“Good for you, but I’m still not answering the question.”
“Why?” Now he really was curious.
Zoe sat forward in her seat, her arms folded across her chest. Was she giving him the silent treatment? This was getting more interesting by the second.
“Maybe I’ll ask Aleksei. I’m sure he knows.”
Zoe turned her head to glare at him. “Keep Aleksei out of this.”
Oh ho! So he did know why she’d approached him at the bar. “Fine, then tell me.”
“You’re relentless.” She shook her head at him.
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment,” Zoe grumbled.
“I’ll still take it as one. Fine, if you won’t answer that question, how long have you worked for Maxim?” He was going to circle back to his original question; he would just wait until later. He was really curious why she had approached him last night.
“Three months.”
“And what did you do before working for him?”
“Ah ah, my question. Why are you so interested in Maxim?” She eyed him skeptically. He was asking too many probing questions and wasn’t as smooth as he normally was.
“I like to know about the people I work for.”
“He’s a private man.”
“Are you this protective of Leo’s privacy as well?” He didn’t know much about the son. Leonid was his father’s attaché and was set to run the business after Maxim handed him the reins. He didn’t have a definitive role, more supervisory. If he was anything like his father, the world was in trouble.
“I am. I work for the family as a whole in the interest of the business, not just Maxim.”
“And what do you do exactly?” He still hadn’t figured that out.
“I’m head of operations.”
“Pretty big job for one so young.”
“I’m not that young.” She chuckled.
“How old are you?” She didn’t look all that old. Late twenties to early thirties. Definitely not close to his thirty-six.
“How old do I look?” she countered with a quirked eyebrow.
“That’s a trick question.” He pointed the index finger of his right hand at her. “If I say too young of an age, you’ll think I’m lying. If I say too old, you’ll think I’m an ass.” Judging by her grin, he knew he was right.
“Don’t you know you’re never supposed to ask a woman her age?”
“I do a lot of things I’m told not to.” He was flirting with danger, but she brought it out of him. “So are you going to tell me or not?”
“We’re here,” she said instead of answering.
Greg pulled up to the curb of a clothing boutique. Odd place to have a meeting. Greg got out of the car before Zoe to open the door for her. “Wait here for me,” she instructed, already heading for the entrance.
“What if you need backup? I should go with you.” Zoe looked back at him over her shoulder, giving him an exasperated look. “Mr. Sokolov did hire me to protect you,” he reminded her, hoping that would get her to relent and let him come with her. He wanted to see who she was meeting and for what. Was it drugs, money, or something else?
“Backup for what? Trying on bras? No thanks. I’ll be back in less than five minutes.” Zoe didn’t wait for a response but went inside.
