“I’m merely worried that if I pick up and declutter this chaos, I might see something I shouldn’t.”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t put you at risk like that. Nothing important is lying out. It’s mostly receipts and shit that the bookkeepers wanted me to approve.” Shrugging to show howlittle I cared about this room, I resumed reading emails and messages. When she didn’t move or speak, I held the device higher for emphasis. “I prefer digital records. So once more, carry on.”
She did. Without another word, she gave the indication that my explanation could assuage her worries about seeing something incriminating.
Trying to tune out her presence as she sorted papers into neater piles, then to get a garbage bag to collect old containers and wrappers from when my cousins and I would use this room as somewhere to have a “working lunch”, I stayed put and went through what seemed most time-sensitive on my phone. I was “off”, so to speak, but I never let my finger stay off the pulse of what was going on. I couldn’t. Being an Orlov required that degree of commitment.
With Yusef dead and no new reports of interference from the Giovannis with the drug operation, I felt like there wasn’t even anything pressing for me to concern myself with.
Which led me back to the too-idle concept of this stubborn, sexy woman trying to reclaim and restore order in this room.
Thinking about Sofia was my favorite pastime, but being in here with her as she cleaned piqued my suspicion.
She’d put earbuds in to listen to music, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t watch her as she stayed busy.
I noticed that she’d organized papers by language, making me wonder if she was multilingual, and why.
I observed how she stayed away from the side of my desk where Yusef had fallen dead from my shot, and it worried me that she’d be scared or nervous about that up-close brush with violence.
But most of all, as I watched her from the corner of my eye, I tried not to let my frustration mount higher at her persistence.
She wouldn’t cave.
She wouldn’t even look at me or hold eye contact long enough for me to guess whether she was hoping we could be spending this time together in another way. That current of desire hadn’t been severed yet. It crackled and snapped, lurking beneath the surface, but she was determined not to give in.
Captivated by her defiance, I forfeited the game of guessing why she was so hard to win over, to impress.
Only a text from Oleg broke my stare on her.
Oleg:Where are you?
Andre:Office.
Oleg:You’re back to work?
I rolled my eyes. Even if I was off this supposed light-duty status Claire insisted I be on, there wasn’t anything major for me to stress about at the moment.
Andre:No. Not really. I’m just supervising my new office assistant as she cleans my office.
Oleg:I thought you agreed that you should be trying to push her away.
He could go right ahead and think that. We’d had a couple of drinks one night last week, and I might have given him theimpression that Sofia was driving me insane with wanting her. He’d parroted my father’s line, reminding me that I would do well not to be too distracted by a woman.
The problem was that I couldn’t. Pushing Sofia away wasn’t something I could pull off. Not when her very presence was tantamount to being lured toward a forbidden treat.
I set my phone down and sighed, watching her while she kept her back to me. Her long brown ponytail swayed as she moved from side to side, sorting out files that were from reports years ago, boring financial shit to do with a few of our restaurants.
How long can this last?
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand to not have her, how much more torture I was due while I stayed on the path of letting her come to me rather than forcing her to compromise.
10
SOFIA
Aweek of being Andre’s office assistant passed in a blur. That was what happened when I was busy accomplishing something. Or trying to. Instead of doing silly little cleaning tasks for Renee when the floors of Andre’s residence were already spotless, I was making an impact in his office.
Piles of papers gave the impression of the room being tidy. The absence of cup rings and bunched-up wrappers implied the room wasn’t used as a dump. And all those back-breaking hours of dusting the blinds improved the air and light quality in the dark office space.
