by Bella Rose
“Enough,” Maxim growled. “I grow tired of your manipulating.”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you think me blind and deaf?” Maxim dropped his mask and let her see just how irritated he was by her machinations. “You consistently put yourself forward. You have even tried to create a management position for yourself. There is no project lead in this department. You have no more power or status than the others. I value experience and work ethic, not forwardness. You are on warning. Do you understand? If you continue to undermine me and my company’s interests for your own benefit you will find yourself unemployed.”
***
“I wonder what he’s saying to her,” Dinah whispered to Landry.
Landry wished her new friend would be quiet. Taylor’s minions were looking suspiciously in their direction. Landry didn’t know what was going on, but she knew enough to realize that Taylor felt threatened. Obviously the woman had overplayed her hand with Maxim this time, but who could say if that would continue? What if Maxim believed her lies? Then Landry was screwed. She needed to shore up her position in the company quickly. And if that meant making everyone like her, then she’d do her best to make it happen.
Landry took a deep breath and smiled across the conference table at Nelson. “Did you do a lot of the wording for these requirements?”
“Yes.” He looked suspicious.
She just continued to smile. “They’re very well done. I just wanted to compliment you. That’s all.”
Beside her she could feel Cooper, Adam, and Dinah’s mouths drop open. Had none of them ever tried to be friends with Taylor’s lackeys? Or had they tried and failed? Landry had no idea, but she did know that they needed everyone on the team working together if they were going to put out a great product.
“Can we keep working while they’re gone?” Landry suggested. “Maybe we can look ahead, formulate a few things, and then come back and catch them up when they finish their meeting.”
Nelson glanced at his two companions and shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
Landry sighed in relief as Nelson began scrolling forward on the presentation. The conversation began to flow. Adam and Cooper started a lively debate about exact wording and Nelson and his companions joined in. They were collaborating. It was exactly what should have been going on.
“What are you doing?” Dinah whispered to Landry.
Landy nudged her new friend. “We all need to work together. If Taylor doesn’t have a private hit squad, she can’t undermine us all. Don’t you want to work someplace where you don’t have to watch your back?”
“Yeah.”
“So make friends and prove to them that you’re not whatever it is Taylor made them believe about you.” Landry offered Dinah an encouraging smile.
To Landry’s delight, Dinah began piping up whenever she saw something she could comment on. There was increased chatter. Then there was laughter. After that the ideas began brewing. They tabled some things for future releases and then continued hammering out details of this one. It was exactly as it should have been and Landry was getting more and more excited with every passing moment. This was the sort of job she had dreamed of snagging.
“What’s going on in here?” Taylor snapped as she stomped back inside.
Landry saw Nelson begin to curl in on himself, but Adam got there first. “We were just working ahead so that we could bring you guys back up to speed without wasting any time. Nelson, show her.”
Then Maxim strolled in. Nelson seemed to gather himself. He glanced at his cronies, then at Taylor. Finally he burst into a stream of chatter. Landry watched the man gain confidence. Then he and Adam were passing the conversation back and forth, explaining all of the things they had just thought of and detailing how these ideas related to this release, and where they might go from there.
Landry kept intentionally silent. She didn’t want to take away their success because of Taylor’s sudden fixation on Landry. She was also very aware of Maxim’s gaze on her. It made her shiver, but not in the good way she’d experienced before. What had happened? Surely Maxim wouldn’t believe the tales that Taylor was most likely spreading about Landry by now?
Suddenly Maxim began clapping. The whole room went silent, but he was smiling broadly at each member of the team. “This was why I put you all together in this department. This is exactly what I envisioned when I came up with this team. Thank you so much for your hard work and your input. I encourage you to continue working together as a group.”
Taylor sat sullen in her seat, refusing to speak to anyone. Landry felt her hatred plain as day. That was not a good thing. Landry knew that without being told. Yet she was tired of rolling over for the Morgans of the world. Just because someone thought they were all powerful did not make it true. Landry did not want to live her life like that anymore.
“Landry,” Maxim said suddenly, “if you and Taylor could please meet with me in my office for just a few minutes.”
Landry’s hands went icy cold and she heard the blood rushing in her ears. She stood up and nodded, trying to put on a confident face. Dinah shot her a look of sympathy, but Landry was far beyond the point where she could be comforted. Was she about to be fired? What was happening?
She followed Maxim to his office. Beside her, Taylor was tossing her head like a beauty queen about to receive her crown. Whatever was about to happen could not be good. The door shut and Landry found herself alone with Maxim and Taylor.
“Now,” Maxim began, looking from one woman to the other. “I don’t know what the fuck is up between the two of you, but I will not have it jeopardizing this team or its work. Do you both understand?”
Landry nodded. From the corner of her eye she could see Taylor give a curt nod as well.
Then Maxim stared right at Landry. “And I don’t know what is true and what is not, but I will not tolerate employees who try to manipulate the system for their own gain.” His gaze cut to Taylor. “Is that understood?”
Landry felt cold fear slide down her spine even as the outrage made her lightheaded with anger. “Crystal clear,” she told him. And she meant it too. Anything that had happened between her and Maxim Sokolov was ancient history and not worth remembering.
