Olga Dies Dreaming(101)

She laughed. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As I mentioned, I come with a business proposition.”

His heart dropped a bit—just a bit—considering for a second that perhaps this was legitimate and that she didn’t come here to get back together. Then he realized this was likely just her way of breaking the ice.

“Do you want to embark on a new career with Eikenborn and Sons?” he asked, with a smile.

“Well, no, not exactly, but it does involve your business.”

“Really, now? This is intriguing.” He leaned in towards her, his hands resting on the counter, framing her body between his arms.

“There is a party in Puerto Rico, a group, really, interested in purchasing about two million dollars’ worth of solar panels.”

“Okay,” he said, “I’m listening. For private estates?”

“No,” she said. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the plans, but the condition of the purchase is that they need the panels ASAP.”

“Are they trying to resell these?” he asked, stroking her hair. “Because I’m not about to consider supplying a competitor. I could stand to make a killing with solar down there.”

“No, that’s definitely not the intention,” she said. He noticed the smile had fallen slightly from her face.

“Who is this buyer, Cherry?” he asked. He had taken one hand and placed it on her waist. She had not pulled it away.

“A philanthropist who would like to remain anonymous.”

He nuzzled her neck now, and felt her stiffen slightly. “Ah, a do-gooder! That’s nice. We need more do-gooders in the world.” He moved his hand towards her waist and undid the button of her jeans. She grabbed his wrist.

“So,” she said, “will you do it? Because if so, I can introduce you to their representative.”

“Can you now, Cherry?” he said, with a bit of a laugh as he bit her ear. He was mildly curious who this philanthropist was. If they had this kind of capital to expend on a charitable act, surely he’d have met them before. Unless they were foreign? An interesting possibility. Either way, this was pennies compared to what he could stand to make with Nick Selby by not providing solar panels to Puerto Rico, something he did not think he should share with Olga. He was fairly confident this would ruin his seduction. And besides, he hadn’t given Nick his commitment yet anyway.

She suddenly pulled away from him, but had not let go of his wrist.

“Richard,” she said, “I’m being serious. These are real potential buyers.”

“Ah, plural,” he said as he attempted to re-catch her in his arms.

She pulled away again.

“Dick,” she said quietly. She took a breath. “Richard, I’m seeing someone.”

“What?” Barely two months had passed since they stopped seeing each other. He decided that she must be trying some sort of joke. He laughed. She didn’t.

“It’s serious, I think,” Olga said now. She was not joking.

Heat rose in his neck; he was unsure if it was anger or humiliation.

“Then what the fuck are you doing here?” he asked.

“I … I shouldn’t have suggested dinner, I realize … I’m sorry if you—”

“You aren’t fucking sorry, Olga,” he said. It was anger. He could feel it. “You’re a manipulative cunt and you knew what I would think you wanted when you reached out to me.”

He saw the words hit her like a slap and he liked it. He had forgotten how tricky she was. How many times had she done this to him? He had lost count. She always twisted his actions and desires into a version that best suited her, until finally he would forget what he had wanted in the first place. She had done this when he left his wife. She had done this to him in the Hamptons. He could see it very clearly now. Somehow always pulling each situation out of his hands and assuming control of it all.

“How long have you been fucking this other guy?” he asked. He was very close to her now, but she didn’t move away. “Have you been fucking this other guy the whole time?”

She was leaning away from him now and he could see a touch of fear in her eyes.

“Richard,” she said flatly, “does it really matter?”

Of course it fucking mattered. He leered at her in silence. Everything had a different cast: the casual attire, the lack of makeup. She wasn’t comfortable with him, she was indifferent. He was filled with such rage when he realized he had slapped her. He had not hit a woman in years. She stepped back from him in shock, but only backed herself against the counter.

“Richard, you’re right. I knew what you might think when I texted you. And I even thought I might be able to go through the motions—”

“Go through the fucking motions?”

“I just meant, I didn’t intend to come across as a tease. But when I got here—”

“When you got here, what? I disgusted you? You changed your mind?”

“No!” she said, and he could see now that she was scared. She realized she had lost control of the situation and this gave him a strange pleasure.

“So, what? You were going to come here and ‘go through the motions’ with me, like some kind of whore, and then what? You thought I’d just sell your friend whatever they wanted because of you and your magic pussy? And then what? You were going to go back to fuck this other guy?”