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 myfingers 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 propershoes 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 therewas 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.”