Page 97 of Black Ledger

I pulled the sheets tighter to my chin like they were a shield. “How do you know that?”

His eyebrows wiggled with amusement, but he didn’t say a word. Severin exhaled slowly, controlled, not moving any closer. But his eyes were liquid blue, scanning over me and filling with lust.

My heart thumped wildly in my chest.

I pushed up on one elbow, my hair loose and spilling over my shoulders. Loose hair? I had braided it.

The sheet clung to my skin, my hard nipples pushing into the fabric.

Oh, God. This was embarrassing.

I swallowed. “Could you hand me some clothing?”

I was not going to have any conversation with him while naked.

Severin only stared at me for a long moment. Motionless. Not even his chest rose with breath. But then he grunted and leaned over to grab his shirt and boxers, which I had thrown on the floor. He handed them to me, but he still didn’t move.

“Could you look away?” I asked, taking the shirt between my fingers.

Severin shook his head, the vein in his neck pulsing. “No.”

He wanted to watch.

I just stared at him with disbelief for a moment before realizing he was completely serious.

Either I had to duck under the sheets to change or call his bluff and change with his eyes locked on me.

But it wasn’t a bluff, was it?

He wanted to see me naked.

And what did I want?

I had no fucking idea.

But fuck it. Without taking my gaze from his, I dropped the sheet and exposed my breasts fully to his view.

His biceps tensed, veins straining beneath his skin, while his fists knotted in the sheets instead of reaching for me.

Slowly, I put my arms through the sleeves and pulled his shirt over my head. Then I pulled all of the blankets off and swung my feet over the bed, placing my pussy dangerously close to Severin’s face. All he had to do was reach out and grab my thighs, and he would have full access to me.

But he didn’t move.

Instead, his gaze was latched onto my naked pussy, his chest rising hard with the effort of holding back. Slowly, I bent down, my face inches from his as I pulled his boxers up my legs and over my ass, taking the show away altogether.

The whole time, Severin didn’t move or speak.

Silence settled between us, and neither one of us even flinched. I let the moment stretch, waiting. Tension clawed at my insides. We were mere inches apart, and the distance felt like both nothing and the size of the Grand Canyon.

I wanted to reach out and run my fingers along his jaw and through his hair. I wanted to tell him everything, from the fear coiling in my stomach to my deep feelings for him—feelings I’d never be able to comprehend or speak out loud.

But the truth was dangerous. I was the first to get annoyed by the miscommunication trope in my romance books and on TV shows, but as I stared at Severin, I fully understood it: the truth could end everything.

What if one of us confessed our feelings just for the other not to reciprocate? It would ruin our friendship completely. What if we did kiss and have sex, and it was just meaningless to him? I’d have to serve him in the Bratva forever. I’d have to watch him get married and have children. He was the heir to a kingdom, and I was simply a hacker. My job would always be to support the Volkovs and uncover information for the Bratva, and one day his role would be to lead everything.

And what if he did love me and we did fuck, but he still had to marry someone else? Would he expect me to be his mistress forever?

There were no options that ended well between us.