My first day began as well as you'd expect any first day to begin.
I woke up late. My alarm clock decided that night was the best night to just die, so by the time I was dressed, I only had twenty minutes to get to the office. Luckily I didn't wear makeup most days so I just threw my hair into a semi-presentable bun, grabbed all of my belongings, and rushed out the door. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, worried about the thought of being late on my first day, and it just increased when my phone buzzed with a text from my new boss.
Mr. Belikov | 8:47am: Good morning Rose. On your way in, could you stop off at the coffee shop next door and get me a large black coffee? I'll refund you on your pay check.
Okay, so the office was three minutes away by car, meaning that I could drive there, park, run and get the coffee, run back to the office and still be in time to start at 9. Hopefully.
Luckily there wasn't much traffic out that morning so once I'd parked at the office I still had nine minutes to spare. I ran into the coffee shop and I swear whatever otherworldly beings there were out there must have felt bad for me because there was no line there.
I ordered Dimitri's coffee and decided I deserved something too for all I'd gone through. I wasn't the biggest fan of coffee yet, I drank it only when necessary, so I ordered myself the sweetest thing they had. I adored sweet things, my body just seemed to crave them for some reason. And luckily my metabolism was so good that I barely ever gained any weight from it. I was very grateful for that.
"First day?" The boy behind the register, Adrian as his name tag said, asked. He was pretty cute: messy brown hair, bright green eyes, and a woman-eating smirk on his face. If I wasn't attracted to big, hunky Russians I might have gone for him.
"Yeah," I replied. "Next door."
He whistled. "Good luck with that. I've heard that Belikov guy is super strict."
That's not what I wanted to hear.
"Well, seeing as I only have six minutes before my shift starts I sure hope not."
Adrian's eyes widened just a little and he stopped talking to me to make the drinks as fast as possible. I thanked him when I took them a minute later before rushing out of the café and into the office.
The elevator ride only took a few seconds and I sighed a heavy breath of relief when I stepped onto my floor with three minutes to spare. I smiled at the receptionist, a pretty girl with long blonde ringlets in her hair, then headed over to Dimitri's office. I knocked on the door and after a few seconds heard him call out a "come in." I quickly placed my drink down on my own desk then opened the door and was greeted by the most amazing sight.
Dimitri, in a white shirt and tight black slacks, with his back to me and bent over just slightly. I had a full view of his ass and it was mouth-watering. He obviously did lots of squats or something because he just filled out his pants perfectly, leaving nothing to the imagination.
When he turned around to face me, I was once again struck by his handsomeness. He had his long hair tied behind his neck today and it just made him look so much sexier. Trailing my eyes down his body, I stopped when they reached just below his belt. His tight pants did wonders for that side, too.
I had to force my eyes back up to his face and when they got there, I found him giving me an amused look. Oh wow, those eyes. I could drown in those eyes.
"Good morning," he said.
"Good morning, sir," I replied, shaking my inappropriate thoughts away. "One large black coffee."
"Thank you." He took the cup from me and I had to hold back a gasp from the shock when our fingers brushed. "Alright, first thing on the agenda is a meeting. I'd like you to accompany me and take notes."
"Okay. Can I bring my coffee in?"
"Of course."
I left his office to grab my drink, a notepad and some paper and when I turned around he was waiting for me.
"Follow me," he said. I did as he said, legs having to move at twice the speed of his just to keep up with his large strides.
"Who are we meeting with?" I asked.
"The local sports store, M&E," he replied. "We're trying to get them to sell our winter gear. I thought it would be good for you to see how we run meetings here."
"That name sounds very familiar."
Before either of us could say any more, we arrived at the meeting room and it suddenly hit me why the name was familiar.
Sat behind the table were two of my close childhood friends; Mason Ashford and Eddie Castile. I hadn't seen either of them since high school graduation as they'd both moved across country for university and I was glad to see they hadn't changed.
"Oh my god, is that a Rose Hathaway I see?" Mason asked, a huge grin on his face. I was still a little shocked about seeing the two of them again so I was caught off guard when Mason jumped out of his chair and ran to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground, spinning me as he hugged me. I broke out of my shock to laugh at him and found that I liked how natural it felt to be hugging him again.
"Hey, Mase," I said. I hugged him back as much as I could with full hands while smiling at Eddie over his shoulder. When Mason put me down, I gave Eddie a hug too, all the while feeling Dimitri's eyes on us.
