“But they’ll worry if it’s not me.” She wasn’t lying. The kitchen staff was tight. They had to be to survive Gary’s authoritarian regime.

Volkan cradled her face in his hands. “Do you trust me, Yasmin?”

She nodded, though she didn’t know why. She shouldn’t trust him. They barely knew each other, and too often he acted in ways she didn't like. She believed he could be volatile and unpredictable, but a part of her believed he wouldn’t hurt her. So, she agreed.

“Good, that’s settled.” He leaned back on the couch, then lifted her and set her on his lap.

Yasmin yelped at the unexpected move and sat stiffly on top of him.

“Relax,” he instructed, tracing his fingers down her spine.

She shivered, but gradually allowed herself to relax, leaning back against him.

“This is good,” he murmured in her ear, sending a shiver through her.

She soon found herself cradled in his arms, her head against his shoulder and her feet up on the couch. He slid his hand down her lower leg to her foot, wrapping his fingers around her running shoe. “May I?”

She nodded, though her cheeks burned, and she silently hoped her feet didn’t smell. She’d worked an entire shift before coming to Volkan’s suite.

He took her shoes off one at a time, followed by her socks, then asked, “Are you comfortable?”

She was surprisingly comfortable considering she was sprawled across another human and a little worried she was about to be ravished. She was even more worried she’d enjoy it.

She nodded against his shoulder and he lifted a hand, smoothing it down the back of her head, before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and holding her tight.

“Sleep, küçük olan.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, smothering a yawn.

He smiled down at her, his face a few inches from hers. “It means ‘little one’.”

She frowned. “I’m not little.”

“You are to me.”

Fair enough. And then she did as he told her and fell asleep in his arms.

Chapter Six

Yasmin woke slowly to the warmth of the morning sun caressing her back and the side of her face. She was on her stomach, her head turned to the side and when she opened her eyes, she could see Volkan. Well, sort of. He was fuzzy.

Volkan must’ve moved them to the bed after she fell asleep. The blanket was half thrown across their lower bodies and his arm was laying across the top of her pillow, like he’d tucked her against his side then she’d rolled away from him in the night.