Chapter 8
Dmitri
I stay at the office late.
City lights glow beyond my office window as I work beneath my desk lamp.
I don’t want to leave.
I’m still fucking furious with Annika. She threatened to tell her father that she didn’t think I would be a good husband for her. She actually had the nerve to threaten the alliance that I’ve been pushing to establish for nearly a year.
I wanted to remind her she’s nothing but a pawn.
All she has to do is sign the damn paperwork and act like my wife. She has no other purpose in my life.
So, no, I don’t want to waste my time planning a wedding with her when I have work to do. Her father may have ensured that she won’t have to work a day in her life, but how can she expect me to drop everything and plan out our wedding when it’s nothing but business?
When I agreed to the terms of our agreement, I didn’t expect being trapped in a marriage with a woman who I don’t get along with being so damn hard and exhausting. It’s suffocating.
The doors to my office suddenly open, and my hand moves to the gun at my back.
Before my fingertips can touch it, Cara steps out of the shadows enough for me to recognize her soft features. With a heavy sigh, I lean back in my seat clutching the arm rests. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Cara shrugs as she slowly approaches my desk. “I tried to go home and take advantage of a short day, but I kept thinking about how upset you seemed earlier.”
I narrow my eyes. “And why do you care enough to come back here?”
“You hired me to make your life easier,” Cara states as she sits in one of the two cushioned chairs in front of my desk. “How can I do that if I’m not here?”
I drum my fingers along the armrest as I watch her, wishing that I could read her better.
“I would’ve been fine by tomorrow,” I tell her.
“You’re not fine now,” Cara replies. “How can I help you?”
The problem with her is that she can make things worse, not better.
That’s why I kicked her out earlier. I was so frustrated with Annika and how I have to stay with her to keep the alliance alive, and Cara, with her alluring body and her full lips that she always glosses up, looked so damn beautiful that I wanted to pull her into my lap that second.
I can’t have her.
“Is this about that lazy bastard screwing you over? Rafael?” she asks.
“No. He actually paid up every penny last night,” I inform her before looking away. “This is more of a personal issue. There’s nothing that you can do.”
I shouldn’t even bring it up with her, but it feels like I’m about to explode with all of these sealed up thoughts in my head. I have no one to talk about this with because I can’t trust anyone to not run to Suyunov.
Cara folds her hands in her lap and gets comfortable in her seat. “Would you like to talk about it?”
Her offer, along with her vanilla and cinnamon scent, entices me more than it should. And I guess I’m weaker than I thought because I open my damn mouth. “I’m supposed to be getting married soon.”
Cara’s mouth twitching a little. “Right. To Annika.”
I nod before sighing and reaching into the lowest drawer of my desk to pull out a top-shelf bottle of Russian vodka and two glasses. “It isn’t love. Our families want it.”
Cara lifts her eyebrows. “So, it’s an arranged marriage?”
I pour us both a drink, telling her. “It would be good for our families if we got together, and Annika is ready to get married. I’m not as thrilled as she is and that’s a problem for her.”
Cara picks up her glass once I slide it over to her. She takes a sip and grimaces a little. “Sorry, I’m used to whiskey.”
That’s surprising. It seems I have a lot to learn about her.
“So, you’re being forced to marry someone you don’t really know,” Cara says. “Do you like her at all?”
I swish my vodka around my glass a few times before shaking my head. “We don’t get along. You’ve seen how she is.”
Cara starts to smile, but she drinks from her glass again instead. She’s trying to be polite, as usual. “Did she do something to upset you today?”
“She’s pressuring me to put aside time to plan the wedding with her, but…I don’t want to,” I admit. “Honestly, I’m not even sure if I’m ready to set a date.”
Cara sets down her glass and shakes her head. “I get it. You’re trapped in a situation that you don’t want to be in.”
Her words remove some of the weight from my shoulders. “I shouldn’t even be talking about this with anyone. Her father probably would want me dead if he found out that I broke his daughter’s heart.”