"How are you doing?" Eddie asked.
"I'm pretty great, it's my first day here," I said.
"Enjoying it?"
"So far."
I turned my head to Mason and he was staring at me in the adoring way he did all throughout our childhood. I guess his crush on me never faded.
"You look just as beautiful as I remember," he said. I blushed just slightly as I grinned and reached out to mess up his hair.
"And you're just as adorable," I said. "How are you both doing?"
"Amazing, business is booming. We're in the process of opening our second store."
"Wow, that's so great, I'm so happy for you both."
I hugged them both again before Dimitri cut in.
"Shall we get started?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," Mason said. They walked around to sit opposite Dimitri while I sat just a few chairs away. I took a sip of my coffee before sliding it over to Mason on instinct. Being in a room with them again brought me back to my childhood and I couldn't help but smile.
When we were in high school, whenever Mason or I bought a drink, we would always share it with each other. Although my friend Lissa was technically my best friend, Mason and I were almost as close. I thought of us more as brother and sister but I knew he didn't feel that way. He never tried to ask me out, though, so nothing ever happened between us.
He thanked me for the drink with a wink and after a sip gave it back. As soon as it hit his taste buds, his face scrunched up in disgust.
"God, Rose, this is so sweet, how can you drink this? "he asked, pretending to gag.
"Oh, shut up," I said, kicking at his legs under the table. He gave the drink back to me and I caught Dimitri watching me impatiently. I mouthed a 'sorry' then quickly opened my notepad to a new page before nodding at Dimitri to show him that I was ready to start.
The meeting lasted just over an hour but it was successful. Dimitri got Mason and Eddie to agree to stock most of our winter gear in their store for a reasonable price. I stepped in a couple of times when Dimitri allowed me to and I think that helped sway Mason's decision. It was obvious he was more in charge than Eddie within the business which worked out well in my favour.
I hugged the two boys as they were leaving and we made plans to all meet up with Lissa to catch up. Once they'd left, I turned to Dimitri and gave him a wide grin.
"Well, that went well," I said.
He nodded in agreement. "How do you know them?"
"Oh, we've been friends since kindergarten. I hadn't seen them in years, though, so I didn't know they had a store together. But I guess it does makes sense. They've always loved being active so owning a sports store is only logical."
"I see. Mason sure seemed to like you."
I grinned fondly. "Yeah, he's had a crush on me basically all our lives. I don't feel the same but he doesn't seem to care."
"Well, you certainly helped make that deal so thank you."
I beamed with pride and Dimitri's eyes widened just a little before softening as a small smile graced his face.
"You're welcome, I really enjoyed that," I said.
"Good. Now, we should get back to work."
We walked back to my desk and Dimitri explained what he wanted me to do for the rest of the day. It was all simple things; mainly responding to emails with answers he gave me and setting meeting times with other clients. While it wasn't the most interesting work, I was still riding on the high of helping out with the deal in the morning so I was happy to do it all.
—
When lunch time rolled around, I grabbed the food I packed and headed into the kitchen to warm it up. Last night Lissa and I ordered Chinese food and I'd had the brilliant foresight to save some so I could eat it today.
As I was taking it out of the microwave, Alberta walked in and gave me a friendly smile.
"Rose, hello!" she said. "How is your first day going?"
"Very well, thank you," I replied. I sat down at the table and she joined me, pulling her lunch out of her bag.
"Is Mr. Belikov being friendly so far?" she asked.
"Yes, of course. I mean, he's not very chatty, but what he's said has been nice."
"Yes, well, talking to people hasn't always been his strong suit."
She had a fond smile on her face as she spoke about him, hinting that there was some sort of affection there. It was pretty sweet, to be honest.
"How long have you known him?" I asked.
"Eight years now," she said. "I met him when he moved here when he was your age. As his mother, grandmother and sisters stayed in Russia, I helped look after him whenever he needed it. He gave me this job when he started the company as a thank you."
"Do you enjoy working here?"
"I do. I know he can be kind of strict sometimes but that's just because of his life back in Russia. I won't go into too much detail, it's up to him to tell you what happened, but his father wasn't around much and when he was, he wasn't friendly. Dimitri had to be the man of the house from when he was very young and that kind of thing takes a toll on a person. He's a great person when you get to know him."
"I don't doubt it."
