Page 144 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“I’m sorry, baby. I should’ve been there.” Kazimir rocked my body. “I should’ve protected you better.”

“But you didn’t. You threw me into a situation I had no clue of and left me to navigate my way.”

His arms tightened around me. “I’ll never forgive myself for that, Gen. Thoughts of what could’ve gone wrong still haunt me to this day, and I know it was all my fault.”

My sobs slowly dulled into tiny hiccups, with Kazimir still rocking me till I got a hold of myself.

“I don’t know if I can just forget what happened,” I said quietly.

“I’m not asking you to forget it,” he said. “I’m asking you to let me stay anyway.”

The space between us had closed, and what was left was a strip of air. I could see the exact moment his composure slipped.

“I am asking you to let me prove that I can be a man deserving of you, even though it doesn’t seem much like it at the moment.”

He lifted a hand to my face, brushing away a stray tear. “I’m asking you to give me a chance to earn you.”

“Kazimir.”

“Tell me to stop,” he said, “and I will.”

For some reason, my throat tightened beyond what was possible, and I couldn’t get the word out no matter how hard I tried.

Maybe I should’ve pulled away or shook my head—those would still act as forms of communication—but I realized I didn’t want to.

His mouth found mine, slow at first, careful, like he was still deciding if this was real instead of taking what he wanted the way he used to.

I let my hands find the front of his shirt, and when I didn’t pull away, the careful restraint in him gave out entirely.

He walked me backward until I met the edge of the dining table, lifting me onto it without breaking the kiss, and I felt every ounce of the wall I’d spent a month building come apart piece by piece under his hands.

There was nothing rushed about it now, none of the frantic heat of the elevator or the careless trysts in the office.

This was slow, deliberate, but consuming in a way that forced my inhibitions to the surface and completely opened him up to me.

Kazimir’s hands trailed from my neck to my back, wrapping my legs around him as he deepened the kiss to an extent I didn’t think possible.

“Kazimir…” I drawled out when his lips latched to a spot on my neck. I threw my head back, offering him more access as he nibbled with his lips and found my breasts with his hands.

Before I had a chance to completely get into the moment, I felt my ass lift off the table and Kazimir began walking in the direction of my room.

“How did you know which one was mine?”

His lips curled into the playful smile I hadn’t realized I missed till I saw it. “Instinct.”

He carefully placed me on the bed, his eyes sweeping through every part of me in a slow but deliberate procession till I felt him everywhere.

“What time does Anna return?”

“About four hours,” I replied, my voice embarrassingly breathless.

He frowned slightly. “I can work with that.”

My lips curled. “Scared?”

He pulled out the bottom of his shirt, proceeding to work the buttons. “I don’t enjoy being threatened with a fork.”

He pushed back the shirt and my tongue collapsed in my mouth. I was fucked. I mean, I hoped I would get fucked, but this was a different kind of fucked.