A very Corporate Affair Book 1 (The Corporate Series) (22 page)

                "It does that to everybody," Ivan said suddenly, "it makes people relax. Being close to nature has that effect. I can see the tension you're carrying disappear."

                "Am I that easy to read?" I laughed.

                "You were last night. You're not normally."

                "So you expected me to call for international rescue this weekend then? Have you had to scoop up other girls spat out of Conniscliffe before?" This time Ivan laughed.

                "No. I've never really known any of Oscar's girlfriends before, but yes, I expected you to need assistance. As I said last week, he's a complicated man with a lot of issues, one of them being his inability to relate to normal women. He either sees them as brood mares or toys for his pleasure, with nothing in between."

                I pondered his words, "I guess our public school system has a lot to answer for."

                "It does seem to produce a lot of screwed up men, with odd ideas," he agreed, "Russian men aren't known for their enlightened attitudes to the fairer sex, but I feel positively feminist around Oscar."

                "Were you educated here or in Moscow?"

                "Neither really. I was taught to read and write in Moscow, but that was about it. I came to the UK when I was fifteen, and educated myself. I read a lot."

                 "Why did you end up here?"

                 "I had to escape. The streets of Moscow are harsh when you're poor. My parents 'disappeared'," he made air quotes, "and I stowed away on trains and trucks till I got to the UK, where I claimed political asylum."

                "Did you ever find out what happened to your parents?"

                He paused, "yes, they were shot for being political agitators. Seventeen years ago, these things were still happening. Perestroika wasn't all rainbows and roses, as it was portrayed. I was lucky, I escaped." We walked in silence, watching the spaniels sniffing trees, and romping in the undergrowth. They seemed to have an endless capacity for fun, racing around each other in a game of tag.

                "So you came and conquered London?"

                Ivan smiled, "I suppose so. There's still a lot I'd like to conquer, although I could own the world, and still want the moon. It's like a sickness that I have. Do you regret losing Oscar? He would have been able to give you an amazing lifestyle."

                I shook my head. "No. I have a great lifestyle as it is. I don't need to marry a man to be secure. Apart from a couple of meals out, and a bunch of flowers, I didn't have anything from Oscar. It would make me feel like a charity case to have gifts showered on me, or worse, a bought woman. Nope, not my style."

                "He never took you shopping?" Ivan looked shocked. I shook my head.

                "No, never. Why would he do that?"

                "Every woman I ever met has demanded I take her shopping. I thought that's what women did. Considering Oscar has almost unlimited money, I would have thought a new wardrobe of clothes at the very least."

                "You date the wrong women," I teased, "I didn't 'demand' anything, and I have no idea how much money Oscar has, it's none of my business."

                "He has billions," said Ivan, "banking is the biggest scam in the world. They create money out of thin air, through fractional reserve banking, and get paid back real money, with interest. Nice little closed cartel too."

                "It doesn't matter now," I said. "He can spend it on someone else."

                "What did he do to you?" Ivan asked gently.

                "Nothing I'm going to share with you. Oscar and I have a deal. I stay silent, and he stays away from me. That suits us both just fine. Can we change the subject now?"

                He nodded. "Sure." Thankfully the girls came racing back, both stinking of fox poo, thoroughly pleased with themselves. "Looks like we're bathing spaniels this afternoon. Girls, you both stink," he said. I giggled.

                 Back at the house, Ivan disappeared to run a bath, and I plugged my dead iPhone in to charge, before helping bath two wriggly, overexcited little dogs. Ivan lathered, and I rinsed, while the two dogs delighted in shaking the water out, soaking us both. By the time we'd finished, the bathroom looked like a bomb site, Ivan's hair was drenched, and my wet T-shirt had gone see through. We slid around on the wet floor, trying to each catch a spaniel to dry them off with towels, and ended up in a heap, laughing our heads off. The wet spaniels just sat wagging wet tails, spraying us both.

                "That wasn't a raging success," laughed Ivan, helping me up, "you are the naughtiest girls, so don't look so pleased with yourselves." The spaniels just wagged even more.

