Bad Russian Boss: A Billionaire Office Romance

by Bella Rose

  “Mr. Sokolov?” A member of his flight crew presented him with a bowl of warm water and a hot towel.

  Sometimes being a billionaire software developer was a very good thing. Although how the young woman in the pristine uniform looked so damn chipper at six in the morning he would never know. He took the towel and bowl and tried to refresh himself. His intention had been to go directly to the office, but showing up to work looking like a zombie was likely not the best option.

  Maxim opened his laptop and scrolled through e-mails. There were at least half a dozen from Taylor reporting on the insubordination of her coworkers. Maxim ground his teeth at her obvious disregard of his reminder that she was not a supervisor.

  “Son of a bitch!” he cursed in Russian.

  With shaking hands he read the e-mail from his human resources director. The subject line had stated it was urgent. The contents were absolutely ridiculous. He grabbed his phone and dialed. He did not care if it was only six in the morning local time. He wanted to nip this before it got completely out of hand.

  “Mr. Danvers?” Maxim said tersely as soon as the call connected.

  “Mr. Sokolov sir.” To his credit, Danvers at least sounded awake. “I didn’t expect you to respond by phone. An e-mail would suffice. I thought you were in Moscow until tomorrow.”

  “I concluded my business early,” Maxim told Danvers in a clipped tone. “Am I to understand that this rumor is company-wide? To be clear. There is a company-wide rumor that I am screwing one of the developers in my security division.”

  “It went out in a group e-mail yesterday.” Danvers cleared his throat. “I have our tech department trying to identify which login was used or if the IP address is here at the company. So far we have been unable to pin down the precise origin of the e-mail.”

  Maxim cursed again—loudly. “And have you spoken with the employee in question?”

  “That’s on my list of things to do today.”

  That was awkward. If Danvers got to Landry before Maxim could smooth this over, things might be misconstrued. “I want to be there when you question her.”

  “Excuse me?” Danvers sounded truly confused. “I think that would actually be against the sexual harassment policy guidelines for handling grievances.”

  “Did the employee file a grievance?” Maxim snarled.

  “Um no, sir.”

  “Then it is not against the damn guidelines!”

  Maxim could actually hear Danvers swallow. “Yes, sir. What time would you like to meet?”

  Maxim glanced at his watch. “Nine.”

  “As you say, sir,” Danvers immediately agreed. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  ***

  “Oh. My. God!”

  Sometimes sharing a cubicle with Dinah was very, very distracting. Today was apparently going to be one of those days. The woman had come into work laughing and hadn’t stopped since. Now Landry was trying to proofread her document while ignoring Dinah’s overly dramatic reactions to the morning news—or whatever else she was reading.

  “Landry!” Dinah stage-whispered. “Did you check your e-mail?”

  “Not yet,” Landry murmured. “I wanted to get this little bit of work done before the next wave smacks me in the butt.” It was her third day on the job, but the team wasn’t cutting Landry any slack. Of course she wouldn’t have wanted them to anyway.

  Dinah spun around in her chair and kicked the back of Landry’s chair. “You need to look in your inbox. Now.”

  “I don’t have time to worry about the latest reality-show craze, Dinah,” Landry said distractedly. Sometimes she wondered if all software developers had flunked out of English class.

  “Now. I’m not kidding.”

  Landry looked over her shoulder. She hadn’t known Dinah that long, but it didn’t take a long acquaintance to hear real shock and awe in someone’s voice. Landry pulled up her e-mail inbox and scrolled down.

  “Read the one marked urgent private,” Dinah ordered.

  Landry barely made it two lines in before she started whimpering in panic and embarrassment. “No!” she wailed. “It’s not even true!” She had taken another breath to protest once again when she caught sight of the short little man with horseshoe hair and round wire-rimmed glasses. She had a bad feeling that she knew exactly who this was.

  “Landry Tobin?” the little man asked, shoving his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose.

  “Yes sir.” Landry tried to sound composed. “How can I help you this morning?”

