilliantly derailed the pace of the conversation, forcing all of us to take a step back. “I’m Max’s intern.”
“Nice to see Maxim’s letting his help be on a first-name basis with him,” Tatiana said. It would’ve been a snarl if not for her good breeding.
“I am here to help,” Ruth said brightly, deliberately misunderstanding Tatiana’s dig. “And take notes. And learn. There’s just one thing, though. I don’t know why you’re not taking this deal.”
There were glances all around the table, but I only had eyes for Ruth. She was using her position to bulldoze what would’ve been hours of oblique references and dancing around the subject to get right to the point. Something wasn’t right, and she had realized it just as quickly as I had.
There was much more to Ruth Miracle than I likely knew. Instead of being taken aback, or taken by surprise, I was pleased.
Very pleased.
Ruth looked at all of us looking at each other, her eyebrows raised in a guise of innocence. “Maybe you can help me understand. All the numbers are right. It positions your company in a way that you never would’ve been able to achieve yourself. If anything, I think Volkov’s being a little too lenient. Max, you shouldn’t be so generous. They obviously don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do for them.”
Tatiana looked like she was about to choke on her own tongue. “Maxim. Does this girl speak for you?”
I took the napkin from my lap, folded it neatly, and set it on my plate. Time to go. “She says what I was too polite to say. And she’s right. I’m not going to beg you to take this deal, Tatiana. There are plenty of companies just like yours who would jump at the chance to be in your place right now, around this table. I thought I’d go with you because you seemed like you would be different. Now I know that I was wrong. Ruth. Let’s go.”
She rose in unison with me, causing Tatiana to stand, too. “Don’t be an idiot, Maxim,” she said. “This isn’t personal. It’s just business. Sit. Let’s iron out the details. Of course we want to work with Volkov Telecom.”
The dinner was a resounding success after that, and I insisted that Ruth have champagne with her dessert. She deserved it. She deserved much more than that.
Back in the car, something came over me.
I’d been attracted to Ruth on a gut level since I’d first laid eyes on her. But this was different.
She was so goddamn beautiful I couldn’t help myself. The way her eyes had burned when taking those idiots to task. The true passion she had for the business — my business.
Ruth hadn’t stop chattering excitedly since we’d left. “They were clearly angling for a better deal,” she was saying, flushed with champagne and success. “Either one of your competitors had gotten to them, or they thought that they could squeeze you for even more than what they were already giving you. It was so obvious. But why would they stonewall you at dinner when they could’ve just?
?”
She was clearly riding high on adrenaline. Her words washed over me as I focused on her lips. The things I wanted to do with those lips. The uses I had for them. It was time to celebrate.
My way.
I’d shown all the restraint I was capable of. I rolled up the partition that separated us from the driver, wove my hand through the curls at the back of her head, and pulled her lips to mine, already pursed in a question. I kissed it out of her, plunging my tongue into her willing mouth, tasting the champagne and strawberries she’d had.
“Max?” she asked, those luscious lips parted, out of breath already.
“You were goddamn amazing in there,” I told her, my voice rough with lust. “Where the fuck have you been hiding this?”
Her eyes darkened and she smirked. Fuck. “Told you I could help you if you just gave me a chance.”
I yanked her into my lap and kissed her again. I was going to have her. She was already mine.
Six
Ruth
Everything was happening too fast. I couldn’t be sure if I was panting because I was turned on, out of breath, or panicking. Maybe all three.
