CHAPTER 16
Gavril
I stayed buried deep inside her until my legs started to cramp and I rolled off, falling into the bed with her, our breathing harsh and the only sound in her bedroom. I couldn’t do that again if I tried, not right now anyway. I felt, well, I felt at peace for a few moments.
Then reality started to set in, and I realized what I had done, what I had said in the heat of the moment. I had called her by her real name.
Why didn’t I feel immediate anger?
Why the fuck did it feel right?
I didn’t know how long I lay there next to her, but when she whimpered, I sat up, my entire body feeling as if it had been hit by a train.
Naomi didn’t say anything as I walked to the bathroom, as I did every time after our sexual interludes and cleaned myself up, splashing water on my face to calm the fuck down. My blood was still roaring through my veins and I needed a drink, but my body was sated.
Far more sated than I had expected it to be, and it was because of what that woman did to me without even realizing it.
I ran a hand through my hair, staring at the man reflected back at me in the mirror. For a moment, I dropped my facade, allowing worry to bleed through my expression. I had fucking forgotten why I had brought Naomi here in the first place, calling her name out in a fit of passion. In that moment, she wasn’t just a vessel for my fucking kid.
She was something more, and that was what bothered me the most.
I had to be careful not to let her get close. That was not the intent when I had married her that day. She wasn’t going to be part of my life, part of me.
I wouldn’t allow it.
Pulling my shit together, I walked out of the bathroom and found Naomi curled up on her side, the sheet pulled up over her and her breathing slow and even. How about that? I’d fucked her to sleep.
A wry smile crossed my face as I reached down and pulled the forgotten comforter up over her shoulders, careful not to wake her. A tightness pulled at my chest and I stepped back, pulling on my pants before striding out of the room before I could do something else fucking stupid.
I didn’t give a shit about her. Sex was sex, and she was good at it. It was enough to satisfy me, more than I could have had with the real Sveta.
And the stunt at the restaurant, that was because someone had dared touch what was mine. Naomi was mine, even though she wasn’t Sveta, and she could very well be carrying my child at this very moment.
That was the only reason I had seen red and reacted as such.
The hallway was quiet as I moved into my own suite, directly to the crystal decanter that waited on the sideboard in my small living room area. I poured a healthy dose of vodka and threw it back nearly immediately, not even grimacing as the liquid burned its path down to my stomach.
In fact, I welcomed the pain, setting the glass aside for now. It was a stark reminder that I had a plan with Naomi, not the simple fact that I had wanted to be married. She was posing as Sveta so I could take the helm of what was left of her father’s Mafia. I had worked my ass off to make sure this plan was in action, and that was what I wanted.
Nothing more.
“Fuck,” I swore as I headed toward my bathroom for a good shower. I would sleep like the dead tonight, courtesy of the one thing that I didn’t want but somehow found myself craving.
Naomi was going to be a problem. I could easily tell that, but I wasn’t willing to let her go just yet. As long as no one knew she wasn’t Sveta, my plan remained intact.
But the moment the secret came out, I would have to make a decision about her future. Until tonight it would have been easy, but now I wasn’t so sure.
For the first time in my fucking life, I was leading with something other than my cock, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.