Page 9 of The Pakhan's Secret Baby

I should send her home tomorrow and forget her name.

But as I brush a curl from her face and feel her curl closer in her sleep, something possessive tightens in my chest.

I’m not sure I can let her go.

3

EMORY

It's the light streaming in the windows before dawn that wakes me, reminding me I'm not at home.

I have blackout curtains to keep this from happening, as well as a sleep mask that protects my eyes from the rude invasion.

Before I even open my eyes, I know something wild happened.

My body aches a little, tender from the waist down from whatever I did last night, and the warm lingering scent of a man clings to my nostrils.

It's early, maybe just barely dawn, and I have a slamming headache, but I let my eyes flutter open to reveal a hard body draped in a black sheet, lying next to me on the bed.

The images that flash back in my mind rapidly bring a half-grin to my face, as I begin to remember in bits and pieces.

There was vodka, and art… and my God, the way this man made me feel.

Sucking in a deep breath of him, I let my eyes flutter shut again and think about just going back to sleep.

The damage is done, right?

My father will already assume the worst, and a few more minutes of sleep won't make the punishment any worse than it already will be.

Besides, I'm exhausted and drained, and this little nightclub bedroom lair feels more comfortable than my own bed.

Any minute my own house will be rousing, too loudly to keep sleeping.

But I have finals to study for, and Irina will want to know all the juicy details as soon as possible.

And if I lie here in this bed until Rashid wakes, I'll have to explain why I can't give him my number, and why a relationship between a woman my age and a man his age is unconscionable.

My father would kill me, and him… but maybe just him.

And even if he didn’t, I don't know that he'd ever look at me the same way again.

To know his little girl soiled herself with a man almost his age might send him to an early grave.

I want to move, but I don't have the energy to do anything more than concentrate on the sensations in my body.

My head throbs, but my vagina feels wrecked, like he literally destroyed me.

I remember him feeling huge, so big it burned when he pushed into me, though I wasn't a virgin by any means.

My heart flips when I think about whether we even used protection. I can't remember.

He was just so alluring, and I was drunk.

This isn't good.

Pushing myself up, I look around the room.

My clothes are strewn around, clutch dropped near the door where he kissed me first.