Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

“ Y ou know I’m returning this bag.” Tatyana was sitting back in her chair, her eyes fixed on Oleg as he watched the sommelier pour two glasses of red wine.

“You’re keeping the bag.” He glanced at the soft V of flesh visible at her neckline. She was wearing a blue-green wrap dress that was both professional and sexy as hell. He really needed to buy Lorala some flowers. “Lorala picked it out to go with your new wardrobe.”

“I’m not going to pretend that I do not like these clothes, but I need to pay for them.” She leaned forward as the sommelier left the table. “People at SMO are going to think I’m your mistress if you keep paying for things. I’m working for you now and?—”

“You’re working for Elene. If I tried to fire you, she wouldn’t let me.” Oleg waved a hand. “You’re going to keep the clothes and the handbag and you’ll continue staying at the hotel. Shopping for a wardrobe or looking for an apartment would distract you from your main objective, which is finding the money Zara stole from me.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I won’t have my fellow employees thinking that you’re favoring me because?—”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Tatyana.”

“You think they won’t notice? Do you buy every new hire fancy clothes and handbags? Do you fly to their houses because they had a break-in?”

“Of course I don’t. And I’m obviously favoring you. There’s no point in hiding it.” Oleg tilted his head to the side. “I hired you as an independent contractor, and you’re working on commission.”

Tatyana shook her head. “And?”

He leaned forward, matching her posture. “None of my employees are independent. None of them bargain with me for their position or their pay. Most of the employees at SMO don’t even know who I am.”

Tatyana blinked. “You’re the CEO.”

“I’m the CEO of several companies, and those companies are run by very competent executives. The only reason you know me at all is because you worked for Zara. So no, this is not a typical employee-and-employer relationship, and there is no reason to pretend it is.”

Oleg sat back and picked up his wine, sipping the Spanish red, rolling the rich liquid around his mouth and imagining what her blood tasted like. Her scent was an intriguing blend of salt and something green. It would be sharp and biting on his tongue.

His mouth watered at the thought, and his fangs ached in his jaw.

There was nothing floral or sweet about Tatyana Vorona. Despite her looks, her body chemistry was elemental. Earthy. Her limbs were slim, her shoulders square, her neck long. Oleg suspected she was stronger than she looked and most people would underestimate her.

He did not.

For a human, she was smart and perceptive. She was headstrong but logical. She reminded him of a predator, pursuing her goal with focus but not forgetting that there were dangers lurking in the forest.

The corner of his mouth inched up. “I would enjoy seducing you.”

Tatyana covered her mouth as she nearly spat out her wine. She immediately put her white napkin to her mouth to dab her lips. “That is… That will not be happening.”

Now that the words had escaped him, Oleg was determined. This was an excellent idea. He hadn’t had a proper paramour in years. “Why not?”

Her eyes went wide. “You are my employer.”

What a ridiculous argument. “You’re an independent contractor, and Elene is in charge of you. Do you like music?”

“Yes.” She blinked. “Not that it matters. Why would you tell me something like that?”

“About music?”

“About…” She sputtered. “Not the music thing.”

“So you mean” —he leaned forward— “ seduction ?”

Her lips were flushed. From anger or desire?

“Yes,” she hissed. “That.”

“Because I thought it. I prefer being direct in these matters.”

“And I prefer to keep a professional relationship with my boss.”

Oleg smiled. “You’ve never had a boss like me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve known plenty of men like you.”

He could only smile. “No, you haven’t.” His fangs were lengthening, but she didn’t notice.

Tatyana sipped her wine and met his eyes with unflinching candor. “It will not be happening.”

“I agree. Not unless both of us want it.”

She opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was choked by something that was trying to be indignation and failing miserably.

She wanted him too.

Oleg kept his eyes on her, enjoying the rapid parade of expressions on her face.

Shock.

Interest.

Embarrassment.

Curiosity.

Denial.

One expression was noticeable in its absence.

He said, “I like that you’re not intimidated by me.”

She took a long drink of wine and set her glass down with a decided thunk. “If you do anything to annoy me, I will tell Elene and I have a feeling she would take care of it.”

“You’re not wrong.” Elene wouldn’t approve of any of his words or his actions. Tatyana had judged that relationship one hundred percent correctly.

“You do that.”

“I do what?” Oleg let his eyes travel over her shoulders, wondering how she would look in candlelight. Electric light was too harsh for her skin. She deserved fire.

