Chapter 10 - Pearl

Aesha sips her coffee as she sits across from me. "I didn't think you would be back home this soon. I thought you said you'd be gone for a week. Maybe more. You were gone for two days and now you've been back for ten. What the hell happened? I was looking forward to you being away and getting laid."

"I know. Things were going good and then Maxim said that he had business that he had to come back to. To be honest, I think it was because I didn't want to sleep with him."

"But you said the kiss was good. You said that you've never been kissed like that. At least that's what the text messages said that night."

"It was good. Too good. Men like him know what they're doing, and they do it well. They're only looking for one thing, and I'm getting tired of being that kind of woman."

She rolls her eyes. "You can't call yourself that kind of woman when you don't sleep with your clients, you go out with them, you make some money. You're not out there having sex with half of New York."

"Somehow I don't think that makes it any better anymore."

"You're sitting here and beating yourself up about this when you could be talking to him."

I pick at the little croissant on the plate in front of me, peeling away one flaky layer after another, but leaving the pastry sitting on the ceramic. "I don't even know if I want to know what went wrong. I don't think I mean that much to him anyway."

"You wouldn't be sitting here in a cafe with me on a gorgeous day when you could be out with a hot guy covered in tattoos. You sent me that picture of him. If I were you, I'd be jumping on that the first chance I got."

"Let's say that I wanted to. Even if I did, he hasn't talked to me since we got back. It's been ten days without so much as a single message." I scoff, peeling out one of the chocolate layers from the croissant and popping it into my mouth. "I should have known that he was going to lose interest in me after two days. Especially, when I don't want to jump into bed with him. It's how they work."

"You've made a lot of money off men wanting to sleep with you but not doing it." You know that that's not how they work. You know that you're interesting enough to keep their attention without putting out, so why are you sitting here and putting yourself down and making yourself feel miserable when you could talk to him?"

"Because there's more going on than simply being able to talk to him."

"Is this part of the secret side of your life that you never told me about?" Aesha asks, her tone teasing, but concern creasing the corners of her lips. "I know there are things you don't want to talk to me about, but if this is something big you can tell me."

"It's nothing."

"Oh, I'm no fool, Pearl. I think that you can go around pretending that nothing matters to you because everybody's left you in your life. You hold yourself at a distance from everybody who tries to get close because you want to protect yourself."

"Guess I don't need to pay for a therapist. You've already diagnosed me."

Aesha swipes a finger through the remaining whipped cream on the top of her coffee. "Look, for what it's worth you seemed happy when you were in Russia. The messages you were sending me made it seem like you were having a fun time over there."

"I was."

"And not once in those two days before this incident did, he make a move on you. He was fine with just spending time with you."

"He was, but I'm fairly sure it's because he thought I would give in. Eventually, when he realized, I never was going to, that's when everything went weird between us, and he decided that we were going to return to New York for a supposed business emergency."

"If he hasn't lied to you before, why do you think he has reason to lie now?"

Aesha has a point, as much as I would rather not admit it. There could have been a business emergency that Maxim had to take care of. There might have been a legitimate reason to come back to the city early.

However, it's hard to believe that when the plan to get him hooked and keep him close has failed so miserably.

Nicolo made it seem like all Maxim wanted to do was chase women and sleep with them. Now I'm wondering if that's even true.

I glance at the time on my phone instead of answering her. "I've got to get going. I've got someone coming over this afternoon."

"Pearl, please tell me that you're not getting under somebody to get over him. You've never been that kind of woman. Don't let this one asshole who's upset you make you think that because things have gone this way, you have to be putting yourself out there to even keep a man interested. You know you don't. You're stunning and intelligent and you're enough on your own."

"I appreciate the pep talk, but it's Uncle Nicolo. He wants to come over and check on me and talk about my funds for the future. And then there are some other matters we have to settle. Don't worry about me, I'm not going to go out and do something stupid."

