Chapter 11 - Clem
Despite acting like he wasn’t panicking as much as I was, the contract we thought we had in the bag was far from a sure thing.
Rurik managed to discover the other companies that were wooing the Koboyashis.
First thing the next morning, he slapped a thick file on my desk and told me to get to work finding out everything about them.
“We need their fatal flaws,” he said.
And when I brought him his coffee a few minutes later, instead of complaining about the imaginary sugar overload, he asked why I wasn’t working on the file.
I glanced meaningfully at the rings on my finger and left his office without saying.
I might have been rethinking the extension of our fake marriage.
The file was huge, and I had my work cut out for me if I was going to find ways to either undermine the other companies or make us shine by comparison.
This was supposed to be the week I moved, but I pulled up the shared work calendar and removed the three days I had already requested to take off.
I’d just have to forego sleep and pack up my stuff at night after work.
It wasn’t like I had too much, and most of the clothes Rurik bought me were still in their shopping bags, waiting to be returned when the ruse was over.
Less than three minutes after I did that, Rurik stuck his head out. “I thought you needed that time off to move. Why’d you change the calendar?”
I held up his giant file; his love of putting everything in writing instead of just sending emails, which was helping my case.
“This is more important. I can move anytime.” It would mean paying an extra week on the current apartment, and my fingers were already crossed that the greedy landlord hadn’t already rented it out.
Rurik scowled at me, then returned to his office, and I shoved my new personal problem out of my mind, beginning my foray into corporate espionage. How the heck did he get so much insider information on these other companies so fast?
Gavrik Imports was booming for such a young company, but I knew Rurik was hungry to take it to the next level and get a really huge product deal.
The Koboyashi game system was just that product, and if everything worked out, my place in the company would be sealed.
I might even get that promotion to the research team.
Wouldn’t I miss being Rurik’s assistant, though? I snickered at that. Doing something I had studied for or getting barked at regularly? And sometimes kissed.
Enough. I had too much to do without getting lost in a daydream about that.
At lunchtime, I got a message from a professional moving service, something I certainly couldn’t afford and never would have signed up for.
They told me to go straight to the new apartment at the end of the day, and everything would be there waiting for me.
I stared at the message, but it remained, not a wishful fantasy at all.
Marching into Rurik’s office, I held up the phone. “Mikhailov Moving Company? Sounds Russian. Are you behind this?”
He shrugged. “It’s an in-law’s company. He owes me a favor.”
“But…” It would be so nice not to have to stay up until two in the morning the next couple of nights while prospective new tenants nosed around my place. “It’s too generous.”
“It’s not generous, it’s practical. I need you at the office, but I also can’t let our hectic schedule infringe on your personal plans. That’s a sure way to lose good employees.”
Why did it hurt just a little bit when he offhandedly called me an employee? That’s what I was. “Well, thanks,” I said, breathing a huge sigh of relief as I pushed the odd twinge aside. “I’m glad I don’t have to stay there another week. Some shady characters have been hanging around.”
“I hope the new place is better,” he asked.
“It’s got a gate, so I hope it keeps the riff raff out,” I told him. “I was lucky to get into it at all since the first time I checked, there was a long waiting list.”
In fact, it was a double stroke of luck, because I’d been waiting for an efficiency unit, which was the only thing I could afford, but there’d been some kind of special deal where I got into a one-bedroom for the same rent.
I kept that part to myself since someone as rich as Rurik would never understand how important a few hundred extra bucks were, and he might think I was complaining about my salary.
“You must be lucky,” he said with the first smile that day. “I hope it keeps up when we meet the Koboyashis for golf in an hour.”
“What?” I said, looking down at my pencil skirt. “You could have told me sooner.”
“I just got an answer back,” he said, holding up his own phone for proof. “We can get you something to wear and proper shoes from the club shop before they arrive if we leave right now.”
“Good thing I wasn’t hungry,” I muttered sarcastically.
“We can blow through a drive-through, too,” he answered. “I’m always taking care of you, Clem.”
I had never played golf in my life. In the swanky country club’s pro shop, Rurik teasingly tried to get me to choose some of the wilder selections, but I ended up with a simple white skirt that felt much too short and a plain yellow polo top.
