by Ellen Lane
She was wearing one of the dresses he’d bought her - a light grey suede number - long-sleeved and high collared. Aside from those points of modesty, however, it left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The garment hugged her curves so intimately he might have been jealous if she didn’t look so breathtaking in the damn thing. Along with the dress, she wore a pair of flat black boots that covered everything the dress didn’t, and her curls had been tamed into a sleek bun atop her head.
It was a look that definitely wasn’t Charlotte. Too buttoned-up and sleek. But that wasn’t to say it didn’t flatter her. It did far more than that - which was, of course, why he’d bought it in the first place.
But he hadn’t expected her to actually wear it. Not now, when he’d been inside her just hours ago and he still wanted her far more than he could possibly contend with.
Immediately, any plans he might have had to act as if they hadn’t been together flew out the window. At the sight of him - or, more appropriately, at his expression when she entered the room, Charlotte’s lips quirked upwards into a smile. She crossed the room to him to extend an unmarked manila folder that he assumed contained the details of the plans they’d decided on - but Vladimir was less interested in them than he was the woman who had created them. “Nice of you to show up,” she teased, her hazel eyes mischievous. “I was beginning to think you and Toshiro were taking the day off.”
“Of course not.” He somehow managed to regain the power of speech before taking the folder from her. He glanced around, making sure that no one was observing them too intensely before he leaned down to murmur in her ear. “That dress is sinful.”
Charlotte grinned. “I can barely breathe. This is totally for your benefit, I’ll have you know.”
“Well I certainly appreciate it.” He didn’t think he’d ever appreciated anything more.
“Better watch out, Mr. Kensley.” Charlotte turned away from him with a soft laugh. “Someone might think you’re flirting with me.” Just like that, she sauntered back in the direction she’d come from, leaving Vladimir to trail after her, glad he was still wearing his heavy overcoat.
It seemed as though Charlotte was not avoiding him. Quite the contrary; and though he knew he should feel guilty, instead, Vladimir was glad.
Very glad.
They visited the building site for the first time - an immense, half crumbling building constructed almost thirty years ago. Vladimir couldn’t imagine anyone in their right mind - and without a construction permit - would want to go in. But Charlotte barely waited to be fitted with a hard
hat before she was all but dancing over the threshold.
Thankfully, the places that were safe to step had been marked off from those that weren’t by yellow caution tape, and the redhead seemed to stick to those provisions. As the building manager and the CEO conversed rapidly about how much of the building would have to be gutted, Charlotte found delight in every corner - something that Vladimir watched with a mixture of confusion and amusement.
She craned her head to look at fading paint and the shape of molding, used her bare hands to brush away dust and marveled at the window frames as if they were some great work of art, when all he could see as a hazard to human health. “Vladimir, come!” At her sudden shout, he hurried through the next room after her, worried that she might have fallen and injured herself.
What he found, instead, was Charlotte perched precariously on a window ledge, gazing out at the city a good ten stories below her. “It’s absolutely gorgeous,” she breathed. Vladimir swallowed thickly, reaching out to take a firm hold of her arm before he joined her. He himself was more concerned about her falling to her death in an already dangerous situation, but when he followed her gaze to look out over the city, he found that he agreed with her wholeheartedly.
St. Petersburg was beautiful. So different from any other city that he’d been to, and yet, somehow, after decades Stateside, it still felt like home. Not many people understood what it was like to call two places home - and especially not after one of those places had almost killed them. But, thanks to his parents, Vladimir had never come to hate Russia.
“What was it like?” He looked over to find Charlotte looking up at him curiously. “Before you got adopted, I mean. When you lived here.”
It was perhaps the most intimate question a woman had ever asked him. No female he had encountered cared much about what he had been. They were far too absorbed on what he was. Billionaire, CEO in the making, second eldest of the Kensley clan. But Charlotte had never seemed drawn into any of that.
Which was, perhaps, why he felt little reluctance in telling her. “It was a nightmare.” He spoke in a fairly neutral tone. At thirty-five, Vladimir was removed enough from the horror of his early childhood to speak of it almost as if they happened to another person.
Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, Jesus…. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”
“Of course you didn’t.” Vlad stopped her apology before it could really gain any steam. “Thanks to my adoptive family, I’ve long moved on. But the life I live now is a far cry from the one I had here.” He didn’t like to drag over the details, as he never particularly liked talking about his past, but here, Vladimir did so. “My biological father was a drunk. In his brief moments of sobriety, he would eat everything in the house while the rest of us starved. My mother worked herself to the death trying to support us, and my father beat her whenever he found she’d been squirrelling money away.” He exhaled a long breath. “I had a sister...her name was Elizaveta. They took her from the family two or three years before I was adopted but left me behind.”
“Stop.” Charlotte spoke softly, raising a hand to his lips to cover them gently. Her hazel eyes shone with an emotion he’d never seen before. It wasn’t pity, and it wasn’t quite anger...but there was something hurt there. Something that, after so many years, he’d forgotten how to feel. “That’s enough. You don’t have to tell me anymore.”
Reaching up, Vladimir wrapped her fingers in his. “I’ve upset you.”
