A Very Corporate Affair book 3 (The Corporate series) (22 page)

"Missed you more," I replied, snuggling into his arms, and breathing in his wonderful scent. He smelt like home.

The next morning, I left Ivan sleeping, and went into the living area to make a coffee. James appeared as I was boiling the kettle, having done his sun lounger bagging duties. "Did you bag five?" I asked.

"Of course." I lined up three cups, and spooned coffee into each one. "Erm, can you do another one with two sugars in please?" James asked, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Get you, Casanova," I teased as I organised another cup.

"Like you weren't doing the exact same thing?" He retorted. We both smirked at each other. I took Ivan's coffee in to him, and put it on the table beside him. He was sleeping like a baby, so I left him to it, and sat out on the balcony to drink mine. James came out to join me.

"Did you wear yours out too?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's out sparko. I take it Ivan's still asleep?"

"Like a baby."

"What do you think of Lynzi?" James asked, rather suddenly.

"I really like her. I think she's clever, hardworking, and open. I had a bad vibe from Janine from the start. I don't get that from Lynzi. More importantly, what do you think of her?"

"I think she's great. You know I fancied her from the moment I saw her, but as I've got to know her, I think she's even more attractive. I really like her sense of humour too."

"Yeah, she's good fun. A nice person too. I bet you carry on seeing her at home."

"I hope so," he admitted. We were interrupted by Ivan, sipping his coffee.

"Morning. Everyone sleep well?" James and I both chorused 'yes'. "I did too, after James finished murdering his girl in there," Ivan teased, "talk about loud.." Both men smirked.

"Do you want us to get out of the way, so that she doesn't have to do a walk of shame?" I asked, "we can meet you at breakfast if you like."

"Do you mind?" James asked. I shook my head, amused.

I gathered up my beach bag, towels, etc, and Ivan and I went down to breakfast, finding a large table for all of us. "This must all be quite a novelty to you, holidaying with other people?" I said.

"I like it though. It's very....social, but it's nice. You seem very relaxed and happy." He cocked his head to one side, as he watched my face.

"I've really enjoyed it. It's a lovely hotel, no kids, and I like meeting new people. It feels less... rarefied. I know that if we stayed in a hotel, it would be the presidential suite with a private pool and a posse of guards preventing anyone from speaking to us. I'd love it, because I'd be there with you, but this has been great too. I love seeing you be normal."

He smiled at me. "I can't really help who I am. I like seeing you like this though. Maybe we should have a hotel holiday every year as well as my villa." I beamed at him. Just the fact that he was talking about the future, made me feel secure.

"Have you been reading those 'be a good boyfriend' books?"

"If I had, I would have remembered to order flowers for your room."

"James gets terrible hayfever, so I'm glad you didn't," I replied, smiling a soppy smile at him. We were joined by James and Lynzi, both bearing plates of toast and scrambled eggs. Becca arrived five minutes later, looking extremely happy. It turned out that she'd got talking to the German after James and Lynzi had left, and was meeting him for dinner that night.

After breakfast, we all decided on a game of beach volleyball, with Lynzi and I versus the other three. Becca went off to fetch a ball from the sports organiser, and we made our way down to the beach.

"Do those poor guards trail everywhere?" Lynzi asked.

"Yep. He gets edgy without them. Probably don't need them here, but he was kidnapped several weeks ago in Russia. It was terrifying."

Realisation dawned on Lynzi's face, "I thought he looked a bit familiar, is he Ivan Porenski?" I nodded. "No wonder he's got his own plane. Sorry, I didn't put two and two together."

"Out of context. You wouldn't expect to see him somewhere like this. It's a novelty for me too, and him. He normally holidays in a villa, surrounded by staff and security."

"Isn't this all a bit, well, ordinary for him?" she asked, clearly curious.

"No, I don't think so. He's enjoying it, and although he's wealthy, he's quite ordinary too. We don't eat caviar for breakfast or anything like that." We took our places on the volleyball court. "Ready for us to whip your arses?" I called out.

"No chance baby, we have Becca, the secret weapon, on our side," Ivan called back, as I launched the ball into the air, and straight past his head. It landed at Becca's feet. "Hey, I wasn't ready," he grumbled.

