“Who’s that for?” Carol entered the break room, sniffing the air. “Smells bloody delicious.”
“Mr Ischmov is in the bar.”
“Alone?”
“That’s what Bill said, yes.”
“Best not keep the man waiting then,” she remarked with a frown, shoving her bag onto the counter and reaching for the kettle.
When I entered the main bar, the room was dark but for the floor lighting and a few wall lamps, the VIP area steeped in shadows.
“God, mmm,” came a groan. “I can smell that from over here.” His gravelled voice made me visibly shiver, the walk toward him becoming more precarious as I straightened myself out and stepped into the shadowed area.
“Bill sent me for food. I hope this is okay?” I placed a fork and spoon, along with napkins, on the low table in front of him, then handed over the plate.
“Perfect. Thank you.” He took a long sniff, groaning again. I swallowed the lump in my throat, only just stopping from sliding my eyes closed and giving all my secrets away. “Will you sit a moment?”
Glancing around the empty bar, I hesitated. “I need to get ready for work, we open soon, and nothing’s set up yet. I can’t leave Carol to do it herself.”
“Of course. Apologies.” He put the plate on the table and picked up the cutlery. “Bill has you on VIP again, I hope you’re all right with that?”
“Sure.” I grinned to show I was perfectly fine waiting on him again. “You’re not so bad.”
Cocking his head to the side, he laughed. “Some would disagree.”
With the unintended warning firmly in mind, I retreated down the steps, stopping at the bottom. “Enjoy your food.”
“I shall, thank you again.”
Hotfooting it back to the break room, I paused at the door and changed my mind. Carol could read me like a book and would know Yannick Ischmov had affected me in a way I found… uncomfortable, maybe? Uncomfortable but so unbelievably appealing. A dangerous thing with a man like him and a woman like me. Polar opposites in every way.
This was ridiculous, I whispered after I’d shouldered my way into the bathroom and closed myself behind a cubicle door. Jolie Summers did not let people get under her skin. What was this? Why him? Of all the people in the world I could find attractive, it was a bloody mob guy making my skin scorch without so much as a touch. No, the mob guy, if what Carol said was true. I didn’t need that kind of attention on me, oh but how I wanted to bask in it, maybe once. A taste of something that was so inherently not Jolie Summers, something mindless to satisfy the itch the man gave me.
Shit, and double shit. I had to go and take notice of the one man I really shouldn’t have, considering how we’d met before. Our previous meeting should have been warning enough to walk in the other direction.
It wasn’t.
Yannick
The bhuna was delicious and by the time I’d hungrily devoured both the chicken and sag aloo, the staff milled around the bar getting ready for opening. Jolie had changed into that skin-tight skirt and those sky-high heels when she returned to retrieve my empty plate. Without a word, she eyed me warily while she cleaned up, then smiled with a shyness that almost made me swoon, before walking back across the room.
The bar door had barely been open ten minutes when Greg wandered in, looking suave in a navy pinstriped suit paired with a teal shirt, his tie missing, as usual. Ducking my head, I smirked discreetly. He’d come a long way from the scraggily urchin I’d plucked off the side of the road years back. Some arseholes had given him a good doing over and dumped him on a quiet back road in the pouring rain. My protective instincts had kicked in as soon as I’d seen him and Greg came under my wing, eventually earning his spot and ending up one of my closest friends. Neither one of us had ever looked back, and he was firmly entrenched in all of our lives.
“Hey, Yan. Been here a while?” Slipping off his jacket, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, taking a seat next to me.
“Not long enough.”
“Drowning sorrows tonight?”
“Maybe. Where is everyone?”
“Be along soon, I reckon. I didn’t hang around for long.”
No, he wouldn’t have. Both he and Andrey shared a particular dislike for Irina and the last few days would not have been fun for either man, having to spend so much time in her company. I understood Greg’s aversion. He didn’t particularly take to women, especially not ones who came onto him the way Irina had in the past, and a young Greg had been exactly Irina’s type. The kid had kept his nerve, knocked her advances back while painting a smile on his face and concealing his disgust, then he’d marched straight back to me to plead his case. Not quite recognising the dynamics of our marriage at the time, he’d shown a hell of a lot of loyalty in that moment thus earning my trust promptly. He’d never once let me down, and I loved the bloke. He was like the baby brother of the group, we all loved him.
“Bunny doing VIP tonight?”
“Yeah.” I wiped at my mouth with a napkin. “She was kind enough to go get me some proper food.”
“A keeper then, huh?”
“Shut up.”
“You all right, Yan?”
