Page 22 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“Kazimir. He’s pussy-whipped."

Hot liquid caught in my throat, coming up violently.

“Anna!” I choked out, setting my cup aside.

“What?” She shrugged. “The man cleared your debt, returned you to his office in a more personal position with a salary four times your previous one. If that didn’t scream pussy-whipped, I don’t know what does.”

“It’s not that personal. Plus, I have an office of my own.”

“Which can only be accessed from his office,” she argued, and suddenly, she paused. Her lips widened and her brows wriggled as she lifted her eyes to mine. “He’s totally fucking you in there.”

“Anna!” I could only utter a word of reprimand without giving up the unwelcome thrill that skittered down my spine. “This conversation is over. I’m going to get dressed and so will you. The rent won’t pay itself.”

“The black chiffon shirt and the pencil skirt.” She pointed at the outfit I’d been contemplating, lifting herself off my bed and surprisingly dropping the topic. “It’s professional, classy and accessible in case of—”

Yup. Definitely spoke too soon.

“Get out!” I covered my ears and let my scream drown out the rest of her comment.

Her laughter echoed throughout the house, lingering even after she left the room.

My vanity mirror reflected a shade of red that would make a tomato jealous.

Anna and I were polar opposites. While she was spontaneous, bubbly and full of life, I was a creature of habit with a terrible caffeine addiction.

I absolutely hated how loud she was when we were assigned the same room in our freshman year, but as time went on, I was in awe of how she balanced everything. And when the first year ended, she flirted with the dean and got us another room together, and we’ve been joined at the hip ever since.

She brought an odd calm to my overly noisy and erratic mind.

I made sure the spaces were tidy, everything was up to date, and she made sure I didn’t spiral into oblivion. The perfect symbiotic relationship that had somehow turned into a sisterhood.

“Make sure you wear the pumps I got you for your birthday,” Anna’s voice returned with more glee. “Makes your butt look nice.”

I didn’t bother dignifying her advice with a response as I entered the bathroom to clean up.

An hour later, I was on the executive floor, speaking to the secretary and trying to get the hang of my new role before Kazimir arrived, but Anna’s comment lingered in my mind. When it was time to return to my office, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the giant, polished oak table taking up the middle of Kazimir’s office without my stomach doing that thing.

Sometimes I really hated how easily ideas implanted into my head and how visual my brain got.

Thankfully, the to-do list on my work laptop was the perfect distraction.

The work turned out easier than I’d anticipated.

After I left Kazimir at the office yesterday, I’d spent what was left of my day at the nearby café researching and downloading everything I could find on being a PA, and spent the night following through a four-hour-long YouTube crash course titled “A PA so good your boss forgets how to function without you.”

It was a better alternative to the seven-to-twelve-hour-long videos on the same topic, but it was the title that drew me in.

It was wishful thinking, but the thought of Kazimir depending on me to run his empire felt oddly fulfilling, and that brought me to the decision I’d been toying with all night.

I wanted to earn this. I wanted to keep this job because I was good at it, and I wanted him to know that.

The sex was earth-shattering and I’ll be damned if I said the mere thought of it didn’t give me butterflies, but my image and integrity were important to me. I didn’t want to become the girl who fucked her way to the top.

And I didn’t want Kazimir to keep me around as an accessible pussy on the go.

I only had sex with him because I was convinced it was the last time I’d be seeing him, and now that it had changed and I was back to working under him, it was important to me that he respected me for the work I did and not the way I moaned his name.

It was on that hill that I’d decided to keep him at arm's length and to make sure our relationship was strictly professional on every front.