                I caught Ivan staring at my wet T-shirt, so quickly nipped back to my room to change into dry clothes. I went back downstairs to find Ivan preparing some lunch. His housekeeper had left a cold roast chicken in the fridge, and he had a pan of jersey royals boiling on the hob.

                "Chicken, new potatoes and baby corn ok with you?"

                "Sounds great. Anything you need me to do?"

                "No, just sit and drink your wine." He pushed a glass towards me. I picked up my phone, and switched it on. There was a text from James asking if I was ok, and one from my mum, just saying hi. I quickly replied to both.

                "Did Oscar check you were safe?"

                "No. One from my flatmate, and one from my mum." In truth, I was a little hurt that Oscar hadn't cared about my safety. I could have been lying in a ditch for all he knew.

Chapter 16

                We spent an extremely lazy and enjoyable afternoon flopping on the sofa, watching a film, with the spaniels positioned in between us, out cold, and snoring.

                "One little walk, and they're worn out for the day. Lazy little things," laughed Ivan, stroking Bella's rather round, little tummy.

                "They've had a busy day, walking, being bathed, eating. It's a lot for a small person." I said, before Tania let out a loud snore. We both laughed.

              I discovered that Ivan was a big fan of chocolate, and we scoffed matchmakers and celebrations as we watched‘The Prince of Persia'. I loved the fact that he didn't insist on poncey chocolate, as I preferred the normal stuff. It was yet another affirmation of his lack of snobbery, which I thought was really attractive. I would never have expected 'The Russian' to have been the type to spend a day tenderly looking after dogs, and eating supermarket chocolate while sprawled out watching TV. In my mind, I'd expected him to be uptight, hyper disciplined, and a workaholic. He hadn't even had a single phone call all day, let alone done any work.

                Halfway through the film, I became aware of a third snore adding to the cacophony of the dogs. I glanced over to see Ivan had fallen asleep. I stared at him, wondering if I would ever get used to how beautiful his face looked. He looked serene and boyish, at odds with his powerful, intensely masculine body. Ignoring the film, I replayed our day together in my mind. For two people who didn't know each other well, we had been remarkably relaxed in each other's company, rather like the easy relationship I had with James. I had to remind myself that he was a sharp talking billionaire who I'd witnessed sharking a client. I mentally slapped myself for thinking how nice and normal he was, when in reality he was beautiful beyond belief, and as sharp as a knife. I steeled myself against being seduced. In the meantime, I could enjoy the pretty... Ok, I was being a bit creepy with the 'staring while he's

asleep' thing, but if I was being honest, I wanted to get over his looks, and stop them affecting me, although I was puzzled as to why he hadn't made a move on me. If he did, I wasn't entirely sure I'd want to resist.

                Eventually, Bella nuzzled him awake, and he scrubbed at his face, before checking his watch. "Ok baby girl, yes I know, it's tea time." He wandered out to the kitchen with the dogs at his heels, and reappeared a few minutes later bearing glasses of wine. The film had long finished, and I was watching a crappy game show. "Shall I show you round the house?"

                I followed him down a corridor, and into his home gym. It was really well equipped, and with the pool, had everything I'd need. We carried on to the library, which was beautiful. Ivan took a piece of paper, and wrote down his wifi password for me, so I could use the Internet on my laptop.

                "I'd rather you didn't use my study, if that's ok," he said. I nodded.
What secrets have you got then Ivan?

                He showed me how to summon security, and how to use his panic room, which was extremely well fitted out with food, water and communications. "Why all the security?" I asked.

                "I made a lot of enemies over the years," was his flippant reply, "quite a few would love a pop at me, so I make sure I'm well protected."

                We decided on a swim before dinner. I changed into my costume, and wrapped a towel round myself. Ivan was already swimming when I got there. I climbed in, and began a front crawl, which soon turned into a race. Ivan was a good swimmer, but I was faster. We did length after length as he tried to catch me up, never quite managing it, but the chase itself was exhilarating,

                Eventually, I stopped at the edge of the pool, and waited as Ivan caught up. We were both panting and breathless from the exertion. "Are you some kind of Olympic swimmer?" Ivan asked, between trying to catch his breath.