  “Mr. Sokolov has requested a meeting with you in my office at nine o’clock this morning.” He put out his hand suddenly. “My name is Mr. Danvers. I’m the director of human resources here at Maximov.”

  “Oh.” Landry swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to ignore the choking sounds of horror coming from Dinah. “Of course. If you’ll just tell me where your office is?”

  “Other side of the elevators in the administrative area,” Danvers said primly. Then he nodded once again. “Nine o’clock sharp. Don’t be late.”

  “Of course, sir,” Landry said quickly. “I’ll be there on time.”

  Dinah managed to keep silent until Mr. Danvers was completely gone. Then she immediately started in. “It’s not fair, Landry. Totally not fair. You know who did it. We all do!”

  “And we knew there would be a cost for poking her,” Landry said softly. “I just hope I don’t have to pay the whole bill on my own.”

  ***

  Maxim had been waiting in Danvers’s square little office for nearly ten minutes when Landry finally walked in. He glanced at his watch. She’d arrived at nine o’clock on the dot. He couldn’t fault that, even though he hated to wait for any reason.

  “Ms. Tobin.” Danvers ushered her in and gestured to the chair beside Maxim’s. “If you’ll just sit down.”

  Maxim saw her look around and realized that she was attempting to see if there were any eavesdroppers or peeping toms outside the windows of Mr. Danvers’s office. That had been Maxim’s reason for closing all the blinds and shutting them in, but she couldn’t know that. She also wouldn’t know that the HR department had a division meeting in a conference room on the other end of the building at nine o’clock every morning. Despite the appearance of being rushed, Maxim had not planned this meeting on a whim.

  “So,” Mr. Danvers began. “I suppose you know why we are here, Ms. Tobin?”

  “I’m assuming it is because of that slanderous e-mail that was apparently sent to the entire company,” Landry said drily. “If you have any notion of who did it, why or how, I’m very interested to know.”

  “We are attempting to discover those things now,” Danvers assured her. “What I need to ascertain is whether or not there are any grounds for anything beyond personal harassment.”

  Landry cast a sideways look at Maxim. He wondered what she was thinking. Would she come out and say that he had slept with her prior to her employment as the e-mail specified? Or would she take this opportunity to accuse Maxim of harassing her? This was her chance to really get something out of him. He was in no position to argue at this point and she had to know it.

  “The e-mail is entirely false,” Landry said quietly. “I did not know who Mr. Sokolov was until I met him during orientation.”

  Clever girl. She hadn’t denied meeting him. She had only confirmed that she hadn’t known his identity. Maxim started to relax. Perhaps Taylor was completely off base with her assumptions about Landry. The woman did have quite a few reasons to hate the new employee after all. Landry had started an anti-Taylor movement in the department that did not show signs of dying down anytime soon.

  “So Mr. Sokolov has not approached you for any sexual favors?” Mr. Danvers said, clearing his throat and looking uncomfortably at Maxim.

  Landry cocked her head to one side, obviously working the question through in her mind. “Mr. Sokolov has behaved appropriately toward me since my employment began. He has not approached me since I started wor
king here for any inappropriate reasons.”

  Again she had neatly sidestepped the issue. Maxim was starting to wonder if she’d done this before. She was rather skillful at it. Did she always sleep with coworkers prior to working with them? Of course that was a ridiculous thought! How could she even predict such a thing?

  ***

  Landry bit her lower lip and decided to go for broke. “Excuse me, Mr. Danvers?”

  “Yes?” The little man raised his eyebrows. He was obviously very relieved at the way this interview was going, but Landry wasn’t.

  She cleared her throat. “I understand why we’re having this discussion. What I don’t understand is why Mr. Sokolov is present. According to Section Two, item forty-five of the employee code of conduct, I’m entitled to a private interview with you or another member of the senior HR staff regarding this matter.”

  “You read the employee code of conduct?” Mr. Danvers looked so excited that Landry wondered if he was going to pee his pants with glee. “Nobody reads our employee code of conduct!”

  “I spend my whole life dealing with things like that as they apply to software. Of course I’m going to read one if someone took the time to write it,” Landry told him wryly.

