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After a beat, which I mercifully used to get a grip on my anger and annoyance, I marched out into the cubicle space. I wouldn’t cower in my office, hiding from the Slav’s presence. I stepped right up to the men, thinking I was prepared to face Viktor and shoo him away.
He cut an imposing figure; I granted him that. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to imagine those hands throttling someone. The cautious, controlled way Viktor moved made him seem doubly scary. But even a great Russian grizzly had a teddy bear side, and that came out around his treasured younger sister.
His bright blue eyes turned on me. The heated look in them jarred me. I froze. Viktor dragged his gaze down my body, lingering over the way my skirt suit clung to my curves, and a wicked smile curled his mouth. Some otherworldly energy flared over my skin, and I realized I was breathing irregularly. Viktor snapped his gaze back to mine.Damn, he looks good.
“Briana, you didn’t tell us your boyfriend was coming into town to escort you to Bridgit’s wedding,” Mr. Avery said, his words sounding far away.
“Briana’s a private person. She likes to keep her work life and personal life separate, don’t you, Bri?” Viktor explained. It was the challenge in his eye that popped the bubble.
Did he—? He fucking told the whole office we were dating!Anger boiled through me. If I was a cartoon character, I would have steamed from my ears. “I sure do.” I gave him a tight smile. “Which is why I thought we agreed to meet after work, Tor?”
“Oh, Briana, don’t be cruel,” Mr. Avery laughed. “The young man flies all the way in from Los Angeles and this is how you greet him when he surprises you at work?”
“With flowers!” someone piped up from the back.
Fucking Janice!If she wasn’t on my shit list already for her snide comments and jealous gossip, she sure was now. I needed to get a handle on this situation. And fast.
“Thank you...dearest, for coming straight from the airport, but as I told you this morning, I have some work that needs finishing before I can spend—”
“Nonsense!” Mr. Avery cut me off. “You’ve already got everything in order for your trip. Take the rest of the day off. Show Mr. Markovich the sites.” And then he gave me a wink. It wassooounprofessional.Everyone’s watching this.
I wanted to scream that my work was more important than entertaining my boyfriend—myfakeboyfriend. But if I said that, it would come across as brown-nosing. Clearly, the only choice left for me was to gather my papers and work on the Michaelson merger at my house or a café.
“Here, lovely. I thought of you,” Viktor said softly, holding out the bouquet.
I was forced to take them. “Thank you, they’re beautiful.”And I’m going to shove them up your ass the moment we get out of here.“Let me go grab my things, and we can get going,” I added tightly.
Turning on my heel, I marched back into my office. It wasn’t until I was shoving papers into my briefcase that I realized Viktor’s hot gaze was still on me. My cheeks warmed with embarrassment, because a strange ache was forming between my legs at the visible hunger in his eyes. I hoped to heaven that no one else noticed.
After saving my work, I powered down my laptop and packed it away. I couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer, but the thought of going out there and facing Viktor again was abhorrent. I was pissed that he was so charming and drop-dead gorgeous. He wasn’t following directions; he was manipulating me. That made me fuckin’ furious! And yet, it was all my fault. I’d invited him here—all because I couldn’t stand the thought of appearing single at my sister’s wedding.
~*~
“I’m loving your newplace, suits.”
I rolled my eyes. Trying to get him to stop using the nickname was impossible. I’d tried the entirety of my senior year, but by the time I graduated Harvard as an undergrad and entered my first year of law school, it was a permanent word in his vocabulary.
“Make yourself at home. Or don’t.” I bit my tongue, wincing at the sharp tone. “Sorry. That was rude.”
Viktor came up right behind me. Not touching but crowding my space. “I accept your apology,” he murmured.
“Great. Thanks.” I moved through my open concept living space and pushed into my home office, which doubled as a library. It was amespace. Not needing a second bedroom for guests, I’d made this room all mine. I moved to shut the door, but there was a large, bulky mass standing on the threshold. That uncanny ability to move without a sound got me every time. He was ussuri—a great, dark bear. It fit him more than I cared to admit.
“I’ve missed you since my spring break visit, suits.”
I groaned. “If you call torturing me during mid-term prep fun.”
“Such a fun spring break,” he drawled. “If I’m so bad, why’d you call me?”
“Because,” I snipped, “I thought you could play the part. However, I wasn’t expecting you to show up at my work and disrupt my schedule.”
At the bite in my voice, Viktor just smiled. “I thought it would sell our relationship. Wagging tongues would be witness should anyone at the wedding seek to confirm details of this pretense.”
I opened my mouth and shut it fast.
“Didn’t think of that, did you?” Viktor tapped his skull. “I’ve got brains too.”
“And here I thought you were a neanderthal,” I snapped.
