Pierre noticed immediately. “Tanzanite Blue.”
I picked up the sample before I could stop myself. “That’s…nice.”
“Add it,” Sergei said.
I glared at him. “I didn’t say I wanted it.”
“You looked at it like you wanted it.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means everything.”
Pierre added it to the build.
That was how the rest of the consultation went. I tried to be modest. Sergei ruined it. I chose black leather because it was practical, and Pierre showed me a richer merino leather in a deep cognac that made the interior feel warmer without being too flashy. I hesitated for all of three seconds before Sergei told him to add it. I said the standard wheels were fine.Sergei asked which wheels I actually preferred. I said the upgraded sound system wasn’t necessary. Sergei told Pierre to include it because I spent too much time in the car after long shifts to listen to mediocre audio.
By the time we got to the driver assistance package, ventilated seats, massage function, custom stitching, and carbon fiber trim, I had stopped pretending I wasn’t having fun.
“I’m enjoying this way too much,” I said to him while Pierre adjusted the digital rendering on the screen.
Sergei smirked. “I noticed. You’ve already added half the catalog.”
“Because you keep telling him to add it.”
“Because you keep wanting it. If you want something, what kind of man would I be if I didn’t get it for you?”
He’d tricked me. And Pierre was in on it too. I wasn’t merely playing around with customization ideas. He meant to buy me this car. I could see the determination in his eyes.
I shook my head and chuckled. “That’s why you didn’t argue more about the couch. You had this planned all along. You let me buy the couch because you knew you were bringing me here to foist an expensive car on me.”
“So that’s settled then. You bought me a sex couch, and I’ll buy you a car.”
“It’s not a sex couch!”
Pierre’s shoulders were shaking from holding in his laughter.
“Glad we’re on the same page about the car,” Sergei said. “You’ve got everything noted, Pierre?”
“Certainly, Mr. Volkov. I just need Dr. Cavanagh to take another look through the customization and sign off on it.”
Sergei nodded at the screen in front of me. “You know you want to, so why pretend?” Then he leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “If you allow me to buy you this car, I’ll show you what makes it a sex couch when it’s delivered.”
33
SERGEI
The office was probably my favorite room in the house now, which was fucking ridiculous because two weeks ago, I hadn’t cared if it had anything in it at all beyond a desk, a chair, and enough security to make sure no one could sneak up on me while I worked. That had seemed reasonable. The kind of setup that made sense for a man who didn’t need his surroundings to comfort him.
Leo had disagreed.
He’d stood in the middle of the empty room and listened while I explained that all I needed was somewhere to sit and somewhere to put my laptop. Then he’d pointed at the door and told me not to return home for at least four hours. I’d dropped in at the nightclub to check on inventory and to catch up on anything unusual happening in my absence, since I’d taken the days off to be with Leo.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, so I’d visited our hostage and tried to ply information out of him without harming him. Sometimes I wished I hadn’t promised Leo I wouldn’t killhim, but I knew the next time he checked on his patient, he would be looking for bruises. Arkady’s son was the most humanely treated prisoner we’d ever had, and it was all thanks to Leo.
I was almost at the point of tossing him back to his asshole of a father, who hadn’t put out feelers to find his son. Dmitry seemed to have been telling the truth that Arkady didn’t give a fuck about him. The little information I’d gleaned about him was that his mother was dead and he’d grown up with her side of the family. Arkady hadn’t had any hand in his upbringing. No wonder he didn’t care for his son.
Fucking excuse of a dad. Mine had been the same. Maybe because of that or Leo’s persuasive skills, Dmitry’s neck was still attached to his body.