“You tell people they’re not wrong. But you don’t tell them they’re right or correct.”

“A habit of speech.” He shrugged. “Russian isn’t my first language. Shall I tell you what I noticed about you?”

She pursed her lips. “Why start being polite now?”

The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I noticed that you didn’t say you wouldn’t also enjoy a seduction, just that you think it isn’t going to happen.”

“Because it won’t.” Two spots of red at her cheeks and the hint of a smile.

Now they were playing.

Excellent.

He set down his wineglass and rubbed his thumb across his lower lip, letting the corner of his tongue peek out to taste a lingering drop of red wine. “I didn’t say I was going to seduce you. I said that I would enjoy doing so.”

Her mouth twisted. She was fighting a smile. “And I’m sure many women would be flattered by that.”

“Not you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Do you think I’m an innocent country girl?”

Of course she was an innocent. At least she was in his world.

“You don’t want to be flattered, but you are.” Oleg could feel her heart racing, but her direct gaze told him it wasn’t from fear. “You suspect—correctly, I will confirm—that I am particular in my pursuits. Don’t pretend you aren’t attracted to me.”

The little wolf snapped her teeth. “Who I am attracted to is none of your business.”

“It is if we’re considering a seduction.” His fingers slipped up and down the stem of his wineglass, and he saw her eyes move to them. “I am a very skilled lover. We would both enjoy it.”

“You’re shameless.” Her lips were pouted and swollen; a red flush touched the V of skin at her neck. She crossed her arms over her chest, but that only pushed her breasts forward.

Delicious.

Tatyana asked, “Does this actually work on women?”

“The direct approach? Yes.” It’s working on you. Oleg leaned forward, rested his forearms on the table, and tilted his head to the side as he took a deep breath of her scent.

Delicious.

“What was that?” Her eyes went wide. “Did you just… smell me?”

“You’re wearing some fragrance. I like it.”

“I didn’t put on perfume before dinner.”

“This morning then? Maybe your shampoo.” He shrugged. “Whatever it is, it’s lovely.”

She looked around the restaurant. “Is the food coming? Soon?”

Oleg snapped his fingers and a few moments later, a waiter brought out the first course. “Now that we’ve had a chance to enjoy the wine, we can eat.”

Tatyana stared at his hand. “The snapping thing is going to annoy me.”

“I’m not going to snap at you .” He used a thin fork to pick up an oily black olive from his plate. “You’ll find I have much better things I can do with my fingers.”

Oleg reached out and caught the olive that went flying from Tatyana’s plate, placing it on the edge the table without a word.

Her entire face was the color of a ripe red pepper.

“No.” Tatyana was trying not to laugh and only halfway succeeding. “You think you’ve charmed her, but I promise you have not.”

Oleg was feeling surprisingly relaxed. He and Tatyana had enjoyed a delectable meal of Spanish food, which she had never had before, and he’d guided the conversation back toward less… stimulating topics.

He’d suggested walking off some of the rich food with a leisurely stroll along the waterfront. It was before midnight and humans were walking in couples and groups, perusing the white-fronted restaurants popular with tourists.

The scents of humanity surrounded him, and Oleg realized it had been years since he’d spent time among this many humans who didn’t know who and what he was.

It was not unpleasant.

Now that Oleg had determined to seduce Tatyana, he’d also decided he could be patient. She was young and he had eternity. If she wanted to finish her current job for him before they took their relationship to the obvious next level, that was fine.

But he’d try to convince her not to be so hesitant.

“I may not have charmed your mother completely,” he said, “but she liked the smetannik.”

“You did help yourself with the smetannik,” Tatyana admitted. “But don’t try to charm her. That won’t work at all. She’ll be very suspicious.”

“No? What about with you?”

Tatyana laughed, and it was the first time he’d heard her laugh with her whole chest.

It was a riveting sound. The light in her eyes and the red flush on her cheeks. Tatyana Vorona laughed with her whole body.

Enticing. Delicious.

Oleg could grow addicted to the sound. There was no madness in it, no mania or dark edge. Just the full-throated laughter of a woman who’d drunk a little too much wine and heard something that amused her.

“Is that what this is?” She lifted her chin to meet his eyes. “This is you being charming? You have the charm of a bulldozer, Oleg Sokolov.” She blinked, and her eyes cleared when their gazes met. “Why don’t I remember what happened after we went to dinner in Odesa?”