“Do you think she has feelings for you?” Cara asks me.
“Romantic ones? No, but I think she actually wants to be married to me,” I tell her. When Annika looks at me, I’m sure all she sees is a bank. Just like how she sees her father. “She likes what I can provide for her. And I think she’s attracted to me.”
“Are you attracted to her?” Cara asks as she lifts an eyebrow.
“No,” I say without hesitation and with a chuckle. “We’ve never even kissed.”
“You mean you two haven’t…you haven’t had sex?” Cara asks.
I don’t say anything at first as surprise hits me. I didn’t expect Cara to be so curious about my sex life with my bride-to-be. That intrigues me.
“No, I have zero interest in her,” I tell her. “Starved, narcissistic heiresses aren’t exactly my type.”
Smart, beautiful, curvy assistants are though.
Cara allows herself a little amused smile. “Well, I’m sorry that you’re stuck in this situation. I don’t think anyone should be forced to marry someone they don’t love.”
I finish off my vodka before running a hand over my hair, a dull ache filling my chest. I need to stop opening my mouth, but it’s like a dam breaking down. “I hope this marriage is worth it in the end. I don’t want to feel trapped forever.”
Cara’s brows lift a little in surprise.
I grimace internally. What the hell am I even saying? Locking up these damn sappy thoughts in my head is the best move if I want to protect my family, my position, and the alliance. Not complaining to my assistant.
“You could always back out,” Cara tells me.
I shake my head. “I can’t. Not now. It’s too late for that.”
Cara frowns. “I grew up with a strict father. Sometimes, it felt like I was crushed under his thumb. I had to do things that I didn’t want to do. But the only way you’ll be happy is if you fight for at least a bit of freedom for yourself too.”
I understand where she’s coming from, but this is all that I know. I like being the head of my family, even if that means giving up pieces of myself. But the idea of marriage has left me feeling a little more uneasy than usual when it comes to business decisions.
When I don’t respond, Cara finishes her drink and slides the glass over to me before standing. “Thanks for the drink. I’m sorry that I barged in like this. I just…I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She came to check on me off the clock.
I watch her turn and walk toward the double doors, tension building up in my throat as I struggle with what to say. “Cara?”
She pauses with her hands on the doorknob. She looks over her shoulder at me, a strand of hair resting over her eye.
I wish I were close enough to brush it away. To feel how soft her skin is under my fingertips. To hear her breath hitch as I come close.
“I’m glad you came,” I tell her, speaking words that I probably shouldn’t.
Cara looks stunned at first, but then she smiles at me and tucks her hair behind her ear herself. Now, I can see all of her beauty unobstructed. “Goodnight, Mr. Ivanov.”
“Dmitri,” I reply. We’re around each other enough for her to call me by my first name.
“Dmitri,” Cara repeats, her smile growing. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Cara,” I say.
Her expression wavers a little, but I can’t figure out why. She turns and walks out of my office, pulling the doors shut behind her.
Silence fills the room as I stare at the spot that she was just in, feeling a tugging sensation deep in my chest. Part of me wishes that she hadn’t left. She’s much better company than Annika.
I pour another glass of vodka and down half of it, letting the liquor sear its way down my throat and burn through me. I want to see more of Cara, even if that’s a bad idea. Just being around her at work doesn’t feel like it’s enough.
An idea forms in my mind, and I don’t know if it’s actually genius or if the vodka is making it seem like it is. Regardless, I think I’ve figured out a way to make my torturous obligations a little less brutal.
Cara’s purpose is to make my life easier. I just have to make sure that she doesn’t make my life more complicated.
Things are hectic enough, but I know that the relationship we have is straying from simple and professional. We’re heading toward a place that we shouldn’t. But she’s an alluring beam of light while Annika is a storm of darkness and misery.
Annika will bleed me dry if I let her.
With Cara, I don’t feel used.
Especially not tonight.