Frustration swirled through her, clouding her thoughts. The ambassador had never given out her number before, so why now? She didnotwant to have dinner with anyone from Russia or connected with work, so she’d ignore the text. While she was posing as a loyal Russian, she was drawing a hard line on this one.
“No fucking way.”
She called room service, placed a breakfast order. Not knowing Gabriel’s food preferences, she ordered too much of everything. Halston’s work phone rang. It was the ambassador.
“Good morning, Mr. Ambassador,” she answered, her Russian accent rolling off her tongue. “How are you today, sir?”
“Minka, I’m sorry to call early. You work today, yes?”
“Of course. Do you need me to run an errand for you?” She rolled her eyes.
“Do you remember Bob Smith? He was in meeting with Dmitri Petrov.”
“I got a text from him.”
“We discuss in office.” Bulgrov hung up and the line went dead.
She confirmed the call had ended before she grunted. “There’s no way I’m doing that. I don’t care what kind of bullshit pressure he puts on me.”
“Everything okay?” Gabriel asked, his velvety voice caressing her ears.
She turned, her gaze dropped. Gabriel’s damp hair was slicked back, his stunningly handsome face with those sexy bedroom eyes hijacked her full attention until she realized he was butt naked.
Ohmygod, he’s fantastic.
And her gaze dropped lower and lower until she eyed his feet. They were as perfect as the rest of him.
As she eye-fucked him, her palpitating heart rate slowed down. While he normally revved her engine, she appreciated the calming effect he had on her… especially now.
“I ordered us breakfast.”
He walked over, pressed his index finger to the spot between her eyebrows. “Your eyebrows are pinched together. Tell me what sins you’ve committed.”
She smiled. “Are we role playing? Are you my priest? I like where this is going, but I can’t now. I have to eat, then head to work.”
When he didn’t say anything, she finished getting ready, too mired in her problem to think about anything else.
After a long silence, Gabriel said, “We can get to know each other over breakfast.”
She studied his face. There was a hardness in his eyes that she’d seen when he’d talked to the redhead at the elevator. Maybe he was going to dump her. An unexpected sadness flitted through her. She steeled her spine, forcing out the thought of his rejection.
Maybe I’m wrong.
This could be work Gabriel, the ruthless businessman who ruled with an iron fist. There could be any number of reasons why he was projecting a cold demeanor. Rather than try to second-guess him, she would ask him at breakfast.
Minutes later, room service delivered their food. She brought the server into the suite, waited while he set up their entrées on the dining room table.
She sat, set her work phone on the table beside her. Gabriel sat at the head, catty-corner to her.
“This is a lot of food,” he said as he removed the silver lids.
After pouring two coffees, she added creamer to hers and sipped. He watched with keen interest as she took another sip. Only then, did he drink the hot java.
One more sip before she served herself scrambled eggs, toast, and a sausage. “Can I serve you?”
“I got this,” he replied.
She bit into the eggs, but her appetite had been killed by the thoughts of having to go out with Bob Smith. She set down her fork, sipped the coffee, then took a long drag of the orange juice.