Page 55 of The Pakhan's Sold Bride

“This is my wife,” I say, staring right into his eyes.

He seems to find this amusing.

“Never,” he chuckles. “She’s far too good for you.” But he takes a polite step away from us, his eyes still taking her in, but with a hint more respect than before.

But I already know what he’s thinking. What he’s doing to her in his mind.

“How did you get so lucky, Nestor?” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I don’t believe luck had anything to do with it,” I say harshly, realizing that I’m struggling with jealousy for the first time in my life. I’ve never experienced this before. I’ve never felt so possessive over a woman or wanted to stake a clear claim on her in front of another man.

With Lara, I can’t stop myself. She is mine. She belongs to me, and the fact that he even dared to look at her like that—never mind asking her out to dinner—has my mind exploding with rage.

Lara turns towards me, smiling, a little tense. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were busy. I just wanted to say hello and find out what time you were coming home this evening.”

I brush my hand over her cheek, another gesture to show Benedikt that she belongs to me. I still haven’t let go of her waist. “It’s completely fine, little one. You can visit me anytime. I’ll stopwhatever I’m doing. I’m actually ready to leave now; if you wait a bit, we can go together.”

“It’s still early,” she smiles.

“I’m done for the day.”

Benedikt watches the exchange between us.

“You two could both join me for dinner if you’re free,” he grins, knowing he’s playing with fire.

There is no chance in hell I am going to sit at a restaurant with him all night, watching him devour my wife with his eyes, flirting and charming her while I sit there and keep my mouth shut. It won’t happen. It’s literally a risk to the diplomacy between us.

“I have other plans for my wife this evening,” I say sternly.

“Oh, I bet you do.” He chuckles. “I wouldn’t let her out either. Especially not looking as gorgeous as that.”

He is shameless, but I get the sense that he’s doing it now because he can see it’s annoying me, and I take a deep breath to calm myself.

“You’re full of shit,” I warn him.

He laughs louder, his game exposed, and the amusement in his eyes hints that he meant no disrespect by it.

“Like you didn’t already know that,” he says.

I pull Lara in front of me, her back against my chest and my hand resting on her stomach. She leans into me, and I smile.

Benedikt rolls his eyes. “Alright, love birds. Enjoy the evening’s games, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Nestor.”

“Have a good night.”

“It was lovely to meet you,” Lara smiles.

Benedikt’s grin grows wider for a second and he winks at her. “The pleasure was all mine.”

“Get the fuck out of my office,” I laugh.

“I’m going,” he says, throwing his hands in the air defensively.

With Benedikt gone, I step away from Lara. “I’ll grab my keys and things, then we can get out of here.”

“Do you work with him?” she asks.

“Yes, he runs Las Vegas. Why, are you interested in him?” I raise my brows at her, still feeling the hot sting of jealousy.

---