“Not you,” Charlotte breathed, shaking her head. “What happened to you. For you to rise above all that...it’s no small feat, Vladimir. I hope you know that.”
Vladimir felt something strange stutter in his chest. In all their teasing and all the banter they exchanged, he didn’t know if they had ever really had a heartfelt conversation. Not like this...and certainly not with Charlotte implying that she respected him for overcoming the hardship that had helped create him.
It was a strange feeling. Vladimir had had a few flings in his twenties and he’d been with more than his share of women as he got older, but being with them had never been as complicated as it was to be with Charlotte. She confused him - made him contemplate things he never had before. Made him need with an intensity that, quite frankly, made him wonder if he was somehow evolutionarily regressing. Becoming some sort of creature who couldn’t see beyond their basest desires.
It briefly occurred that, maybe, if Charlotte was involved, that option wouldn’t be too horrible.
“I do believe that you just paid me a compliment, Charlotte.” The corner of his mouth quirked upward slightly in amusement as he pushed the notion back down deep, where it belonged. It wouldn’t do to dwell on whatever was between them. The only thing he could do now was indulge while it lasted. Here, in Russia, there were far away from prying eyes and flapping mouths.
And, in contrast to the way he’d attempted to feel that morning, he planned on relaxing with Charlotte for as long as he was able.
They stayed on site for an hour or two - just until the sun began to go down and they had taken several measurements. Charlotte scribbled several pages of notes and a few more comments were made on the construction that was set to begin the next day.
And then they were on their way back to the hotel.
Charlotte still watched the city like the very first day she had arrived, nose pressed to the window, lips parted in sheer amazement. As Vladimir
watched her, he realized that the childish way she could behave was part of the reason he was so drawn to her. Where many people in the world - himself included - were jaded to the wonder around them, Charlotte was not one of them. She didn’t take any threat lying down, but she could also appreciate any situation she was dropped into.
She had certainly dealt with him in a way he had never expected.
“Perhaps tomorrow we can take the day off.” His suggestion made her head swing around as she looked at him incredulously.
“But the construction starts tomorrow. Don’t we have to be there to help oversee things?”
“In the morning, yes,” he agreed, “but afterward, I could show you more of the city, if you’d like.”
“If I’d like?” She cried incredulously. “Why wouldn’t I like?” Her unbridled enthusiasm drew a chuckle from him.
“Alright then, it’s settled. We’ll make our plans at breakfast tomorrow.”
A short beat of silence greeted his statement before Charlotte replied, her voice low and sinuous. “Does that mean you won’t be coming to check on me tonight?”
Vladimir didn’t think he’d achieved erection so quickly since he was a teenager. He’d meant to have dinner with her. A few glasses of wine and some idle conversation...see where things went. But if she was inviting him into her clutches once more, he certainly wasn’t about to refuse.
Charlotte was rapidly teaching him that perhaps a direct approach was the best one; but then again, like him, she had never liked to waste time.
Despite the fact that neither of them had gotten much sleep the previous night, they got even less sleep after dinner. Vladimir couldn’t get enough of having Charlotte beneath him, on top of him, around him. With every touch, she begged for more - begged for him, and it would hardly be gentlemanly to refuse her.
He found his appetite insatiable, caressing her even after they’d come apart in one another’s arms, in anticipation of the next time that they came together - over and over. When she finally slept, tucked peacefully against his side, Vladimir found that feeling of contentment once more.
Vladimir had forgotten what it was like to feel like this. To forget, if just for a moment, the responsibilities that awaited him in the outside world. To lose himself in someone so completely that they seemed to be the only other person in existence.
Or perhaps he had never really felt this free at all.
His entire life, he had always worried. He had always concentrated on his next move - on doing whatever he needed to prove himself worthy of the Kensley name. But Charlotte didn’t care about any of that. Certainly, she cared about her career, and the work she was doing for the company, but that wasn’t why she was here, in his arms.
Welcoming him into her bed.
Knowing that, however, didn’t help Vladimir come any closer to why she would do such a thing. Carnal hunger was powerful yes, but they were two entirely different people. When they first clashed, they had been so diametrically opposed that you could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.
So what had changed? A little give a little take...and then...this?
With a low sigh, Vladimir gathered Charlotte closer to him, reveling in the feel of her smooth skin against his. It was better that he didn’t question it. Questioning, he feared, would lead back to his dependence on facts and figures. On trying to ascertain the logic of things.
And this was one situation in which his logic paid him few favors.
He slept for a few hours and dreamed of Charlotte teasing him awake with her lips and fingers. When he did actually stir, it was to the heavenly feeling of her mouth around him. The result was another hour-long marathon of lovemaking that left both of them bonelessly exhausted. Charlotte even protested that she might like to sleep through their eight am call to the building site, but the threat of their day off being rescinded was enough to send her scrambling to the bathroom.
While she showered, Vladimir called Toshiro.
“A day off?” The Japanese man replied incredulously to his proposal, “On the first day of construction? Dear Jesus, Vlad, what’s gotten into you?”