Rurik’s eyes lingered on my legs as he gave me an appreciative once-over when I came out of the dressing room.
A warm glow washed over me until I remembered I had never swung a club in my life.
“Don’t worry, we don’t want to win, anyway,” he told me. “Just be your sparkling self.”
The Koboyashis were right on time, meeting us at the edge of the course. Erina and Shin were decked out in their golf gear and greeted us warmly as we piled into the cart.
“Cute skirt,” Erina said, then rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry you got roped into this.”
“What? No, I love to play even though I’m not any good.”
She smirked slightly, pointing to the tag I forgot to remove from my skirt. I turned crimson and admitted that I’d never even set foot on a course before today. “Rurik’s always trying to get me to come out and try it,” I improvised. “And it’s a gorgeous day.”
“The best part of golfing is the cocktail at the end,” she told me with a laugh.
Then she went on to perfectly slice the ball all the way to the edge of the first hole. So much for hanging back and gossiping with the wife. Rurik was no slouch, either, and there was no time in my life when I would have believed watching someone line up a shot would be sexy.
But the way his back muscles bunched under his staid polo shirt, his biceps rippling and veins popping in his tanned forearms as he gripped the club, had me fanning myself. So much power. So much control.
“I used to look at my husband that way,” Erina said. “Ten years and two kids ago.”
“Oh, I think I caught you gazing at him a little last night,” I said, hoping I wasn’t being too forward. “You two are major couple goals.”
It wasn’t sucking up, not entirely anyway. They weren’t just passionate about the successful business they built together; they couldn’t shut up about their kids, and they made sure their hands touched whenever they walked past each other.
“My wife might need a little help,” Rurik said, winking at me when it was my turn to try to get that little white ball from point A to point B without falling on my butt.
He chose my club and stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me and clasping his hands over mine as he helped me find my grip.
I was already fighting the blush that rose every time he called me his wife, sounding so proud and possessive like a true newlywed.
With his big body pressing against my backside, it felt like the sun had just dialed up the heat by twenty degrees.
“Doing all right?” he murmured in my ear. “Erina looks happy.”
“She’s honestly really sweet,” I said quietly.
“So are you,” he told me. “Brace yourself.” I thought it was time to swing, but instead, he dropped a kiss on top of my head. Of course, it was just for show, but it must look so real to the Koboyashis; it was such a natural move. “Turn your head,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear.
I did, and he planted a kiss on my mouth. A mere peck, but it had me melting backward against him. Shin laughed and called for us to get on with it.
My swing went wild, and it took four more to get it anywhere near the hole, but each time Rurik was there to help me, offering real golf advice while putting on the show for our prospective clients. I actually liked both.
“How did you start playing golf in Russia?” I asked to distract myself from the feel of his rock-hard pecs against my back as he leaned over me to perfect my grip. “Is it even popular there?”
“Not very, but I spent many winters here with my American cousins, and they assured me it would come in handy to learn. And now I actually like it.”
“I think I do, too,” I told him, leaning back a little more.
His low chuckle heated me up even more. It was a hard line to walk, putting on the act without letting myself start to believe it.
He was too hot; that was all that was going on there. Anyone would have been flustered with Rurik as their teacher.
It had nothing to do with the fact that the Koboyashis were exactly how I might have wanted to be one day.
The riches and success were secondary, but their happiness and sincere affection for each other were blazingly obvious even though they weren’t showy about it.
The trust Erina had in Shin was something I could hardly comprehend.
He was the man he showed himself to be, and after ten years, they were still blissfully happy. No monster hiding under a facade, he was the real deal. Talk about luck, or maybe Erina had something I lacked that gave her the ability to see what I missed.
What would my life have been like if things had been different?
Could I ever be in a relationship like that?
Have what Rurik was acting out, but for real?
It didn’t seem possible when I had to keep my head on a swivel, always wondering if the next shady guy was the one I had to keep running from.
Or if the perfect man was merely biding his time to show his true colors.
The next time Rurik reached for my hand to help me into the golf cart, a wave of sadness hit me. Anger followed. I could never have a future remotely like this, not with my past always hanging over my head.