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He shook his head. “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, tugging me closer, so I had to tilt my head back to keep looking at him.
The next thing I knew, those lips I’d been watching all night were meeting mine. Soft, yet strong, with his hands sliding up my arms, I melted against his firm chest. His fingers traced further up my neck to tangle into my hair, pulling my head back more. I was transported by the feel of his hands and mouth, and tried to stay rooted to the earth. But he had me soaring, and wanting more.
I parted my lips with a sigh, and he ran his tongue along the seam, gently invading my mouth. I remembered I had handsof my own and gripped his jacket's lapels to pull myself closer to him.
I had my first kiss in tenth grade. This was nothing like that. If it had been like this, I probably wouldn’t still be a virgin. I splayed out my fingers, feeling the heat of his chest against my palms, then gripped again as my knees started to go weak. Lev’s amazing kiss actually made my legs go weak.
He slowly pulled away, and my eyes fluttered open. I saw him smiling down at me. He traced my hair behind my ear and trailed his finger back down the side of my neck. It was only when he took a step back that I unlatched my grasp on his jacket.
His smile turned mischievous. “Jenna?” he said. The sound of my name coming out of those lips that had turned me to jelly sent a thrill straight through me.
“Yes?” I whispered.
“I can’t give you special treatment in the office.”
With that, he rounded the corner to the elevator, leaving me in a stupor, about to melt into a puddle on the floor.
Chapter 8 - Lev
If I thought spending time with Jenna alone would cure my infatuation, I was wrong. She was more enchanting than ever. I was not off the hook; she was the star of my thoughts the entire weekend. Images of her flashed before me when I tried to catch up on long overdue paperwork. I drifted during phone conversations with Aleks about how we were going to go about furthering our interests in San Francisco.
I hung up on him after he told me to get my head out of my ass, not bothering to call him out for his hypocrisy, since he’d interrupted the conversation twice to tell me how the baby was kicking so hard he could see a tiny foot mark popping from Katie’s belly.
Not that I could begrudge him. I was happy for my older brother, and excited for a new addition to the family. Growing up in such a big, raucous family, loaded with mischief and practical jokes, I’d always thought it was a damn shame Aleks hadn’t been able to have more children.
There weren’t many times I thought it was such a shame that I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and get to work on that front myself. Until now. Now, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what it might be like to have a real future with my little intern. Was something like that even worth thinking about, knowing the fury that would be heaped on me by my older brother and his wife, who was as protective as any mama bear about her little sister?
Nothing got done, and I only made more work for myself by starting projects and not finishing them. My mind always returned to Jenna. She was remarkably mature, and it was clear she was hard on herself. I’d heard her sister talking abouther struggles in school, but during our dinner on Friday night, she admitted it herself. In her eagerness to perform well, she’d overtaxed herself.
It seemed like she suddenly realized that she was admitting her shortcomings to her boss, and I rushed to assure her we were just friends that night. Her blush tormented me, my fingers aching to reach across the table and touch the pearly apples of her cheeks. I was hungry to know everything about her. Nothing she said was dull or insipid.
No, there was no getting over her; she was in my blood.
Going into the lobbying firm on Monday was out of the question. There was no way I could see her and not drag her into my office and kiss her senseless again. I met up with some of my men who’d been laying the groundwork for a seamless takeover of some local businesses, and we discussed strategy. Any rivals we might face up here were weak and scattered. It was the politicians we had to get in our pockets if we wanted to have any real power up here.
That was already well underway, and things were running so smoothly there were no more excuses to stay away from the office on Tuesday. And I had no more willpower to stay away from Jenna any longer.
I arrived to find the office in upheaval. Apparently, the new girl—my girl—added some dates wrong to the shared calendar, causing Vera to miss an important meeting with a client we hoped to bring on board. Vera was spitting mad and scurrying to make things right with the overseas delegates so we didn’t lose a contract that would have meant over six million dollars in revenue for us if they’d signed.
I listened patiently to Vera describe the fallout of this disastrous mistake, while, the pieces were falling into place.
“I’ll take care of it,” I said, cutting my office manager off mid-rant.
“Did you hear a word I said?” she asked, pursing her lips in quiet fury. “Your little side project cost us a fortune, and I’m not sure I can salvage the situation. She has to go, Lev.”
I gave her the look to quit while she was ahead. I didn’t like the way she referred to Jenna, who meant so much more to me than what her harsh words implied. I hadn’t meant to hit her full blast with the death glare, but she clamped her lips shut, her dark brows furrowed.
“I have full faith in you being able to salvage anything,” I told her. “But I’ll take care of Jenna. Send her in, please.”
Quieting my fevered thoughts, I waited several moments for my intern to appear in the doorway. Jenna held onto the door frame as if to keep herself from falling over, and looked like she was on the verge of tears. I had no doubt she’d had an earful since this morning when her mistake was discovered, and everyone realized how pissed off the president of the overseas medical supplies firm was to be left dangling.
“Come in and shut the door,” I said, keeping a level tone despite wanting to drag her into my arms and assure her everything was fine.
With a nod, she stepped in, oozing misery and practically shaking as she carefully closed the door behind her. She clung to the handle briefly, straightened her shoulders, and turned to face me. Tremulous, but holding it together and ready to weather any storm. That was my Jenna.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Volkov,” she started, and I mentally cursed that she wasn’t calling me Lev anymore. Not that she could in this situation. She couldn’t possibly know what it did to me to hear her utter my name from her lush lips. “It was astupid mistake, and I’ve already said I’ll explain everything to Ms. Bodmer and her team. I’ll do whatever it takes to fix things, but you have to understand how imperative it is that I don’t lose this internship. If I get a bad report, it’s—”
She bit her lip and stopped herself from continuing, then looked up at me with big hazel eyes, waiting for the guillotine to drop.