Damn it. Her mind was fighting his amnis. “I don’t know. You didn’t drink that much. Stress maybe?” He’d avoided touching her skin, wondering if direct contact was the catalyst for her preternatural perception.

She smiled again. “So you admit that you’re stressful?”

“Not at all. I am trying to reduce your stress.” He touched the handle of her handbag. “See? I even replaced your briefcase for you.”

“This?” She held out the smooth Italian leather satchel. “This isn’t because you’re trying to reduce my stress. This is you showing off.”

“Is it working?”

Her laugh turned rueful. “I can’t tell you that—it will only encourage you.”

“By all means.” He reached out to steady her as she walked up a step, putting them eye to eye when he tugged her around to face him. “Encourage me.”

Her mouth was slightly open, and the scent of wine was on her breath. He leaned in, considering what it would taste like to kiss her.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to kiss this woman anyplace that was public.

“You don’t need” —her voice was a little breathless— “any encouragement.”

“You could always opt for showing me your teeth,” he murmured. “I like those too.”

“What are you doing to me?”

Oleg wanted to touch her so badly he felt the ache in his fingers. “I’m seducing you.”

“Without a single touch?”

“We’ll get there.” He leaned forward, her lips inches from his own, and he felt his skin heat.

“What is that cologne?” She breathed in.

“Did you just smell me?” The corner of his mouth turned up.

“Stop.” She smiled again, and it nearly snapped his control. “It smells like smoke and cedar trees.”

“Ah.” He breathed out. “I did put fragrance on before I came to your house. I’m surprised you didn’t smell it before. Do you like it?”

She blinked and pulled back. “It’s… good.”

“Good?” A burst of laughter from a group farther down the waterfront broke the spell she’d cast over him. “Good is boring.”

“Maybe I’ll buy you a cologne then.”

Oleg stepped up next to her, forcing Tatyana’s eyes up to his. “You’re going to buy a fragrance for me?”

“As a thank-you.” Her cheeks were red again. “For my boss.”

“Yes, that’s a very professional gift,” he said, nudging her arm with his own to urge her into walking again. “I approve. Nothing with roses, please. I’m allergic.”

“Fine.” The color on her cheeks died down when they passed a clutch of soldiers standing in front of a tourist restaurant that had been built to look like an old wooden ship. They were holding military rifles, passing around cigarettes, and taking pictures with their phones.

Tatyana stared at them. “My grandfather loved that restaurant. Their fried fish is good.”

Despite their uniforms and weapons, the soldiers reminded Oleg of boys on a school trip. They were watching the pretty girls strolling along the waterfront and joking among themselves.

“It’s different.” Oleg touched Tatyana’s back to urge her away from the soldiers. “It’s different than the last time I visited here.”

“Yes.” Her expression fell a little bit as they walked away from the waterfront and down an alley that would lead them back to the restaurant where his car was parked. “It’s different.”

They walked in silence for some time, turning away from the brightly lit waterfront and into the shadows where Oleg could relax.

He wasn’t a creature of the light, though he might wish to see the sun in Tatyana’s hair. Her smile had fallen away, and he knew her mind was fixed on the boys playing soldier by the harbor.

He stopped and watched her walk up another couple of steps before she noticed he wasn’t beside her.

“What?” Tatyana turned. “What is it?”

He walked toward her. “The world will always change. Change is the only constant.”

She offered him a slight smile. “For the worse?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’m older than you. It gets worse. It gets better. The worse may seem more obvious, but the better is surprisingly more enduring.”

Tatyana’s eyebrows went up. “Are you an optimist, Oleg Sokolov?”

“I have to be.” Shadows flickered in his memory. Red-tinged shadows that would claw in and take over his mind if he allowed it. “I have to be, or I would go quite mad.”

Oleg walked forward and stepped into the gold cast of a streetlight bouncing off a storefront window.

Tatyana blinked, and the look she gave him was missing the edge of suspicion she usually carried. “Did you show me a picture of something beautiful once?”

Oleg’s attention was fixed on her. That was his only excuse for overlooking the threat that emerged from around the corner and quickly surrounded them.

It was a gang of young men, nine of them and three already had blades out.

“That’s a beautiful purse, pretty girl.” The leader of the small gang lifted a gleaming blade. “Why don’t you give it to me?”

