said nothing as he stripped off his shirt and dropped it to the floor and then walked over towards her to top up his drink.
He just walked towards her with no thought about the effect a half-naked Sev had on her.
That wasn’t his problem either.
His skin was pale and on anyone else it might be too pale yet on Sev all it did was enhance his lithe, toned body and shadowed his chest to perfection. His arms were as long as his legs and his nipples were the same deep merlot of his mouth and just as tempting. His trousers sat a little too low on his hips, just that fraction between notches on a belt, and those were the details she fought not to notice as his hand reached for a heavy glass and held it up to her.
‘Have one,’ Sev said. ‘It’s going to be a very long, dry night.’
Sometimes they had a drink about now, especially if they were going out for dinner, but Naomi declined with a small shake of her head. Even if a cognac to settle her nerves might be nice, she’d rather hold onto her inhibitions than lose them around him.
This was going to be harder than she’d allowed for.
She loved her job.
Her career.
It just wasn’t working.
Oh, there was a reason she could not abide certain parts of her job. Had it been Edward, her previous boss, or any of her bosses before Sev, this would be an unnoted part of a long day—brief downtime before she headed out for a dinner with his clients.
Instead she was trying to work out where to place her eyes when they wanted to rest on him.
‘If it’s about this morning,’ Sev said, lathering up his chin, ‘there’s no need. You don’t have to apologise.’
Her lips moved into an unseen but incredulous smile.
‘We’re reducing your use of the “sorry” word, remember?’
He really took the cake at times!
Yes, she could tell him he had been the inappropriate one this morning yet she was looking at his back and fighting not to go over there.
Naomi was truly tired of fighting her feelings.
Feelings, Naomi knew, that could get seriously hurt.
And neither did those feelings allow her to do her job properly. Naomi knew she had been surly this morning about his late arrival when, as his PA, she had no right to be.
‘That’s not what I’m here about, Sev.’ Naomi cleared her throat and watched as Sev picked up the razor. ‘I’m handing in my notice.’
She watched as the razor hesitated over his jaw but then he commenced shaving as she carried on with her little prepared speech.
‘You said at the start that you’d be surprised if I lasted more than three months.’ Naomi reminded him.
‘I did.’
‘And I’ve loved the work, I really have, it’s just...’
He turned from the mirror. ‘Naomi, you don’t need to give a reason to leave.’
He could be so kind at times—awkward, embarrassing things like resigning he dealt with so well.
‘Will you be sticking around to find a replacement?’ Sev asked, as he carried on with his shave.
‘I’ll do what I can this week but if we’re going to Dubai, it might be pushing it, unless you don’t need me to go.’
‘No, no,’ Sev said. ‘I need you to be there. I go to Washington the day after tomorrow...’ He thought for a moment. ‘I’ll come back on Thursday night. If you can have at least two applicants lined up by then, that would be good.’
‘Sure.’
She’d have little trouble. Applications to work for Sevastyan Derzhavin arrived in her inbox all the time. ‘I’ll go from Dubai to London and there we can part ways.’
‘You’re coming back to New York, though?’ Sev checked.
‘Oh, yes.’ Naomi nodded. ‘I want to have Christmas with my family here.’
‘How’s that all going?’ Sev asked, turning back to the mirror and getting on with shaving.
‘Good! I’m going there tomorrow night.’
‘For dinner?’
‘I’m babysitting,’ Naomi answered. ‘They’re going to the theatre.’
Sev said nothing. He loathed how she jumped to her father’s every wish. They could be in the middle of a meeting and if her father texted or called, even if she tried not to respond, Sev could feel the tension in her.
Then he chose not to say nothing. ‘You like the theatre,’ he pointed out.
‘Not really.’
‘It says that you do on your résumé.’
‘And I told you that I lied about that.’
‘Aren’t you going to ask about a reference?’
Naomi nodded.
‘I’ll do that first thing tomorrow,’ Sev promised.
He rinsed his face and then dried it, splashed on a load of cologne, took a sip of his drink and then put on his fresh shirt.
And that was that.
She’d resigned. It was done with.
And he’d barely so much as blinked.
‘ARE YOU GOING to get changed?’ Sevastyan asked.
Naomi nodded.
His complete lack of reaction only confirmed that she was right to leave.
It was easy come, easy go to Sev, and that hurt a lot.
As she headed out of his office to get changed for their night out, only then did she remember. ‘I haven’t got my dress here,’ Naomi said. ‘I was supposed to pick it up from the cleaner’s in my lunch break but I went shopping with Jamal and I forgot.’
‘No problem.’ He dealt with it as easily as the news that she had resigned. ‘Do you have something at home ready to put on? We can stop on the way to the restaurant.’
Of course she had something at home—given her lavish clothing allowance—and they headed to her apartment. She rather wished he hadn’t shaved or smelled so divine as they took the elevator to the tenth floor, where Naomi lived, rather than his penthouse.
