VLAD (The V Games #1)(14)

I move inside the room and along the wall, staying to the shadows. My eyes are on him—the one who will wed my sister, crushing my soul with every vow spoken. He’ll soon be my brother-in-law. Before long, Diana will trade in her guns and business meetings for a rounded belly and planning for a baby.

Breathe.

As much as I’d love to have a niece or nephew, I didn’t expect it to be like this. This hurts so bad. I want it to stop—to wake up in my bed and realize this is all a dream.

Vlad steps away from my sister’s side to stalk over to the bar in the corner of her office. He pours two fingers worth of vodka into a tumbler and downs it. As soon as it’s gone, he pours more. Desperate to see his face, I slink over toward him. My steps go unheard due to all the loud talking over the events that transpired tonight.

As I approach him, his scent fuses with my own, and I allow myself a second for it to wash over me. To bask in it. His body stiffens, as if sensing the company beside him.

“Interesting night,” I murmur as I boldly reach past him and take the vodka bottle.

He doesn’t show any signs of hearing me. In fact, I think he may be ignoring me. It stings. I need this, though—to just be invisible. Eventually, maybe I’ll fade into nothing. I pour more than I should into a tumbler. Before I can fill it to the brim, hot strong fingers curl around mine and the bottle is forcibly plucked from my grip.

“Enough, little Irina.”

Little. He said my name.

I jerk my head up to stare at his brutally handsome face. The normally fierce and put-together Vlad Vasiliev is rattled. His amber eyes are the main tell as they blaze with an emotion he’s unable to keep hidden behind his normally cool exterior. Typically, not a hair is out of place, but this evening, a lock of dark brown hair hangs over his brow. It gives him a wild, boyish quality that makes my core clench with appreciation. My fingers itch to push it from his face. Instead, I down the entire glass without flinching or tearing my gaze from his.

Some vodka dribbles past my lip and runs onto my chin. It’s about to drip from my jaw when he reaches forward with a hooked finger and collects it. His touch electrifies me. He brings the wet finger to his full lips and his pink tongue darts out to lick it from his skin. The room spins and heat floods through me. My panties are soaked and I am horrified wondering if he can smell my blatant arousal for him.

My sister’s fiancé.

His gaze darkens as he slides his eyes from my mouth to my throat to my breasts. They’re barely concealed in the sheer robe and gown. My nipples harden in response.

“Go to your room,” he seethes, a furious edge to his voice. “Go to your room, little Irina. This is unacceptable to wear around men.”

Emboldened by the vodka, I glower at him. “You’re not my keeper.”

He steps closer to me, the heat from his body threatening to ignite my nightgown in flames. “Your sister wears my ring. Everything she cares about, I care about too. Diana will be a Vasiliev, and I’ll be goddamned if I let her sister get caught prancing around in her see-through gown with a room full of hungry men.” He grits his teeth and narrows his tawny eyes at me. “Now, run back upstairs before you get eaten up by tempting the wrong man.”

My anger melts away as I consider his words.

The wrong man?

As in him?

Hope, a stupid feeling, clutches me by the throat. I can’t form words. Instead, I drink in his dashing appearance. His tie is loosened imperceptibly so, and his crisp white shirtsleeves splattered with blood have been rolled to his elbows. He scrubs at his jaw with his palm and his veiny forearm flexes. I’m caught staring at the intricate tattoos I never knew existed along his arms.

“Irina,” he growls.

His voice reverberates to my core, and I let out a pained whimper. “Mmm?”

He grips my hips, his fingers biting into my flesh, and turns me around. “People are looking at you. Go to your room.”

A laugh bubbles from my lips. “No one looks at me Vlad. I’m a shadow.”

He snorts, and it’s so unlike him, I turn to make sure it is, in fact, Vlad still behind me.

The intensity in his eyes causes my legs to weaken. “When you’re staring at the sun, you can’t see a shadow.” His voice is low and husky.

I tilt my head to study the movements of his lips. What does that even mean?

“Now run, solntce moyo. Go.” My sun. I can’t breathe. He urges me to move with a nod of his head. I turn and stumble forward. When I glance back at him, he’s already stalking over to the conversation. Diana gives him a soft smile before she speaks to our father again.

He’s hers now.

What I felt just now was real. It wasn’t a game or a move or anything these men in our world are known for playing. Vlad notices me. Too bad his duty will always prevail, which is why he’s right back where he wants to be with his arm around my sister and a stoic expression on his face.

A king never falters.

And Vlad Vasiliev is the most regal man I know.

I’m just a distraction.

Solntce moyo.

My sun.

Not a shadow.

Feeling as though it may be my last chance to express myself, I smile at him. Our eyes lock, but he shows no signs of his small slip a few seconds ago. Hard. Edgy. Fierce. All walls are back in place.

My smile falls, and I slink back into the shadows where I belong.