Oleg put his arm around Tatyana and scanned the circle of young men. “This is a mistake,” he told them calmly. “You do not want to bother me and my friend.”

Tatyana wouldn’t hand over her bag. Her computer was in that bag, and she’d sooner hand over her right arm.

She was clutching it to her chest, and her heart was racing in fear. The stench of adrenaline spoiled the air, coming from both the woman at his side and the group of boys around him.

Oleg regretted what was going to happen because these men were drunk and eager for a fight. A few of them were unsure and wary, looking at their leader for cues, but none of them stood up to the twitching man holding out the knife.

That one had the taste of violence on his tongue, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d fed.

Knowing what was about to happen, Oleg felt the world slow to a crawl, his preternaturally alert senses absorbing everything at once.

The cobblestones were wet from evening fog that had rolled in over the city at nightfall. He could hear the footsteps of the men shuffling behind him.

A car raced by on the street where they’d been headed, the rise and fall of music telling him they were utterly alone.

There was a siren in the distance, an ambulance speeding in the opposite direction.

There were no other humans nearby. This small gang of violent men had happened on Oleg and Tatyana and seen them as an opportunity.

They would die because of their foolishness.

“This is a mistake,” he said again slowly, moving his arm from around Tatyana. He removed his coat and let it fall to the ground. “You should leave now or I will kill you.”

Tatyana’s breath caught.

A few of the boys laughed nervously, but the leader’s eyes glittered on Oleg. “I’ll take that coat. And your money. I think I will take your woman too. Maybe you can pay to get her back.”

“Oleg, no.” Tatyana was panicking. “Please, you can have the bag but I need my computer and?—”

“You will give them nothing.” Oleg stared at the leader, whose eyes were shining with intoxication. Something more than vodka was at work in his mind, and he was not going to leave them alone without blood. “Close your eyes, volchitsa.”

She sucked in a breath, and Oleg had no idea if she closed her eyes or not. He was keeping his gaze on the ringleader.

There was a dripping sound as a drop of water fell from a nearby roof and landed on the street. A slap of footsteps on cobblestones and someone coughed.

Oleg snapped his fingers, twisted his hand to gather his element, and threw a flaming ball of fire in the face of the bloodthirsty human.

The leader screamed and fell back, but not before he threw his knife at Tatyana.

Oleg’s hand shot out, stopping the blade before it could reach her, and then he stepped away from her and let his element burst to life around him, enveloping his sweater in flames and transforming it to singed rags that floated to the ground around him like burned paper.

Tatyana screamed and ducked her head down, hiding her face from the fire.

Their attackers shouted and turned to flee, but Oleg flung the knife that had been meant for Tatyana into the back of one man as he ran, then pulled another man into his arms, embracing him and grabbing the man’s blade as the human’s clothes burst into flame and he fell screaming and writhing to the ground.

Tatyana crouched down as Oleg moved calmly around the alley at vampire speed, disarming each man, twisting their necks, and letting them fall to the ground in smoking heaps as he destroyed each and every human who had threatened them.

His fangs were down, and at one point he sank his teeth into the neck of one man, ripping out his artery with a fast jerk of his teeth as blood sprayed in the face of the man next to him.

By the time that human could suck in a blood-misted breath, his neck was cut, blood was pouring down his front, and he collapsed at Oleg’s feet.

Within moments, the nine humans who had tried to attack them were dead, and Tatyana was running out of the alley, her bag clutched to her chest, not even sparing a glance as Oleg picked up a body, tore off the human’s shirt, and wiped his face and chest to clean off the blood.

She left him alone in the alley, his wool pants singed and hanging loose on his hips, his shirt and sweater utterly destroyed. The evening fog rolled in, soothing the biting pain of his heated skin as his fire died back, kissing the edge of his jaw before she melted away. He smelled the acrid hint of burned hair and knew he’d lost a little bit of his beard.

Pity.

Oleg listened to Tatyana’s footsteps racing around the corner and down the street. He heard her panting breaths and panicked hiccups as she ran toward the brightly lit intersection where the ambulance had passed a few minutes before. There were cars waiting at the light.

“Taxi!” She screamed it from a block away and he heard that too. He closed his eyes and waited for the door to slam and the car to speed away.

Oleg let her run.

She’d seen the monster now. He would find her soon enough.