Page 47 of The Pakhan's Forced Bride

“You weren’t saying anything, I don’t think you were even paying attention half the time.”

I clear my throat, waving my hand to dismiss his question. “It was a pointless meeting, man. A total waste of time.”

Emmanuil rolls his eyes, reminding me of Belle.

“Why the fuck are you smiling at me like that?” he says, pulling his face taut.

I chuckle, knowing my smile has nothing to do with him and everything to do with Belle. And I’m eager to get back to her.

“I’ve got to get home. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow. How long are you in town?”

“Not sure. Have you got a girl waiting for you at home?” he teases me.

I shoot him a sly smile. “Something like that.”

“A friend of mine mentioned he saw you at a recent event with a hot little fox.” He raises his brows.

“Tell your friend to mind his own business,” I grin.

“Fine. Don’t share your secrets. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he laughs.

The meeting went on far too long. It’s past two in the morning when I walk into the mansion, knowing Belle will be fast asleep by now.

It’s disappointing that our moment got interrupted for something to pointless. Fuck's sake.

I climb the stairs, walking past Belle’s closed door. She probably went to sleep ages ago.

I carry on to my bedroom, and as I walk down the passage, I notice a soft light glowing from the open door. Did I leave a light on?

When I walk into the room, my heart flips. Belle is sitting on the bed in her pink silk cami and those little shorts.

She immediately perks up when she sees me.

“Ard,” she says, her voice flooded with relief. “Is everything ok?”

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” I ask, confused. “Aren’t you tired?”

“I can’t sleep if I’m worried,” she shrugs, setting her book aside.

“What are you worried about?”

I kick off my shoes and shrug my jacket off my shoulders, dumping it over the chair.

“You rushed off to an emergency meeting. I used to hate it when Benedikt did that. And then I never got news about what was going on until hours later. Are you going to tell me or just leave me to worry?”

I chuckle, pulling my shirt off and unbuttoning my pants.

“Nothing was really wrong. There was no emergency. It was some old guys trying to prove that they still have power over the new leaders by calling an emergency meeting that really could have waited until morning.”

“Are you serious?” she huffs angrily.

“What did you do while I was away?” I ask, kicking my pants off and pulling the blankets aside.

I want to ask her to stay in my bed tonight; I’m even surprised to find her waiting in my room instead of hers, but I don’t want to push her, especially not since I discovered she is a virgin.

Now that the heat of the moment has faded, she might have changed her mind about wanting to be with me.

I lift the blankets and slide in beneath them. It makes me smile when she immediately wiggles beneath them, too. I wantto tease her and tell her she has her own bed to sleep in, but I don’t dare, in case she takes me seriously.