"A poor excuse," yelled Lynzi, catching the ball from Becca. She served a stonker, which James scrabbled to reach, just managing to keep it in the air. Ivan managed to get it over the net, and I slammed it back, jumping to get to it high, and wallop it to the ground.

"Nico! Can you play volleyball?" Ivan yelled, "we need reinforcements." Nico nodded, and looked around to make sure nobody was watching as he took off his jacket, gun holster and tie, handing them to the other guard, before removing his shoes and socks, and rolling up his trousers.

With Nico on their team, it was much more evenly matched, and they beat us 29/30. We all went off to the pool while Nico called for another guard so he could go off for a shower, and change. "That was fun," said Ivan, "you really are good at sports. There has to be something I can beat you at."

"I'm rubbish at tiddlywinks, maybe we should try that." He looked at me quizzically, clearly having no idea what I was talking about. "Doesn't matter," I said, jumping into the pool. The rest of the day passed all too quickly in a blur of laughter, food, and alcohol. I woke up Sunday morning with a bit of a hangover, having had a late night with the group of Germans that Becca's new beau was part of.

I looked over to see Ivan splayed out like a starfish, clearly out cold, and went to make myself a restorative cup of coffee. James was already out on the balcony, swigging coffee. I made him a fresh one, and sat down beside him. "Is Lynzi here?" I asked.

"Yeah, fast asleep. We were both a bit hammered last night. Those Germans like a drink don't they?" I nodded in agreement. "What time are you flying out?"

"About ten. Thankfully it's not a long flight. I might not get my fingers broken this time."

"Is he that bad?"

"Yep. Sweats, shakes, and can't stand up. I feel sorry for him, it must be hell."

"Wow, who'd have thought it?" He swigged his coffee.

"You gonna be alright here on your own?" I asked.

James smiled, "I think I'm going to be just fine. I know at the moment it could be classed as a holiday romance, but I do actually think it'll be more than that. She only lives a ten minute drive away, through the tunnel, so I'm going to carry on seeing her, if she wants to that is."

We drank our coffee in companionable silence, and watched the Mediterranean Sea for a while. "I need to go pack, I think we're leaving straight after breakfast." I made more coffee, and went into the room. Ivan stirred slightly as I put his cup down on the bedside table. Quietly, I pulled open my case, and put my laundry at the bottom, covered by a layer of shoes, and methodically re-packed my clean clothes on top. I left out just my clothes for that day, and the toiletries I needed. Afterwards, I packed Ivan's weekend bag, leaving out a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, as well as his shaving gear, and toothbrush. Eventually, his eyes opened.

"Morning sleeping beauty," I said, as he struggled onto his elbows to sip his lukewarm coffee. He pulled a face at it.

"Morning baby. God, my heads banging," he glanced at my case, "have you packed the headache tablets already?" I nodded to a packet of neurofen that I'd left out, just in case, and went to fetch him a bottle of water, and boil the kettle for a fresh coffee. He sat up in bed, and drank, looking pretty rough, although 'rough' for Ivan was the sort of look that graced magazines. I thought he looked sexy as hell with a bit of stubble, and his hair mussed up.

"Shall we shower after breakfast? I asked, "I'm a bit hungry after all that vodka last night. I need some food inside me." The German lot had insisted on a vodka based drinking game, as soon as they'd learnt that Ivan was Russian. It had all been a great laugh at the time...

"Yes, ok. Maybe food will make me feel a little better." He swung his legs out of bed and threw on the clothes I'd left out. We went downstairs, and ate.

I felt a lot better after a full English, and copious amounts of orange juice and coffee. By the time I'd showered, I was almost back to normal. Ivan seemed to perk up too once he had some food inside him.

The porter collected our bags, and after hugging James and the others goodbye, we went to the front desk to check out. While Ivan sorted his bill, I paid for all the food and drink that James and I had charged to the room, as a nice little surprise for him.

The flight to Tuscany was thankfully quite short, although Ivan, as usual, was rooted to the seat, sweating and shaking. He didn't even bother to try and hide it from me this time. He held my hand in an iron grip, as I read my kindle one handed.

Oscar had sent a pair of cars to meet us when we landed, and I sat looking at the landscape as we drove down to his villa, inhibited by having Nico in with us due to space restrictions in the car full of guards behind. Eventually, we came to a pair of gates, which were open, and travelled along a dusty road through what looked like a vast estate.