  “You’re right, of course,” Mr. Danvers agreed. “However, there was not actually a grievance. In fact, the two of you—you and Mr. Sokolov, I mean—are now the subjects of a dual investigation of slander using company resources. Since there is no sexual harassment grievance, there was no reason to exclude Mr. Sokolov from these proceedings.”

  “I see.” Landry felt as if she could at least breathe easier now. She obviously wasn’t getting fired—yet.

  “The next part of this investigative process is to isolate anyone who might have a reason to malign you or Mr. Sokolov,” Mr. Danvers explained. Then he grabbed a pen and looked up expectantly. “Can you think of anyone with a reason to spread such a rumor?”

  “No.” There was no way in hell Landry was going to throw Taylor under the bus. That would not end well. She was better off turning the other cheek and pretending to be unaffected.

  Maxim apparently didn’t see things in quite the same way she did. “What do you mean?” he scoffed. “Taylor Pearson has a very large reason to hold a grudge against you.”

  Danvers scribbled down the name. “Pearson? In the security department?”

  “Yes,” Maxim grunted. “She’s been extremely harsh toward Landry since she started. Not only that, but Taylor has made some allusions to nonexistent impropriety on several previous occasions.”

  “Then we will most certainly investigate her further,” Danvers assured Landry.

  Landry had to stifle a groan. If they actually dragged Taylor in here with the intention of interrogating her, things back in their department were about to get a whole lot bitchier.

  Chapter Ten

  Dinah hunkered down next to Landry in the cubicle. “Why are you hiding?” she whispered.

  Landry put her finger to her lips and pointed to Taylor’s cubicle. The self-proclaimed head honcho of the security department had a cubicle exactly the same size as Landry and Dinah’s. Of course, Taylor did not have an office mate. It was very likely because nobody wanted to share with her. Taylor’s workspace was about three cubes down on the opposite side of the aisle from Landry and Dinah. At the moment it was the scene of a rather dramatic event.

  “What do you mean I have to meet with HR?” Taylor said in a voice obviously designed to carry. “I mean I’m not the one sleeping with Mr. Sokolov!”

  “Ms. Pearson, nobody has accused you of inappropriate sexual contact with Mr. Sokolov.” This came from poor Mr. Danvers. The man probably hadn’t had this much action in his department for years.

  Dinah poked Landry. “How did your meeting go?”

  “They’re investigating the e-mail as an effort to slander Max—I mean Mr. Sokolov and I.” Landry tried to remind herself that this was not the time to slipup and use Maxim’s first name.

  “Wait.” Dinah leaned a little farther out, trying to get a better view of the dramatics taking place. “Tell me you didn’t name Taylor as a possible suspect. Are you suicidal?”

  “Not me,” Landry groused. “That was all Max—I mean Mr. Sokolov. I kept my mouth closed. Not that it’s going to matter after Taylor decides I’m the one to blame.”

  There was a hiss and shriek of outrage from Taylor. Landry stopped talking as they watched Taylor stomp her foot and point at Mr. Danvers. “This is a farce! I did nothing wrong! Who would blame me for something horrible like this? Landry? That bitch! She’s slandering me now. I’m going to sue. Do you understand me? I’m going to sue Landry. And I’m going to sue this company. And you have no proof!”

  “Wow,” Dinah said, actually taking a seat on the floor and crisscrossing her legs. “She’s going nuclear. Right?”

  Landry put her face in her hands. “Ugh! I knew this was going to happen!”

  “You didn’t do anything though, right?” Dinah assured her.

  Cooper happened to be walking by on his way to the front of the aisle. Dinah reached out and grabbed his calf. He glanced down, his smile of amusement suggesting that he found nothing surprising about Dinah sitting on the floor. “What are you doing down there?”

  “If I were you, I’d stay here and wait for the fireworks to finish,” Dinah warned.

  Landry grimaced. “Taylor is getting accused of sending that mass e-mail.”

  Cooper whistled. “Who’s the suicidal idiot who tattled to HR?”

  “Mr. Sokolov,” Landry and Dinah said in unison.

