Page 38 of The Darkness is Calling

Did I underestimate the effect she has on me?

How could I have done that, when I know very well everything that crossed my mind from the first moment I saw her?

I think that if I strangled her right now, I would rid myself of the foreign feeling that comes over me when I look at her, starting with the desire to smile at the smallest thing she does.

I am not like this, and smiles caused by a woman can become weaknesses.

A Pakhan cannot have weaknesses. Least of all ones born from a princess he is not even allowed to touch.

Pathetic.

I didn’t think I was this weak in the presence of a woman, but that only makes me more determined to prove myself I can resist her. That she is merely an attractive woman, and I am stronger than the voices in my head.

The ones asking me to break my word and make mine the woman who has stirred me since months ago, when she showed me a beautiful throat wrapped in a strand of pearls.

I get out of bed in one motion, as if her presence burns me.

I head straight to the bathroom, where I splash a great deal of cold water on my face and stare at my reflection in the mirror. I can resist the voices, but not a woman?

Absolutely not.

I resort to an almost equally cold shower to cool the body she has awakened too much.

Unfortunately, when I return to the room, I am still carrying an erection, smaller, it is true, but one that shows signs of returning to its substantial form just from the sight of her sleeping peacefully.

Releasing a silent sigh, I go in the dressing room and change into a black suit, with a shirt and vest in the same shade.

I look at the long row of suits, where I think there are more than thirty sets, and realize it is time to order a few more. A man in my line of work destroys a suit every time he fills it with blood, and sometimes I do that twice a day.

Ekaterina is still deeply asleep when I return beside the bed, drawn in by the sight of her peaceful expression, when she mumbles something.

A sleeping princess sprawled across the entire bed and mumbling in her sleep. She probably snores sometimes too.

Adorable.

I shake my head and cover her exposed skin with one corner of the sheet, then leave the bedroom before I give in once more to the one madness that truly owns me: the need to touch her.

The house is quiet.

I am certain Sasha is still asleep, because he stayed at a club last night, but I already know where to find Yar.

When I open the door to the gym, I find him on a bench, pressing a bar loaded with weights that far exceed even his own body weight. At first, he does not hear me, his headphones over his ears, but he senses me.

“At this hour? And you’re skipping?” he says, looking me up and down when he sees me in a suit instead of workout clothes.

Every morning, we train together, but today I feel the need to put some distance between myself and my own house, a detox from the delicate perfume of the woman left in my bed.

Of course, I do not tell him that.

“I have to leave early. I’ll catch up tomorrow.”

He sets the weights down and gets to his feet, coming to stand in front of me.

“Where do you have to go?”

I don’t miss his suspicious tone.

“Business, Yaroslav.” My reply is sharp and I turn to leave, but his words stop me in place.