The Only Way is Up

Part Nineteen

Leading her back to their table, he nodded, "yes. I know a cafe, open late. They do great Russian coffee."

When she stopped he turned to look at her, "Russian coffee?"

Laughing he pulled her into his arms, "a special blend of spices, coffee..."

"...and let me guess, vodka?"

His grin warmed her heart, "you know me too well."

And on that air of familiarity, he whisked her off into the night.

It wasn't a cafe, as much as a bar, a basement bar that from outside looked rather innocuous, but as soon as a huge bouncer opened the door for Maxim with a smile of recognition, nothing was as it seemed. The floor was bare wood; small irons chairs surrounded equally small tables. There was no glitz or glamour in the decor at all, but the same couldn't be said for the patrons. Dinner suits, evening gowns and diamonds were the norm, along with accents similar to Maxim's.

He pulled out a chair and eased her into it before sitting opposite her. Sensing her confusion he reached out to take her hand, "are you ok? You look...anxious."

"Surprised maybe, this all seems surreal."

He looked around, then back to her, "this place?" He looked around again, "I suppose that I can see what you mean."

At that moment an older man, grey, wizened rushed over, his voice coarse, his accent thick, "Maxim? Is that you? It has been too long."

Maxim stood and embraced the older man, "Yuri. I wasn't sure that you'd be here this late. How are you?"

When they parted, Yuri smiled, "I seem to live here." He turned to Nicole and smiled, "and this beautiful lady is?"

"I'm Nicole Stark," Nicole offered him a hand, but Yuri ignored that instead bending to kiss her cheeks. "Any friend of Maxim's is welcome here." Patting Maxim on the back he grinned, "coffee?"

"Or course. Thank you."

He sat down and smiled as the older man departed, when he turned back to Nicole she was studying him.

"So he's a friend?"

Maxim ran a hand through his hair, "sort of...he is the father of a friend of mine. He looked out for me when I was younger."

For a moment Nicole thought that he was going to open up, to share something of himself with her, but he leaned back in his seat and glanced towards the bar.

A few moments later a younger woman, tall, blonde and extremely beautiful approached and placed two glasses in front of them, along with a bowl filled with something that looked like roast potatoes. She greeted Maxim with a similar level of familiarity, and with surprise in his eyes he jumped up to hug her, but this time they conversed in Russian. Hearing him speak in his native tongue made her insides warm, he sounded sexy, she could admit that to herself, even if she currently hated him for everything else.

When the woman left, he turned to her once more and spotted her less than happy face, "sorry Natalya is not confident in English. Don't think that she was being rude."

She studied him for a moment, "so she's the friend?"

He nodded, "we were in school together, whilst her father Yuri has been here a long time, Natalya has been working in St Petersburg. She has been in London less than a year."

"It must be such a relief to see familiar faces in a different country."

He sipped at his coffee then replied, "I've been away from Europe for a while, and you're right, it has made it easier knowing that she is here, and Saskia."

She wanted to roll her eyes, the welcoming effect of two perfect model-esque blondes. He'd been flirting with her all night, telling her how wonderful that she was, but in comparison to the only women she'd seen him with, she was a dumpy frump. As if he would be truly interested in her. She had to keep reminding herself not to get carried away; he was playing a role...well. He was grinning at her as he sipped at his drink, and she had to remind herself that he was so much younger than her. This was going nowhere.

"Thanks for tonight," she offered finally. She needed to go home, it was too late. "It worked exactly as you said it would. My head is well and truly held high."

He grinned, "it was so much fun. We should have done this a long time ago."

That made her swallow awkwardly, "yes, well. The party season is well and truly over for me."

Leaning forward, elbows on the table, he rested his chin in his hands, "not quite. You owe me two dances. And I choose when I get them and where."

She rolled her eyes, "yes, whatever."

Presuming that he was joking, she reached for her own drink. She was quite enjoying the alcoholic coffee but almost spluttered and sprayed it across the table when he replied, "yes, I am right. Tomorrow I am going to take you out. In the evening...on my terms."

Nicole wondered if her eyes were on stalks because she couldn't stop staring at him, "I'm busy, tomorrow." She made an immediate excuse rather than challenge him.

"Then change them. Because I am taking YOU out."

Her heart started to pulse, the pounding travelling to her head, deafening her for a moment. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what? I am taking you out. Tonight was for you...tomorrow will be my choice."

She rolled her eyes, "no one will be around tomorrow. You don't have to keep up this facade."

That made Maxim laugh, to the point that he dropped his head back, "this was never about anyone but me and you Nicole. Tonight was about seeing you get your confidence back...tomorrow is about taking the next step. Seeing how much fun we can have when it's just the two of us."

Suddenly she was struggling to draw air into her painful lungs; her throat was dryer than the Sahara Desert. She thought he must be joking, but he wasn't laughing, he wasn't anything...he seemed sincere. But that wasn't right.

"Maxim, we are not going on a date, that isn't what this is about. You've done me a favour, that is all."

He gave her a grin, "but I want us to go on a date. I love the saying 'I scratched your back, now you must scratch mine'. I've enjoyed tonight, and I want us to do it again."

It was all going wrong, suddenly Nicole felt as though she was suffocating. She needed fresh air, but Maxim's hand encircling her wrist stopped her from bolting, almost as though he predicted her actions.

"We can't. It's not right..."

He laughed, "do you hate me? Or do you like me? Because all I am asking for is a few hours. That is all."

The mood had changed completely, she wanted to escape desperately. But she couldn't, instead she had to try and relax, change the subject. Be normal. While all the time, inside she was literally quaking. There were a done reasons why this was wrong, why she should walk away from him and never look back, but his thumb toying with the crease on the inside of wrist was a frank reminder of how special those kisses had been between them. She was light headed, her stomach felt as though it was about to erupt through her mouth, or fall out of her backside.

Maxim was talking about their training, and the fact that he'd eaten more fat and empty calories that evening than he had in the last year.

"There's my challenge achieved." She offered, finally feeling able to join in the conversation. "I got you to eat all that."

He laughed, "I'm tempted to take you to a health food restaurant tomorrow, but I quite enjoyed the cholesterol. So we'll go somewhere 'normal'."

She was on the verge of hyperventilating again, the thought of another date with Maxim terrified her, she wanted to stay in alone, lick her wounds and work out what this evening's occurrences meant. Instead she was about to lose herself in the distracting presence of this rather young man.

Too young. Too dangerous. Just too much.