Chapter Twelve

Willow’s POV.

For some reason I could not explain, I just felt like the day was going to be different. I woke up with no anxiety, and weirdly enough, I was happy to go to work. Maybe it was because, for the first time in a while, my boss had treated me like it mattered. Was it that easy? Was I that easy? A few words here and there and I had already folded.

Maybe Lennon was right, the last thing I needed to be doing was forgiving someone who had offended me so soon. Dimitri Rustanov had not even apologized, and I doubted he was ever going to. But just because he had said a few nice words, my mind had been swayed.

I sighed as I got out of the shower. It was hard living with so much negativity. I had never been someone to thrive with these kinds of negative emotions. Instead, they plummeted my mood, and it had been so obvious the past weeks. The last thing I wanted or needed was to feel even more of these emotions. If whatever Dimitri was doing was fake, then I was just going to play right into it.

I shook my head. The morning had started out great, and that was the secret to having a good day. There was no point letting all my doubtful thoughts cloud my mind and make it impossible for me to be happy. The negative energy was too much and I needed to stay far far away from it.

I walked to my closet and pulled out a lightweight dress. It was summer, and while the dress code at the office was fully corporate, I needed something that was not too stuffy. So I paired the dress with platform sandals and picked up my bag.

I had left earlier than usual for work and there was not as much traffic, which I was grateful for. I drove to work smoothly, and to my surprise, when I got to my office, Dimitri was already there. He was standing in the middle of the lobby with a pensive look on his face. Although this man was always serious, it was so weird to see him like this.

I cleared my throat so he could notice me and his eyes jumped towards me. I had been ready to advance but his gaze kept me in check for some reason. It actually felt like he had a physical pull on me. I swallowed and tried to shake the feeling off but it wouldn’t go. So, I just walked towards him with a shaky smile on my face.

“Good morning sir,” I said.

“Dimitri,” he corrected quietly and I almost stumbled.

This was not the first time Dimitri and I were in the same space this early. But this was the first time I was getting the full extent of his morning voice. And God, he was going to drag me along with him. Dimitri’s voice always sounded like an actual invitation into his bed. But there was something different about it.

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks when he came towards me and steadied me. “Thank you,” I said, mortified. What was coming over me? I had lost all sense of decorum.

“Be careful,” was all Dimitri said before he let me go.

I was probably imagining things, but it felt like he did not want to let me go. And if I was being honest, I did not want him to let me go either. I did not know why my imagination was being so overactive and overarching. But I needed it to stop. It was great that the man was behaving nicely towards me now. But the last thing I wanted to do was build castles in my head because of that.

“Do we have any work this morning?” I asked him.

“No we do not. Why do you ask?” Dimitri turned towards me with a raised brow.

“Well, sir, usually, none of us is in so early in the morning,” I explained. I had not even put my bag on my desk. And I did not even want to. The conversation was extremely banal but I was enjoying speaking to this man.

“Why are you in so early, Willow? Do you have some work we have to do that I am not aware of?” he asked, turning the tables.

I blushed at his question. I did not even know why I was blushing! It was a casual question. He had not asked me what color my panties were, for Christ’s sake! “Well, sir… I mean Dimitri. I thought an early start would be good for me today.”

“I see,” he said with a thoughtful look on his face. Then he added, “Make me a cup of coffee and come to my office. I have something I need to discuss with you.”

“Okay sir,” I said in a small voice, my heart plummeting down to my stomach. His words sounded so ominous. Was this why he had been so nice? Because he was getting ready to fire me? I made a mental note to go to the company website and check on the vacancies. Maybe I was going to get my two-week notice.

I knew I was probably reaching. But Dimitri had never told me he wanted to speak to me, not in that tone. Usually, he just asked me to come to his office. The precision this time around was a little too particular. There was no way it was not something bad that he was about to announce to me.

I walked to my desk and put my bag down, then took a deep breath and walked to the mini kitchen. With all the stumbling I had been doing that morning, I was grateful that I had gone with more sensible shoes. I would have probably ended up needing to go to hospital because I twisted my ankle.

