I turn from the window and force myself to move toward my desk. I have work to do. Real work. Not standing here like some lovesick fool watching a woman who should mean nothing to me.
She's a captive. A complication I'm managing until her father is dealt with and she goes home.
That's all. That's all she can be.
I make it three steps before I'm back at the window.
She's walking along the path that winds through the gardens. The guard follows, keeping a professional distance.
Good. That's good. Exactly what I want.
Except it's not what I want at all.
What I want is to be down there with her, walking beside her, watching her discover my grounds. Hearing whatever thoughts are making her smile like that.
The realization makes my jaw clench. This is weakness. Distraction. Exactly the kind of thing that gets men in my position killed.
I need to refocus, and remember who I am and what's at stake. I need to stop thinking about the way she looked at me in the library, the way she came apart against those shelves with my name on her lips.
I need to stop remembering how she fucking tasted.
My cock throbs, and I’m on the verge of reaching for my zipper when my phone buzzes. It’s Viktor.
Viktor:Volkov's men were spotted near the docks. Three of them. Watching our shipment routes.
I type back:Handle it. Quietly.
Viktor:Already done. But they're getting bolder. Testing boundaries.
Andrei:Let them test. We'll respond when the time is right.
Viktor:The men are asking when that will be.
I stare at the message. The men are asking. Translation: the men are questioning. Wondering if theirpakhanis too distracted to deal with the building threat.
They're not wrong.
I pocket the phone without responding and look back out the window.
Liesl has stopped again, this time near a bench. She's saying something to the guard that’s with her. I can't hear the words, of course, but I can see her expression–open and friendly with that sunshiny warmth that seems to radiate from her even in captivity. That effervescent optimism that makes my teeth grate together. It’s so unlike anything that’s ever been a part of my life before. It’s fucking irritating, her naiviete.
And it also makes me feel drawn to her, in a way that I’ve never been drawn to anyone else before.
The guard responds, and says something that makes her laugh. The sound doesn't reach me through the glass but I see the way her whole face lights up. The way she touches his arm—just briefly, casually, the kind of gesture that means nothing.
Nothing… but my vision narrows, suddenly laser focused on her hand on his arm. Him smiling back at her. Responding to her warmth with his own.
He says something else. She laughs again, brighter this time.
The rage that floods through me is instant and viscera, and completely irrational.
I’m out of my office before I can stop myself, heading down the stairs and through the hallway to the doors that lead out to the back gardens. My men step aside when they see my face. They know better than to get in my way when I look like this.
I hit the back door hard enough to make it slam against the wall.
Liesl and the guard both turn at the sound, and see me storming toward them. Her smile fades when she sees me, and he goes rigid. He immediately steps back from her and puts proper distance between them.
Too fucking late.
