Rush: A Second Chance Romance

by Ellen Lane

“Because you’re a workaholic.” Charlotte finished for him, her smile mischievous. “I’ve heard this story before.”

  “I like,” I returned emphasizing each word for clarity, “To ensure that everything is running smoothly.”

  “Workaholic and control freak. The perfect combination.”

  Vlad merely sighed, taking another bite of his delectable pupusa. “If we’re going with labels here, I suppose I could call you the crazy artist. Every time I look at those plans...I feel like they get a little more untenable.”

  Charlotte only laughed softly. “I think it’s pretty much established that we have very different ways of thinking, you and I.”

  “I certainly won’t argue with you there.” He took a sip of a cinnamon flavored, milk-based beverage she told him was called horchata and let out a breath of satisfaction. Apparently, street food wasn’t as overrated as he thought.

  “But we come from different places too, Vladimir. You’re a Russian import with a crazy high IQ and a father who’s a household name. I’m...well, I’m me. I was lucky enough to be raised by a man who didn’t try to fit me into a mold.”

  “And here we are,” He finished for her, trying his best not to stare at the way the loose-t-shirt she wore clung to the swell of her breasts. “Working together for a common cause.”

  That was the easiest way for him to see it. He certainly wasn’t going to tell her that his curiosity about her bordered-on fascination, and that he was bound and determined to discover what, exactly, it was, that so obsessed him.

  That would, after all, be far too intimate for a working relationship.

  They had lunch together almost every day, barring the few that he absolutely had to stay in the office for meetings or work. Sometimes she showed him to restaurants and sometimes to street stalls - more than once they crossed half the city to get to a place she promised him would be life altering.

  And it always was.

  Though Vladimir would never classify himself as a foodie, Charlotte was rapidly showing him what it was like to explore food that transcended cultures. LA was a veritable melting pot of people from all over the world, and any food one could possibly conceive of was available there. There were a few times where he managed to convince her to join in on his lunch plans. He took her to the bistro in his hotel, and a few restaurants that made her embarrassed to step through the door in her t-shirt and jeans. Of course, the venues were more than willing to accommodate them based on his reputation alone - but part of him enjoyed watching her squirm as he urged her into places lined with golden chandeliers and pristine tables covered in cloths made of pure silk.

  The food there, she confided in him, was good, but nothing could beat hot street food from people that knew how to do it right.

  And, after a fashion, he was inclined to agree with her.

  But that didn’t mean he stopped pushing his luck.

  It took them close to two weeks to lay the foundations for the building, and then another two after that to ensure that everything was organized properly to begin with the next steps. During that time, they didn’t need to be at the job site, but that didn’t stop Charlotte from stopping in every day, just to take in the view.

  Vladimir might not have seen her on those days, had he gone straight into the office, but he always managed to make an excuse to stop by the site - and there she was, traipsing around, looking at everything and anything, even though construction had barely started. In some ways, he couldn’t help but wonder if she liked control just as much as he did - if she needed to know what was going on to make sure she remained in the loop.

  But if he took into account how very different they were, that seemed a very far-fetched notion indeed.

  It wasn’t something they had ever discussed. As far as Charlotte was concerned, he was a workaholic - though one might argue that she was just the same. She told him that, when she was a student, she could spend as many as twelve hours a day working on a project and not tire of it.

  And somehow, he didn’t think she’d changed since graduating.

  Despite his detours to the job site - to check on how things were going just as much as to make sure she was alright, he told himself - Vladimir ended up in the office for at least six hours out of every day. It was the part of his LA stay that remained routine, even though he was far from his Manhattan office.

  The paperwork was comforting to him. Though Manhattan was undoubtedly where he belonged, he could speak to clients and oversee deals just as easily from LA as he could from New York City and that was enough for him. When he was in full work mode, it was harder for him to concentrate on Charlotte - and that was a welcome reprieve as well.

  Over the course of his first few weeks in LA, any number of people called him to check on his progress. His mother, of course, was first and foremost. She called each and every week without fail, to see how he was adjusting, and Vlad was almost embarrassed by the concern in her voice. He might feel a bit like a fish out of water, but he was still a grown man - and more than used to taking care of himself.

  It made him feel better when Shiro called to tell him that their mother seemed to up her protective factor in his absence. That it wasn’t just he who was receiving the brunt of her concern - it was all of them, including their father.

  As for Jackson himself, after the first conversation Vlad had with him about Charlotte’s plans, he didn’t call again for three weeks - and when he did, he sounded just as confident as ever.

  “How is LA treating you, my boy?” Vlad took the call around six in the evening, during a lull in his work period. He had been irked to be disturbed before the secretary told him it was his father on the line. Then he couldn’t pick up the phone fast enough.

  “It’s hot.” It was the first thing that came to Vladimir’s mind, and Jackson roared with laughter.

  “I thought you might enjoy the change in climate.” He could hear the smile in his father’s voice. “It’s spring here and we could still get snow any day. You might take the opportunity to go to the beach and catch some sun.”

