Waving my plastic fork, I smiled and assured him, "I know what you meant. I was just teasing."
Yuri tipped his head to the side as if studying me. "I can't always tell with you. Other people are so easy to read but you…" He shook his head. "You remind me very much of Nikolai. Even after all these years of being friends, I still struggle with reading him."
I reached for my cup of iced tea. "Vivian says the same thing to me all the time."
"Since she knows you both so well, I'll have to ask her for pointers." He picked up one of the tiny egg rolls. "I haven't had a chance to see Benny or Dimitri in almost a week. How is the future Mrs. Stepanov?"
"Wouldn't that be Stepanova?"
He laughed. "Well, not here in this country but back home? Yes. I've learned to conform but I'm surprised you knew that. Are they making you learn Russian now?"
"Vivian makes Benny and Erin talk in Russian whenever they're all together. I'm basically being forced to learn so I can contribute to our conversations."
"Is it such a hardship to expand your horizons?"
I heard the teasing in his voice. "No, I suppose not."
"How is Benny's bakery coming along?"
"She opens on Monday. The place looks fantastic. You won't recognize it."
"And your PR for the launch?"
"I've been able to line up a ton of press for her. Don't get me wrong. The fire was terrible. What Jonah Krause did to threaten her was just awful—but it's been damn good for business."
Yuri didn't seem very scandalized. If anything, he seemed to understand perfectly. "People like a good underdog story."
"Yes!" I practically squealed with delight that he got it. He laughed at my enthusiasm. "Sorry." I felt a bit sheepish. "It's just that I've been saying the same thing to Benny for weeks. People want her to succeed. They want her to thrive. I keep telling her that she's like a phoenix. She's rising from the ashes."
Yuri got the funniest look on his face. He laughed hard. "That's too funny."
Confused by his reaction, I asked, "What is?"
He motioned toward his back with his fork. "Dimitri has a phoenix tattoo on his back."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Huh." I sipped my tea. "He doesn't have any tattoos on his hands or forearms like Ivan and Nikolai. I assumed he didn't have any ink anywhere." I gazed at Yuri and wondered what he had going on under his shirt. "Do you have any tattoos?"
He held my questioning gaze. With a mischievous smile, he said, "You'll have to get me naked and see for yourself."
Rolling my eyes, I giggled softly. "I walked right into that one."
"Have I embarrassed you?" His playful tone made me smile.
"Me? Hardly. Had you said that to Vivi? She would have crawled under the table."
"If I'd said that to Vivian, I would be ducking under the table to escape Nikolai."
"He does seem to take his guardian role rather seriously." I watched Yuri's face as I made my comment. His eyes glinted with the same suspicion I had. "Of course, Vivian doesn't seem to mind in the least."
"No, I don't think she does."
"We're not going to come right out and say it, are we?"
"That Nikolai cares deeply for Vivian and she cares for him?" He shrugged. "What's there to say? You know as well as I do that their relationship is complicated in the extreme."
"To say the least," I murmured.
Changing the subject and putting an end to our speculation, he remarked, "When you talk about your work with Benny, you seem much more excited than when I've heard you discuss 716. Do you not enjoy your work in the night club scene anymore?"
I blinked with surprise. Just like that, he'd nailed the question that gnawed at me every night. "I'm bored with it. Or, maybe, I'm fed up with it." I crumpled up my paper napkin. "When I got started in this line of work, being a PR girl for a hot night club was, like, my dream. I went after it and I got it. I've proven that I have what it takes but now I feel so…so…"
"Stagnant?"
I nodded at his suggestion. "Yes. I'm not growing. I'm simply…existing."
"You need a challenge." He held my gaze. "Come work for me."
My tummy fluttered wildly at his offer but not for the reason it should have. It wasn't the prospect of the big salary and working for an international organization that made my pulse race. No, it was the prospect of working alongside Yuri every day. "No, thank you."
His eyes narrowed for the briefest moment. What was he thinking? "I'll double the salary I offered the first time."
"The answer is still no."
He sat forward and assumed a negotiating position. "You can have any office in the building downtown that you want. There would be a car and the best travel accommodations money can buy. The opportunity for bonuses and advancement are unmatched by any other company."
My lips twitched with amusement. I wondered when he'd last found himself in the losing position of a negotiation. "It's not about the money, Yuri."
He studied me intently, those hazel eyes of his boring into me and making my skin prickle with heat. "What is it about, Lena?"
I dropped my gaze to the picnic table and ran my finger around a knot in the wood. I couldn't think of a single reason to dance around my attraction to him anymore. "I like you."
He grasped my hand and coaxed me to meet his piercing gaze. "And I like you."
My belly quivered. Trying to get a grip on my wild emotions, I asked, "Yes but for how long? Your reputation—"
He cut me off with a string of Russian that sounded suspiciously like cursing. Clearly remembering my earlier chiding, he hastily apologized in English. "Forgive me." With a heavy sigh, Yuri said, "Look, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I haven't played the field. Heavily," he added with a touch of regret in his voice. "That doesn't mean that I can't change."
"Have you? Changed, I mean."
"Yes—or, rather, I am changing. Seeing Ivan and Dimitri so happy? It's made me evaluate my own life. I have so much wealth, so many material things, but I don't have anything that matters."
The idea that I could be someone who mattered was incredibly seductive. I projected a confident persona but deep down inside I struggled with feelings of inadequacy. Watching my mother walk out on me and listening to her say the awful thing she'd said on her way out the door had crushed my self-esteem. I'd managed to cobble together the pieces but the cracks were still there.
Sitting up straighter, Yuri embraced the role of successful magnate. He exuded such power and control. A bit imperiously, he informed me, "We're going out Monday night." Gesturing toward me, he said, "We're going to give this dating thing a try."
His unilateral decision should have annoyed me much more than it did. For some reason I couldn't quite fathom, I found his declaration oddly enticing. There weren't many men brave enough to tell me what to do but he hadn't done it arrogantly or coldly. I sensed he understood that even though I wanted to see where things between us might go I was too afraid, too hesitant, to say yes. He'd just taken away my control—and left me vibrating with excitement.