Chapter Eight
Maxim brooded on his way to the airport, brooded during the flight to Moscow on his private jet, and essentially pouted the entire way from the airport to his brother’s home in the center of the city’s wealthiest district.
“What is wrong with you?” his brother Pyotr asked in Russian. “You’re behaving like a besotted boy.”
“Besotted,” Maxim scoffed as he took a seat on the luxurious sofa. He gazed at the view of the river visible from Pyotr’s windows. “What would make you suggest something so ridiculous?”
Pyotr snorted. “Your behavior?” Pyotr waved his hand to indicate Maxim’s entire visage. “You look almost wistful. Then at times you will stare into space and a smile will appear only to be replaced by a frown mere seconds later. It’s all quite dramatic.”
“Dramatic,” Maxim said moodily. “Great. That’s what I’ve always desired to be.”
“Well you came here to Moscow to close a business deal, no?”
“True.”
A smile stretched over Pyotr’s face. “Perhaps we should hit the casino? What one woman has created another woman can assuage. You simply need a good night between the legs of a truly skilled lady, no strings attached. The rest will cease to matter by morning.”
Usually Maxim would have agreed with his brother. Once or twice a woman had lingered in his mind for one reason or another—usually nothing good—and he would soon forget her by slaking his lust with someone else. It seemed simple enough. Unfortunately, this time Maxim suspected the fix would not be so easy.
Landry had been an exceptional conquest. In fact, until this recent bout of ill will he felt regarding the possibility of a sexual harassment suit, he would not have referred to her as a conquest at all. Things had been quite
different between them. He had not felt as if what they shared was cheap or filled with hidden motives.
“Have a drink,” Pyotr urged. “Your associate will arrive in just a moment. Then we can get the business out of the way.”
As if Pyotr were reading tea leaves, the elevator doors of the penthouse apartment whooshed open to admit a man whom Maxim had known for decades, but had never truly felt comfortable around.
“Ah!” Boris Orlov held out both hands. “It is so good to see you, my friend!”
Maxim stood up to receive Boris’s enthusiastic greeting. The massive man was taller and much rounder than Maxim. When Boris leaned in and kissed Maxim’s cheeks, he had to fight back the urge to wipe his face. It would not do to insult the man he needed a signature from.
***
Landry didn’t know where Maxim was this morning and she kept telling herself that she did not care either. The sooner she could stop thinking about Maxim altogether, the better. She especially wanted to stop thinking about how much she had enjoyed watching him sleep, or what it felt like to curl up beside him and feel his naked skin next to hers. All of that was taboo now.
“So,” Dinah said as she plopped down in a chair beside Landry. Glancing around, Dinah made a big show of being sure that nobody else was listening to what was going on in Landry’s cubicle. “Want to know what the gossip around the office is?”
Landry shut her eyes briefly. “I don’t know. Do I?”
“Oh it’s juicy.” Dinah was giggling and covering her mouth. “And I can’t believe that Taylor would start a rumor like this. It’s complete bullshit and everyone knows it!”
Landry’s stomach plummeted into her shoes. “What rumor?”
“She told Nelson, who told Adam, who mentioned to Cooper, that you”—Dinah paused to let that sink in—“are sleeping with Maxim and that’s how you got your job!”
“Great.” Landry wanted to hide under her desk.
Dinah was still giggling. “Is that not the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard?”
“If it can be about you instead of me, I’ll laugh,” Landry said darkly. “It’s not funny. I don’t know what that bitch told him, but he was making all these veiled accusations and hints about what would happen if someone tried to use the system against him.”
“Oh my God!” Dinah gasped. She reached out and grabbed Landry’s arm. “Like she told him that you’re planning to file a complaint against him or something? That’s awful!”
“Exactly.” Landry put her elbows on her desktop and her face in her hands. “Can you imagine what a risk I am now? I’m going to get fired!”
Two lines appeared between Dinah’s eyebrows. “Hmm. You know the funny thing is that Taylor is probably spreading all these rumors hoping to get you fired, but if he even tries it while the rumors are flying, then you can sue the shit out of him. He has to just let things play out. Besides, you can’t believe that Mr. Sokolov is so susceptible to Taylor’s manipulations. Surely he’s smarter than that, right?”
Landry made a noncommittal noise. She could absolutely see the wisdom in her friend’s words. And if there were no past history between her and Maxim to consider, Dinah would have been absolutely right. But considering the fact that she had slept with him, would Maxim start to believe that Landry had known who he was before all of that happened? It was horrifying to contemplate. She didn’t want him to believe something so awful about her. Yet he didn’t really know her well enough to understand or rely on her character.
***
The papers were signed, the business was done, and now Maxim was lounging back in a booth while a scantily clad woman with huge breasts danced on the table in front of him. Pyotr and Boris were yelling like hormonal teenagers while they threw coins onto the tabletop.
Pyotr elbowed Maxim. “A good way to forget your woman troubles, eh?”
Maxim didn’t answer. In the past he probably would have enjoyed the show far more than he was right now. Although if he were honest with himself, he much preferred watching his brother and Boris make asses of themselves as opposed to the actual woman frolicking naked on his table. That sort of thing had very little allure for him on a regular day. Now there was almost no interest at all. It was as though he had been rendered a eunuch or some such nonsense.