                I grinned, "no, but I do swim every day." I glided away from him, and lay floating on my back, looking up at the sky. A pair of hands shoved me from underneath, launching me into the air, before I landed back in the water with a splash. Ivan popped up from under the surface, and began to laugh at me spluttering.               "That's not fair," I yelled, before diving under the water, and grabbing his feet, causing him to flail his arms wildly to keep himself from sinking.

                I let go of his feet, and came up for air, smoothing my wet hair back off my face. Ivan was staring at me. "You are so beautiful Elle, you know that don't you?"

                "That's really sweet of you to say, Ivan, thank you," I replied, "and you are very handsome too."

                "But?"

                "But nothing. You're handsome." I smiled, and swam away from him to get out of the pool. The early evening air was cool, and made me shiver slightly. To my absolute horror, my nipples hardened into bullets. I grabbed the towel and wrapped it round me, fully aware that Ivan had gotten an eyeful, as I could see lust written all over his face. For a split second, I let myself imagine what it would be like to have those lust filled sapphire eyes staring into mine, as he made wild, passionate love to me. I shoved that thought out of my head, and asked him if he was getting out.

                "Give me a few minutes, and I'll be out," he said, looking uncomfortable.

                "Ok, no problem," I said, turning to walk back to the house, and give him some privacy. Inwardly, I was high fiving myself.

I jumped in the shower to wash the chlorine off, and then pulled on my pyjamas and robe. Back downstairs, I poured another glass of wine each, and settled down on the sofa for Sunday night telly. Ivan took ages in the shower, eventually appearing halfway through Top Gear. He flopped down on the sofa, and gave Tania’s ears an affectionate rub, before grabbing his wine, and taking a big slug.

                "What time are you leaving in the morning? I asked.

                "About seven." I felt quite bereft at the thought of not seeing him again until Friday, but given the task I had to complete in the next week, it was probably a good thing not to be distracted. If he had been at home, I would have had to stay at the Travelodge so as not to be tempted.

                "Are you hungry?" He asked.

                "Not really, but I could eat if you are." He jumped up, and disappeared into the kitchen. About ten minutes later, he came back carrying a tray laden with snacks. Between the four of us, we managed to demolish the contents fairly quickly. The girls getting more than their fair share. It was all very cosy and domestic, and it made me miss James, and the easy familiarity we shared.

                By ten I was yawning, so said my good nights, and headed up to bed. Ivan took the girls outside for their final wee, and I heard him talking to them as the three of them headed to his bedroom. I lay in the darkness, trying not to think of him laying, possibly naked, just across the hall. Was he laying awake thinking about me? Or was he thinking about the date he sent home on Saturday night? I allowed myself to fantasise about him coming to my bedroom, declaring that he just had to have me. I knew he would never behave like that, but I still held my breath as I heard the bedroom door creak open.

                I felt the bed dip slightly, and a cold, wet nose nuzzled my hand. I couldn't see which one it was, so I just gave her ears a little rub, and listened to her snuffly breathing as I fell asleep.

                As per usual, I was up bright and early. I discovered that Tania had spent the night with me, and looked as though she had no intention of getting up early. After pulling on shorts and a T-shirt, I ventured down to the kitchen to make tea. Sitting on the patio, sipping my cuppa, I focused my mind on the day ahead. I decided not to tackle Mrs Smith about her less than complimentary description of me to Lady Golding, as I figured that we had enough rope to sack her at the disciplinary hearing we had planned, failing that, I knew that we could make her position so difficult, she'd beg to retire. I drained my cup, and headed into the gym, and straight onto the treadmill. I needed to clear the cobwebs of the difficult weekend away, and work off some of the food I'd eaten. I could hear Ivan talking to the dogs in the kitchen as I used the weights machine.