So much for not giving him a hard time. “Are you and Athena coming or not? We can go as soon as we’re finished at the site.”
“Of course we’re coming. I’ll wake her now.” His words were a reminder that the elder man wasn’t the only one wrapped up in a woman. Toshiro, however, was in deeper than he could imagine. With a slight frown, Vladimir remembered Athena’s passionate admission to him just days earlier.
She was in love with Toshiro - or, at least, that’s what she professed. Vladimir didn’t know much about Athena, but she hadn’t told him that she wanted Toshiro to marry her, or raved that she wanted his children. In fact, the love she had proclaimed was surprisingly selfless. She wanted to help Toshiro while they were together.
She spoke as if she knew their relationship had an end date.
Love, Vladimir decided, was a strange and funny thing - one he had no time to get tangled up in. He had his hands full enough with Charlotte as it was - he couldn’t take the time to wonder if Toshiro was sliding down a slope more slippery than he could imagine.
Vladimir worried that Charlotte might be upset that he had invited Athena and Toshiro to come with them. It was, in his opinion, a safer option than being alone with her. Being alone with Charlotte was dangerous - when he couldn’t lose himself in his body, he found his pensive mind betraying him in ways that he didn’t like to dwell on for too long.
Physicality was simpler - and he certainly couldn’t be physical with her when they were out and around the town. Perhaps that was a good thing. After all, he didn’t want to get too used to touching her.
Much as he might like to.
But Charlotte seemed to have no such reservations. When she caught sight of Toshiro and Athena waiting in the lobby, she beamed, glancing at Vladimir in approval. Athena waved in greeting and the two women quickly fell to speaking to one another in low tones as Vladimir greeted his brother.
“I am, quite frankly, shocked at your behavior, Vlad.” Shiro smirked, shaking his head teasingly.
“Oh, come off it.” The taller man rolled his eyes. “Before I change my mind.”
“Please, don’t tempt him.” Charlotte piped up, making Toshiro chuckle. “We might not get another day off for the next three weeks.”
“Alright, alright.” They led the way down the steps and to the waiting car, where their grand tour of the city began.
Though Toshiro had agreed to stop his teasing, he made no bones about reminding Vladimir that he had never offered his brother a private tour of the city. In reply, the elder man simply eyed him in warning and Toshiro laughed.
Vladimir guided them to all the sites Charlotte had been so intent on when they first arrived in the city. He didn’t know as much as a bonafide tour guide, but his understanding of the native tongue allowed him to translate what was on plaques and informational posters. Charlotte hung onto his every word, interested in everything from how the buildings had been constructed to the historical events that happened inside them.
While Toshiro and Athena were polite, it was clear that they were far more interested in one another than anything he might have to say. Of course, while they were exploring Cathedrals and, in particular, the Imperial Palace, the women were as thick as thieves. The moment they saw something they liked, they were off to ooh and ahh over the site.
“You make a pretty good host, Vlad.” Toshiro observed a painting that stretched a good forty or so feet across as he complimented his brother. “I’m sure Charlotte’s having a good time.”
“There was never any doubt of that,” Vladimir replied, ever-logical. “Russia is her first international project. Even if we weren’t involved, she would still be ecstatic.”
“I’m sure,” Toshiro’s reply was tactical. He’d spent years conversing with Vladimir, so he knew how to get around his infallible logic. “But the experience is more improved wit
h you here.”
Vladimir made a face. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to bolster my ego with a woman. I’ve never doubted my ability with women, Toshiro.”
“You doubted yourself with this one,” Toshiro nodded discreetly in Charlotte’s direction, where she was explaining something about domed ceilings for Athena. “Because she’s not like you...and she isn’t like any woman you’ve tangled with before.”
Vladimir sighed, raking a hand through his dark hair. “I thought we weren’t going to discuss women.”
“Not talking about them. I’m talking about you.” Toshiro chuckled. “Charlotte’s not the only one having a good time.”
Vladimir shrugged off that particular comment. “I always enjoy coming to Russia. I was born here, after all.”
“Not like this.” But Toshiro didn’t push the subject any further. “I just like seeing you happy, Vlad. I was beginning to think you would always be a workaholic.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” the taller man returned wryly. His work had always given him purpose, and that wasn’t going to stop just because he started sleeping with Charlotte. His work would always be first and foremost, the Kensley name would always be first and foremost.
With a shrug, Shiro turned to gaze up at another painting, his smile faint. “Heaven forbid.”
For the first day he had taken off work in several years, the afternoon went surprisingly well. Of course, Vladimir had hoped to see some of his favorite places around St. Petersburg, but he had never imagined how much doing it with other people added to the experience. Out of all his brothers, he had always been the one who preferred isolation to the company of others. It helped him to think.
But, today, there was little thinking involved. He staved off his brother’s teasing as he led the party around the city, watching with no small amount of amusement as Charlotte marveled over the tiniest details in architecture and city design, and enjoying the sunshine in juxtaposition to the biting cold. After they had their fill of museums and cathedrals, he took them to Palkin, one of the most famous restaurants in the city, for a taste of real Russian fare.