The last time I had allowed a man to touch me was almost three years ago. He was the first man to touch me in years. It felt riveting and thrilling.

I was sure that now he knew that I was not a virtuous woman. My innocence was gone, it had been gone for a while. I was surprised that he didn’t bring that up. But then again, the man’s mouth was a little busy.

The heat rose to my cheeks, eliciting another groan from my body. I needed to stop thinking about him.

I rolled over and looked at the ceiling. The sun had only just begun to peak beyond the horizon, but I had been up for almost two hours. My mind had done me a disservice by making me dream of that bathroom incident.

I woke up flushed, sweaty, and in need. It had taken all my internal strength to keep from walking out of my room and going to find him.

I wanted to fuck the man. If he could make me come that hard with his mouth, I feared what he would be able to do to me with his cock.

“No, no, no, bad girl.” I shot up in my bed and ran my hands over my face. “I am not going to fuck that man. I needed to keep my distance.”

This was for the best. I needed to remind myself that I was already a taken woman, no matter how single I felt. I was to be Sergei’s wife within the next coming months.

Unless I wanted to start an all-out war between my family and Sergei’s, I needed to play my part. What happened last night was a simple slip. I was human, I was allowed to have a slip. But I couldn’t make a habit of it.

I pulled the covers off my body and walked to the curtain to pull them open. The sky was painted orange and yellow as the sun rose to signal the start of a new day. The Valdez manor was impressive to say the least. It had pristine green grounds and perfectly pruned hedges. The room I had been given was one fit for royalty. It was large and expansive and was made up of entirely neutral tones. I had a bathroom all to myself and the entire western wing. Well, I shared it with one other person—the one that shall not be named.

I shook my head, trying to shake the little bathroom incident out. Today was a new day, and there was no need to revisit the past.

As long as I stayed away from him, then it would all be okay.

“I can stay away from him,” I said to myself. “Three months. I can keep my distance for three months.”

“You’re sulking.” I could feel Valerio’s eyes on me, but I kept my eyes trained outside the window.

I could not believe this. So much for my plan to stay away from him.

I was meant to be running some errands at the mall today. Savina had said that I could have a driver and an escort as per my brother’s request. So, color me shocked when I walked down the stairs and came face to face with the very man I was trying to avoid.

Apparently, Savina had entrusted him to keep watch over me. Him, the underboss of the Valdez family and dubbedMerchant of Deathwas going to be my keeper. Surely, he had better things to do than to babysit me, but he seemed quite content with the role he had been given.

“I’m not sulking.” I shot back keeping my eyes outside. “Can you shut up, please?”

This was the first time that I was seeing him since he had his mouth on my pussy. My cheeks had not cooled since I saw him downstairs. My mind kept running back to last night, and I hated it.

His strong cologne of pine and expensive leather filled the car, only making it much harder to ignore his overbearing presence.

“Anastasia.” He whispered my name, but I ignored him. “Are you ignoring me?”

My answer was silence.

“Silence? Really? It’s a stark contrast from all the screaming you were doing last—” I launched myself at him and placed my hand over his mouth. His eyes danced with humor, which only added to my anger.

My eyes darted to the driver at the front, who didn’t seem to be paying attention. But he had ears, which meant he could hear everything. What if he went and told someone what he heard? I couldn’t risk what happened last night getting out.

I was the virgin Russian Mafia Princess. I could not afford to be blemished. Least of all by the very man my brother loathed with his whole being. It astounded me how much drama resided in Mafia politics.

“Can we not discuss those issues so publicly?” I hissed at him.

Instead of responding, the man grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him. I had not been expecting his sudden movements, so I fell right onto his chest. The closeness caused the butterflies to erupt in my stomach and my body temperature to heat.

I was doing a piss poor job at staying away from him. My eyes trailed up the side of his neck, tracing the sharp curves of his jawline and then all the way to his eyes. The blue and the gray melted into each other, darkening his irises. Something dangerous swam in them, like I was staring into the gaze of a predator.

I gulped. “Please, let me go.”

“You don't need to worry about my men,cielo. They report to me and only me. I will only ever allow the men that I trust the most to be around you, at all times. Our little secret is safe.ya ne skazhu, yesli ty ne skazhesh'.”