Hearing about his rough childhood made my heart ache just a little. As someone who had a rough time with parents growing up - both of mine left me when I was young - I could understand vaguely what he went through. It endeared me to him even more than I already was and I knew I had to get closer and learn more about him.
"What else can you tell me about him?" I asked.
We spent the entire lunch hour talking about Dimitri's life, then mine and her own, and before I knew it, Dimitri had barged in looking for me.
"You're ten minutes late, Rose," he said, gesturing to his watch. "I don't pay you to sit here and chat so get back to work."
I physically had to hold back a scoff and an eye roll as I packed up my lunch. Sure he was gorgeous but that didn't mean I was going to submit to him easily. I didn't do well with people ordering me around, which in hindsight probably wasn't great now that I was working for somebody.
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir," I grumbled, loud enough that only Alberta could hear me. She chuckled lightly but thankfully didn't make a comment to Dimitri.
I smiled sickeningly sweetly at Dimitri as I walked past and he rolled his eyes at me.
"This can't happen again," he said as he followed me back to my desk. "You have to be on top of your breaks and work."
"I'm sorry." I didn't quite mean it but hey, he didn't have to know that. "I just enjoyed talking to Ms. Petrov so I got carried away."
I tucked my lunch away as I sat down at my desk.
"I'll let it go this once. Get back to work."
He stalked into his office but stopped when he heard a soft giggle coming from across from me. I lifted my head and found the receptionist, Mia, looking at me with a wide grin. I'd been mimicking Dimitri's words silently and hadn't realized that anyone had seen me do so.
I turned my head to look at Dimitri and he was already looking at me, glaring. I put on my best 'I have no idea what she's doing' look, accompanied with a shrug, and he scoffed but left it alone.
Oh, this was going to be fun.
—
My work day was from 9am to 5pm, as like most other people, but I didn't get out until 5:30. Dimitri had a lot of emails that needed to be answered and he refused to let me go until they were all done. It got to the point that we were the only two left and even he didn't have any work left, so he stood behind me to make sure I finished.
"This is very off-putting," I commented.
"Well, after lunch I don't trust you to get things done without supervision," he retorted. I bit my tongue to fight off any snappy comment I had and finished off the final email. Once it was sent, I turned to look at Dimitri with a raised eyebrow. Or, as raised as I could. I wasn't very good at it.
Dimitri, on the other hand, was a natural at it and I immediately stopped when he gave me his own.
"You know, most assistants do what their bosses ask without complaint," he said.
"Yes, well, I'm not like most assistants," I replied. I shut my computer down and packed my things away, all the while Dimitri stood and watched.
"Is this how it's always going to go? You did so well at the meeting this morning and now you're acting out for no reason. It's only been one day."
"That's just how I am, Dimitri. I'm spunky, take it or leave it."
"That's 'sir' or 'Mr. Belikov' to you."
"I'm sorry, sir." I stood up and headed over to the coat rack to grab my jacket. "May I go home?"
"Yes, you may. Just be on time tomorrow morning and don't talk back."
"As, where's the fun in that?"
He narrowed his eyes at me but it didn't faze me; he wasn't as intimidating as he wanted to be. Really, it just spurred me on to piss him off more. The frown on his face was pretty adorable.
"What am I going to do with you?..." I heard him mumble as he walked back into his office. I was grinning widely, insanely amused, as I walked over to the elevator and hit the 'down' arrow.
As I stepped in, Dimitri joined me but stayed on the other side of the small elevator, away from me.
I hated the silence as we rode down so I pushed back some of my snarky-ness just for a minute to make some conversation.
"As much as I'm going to get on your nerves while we work together, I truly am grateful for the opportunity and I will try my best," I said. "I've just never been great with authority figures so it might take me a while. I like working for you so far, but I also like annoying you so that's just how it's going to be. Sorry."
Dimitri was silent for a few seconds as he analyzed me, probably trying to see if I was telling the truth, before nodding.
"We'll work on it," was all he said.
Well, that was promising, I guess. At least he was willing to keep me on.
But, as he walked out of the elevator, I couldn't help but have a feeling that deep down, he actually enjoyed my teasing as much as I did. And if not now, he would one day. It was going to be the thing he liked most about me one day, I could promise that.
Author's Note
Hi! I hope you all like this :) Sorry it took a while but I worked both days this weekend so I didn't have much time to write. I know this chapter isn't too exciting but I need to build up the teasing relationship between Rose and Dimitri first! Thank you for reading and look forward to the next chapter :)