The seven minutes I spent in front of the coffee machine were probably the longest seven minutes in my life. I poured myself a half cup, and gulped it down with no sugar or creamer. I thought it was going to calm my nerves, but all it seemed to be doing was making my anxiety worse. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then I took the man’s coffee and walked to his office, hoping that my shaky hands did not ruin things for me.

I managed to get the door open and I placed the coffee on his desk without spilling a drop. I was proud of myself. It was the little things after all. I smiled at Dimitri. He did not return my smile, which just led me to think that my thoughts were actually right. There was still that same thoughtful expression on his face and I felt like shaking him until it came off.

I sat across him and put my hands in my lap and started twisting them, grateful that he could not see all my fidgeting. I probably looked nervous as hell. I had never been one who knew how to hide how she was feeling. I knew it was a disadvantage, but you could read everything I felt on my face very clearly. So, Dimitri had most likely picked up on the fact that I was terrified.

“You can stop thinking the worst, I am not going to fire you,” Dimitri said abruptly and I looked up sharply.

“Sir?”

“Dimitri,” he corrected in a soft whisper and I blushed.

“Dimitri,” I repeated. “How did you know I was thinking about that?”

“The energy radiating from you, Willow. It is so obvious that you are scared about what I am going to say. Don’t worry about that. The news might even make you happy.”

I raised my brows at his words. Now I was intrigued. The news might make me happy? I could feel the nervousness slowly trickling out and I sat up straight in the chair and stared at Dimitri, waiting for him to just spill it.

“Do you have a passport, Willow?” Dimitri asked, after he took a sip of his coffee.

“Yes I do, sir. I think it was one of the requirements in the job description.” If I was being honest, I had expected more travel when I saw that passport required tag in the job description. I had been disappointed when all the traveling I did was between my house and the office.

“Good. You’ll get your bags ready. We are going to Russia.”

I widened my eyes. Dimitri Rustanov was a Russian man, this much I knew. But not once had his origins come up during conversation, so I had never given much thought to them. He wore his origins proudly though, his features were clearly Eastern European. The only thing lacking was maybe the blond hair.

“S… Dimitri?” I did not think I would ever get used to calling this man Dimitri, not after calling him sir for so long.

“You do not need to worry about planning the trip. That much has already been covered. We are leaving tomorrow so I will give you some time off today so you can get whatever essentials you need for the trip.”

I widened my eyes. That was so short-notice. “How long are we going to be there?”

Something flashed in Dimitri’s eyes, something I could not explain. “Indefinitely,” was all he said and I shivered at his tone.

Some part of me was clawing at me to say no. There was no way I was traveling to Europe - Russia! - with a man that I was not even sure liked me as a human being. But he had been clear during the interview that stuff like this would happen. The reckless part of me saw the entire thing like an adventure. This was an all-expense paid trip. When would I ever have the chance to travel to Russia? This was honestly the opportunity of a lifetime. And if I got into harm’s way while I was there, then at least I would die living an adventure.

“Indefinitely, sir?” I asked. That was the only thing that was heavy on my mind. Granted, the only life I had here in NYC was my job and Kendra. But indefinitely? That was crazy.

“Indefinitely,” Dimitri confirmed and I swallowed.

“What kind of trip is this, sir?”

Dimitri’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Let’s just say a mix of business and pleasure.”

“I see,” was all I said in response.

I had the choice to say no and I knew that. But did I actually want to say no? I was not sure about that. I would be missing out on so much. If I got there and it was too much for me, I could just ask to leave. I would make sure to take some cash and keep all my documents on me so I could leave at any time. The last thing I needed or wanted was to be stranded in some strange country.

“Alright, sir,” I said finally. As soon as I agreed, Dimitri sat up straight in his chair.

It almost seemed like there had been some kind of weight that was lifted off his shoulders. Why was my decision so important? If I refused, he could very well give me a two-week notice and hire someone else. There was so much unemployment and I knew people would jump at the thought of working with the Dimitri Rustanov.

“You can have the rest of the day off. I’ll send a driver to your apartment tomorrow morning by 7 am. We will be leaving by 8. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” I responded.

“Good. You can leave now.”