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I stand, ready to get on with my day. Sasha, however, gets on her knees and grabs me by the arm. “Please tell me you slept.”
When I don’t reply, she swallows. “Not even a little?”
“Sleep is overrated.”
“That’s not true. This situation is getting serious and will have a huge impact on your health if you keep going at this pace, Kirill. I can help if you let me.”
“You need to call me something else when it’s the two of us.”
She pauses, her expression frozen for a second too long. I love how she looks when caught off guard, but what I love more is the slight narrowing of her eyes when she realizes I’m diverting the conversation in a direction she doesn’t approve of.
Sasha is a smart cookie and the only one who can keep up with my fast-paced mind.
“You’re not changing the subject, Kirill.”
“As I was saying, you need to call me something else.”
“What’s wrong with Kirill?”
“Too impersonal.”
“It’s your name.”
“Still impersonal. You’re supposed to be born and bred in Russia, so you, of all people, should know the importance of a familiar name.”
Her lips part. “I…can’t call you by the diminutive form. You’re older than me by a whole eight years.”
“I don’t want that either. A diminutive form is weird all over. What I want, however, is a pet name, like the one I gave you.”
“But why…?”
“I just want one.”
She pauses, swallows once and then again before she clears her throat, her cheeks becoming a deep shade of red. This view of her, all bashful and looking absolutely fuckable in my shirt, is an image I need to engrave in my head for life.
New resolve—make her wear my shirts more often.
Her colorful eyes flicker to more green than brown as she whispers, “Solnste?”
“That’s just lazy. You can’t just choose the masculine form of the pet name I gave you.”
“Well, that’s the first thing I thought about.”
“Think harder then and put some effort into it.”
“As if you put any effort into Solnyshko,” she murmurs almost to herself.
“I will have you know that I did.”
“What type of effort is that? You just picked the first one you thought of back then.”
“Not true, but that’s not our topic of discussion right now.”
“I just need time to think about it. I haven’t done this before, okay?”
So she didn’t give her lover a pet name? One-nil to me, motherfucker.
“You have until the end of the day.”
“Gee, way to put pressure on someone,” she mutters under her breath again.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, nothing.” She smiles sweetly, and I completely forget why I should be mad at this woman for more reasons than one. “Where are you going?”
“To a meeting at the Pakhan’s house.”
She stumbles out of bed. “You should’ve woken me up earlier. I’ll be ready in a minute.”
I’m the one who grabs her by the wrist this time before she reaches the bathroom. Sasha whirls around and stumbles in my embrace. “Have you forgotten what I told you in the text last night? You have a day off.”
“I’m fine now. I don’t want a day off.”
“You’re getting it anyway.”
“But—”
“That’s an order, Sasha.”
“I’m going with you, Kirill.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Either I accompany you in the same car, or I follow in a separate vehicle. You choose the method.”
“How fucking dare you give me an ultimatum?” I sound angry, but I’m actually proud of this little shit. She’s come a long way from being an inflexible, weak soldier to this strong, assertive guard.
“I’m just informing you of my actions, sir.” She straightens against me, and that only causes her hard nipples to brush against both our shirts.
The little fucking tease.
“You can come along.” I squeeze her wrist. “But I swear to fuck, if you do something out of order, I’ll tie you the fuck down and send you back here faster than you can blink.”
She grins. “Yes, sir.”
And then she runs to the bathroom.
About two hours later, we’re done with the brotherhood meeting, so it’s time for my own plan.
During the entire thing, I had to physically stop myself from shooting Rai because she smiled at Sasha.
The worst part? The fucking traitor who claims to only be loyal to me smiled back.
Despite yesterday’s debacle, Rai is put together. She even hid the scratches on her face with makeup and looked like some sort of politician. She’s currently lost in her own thoughts while manically checking her phone. I’m going to take a wild guess that she’s distressed because her husband isn’t around.
Good. I hope he dies and she becomes a widow and then decides to become a nun.
But since that option isn’t on the table right now, I look at her stone-faced guard and then at Sasha. “Leave us. I need a word with Rai.”
She lifts her head from her phone and nods at her guard, who obediently leaves. Sasha, however, steps to my side, body full of tension. I don’t give a fuck that she became Team Rai overnight. The woman sitting opposite me is a threat that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