  Vlad made an uncomfortable sound in the back of his throat. His father had to know better. He would do no such thing. The few times in his life he had gone to the beach, he had burned rather than tanned - and then he had realized that his skin was probably too fair to do anything else but burn. He had always been the type that preferred vacations to cold weather locales - something his oldest brother Alistair liked to tease him about to this day. “I think not.”

  “Of course, of course.” Jackson chuckled. “In all seriousness though: How is the project coming along?”

  “The groundbreaking went smoothly.” Vlad had reported to his father so many times over the years that it was almost second nature. “And the foundations have been laid. Charlotte and Charles are in talks about how to proceed with the next steps.”

  “I imagine Charlie is having a bit of difficulty with the designs - more than you perhaps.”

  Though his father was three thousand miles away, Vladimir felt his face heat. “I’m not having difficulties, father.”

  “Of course. You simply called me before because you wanted to hear my voice.”

  Goddamn it. “I was merely making sure that this was absolutely what you wanted, father. This building...it will certainly be the most unique we’ve ever commissioned.”

  “That’s the point, my boy.” Whereas Vlad was tentative, Jackson had no such reservations. “New image, new blood - new way of thinking. We can’t innovate if we stay the same.”

  “That, I understand.” Vlad returned carefully. “I merely assumed that the process would be...well...gradual.” Meaning that Charlotte’s ideas were so off the beaten path that he had hoped there might have been a subtler test drive first.

  “This is as gradual as it gets, my boy. Someone has to implement things, and I figured it might as well be you.”

  “Me?” Vlad returned incredulously. “But I haven’t...You…”

  “You’re overseeing the p
roject. Certainly, I’ll step in when it’s far enough along, but for now, you’re holding the reigns, son. Which means that all of this change is in your good name.” The reality of this implication hit Vladimir like a ton loader. For all these weeks, he had acted almost as if he were taking orders from his father...but those working for him wouldn’t have seen it that way - and especially not with all the time he’d been spending with Charlotte. “Speaking of, how are things going with Miss Gardner?”

  And just like that, Vlad was rendered utterly speechless. He might have lied - might have provided a simple good or well, just to get his father to move on to another subject. Instead, he found the words stuck in his throat.

  He had never been a good liar.

  What on earth was he supposed to say? That, despite their initial meeting, they were getting along? That he was going out of his way to leave the office and speak to her. That they were dangerously close to becoming friends? He was sure these were all things that his father might like to hear - but for Vlad, they were far too dangerous. If Jackson Kensley caught so much as a whiff of interest from one of his sons where a woman was concerned, he wouldn’t relent until he knew the full nature of the scenario.

  And in this scenario, despite his best intentions, Vladimir wanted far more than to simply be friends with Charlotte Gardner.

  He wanted her.

  He was long past the point of trying to deny it. Every time she opened her smart mouth, he wanted to kiss her into silence - to yank her against him and feel the full length of her body pressing into his. He wondered what it would be like to have her beneath him - if she would still stare up at him with that mischievous smile of hers as he slid deep inside her, or would he finally have found the one thing that took her breath away…

  “Vlad? You still there?”

  “I’m here.” He forced his mind back to the conversation at hand, slightly alarmed at how violently his body reacted to the prospect of taking Charlotte as his lover. It was the last thing on earth he should ever consider, and yet he wanted her with such wild abandon that, sometimes, he wondered if he wouldn’t catch himself doing something completely and utterly idiotic. “Charlotte and I work well together. I think we’re slowly coming to understand one another.”

  “Wonderful.” Jackson’s reply was enthusiastic, and Vlad relaxed slightly. It looked as if he had dodged a bullet. “You know, I always wondered how that girl would turn out. She was something of a hellion as a little one, if her father relayed the stories right.”

  Vlad found his eyes widening slightly. Though Charlotte had given him a perfunctory rundown of her childhood - and he knew that her father and his were friendly - he’d never heard his father speak of her growing up. “She never wanted to fit into the mold,” Jackson continued, oblivious to the rapt attention his son paid the conversation. “When her mother died...it was as if she was determined to prove to everyone just how alive she was...Trevor always had his hands full. But I have to admit...she’s gone and impressed us both.” He exhaled a long breath. “I know she may not be the easiest to work with, Vlad, but Charlotte’s a tough nut to crack, I hear. She’ll gain your respect, no matter how much she bowls you over at first. So just tough it out.”

  There was no better word for what he was doing. “Toughing it out” was literally the name of the game right now. Between the way his head spun whenever he looked at her designs and the way his body betrayed him when Charlotte was around, Vlad was literally on edge twenty-four-seven. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a decent night’s sleep - to the point where his ruminations broke into his working hours.

  “Things are going well, father.” It was the best answer he could come up with. “Everything’s on schedule.”

  “You are as efficient as always, my boy.” He could hear the smile in his father’s voice, and Vlad found his lips twitching in reply. “Just don’t forget to have a little fun while you’re out there.”