I took a sharp intake of breath at my first view of the 'villa', which looked more like a mini castle. "Wow, I thought it would be nice, but it's really quite something, isn't it?" Ivan said. Oscar and Lucy were waiting by the front door.

"I'm so pleased you could come. Ivan, nice to see you. I trust you had a good flight?" Oscar said, as we got out of the car. "Come on through, I'll show you to your room, then a drink on the terrace before lunch."

"Lucy! Lovely to see you." I looked quizzically at her.

"Tell you later," she whispered, looking a little embarrassed.

"This villa is spectacular Oscar. How long have you had it?" Ivan asked as we followed Oscar through the hall, and up the rather grand staircase.

"My Father bought it about forty years ago, as a bit of a wreck, and restored it as a bit of a project, probably to give him a break from patching up Conniscliffe. He did enjoy organising builders. The estate is managed for us though, I don't really have to deal with it much these days."

Our room was delightful, with an enormous bed, crisp white linen sheets, and a view over rolling hills, set into fields. As usual, Oscar had had a luxury bathroom fitted, which was as big as most people's living rooms.

The terrace outside was lovely, made of ancient looking stone, and arranged around a rather lovely pool. It had a covered area, as well as an open area, with sun loungers, and a couple of parasols. We sat at the large table in the covered part, and drank cold, white, Italian wine, brought out by a butler clad in pale linen, rather than the usual butler attire that Jones at Conniscliffe wore.

"So have you heard any news about what's happening back home?" I asked.

"Well, the CEO of Natwest resigned, quite rightly I might add. The CEO of Lloyds is still clinging on by his fingertips. Goldings is having a bit of a bonanza from the whole scandal, although, as the banks bankers, it isn't without repercussions completely. It all comes down to what action the Bank of England takes. If they imposed punitive fines, the consequences could ripple outwards, but I'm lobbying the chairman to make sure that doesn't happen."

"So does that mean I'll be looking after a couple more banks when I get home?" I asked.

"Yep, 'fraid so. You'll probably need to oversee a couple of rights issues too. They're going to need to generate vast amounts of cash fairly quickly."

"Baby, between Oscar and I, you'll make partner sooner than you think," Ivan interjected.

"Nobody under the age of 40 has ever made partner before. I still have a long way to go."

"There's a first time for everything," Lucy chirped. "Ms Pearson does seem rather fond of you, and to pull in that many prestige clients couldn't go unnoticed."

"Plus you're going to get Conde Nast too, don't forget that," added Ivan.

"Best I flop about and relax then. Seems like I'm gonna be hitting the ground running next week."

"I have something to tell you," said Ivan, "I spoke to Ms Pearson in the week, and arranged another week off for you in August. To come to the South of France, to make up for being a rubbish boyfriend."

"That's brilliant news," I beamed. "You really seem to be able to get round her."

"He probably flashes his film star smile at her," laughed Oscar, "she's a sucker for a pretty face."

"She's a sucker for a big wallet, and the prospect of Conde Nast," replied Ivan, smiling at me, his eyes shining with...love?

We had a glorious lunch on the terrace, Oscar was right about the food, it was the freshest, most flavourful Italian food I'd ever tasted. Afterwards, Lucy and I flopped onto the sun loungers, while Oscar went off to show Ivan round the estate. I watched as they walked away, deep in conversation. I took off my shorts and vest, and lay flat on the comfortable steamer chair. Lucy did the same. She looked incredible in a bikini.

"Right, come on, spill," I said to Lucy. She sat up on the side of her lounger, and leaned forward.

"I haven't even been to visit my parents yet. We only got dressed this morning for the first time since we got here. Elle, we're in love, and it's fantastic."

I looked at her, and noticed that she didn't actually look any more tanned than she did on Saturday night at the ball. "We went to Whisky Mist, and talked until it closed. He came back to mine, and had a coffee, didn't leave till four in the morning. Met me for brunch next day, and we haven't been apart since. Elle, he's everything I ever dreamed of and more."

"I'm so pleased for the two of you. I did tell his mother that I'd introduce you. I thought you'd get on well." Despite my little pang at losing my fallback position, I was pleased for them both. Oscar had looked happy and relaxed, if a touch tired, and Lucy was positively glowing as she spoke about him.