I put the phone down. “This evening.”
“Where?”
“A meeting.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“The kind you don’t need to attend.”
She rolls onto her back, pulling the sheet with her. It covers very little. Less than she thinks. Her hair spills across the pillow, and her breasts rise beneath the white linen with every breath.
Her mouth curves slightly, but her eyes stay watchful. “That sounds suspicious.”
“It’s business.”
“Everything is business with you when you don’t want to answer.”
“Because the answer is usually business.”
“Boring business?”
“No.”
That stops her. She studies me for a moment. “Is it dangerous?”
“Yes.”
She sits up, holding the sheet to her chest. “Then why are you going?”
“Because that’s why I came to Moscow.”
Silence settles between us.
For the first time since she woke, Katerina looks uncertain. Not frightened exactly, but wounded by the reminder that there is a life around me she has barely seen the edges of.
“I thought you came to show me snow,” she says.
The pout is small. Almost childish. Completely uncalculated. It should not work on me, but…
It works.
I stand and reach for my trousers before I do something stupid, then realize I’m already considering it.
“No,” I say. “You thought I came to Moscow and found you on the way.”
“That’s what happened.”
“Partly.”
She watches me dress with an expression she tries to make casual and fails. The sheet slips an inch. My body reacts like a fool.
“You still have not told me what you do,” she says.
“I told you. Investments.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I’m an excellent liar. You’re simply inconvenient.”