Perhaps I simply have taste.
How could he even consider this woman to be attractive at all after watching Landry sit astride his body and ride him to orgasm? Compared to Landry’s full, luscious curves, open and honest arousal, and genuine pleasure, this woman was practiced, jaded, and so fake he could not begin to imagine what her body had been like before all the plastic surgery.
“What’s your problem?” Boris yelled across the table. “Have you turned gay? Has the pampered American life dried up your balls?”
The nasty implication certainly got Pyotr’s attention. “Is that what this is about? Is the person you’re so infatuated with another male? My God, Maxim!”
“No.” Maxim didn’t bother arguing any more than that. What was the point?
“Then what was the problem?” Pyotr’s expression suggested that he wasn’t going to let this go until he had thoroughly rehashed the situation and was completely certain of the answer.
“It had nothing to do with the gender of my sex partner,” Maxim said irritably. “It’s the fact that I slept with her not realizing that my company had recently employed her.”
The howls of amusement from Boris and Pyotr rang in Maxim’s ears. Apparently this was the funniest thing they had heard in ages. Both men were slapping the table in their moment of hilarity. This caused the exotic dancer to falter in her steps. She glared down at them, scooped up the coins on the table, and stalked away to find more focused customers. Neither Boris nor Pyotr seemed to care.
“She works for you?” Pyotr clarified. “I might be wrong, but isn’t that rather illegal in America?”
“Not exactly.” Maxim sighed. “It’s complicated. And it’s certainly against my own company policy.”
Boris shrugged off the complication. “You are the boss, no?” His thick Russian accent made the words sound even more dismissive. “So you fuck her until you are tired of her, give her a big chunk of money, a raise, a promotion, whatever, and you forget her.”
Pyotr sobered for a moment. “Wait. Is she at least competent at her job? Because if some stupid law required you to keep her employed just because you fucked her, that would not be fair.”
“She’s very competent,” Maxim said quietly. He threw back a shot of vodka. Apparently the company he kept thought very little of a woman’s value beyond what she could provide in the bedroom. It was funny that he had never noticed that before.
***
“Dinah, this is wrong. Redo it.” Taylor tossed down a slip of paper that referred to a file in the company’s shared drive.
Dinah, Nelson, and Landry had been working on a tiny slice of the new implementation schedule in Dinah’s cubicle. The three of them had been making great progress before Taylor had barged in unannounced and unwanted.
To her credit, Dinah actually looked at the information Taylor had put on the paper. Then she shrugged her shoulder. “I’ll look it over, but there’s no problem, Taylor. Just because you don’t understand the logarithm doesn’t make it wrong.”
“Excuse me?” Taylor sneered in a voice filled with condescension. “You don’t get to make that call. I do.”
“Actually, since I was put in charge of the logarithms because that’s not one of your particular skills, it is my call,” Dinah said sweetly. “You’re forgetting something really important here, Taylor.”
“And what would that be?” Taylor crossed her arms over her chest dismissively. “I can’t imagine what you could say to enlighten me.”
“Well you’re not my boss, Taylor. You just aren’t. You and I hold the same rank. You just like to pretend that you’re the boss. I’ve actually been employed here longer than you have, and I have more experience at this s
ort of work. So why don’t you leave this here, let me look at it, and then go back and do your own work instead of trying to police everyone else’s.”
Taylor let out a shriek of complete shock and outrage that actually made Nelson’s mouth drop open in surprise. Then she stomped her foot and pointed at Dinah and Landry. “The two of you are trying to sabotage me! You are! You’re deliberately turning in substandard work and then blaming it on me!”
Landry frowned. “What would be the purpose of turning in substandard work? All of us would suffer because we’d all have to do it over again. Would you please grow up? This high school bullshit is getting really old.”
“You!” Taylor’s lip curled in anger and hatred. “It’s all your fault.”
Dinah smirked. “No, it’s your fault, Taylor. You’re the one who has been bullying everyone for too long. We’re all just tired of it. Understand?”
“And how about you?” Taylor pointed at Nelson. “Is that what you think too?”
Landry could see his throat move as he swallowed in nervousness. Then he straightened up and appeared to get a little backbone. “Yes it’s what I think too! Six months ago you pulled some work off my hard drive and submitted it to Mr. Sokolov as your own. It wasn’t done. That’s why I hadn’t showed him yet. But you happily passed my work off as your own and even told me that you did it for my own good! You’re a liar and a thief and I’m tired of all of us letting you get away with it!”
Taylor whirled on her heel and stalked off. Dinah was busy giving Nelson a high five for holding his ground with the witch, but Landry was starting to wonder what the price was going to be for all of them standing up to Taylor.
Chapter Nine
Maxim awoke just as his jet began its descent to the private airstrip just outside the city. He’d had a fitful night. Rubbing his red eyes, he thought wryly that sleeping on an overnight flight home was still likely a better option than spending the night at his brother’s penthouse with Boris and half a dozen whores. Maxim just could not bring himself to care about such things anymore.
