Two Months and Three Days (Sinister Romance #1)

Chapter 7 (part II)

"I can do morning or afternoon. An interview. You decide on the host. Whoever you think is more interesting. I don't know anything about your media resources. I'm all yours!"

Oh, this ambiguity was teasing Marianna and gave her hope. Everything he was saying sounded obscene, even if just a little. This man made a stunning impression on women, and the scary thing was that he knew it.

"Is your flight tomorrow?" Marianna clarified. "How much time do we have to plan?"

"I'll be here for another couple of days," he assured her, surprised at himself. Maxim had tickets for flights to Berlin the following day in his pocket. He had already spent two days in Moscow. That was quite enough. Last night, he would have said that he was leaving tomorrow but he couldn't stop thinking about the drawings.

"Perfect!" Marianna said, cheering up. A couple of days were enough for her to accomplish her goal. She was sure of that! "I'll ask the cameraman to send over the materials. I think they'll be ready by tonight."

"Right now," Maxim shook his head. Marianna frowned. Why the hell was he so worried about the materials?

She had to lower her arms, take out her phone, call the cameramen who filmed the exhibition the day before yesterday, and beg them to drop everything they were doing and email the footage to her. Yes, she had lost her mind. Yes, this was a vast amount of information and normally they wouldn't even email that. And yes, she owed them big.

"They've promised to do everything they can." She sounded mad. Maxim had already brought his laptop from the bedroom and was sitting at the table, going through some files, paying absolutely no attention to her at all.

"Great!" he replied, without turning around.

"Are you going to edit anything? There is not much material."

"Alright. It's alright," he muttered, looking at the images on the screen.

"Besides, I can't give you third-party materials. There were journalists from various channels there, and I don't have their materials." Marianna's voice was no longer sexy.

"Well, then just give me what you have," Maxim ordered after a short pause.

"But why?!" she asked, sounding a bit more rude than she wanted. Maxim looked at Marianna from above his laptop, frowned, and became very serious.

"Because there won't be an interview without it. You'll have nothing at all," he added.

Like hell, he'll sleep with me. I might as well just take off my skirt. It won't change anything, Marianna thought, feeling annoyed. And then she thought, How the hell am I supposed to walk around all day with no underwear on?

For the next half an hour, she had to sit there and stare at the TV screen where they were showing an English documentary about mountains and volcanoes on the Discovery channel. Maxim was working quietly, going through some photographs and looking through some articles. He didn't look at Marianna once. She felt angry at first but then she just got tired and bored. Finally, her phone rang. The first email from the cameraman had come in.

"Is the Internet fast here?" she asked in a very dry, business-like tone.

"Did you get an email?" Maxim asked as his face lit up. "You can use my computer. It'll be easier to download the files."

When the files started showing up on the screen, Maxim's face lit up with impatience. He opened the first video file and immediately fast-forwarded to a certain point when the entire press conference had moved to the sixth floor. Then he slowed down. What was he looking for?