  He hung up before Vladimir could reply, leaving the dark-haired man staring at the phone with a perturbed expression. Fun? How on earth could he be thinking about fun when he was slated to take over the company in six months’ time? There would be plenty of time for fun after. For now, he simply had to work on keeping his sanity intact.

  His lunches with Charlotte were as close to fun as he was going to get for a while.

  And they, Vlad realized, were quite enough as they were.

  He stayed late in the office that night, determined to catch up where he’d fallen behind. He didn’t even break for dinner, even long after the sun sank below the horizon.

  Though he knew Ethan oversaw accounting, he found himself looking over the numbers for the new building. When Charlotte laid her plans down in front of him all those weeks ago, one of his primary concerns had been the cost. He couldn’t imagine something as flagrantly flamboyant as what she provided would be within their budget. But, according to Ethan, not only did the building fit, it came in at well below what the cost of such a project might be.

  Vladimir checked the figures again and again, his frown deepening all the time. Certainly, there was no way these were accurate. It was the first time he had ever doubted Ethan’s work, and he found himself penning an e-mail to his brother with his concerns. He was surprised when the younger man replied almost immediately - before he reminded himself that the east coast was three hours behind LA.

  Hi Vlad,

  Somehow, I knew this would come up. It is my delight to tell you not to get your panties

  in a bunch. Yes, the design is unconventional - and the building is undeniably bigger

  than any we’re ever commissioned before - but the city of Los Angeles took all these

  figures into account before they approved the building ordinance. LA has recently been

  on a clean building initiative, wherein they give buildings that are gentler on the

  environment precedence over blueprints that aren’t as environmentally friendly. I’ve

  taken the liberty of providing a list of some of the major materials that Gardner calls

  for in her designs, their costs, and the costs of some of their less ecologically sound

  counterparts. I know you’re not an architecture buff, but surely you can use that big brain of yours and do the math.

  Cheers,

  Ethan

  P.S→ This matchmaker is ruining me for other women. Save me from myself.

  Vlad read the email twice, ignoring the postscript - every woman ruined Ethan for every other woman - before opening the attachment his brother added.

  It took him a good hour to read through it, and during that hour, he forgot about everything else on his to-do list. He forgot how tired he was and he forgot how nonsensical Charlotte’s design had seemed before because this...this made sense.

  Despite the building’s size and the protracted construction time, the materials Charlotte called for were both dirt-cheap and green, as well as being stronger than their usual counterparts in several places. Though he knew the project would be hooked into solar power, the figures clicked when he saw how much cheaper the panels would ultimately be when compared to conventional methods. The many gardens that dotted the grounds would be sewn with plants that weren’t only for aesthetic appeal - they were good for the environment, repelled mosquitoes and termites, and served as beds for compost piles - all of which would save the company millions over the first five years.

  Ethan was right - he wasn’t an architecture buff, and so he couldn’t use his limited knowledge of the art to help him understand Charlotte’s designs.

  But numbers always spoke for themselves - and these numbers he could more than appreciate.

  It appeared they had finally found a common language - he could thank Ethan for that.

  It was around eleven thirty that night when a soft tap came against his office door and Vladimir straightened in surprise. He assumed that he would be the only one left in the building this late, but when he looked up, he was surprised to se
e a familiar pair of honey colored eyes peering in through the small window in his office door.

  “Come in.” The words left him before he could even contemplate them, and then Charlotte was bustling into the room, her arms full of blueprints. She wasn’t, he noticed immediately, even remotely dressed for work. A pair of what he assumed to be yoga pants clung to her slender legs and the ripe curve of her behind. Her hair was shoved back from her face into a messy ponytail that spilled down her back, and she wore a black hoodie that read: I’m an architect. To save time, let’s assume I’m never wrong.

  “I’m sorry to burst in so late, but I wanted to make sure that you saw these before I give them to the boys on site tomorrow.” She attempted to organize the plans in her arms but gave up after a moment, merely setting them aside in a nearby armchair before picking the first one from the top of the pile. “That way you don’t have anything to say about me sneaking in any last-minute changes behind your back.”

  It took Vladimir a moment to recover from the unexpected sight of her - especially dressed as she was. Before Charlotte, he believed there was nothing more alluring than a woman in an evening gown - but this woman was challenging his standards of beauty. Standing before him in her sports garb, looking as if she hadn’t slept in the past twenty-four hours, she was the absolute most decadent thing he’d ever seen. Her cheeks were flushed from her journey to his office in the cool morning air, and her eyes, though tired, were bright with excitement.

  It was all too easy for him to pretend that enthusiasm was for him alone.

  “Changes?” Instead of commenting on how much he’d like to sweep everything off his desk and have her on it, Vladimir instead asked the question he knew she’d expect.

  “Just little ones. Can I move these?” She indicated the stack of unfinished paperwork on his desk, and Vlad found himself nodding before he could really consider it. When Charlotte moved them aside, a number of forms slid to the floor - meaning he would have to reorder them later. Normally, such an act might have caused him a slight conniption.

  But, just then, Vlad found he cared little.