  “Poor bastard.” Cooper chuckled. “Everyone knows that Taylor has been trying to get in his pants since the minute she starting working here. You’re just an excuse, Landry. She’s been mad at him forever because he won’t sleep with her.”

  “What is with the women at this place?” Adam said as he arrived on the scene. Then he nudged Dinah with his shoe. “Is Sokolov really that hot?”

  Landry bit her tongue to keep from answering. Fortunately, Dinah did it for her. “Yeah. He really is.”

  ***

  Maxim managed to keep himself from cringing as he heard Taylor shrieking her way down the hallway to Mr. Danvers’s office in the HR department. Apparently she had not taken the news of her meeting well. Not that he was surprised. She generally wasn’t used to being called on for her behavior, but in the last week things had simply gone way too far.

  Taylor was speaking when she entered Mr. Danvers’s office ahead of him. “You have no idea the hell I’m going to rain down on your head, Danvers. When Mr. Sokolov hears about this, he’s not going to stand for it. He won’t…” She trailed off when she saw Maxim sitting in Danvers’s chair.

  “Maxim?” she said incredulously.

  He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “I’m sorry.” She coughed. “Mr. Sokolov, I’m very glad to see you here. I’m sure you’ll put a stop to this heinous accusation.”

  “As of this moment, we cannot prove anything,” Maxim said quietly. “You and I both know exactly how you went about this. I don’t think I even need to say anything further.”

  “Yes sir.” She plopped into a chair on the other side of Danvers’s desk. “I appreciate your willingness to just forget about this.”

  “I didn’t say that.” He wondered if she could tell how angry he was. It felt as though the blood were pouring through his veins, pumping his body full of adrenaline. He wanted to yell. He wanted to curse in Russian and demand she pay a price for her petty vindictiveness. “I know that you have entertained thoughts about a physical relationship between you and me since the moment you came on staff here at the firm.”

  “What?” She put her hand to her chest. “No. You’ve…I mean…just no.”

  He waved his hand. “Don’t insult my intelligence.” Then he stood up. “What you need to understand clearly is that I have no interest in you. Ever. I do not sleep with my employees.”

  He regretted that procl
amation once it was out. The truth was that he’d very much like to sleep with Landry again. And again. And again after that. In fact, he was briefly distracted from the current moment by thoughts of how incredible it was to watch her curvy body in the throes of passion. He wanted her astride him once more. He wanted to put his hands on her hips and help her find her rhythm as she climaxed on his cock.

  Danvers cleared his throat. “Mr. Sokolov?”

  “Right.” Maxim forced himself back to the moment. “No more bullshit, Taylor. Is that understood?”

  “Yes sir.” She kept her eyes downcast, but Maxim was afraid that the ball was rolling down the hill with no sign of stopping.

  ***

  Landry rubbed her tired eyes. She was exhausted, but all of the drama during the day had completely put her behind on her work production schedule. She refused to be behind on only her fourth day with the company. That wasn’t the way she worked. It was almost as if her reputation was on the line. Not just because she wasn’t keeping up with her workload, but because of all of this Taylor Pearson drama.

  The characters on her computer screen began to blur together. She yawned. It was nine o’clock at night. Twelve hours ago she had been in that bullshit meeting with Mr. Danvers and Maxim. It hadn’t gone badly. She just didn’t know what to make of things.

  Standing up, she stretched her spine until she heard it crackle. She yawned again and decided to head into the break room for a few minutes to get a soda from the refrigerator. Trudging along, she couldn’t keep her mind from drifting back to Maxim.

  The man was handsome as sin. Even when he was glaring at her because someone had made him suspicious of her motives, it didn’t change how attracted she was to him. That was sort of demented if she really thought about it. He’d been basically trashing her personal integrity and all she could think about was how much she wanted to run her fingers through all of that dark hair. She loved the way it curled around his forehead and neck. Worse, she could very well remember how silky the texture was. In fact, the man had silky dark hair on many parts of his body. There was that patch in the center of his chest. Then there was the little trail that led down his torso. And of course there was a nest of dark curls surrounding the base of his thick cock.