“Ugh. If I was better at this end of the business... .” I sighed and peeked at him through my fingers. “Thanks again.”
“If anyone else makes you upset while you’re working for me, let me know.”
I chuckled nervously and my entire body heated. “That sounds so dire. What are you gonna do, shoot him and bury him somewhere? I guess there’s a lot of forest.” He didn’t so much as bat an eyelash, and my bad joke fell flat. I ended up laughing for both of us and some of my jitters finally faded away after I released a long breath.
“Shall we discuss the clothing line over dinner? I had the staff prepare something for us.” He gestured toward the front of the lodge.
My stomach growled and I felt off-kilter again, but not in a bad way. It was good to have someone offering to give me something nice for a change, rather than only telling me what he wanted to take, like Courtney.
“I’m not one of those models who survives on willpower alone, so I hope there’s more than water and iceberg lettuce.”
He smirked and held out his elbow in my direction. I glanced around, feelinga lotridiculous. Who did this type of thing? I shrugged and took his arm. After all, if he wanted to act like prince charming, he could do it for an evening. He’d slain a dragon for me. Why not?
3
RUSLAN
I enjoyed a man who could eat, and in contrast to other models I’d dated, Augustine wolfed down a steak and fries like a triathlete in training. He barely swallowed before the next bite of food went into his mouth, and when he noticed my attention on him, his cheeks lit up with a red flush and he laughed nervously. Up close, his mouth was perfectly supple and pink, and I wanted to kiss him until he was thoroughly devoured.
“Sorry. I was out in that forest for too long and I was starving.”
I chuckled and placed my elbows on the table, my chin on my hands. “Don’t stop. I’m not complaining.” I enjoyed watching him open his mouth for bites of food, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
He gave me a silly grin and stared down at the fries on his plate. The table between us was covered in different types of food, from steak to sausages to turkey and salad. I’d made sure the staff knew to give us every choice they could, and they didn’t disappoint me. They would be getting a big tip before I left for transforming their old conference room into a banquet hall simply because I’d asked.
“Tell me about yourself, Augustine.” I squinted happily at him. “I want to know about the first model I hired for my fashion line.”
He stared for a moment before his gaze darted back to the food on his plate. He dipped his fork into the mashed potatoes, twirling the utensil around in the gravy as though the question had caught him off guard and he didn’t know how to answer. “Well... my real name is Asa.”
I startled. “Asa?”
He nodded, finally returning his gaze to me with a smile. “Asa McGogh. Nothing amazing, is it? So, Marcus recommended I change it to something attention grabbing, and we came up with Augustine Hart.”
I considered the name carefully. “I like it. Asa fits you better than Augustine anyway.”
He laughed. “Thank you, Mr. Kozlova.”
I grunted and shook my head. “You’re Asa, I’m Ruslan to you. I’m Mr. Kozlova to everyone else.” I winked to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t a lie. Each person under my employment called me Mr. Kozlova or sir, and the only one who’d been given permission to call me anything else was Anatoly—and now Asa.
“Ruslan. Is that Russian?”
I snorted out a laugh. “Don’t ever say that around a Ukrainian, especially right now. They’ll sit you down for a geography lesson from hell.”
He chuckled. “So, you’re Ukrainian? I like Ukraine. It’s a nice country.”
“Have you been there?”
He nodded and the little smile that spread across his face had me wishing I was sitting closer to him. “Once, for a shoot. We took these amazing photos against River Krynka in winter. It had everything, the snow, the water, the trees. It was stunning.”
“Hmm.” I grabbed my glass of champagne and took a sip. “I wouldn’t know much. My parents came to America when I was a baby. They told me about the home country, and I’ve been once, when I was a child, but I don’t remember it. My grandparents live in Kivertsi near Lutsk, but again, I’ve never been.”
“Have you... talked to them?”
“My grandparents?” I laughed again. “I have, yes, and they’re still very much alive. They outlived my father, their son. They wouldn’t come to the US when the fighting started there, and so far, they’ve been lucky.”
The smile slid off his face and he winced. “I’m sorry about your loss.”
I shrugged. “I’m older than you, Asa. It’s to be expected. My tato passed me his business. Tato means dad in Ukrainian. I like to think I am doing him proud.”
