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Michelle sat down next to Elaina, who was busy typing notes on her tablet and folded her hands. “That’s a good observation,” she said. “But I’d like to point out that you did a similar deal with one of our competitors, Investdeck, in a little less than the timeframe that I’m demanding.” She stared into his eyes as he fumbled through his paperwork. “So if you can make it happen for them,” she continued, “then why can’t you do the same for us?”
As the lawyers discussed a few things with Hugo, I kept my eyes on Michelle. Not once did she look away, even though she must have known that I was staring at her. It was her silent way of putting her foot down and not letting them pull a fast one on her. Even though I had vowed to keep it professional with her, I suddenly wanted to fuck her right there on the conference table.
“We might be able to accommodate that time frame,” the lawyer replied. “And we apologize, Ms. Harrington. We’ll just need to pull a few strings, but I’m sure that we can make that happen.” Michelle’s lawyers had yet to speak, other than to say their names upon entering the conference room. Michelle was the one running the show, and we were just along for the ride.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Michelle said. Her voice became a tad softer, almost like velvet. That’s what I loved about her. She could go from business to seduction with little to no effort. In fact, her voice had gotten almost as soft and velvety as it had the night before in bed. When she moaned, all the hair on my body stood up, and I wanted to fall asleep next to her.
As Michelle went back to discussing the deal, I carefully sent a text message to Hugo from under the table.
“Why is she in such a rush with this deal? She literally just got to Russia.”
“Beats me, but I’m sure that we can make it work. Just go with the flow. We’ll iron out the kinks later.”
“I just feel like something else is going on, Hugo.”
“Relax, Nico. Worrying is wasted energy, and Stepanov’s don’t waste energy.”
After last night, I kind of hoped that she’d stay in Russia for a while, but after watching her discuss the details of the deal, I got the feeling there was pressure for her to go back home.
“Ms. Harrington, may I ask the reason for the short time frame? Please don’t take offense to my question. I’m just curious if there’s something else we can do to make this run more smoothly.”
Elaina looked at her and then back at her notes, and I could tell there was something that she wasn’t telling us.
“I just want to move things forward,” she said. “This is your first business dealing with Affinity Finance, and we certainly don’t want it to be your last. Not that I think that’s the case, gentlemen. It’s just that there’s a lot of money to be made in this world, and the sooner we finish this project, the more all of us can make.”
Hugo and I nodded, and I could tell that he was turned on by the way she ran the meeting. Towards the end, I shot a quick text to Hugo about dinner that night.
“What are we doing for dinner tonight?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot, Nico.”
I glanced at him and then back at my phone, trying hard to remember. As Michelle continued to talk about the project, I quickly pulled up the calendar on my phone but didn’t have anything planned.
“Um . . .”
“Dad is having his big dinner party tonight. Lots of members from the other families will be there, so don’t flake out. Out of all of the dinners to miss, Nico, don’t let it be this one.”
Our father had regularly scheduled dinner parties, just to discuss business dealings and to mingle with other Bratva members. For the most part, all of the families got along with each other. They respected boundaries and went out of their way to acknowledge each other. Having them all go to my father’s house was a ritual of sorts, and they always had the best food.
“Chill, bro. I’ll be there. You know that I never miss a meal. Should we invite Michelle, though? She mentioned wanting to meet our dad when I had breakfast with her this morning, and this would be a good opportunity.”
“You had breakfast with her this morning?”
I glanced over at Hugo, who once again gave me the side-eye. After our threesome from the night before, I was a little surprised at his jealousy. But I quickly reminded myself that it was probably less jealousy and more concern that it would fuck up the business project.
“I had breakfast brought up to her room. Relax. Nothing else happened. We got to talking about our fathers, and she mentioned meeting him. That’s all.”
Hugo waited a few minutes to reply. I could tell by the way he was staring at Michelle that he was wondering if it’d be such a good idea. I knew my brother well enough to know that he couldn’t just have one night with her.
“I’m not sure, Nico. I’m sure Michelle knows that we’re a part of the Bratva, but being surrounded by so many other families might intimidate her a bit.”
“Look at her, man. She’s not afraid of anybody. It’s just dinner, too. It’s not like we’re introducing her to the family before we get married. Plus, her father knows our father.”
“Alright, but only for business purposes. And from now on, don’t do what you did this morning without consulting me first. We have to keep our binoculars on, Nico.”
“If you say so.”
Hugo shot me a look out of the corner of his eye again, and somehow I managed not to crack a smile.