"I don't think you've ever done anything stupid a day in your life beyond going to Russia with a man you didn't know."

"If I seem to remember your phrasing, you told me to run away with a hot piece of ass for a week."

Aesha gathers her coffee and stands up, walking with me to the door of the cafe. "I might have encouraged you, but now that you're so upset, I don't think it was worth it."

"I'm a big girl, I'll be fine. One more day of moping. And then I'm going to forget that Maxim ever existed, I promise."

Aesha smiles and pulls me into a tight hug with one arm. "If you need another girls' night let me know. Tell your uncle I say hi."

"Will do."

I hug her back before turning and walking in the opposite direction, straight for the car that's already waiting for me.

***

A few hours later, the doorbell rings. I pull myself off the couch, abandoning the magazine I'm reading, and head for the door.

A pit of dread opens in my stomach at having to tell Uncle Nicolo that I haven't gathered the Bratva secrets he was looking for. I haven't gained any information that's going to help us take down their empire.

Everything I went to Russia to accomplish has been for nothing. I don't think he's going to take too kindly to that.

As I open the front door, I've got an apology on the tip of my tongue, but it dies when I see Maxim standing there. He's wearing a dark shirt, a leather moto-jacket hanging open over it, his dark jeans are tucked into a pair of motorcycle boots, and he still has sunglasses perched on his nose.

He looks like he stepped straight out of the pages of a magazine.

Every rational thought I've ever had flees as I stare at him, trying to figure out how I got a man as put together and sure of himself as him to be standing outside my door.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, stumbling over my words slightly.

He puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I'd like to come in."

As he stands there, there's a strange energy that radiates off him. The hair on the back of my neck stands up, little bumps rising along my arms. He is not in his charming, suave mode, today he is here in his mafia business mode. Shit, has he found out more about me?

For the first time since I've met him, I get a distinct feeling that I should do what he says without fighting.

I step to the side, holding the door open a little wider. "Come in please."

He strides into the apartment like he owns the place, sliding the jacket from his shoulders and showing off the dark floral tattoos that cover his arms. The flowers he's got inked are the same ones that span the fields of his property in Russia.

I follow him into the living room but seeing him sitting on my couch seems like such a strange thing. I never thought that he would be in my apartment.

Maxim kicks his feet up on the white coffee table, the heels of his boots leaving scuff marks and making my eyes twitch. "We need to talk."

"Does it have anything to do with you showing up here unannounced after ignoring me for the last ten days?"

"I was wondering if you would notice my absence."

"Most men don't take a woman to a foreign country, rush her out after they've only been there two days, and then spend the next ten ignoring her."

"Is it really ignoring you if you only ever sent one ice-cold message? Should I be the only one reaching out and making an effort? If you wanted to talk to me, you could have. You chose not to. I chose to respect that decision."

"Is this all because I didn't want to sleep with you?"

He shoves the sunglasses on top of his head, hazel eyes flaring with anger as his breathing gets heavier. "What the fuck do you think you're talking about? You think that I didn't have important things to do. That I chose on purpose not to talk to you because I was fucking annoyed because you didn't sleep with me? Please have a little more faith in me than that."

"Seemed rather convenient," I say. "I stopped what we had going on in the forest that night. Then you were telling me we're getting back on a plane in the morning."

"If I wanted sex, I could have chosen anybody else to come with me. You're not the only woman I know. There are plenty of women who would have willingly shared my bed."

His words sting more than I want them to. I don't like the reminder that he could have gone out at any point and found somebody else to sleep with. That he could have left me in bed in his home and still found a woman he wanted more than me.

Maxim crosses his arms, biceps bulging, veins in the back of his hand, standing out. "I came here because I've decided that you're going to marry me."

The ground falls out from beneath me as I stare at him.

He can't be serious.

He arches an eyebrow, meeting my stare with one of his own.

When he let out an irritated sigh, it was then that I realized the dark side of Maxim Orlov was coming out to play.