Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Really?” she asks and then the doorbell rings.
“Really.” I put the frame down and she turns to walk out of the room and toward the front door.
I step out into the living room at the same time her father lets her go and we share a nod before he comes into the living room. I take a step to him and extend my hand. “Good to see you, Mr. Petrov,” I say and he looks at me, not saying a word and then looks around the room.
Zoe steps in. “Kirby,” she says my name with a smile on her face and comes to give me a hug.
“What is going on here?” Viktor snaps, looking at the packing boxes.
“Well,” Lexi starts, coming to stand next to me, “that is why we asked you to come over here. Can I get you anything to drink?” She tries to keep it casual, looking at her mother, who is waiting for Viktor to say something.
“No,” Viktor snaps. “What is all this?”
“I’m moving out,” she tells them as she puts her hand in mine. “I signed the divorce papers today, so I’m officially Lexi Petrov.”
“You were always Lexi Petrov.” Viktor glares at her.
“I was, but then I had a mental judgment lapse and then I was that other name.” She laughs. “But now I’m officially a Petrov again. Legally.” She looks up at me. “And Kirby asked me to move in with him.”
“And you said yes,” Viktor surmises and I inhale, trying to keep my cool, since he is her father. “Is that”—he looks at his wife—“wise?”
Lexi wraps her arm around my waist. “Well, I love him and he loves me, so it was either that or get married.”
“What?” I yelp out. “No.” I look at her father. “That was not how it went.”
“So, you don’t want to marry my daughter?”
“Well, yeah,” I backpedal, “of course, but I’m not sure—”
“That she is the one?” Viktor keeps putting words in my mouth.
“No.” I hold up my hand. “I love your daughter, more than anything.” I look at her. “And when I feel the time is right, I will ask her to be my wife. Honestly, I would take her now.” She gasps. “But I know she’s not ready for that, so we’ll have to settle with her living with me because that’s what she is willing to give me.”
“Did you hear him?” Zoe asks Viktor who turns to her. “The whole time he spoke, it wasn’t about him; it was about Lexi and what she wanted.” She turns to smile at me. “You’re a good one, Kirby.”
“Pfft.” Viktor rolls his eyes. “A good one would have asked her father if it was okay.”
“Didn’t Zara get pregnant with the twins and you hadn’t even met Gabriel?” she mentions her sister.
“We met him,” Viktor retorts. “Besides, we are not talking about your sister right now.” He looks at Lexi. “We are talking about you and your choices.” His voice goes higher.
“Okay.” I hold up my hands. “Respectfully,” I say to him, “let’s bring the tone down a bit.”
I’m expecting Lexi to tell me not to talk to her father like that. “Yeah, respectfully,” she repeats.
“Watch your tone,” Zoe says to him. “Now, sit down because our daughter obviously has something she wants to tell us, or she wouldn’t have invited us here.”
She starts to move to the couch and then stops. “Oh my God, are you pregnant?” She looks at Lexi.
“No,” she says at the same time I mumble, “I wish.
“What?” I say, throwing my hands up. “How cool would that be, us having a baby?” I ask her and she bites down and her jaw gets tight. I’ve thought about it each and every single time I’ve seen her with Jagger. I lean in and whisper in her ear, “Seeing you pregnant with my baby turns me on like never before.” I move away from her ear seeing her cheeks getting pink. “Not now, but if it happens,” I say loudly.
“Can we move in with each other first?” Lexi says to me, walking over to the couch. “Anyway, that is not why I called you here, and I didn’t call you here to discuss where I’m going to live either. The reason I called you here is because I signed my divorce papers officially today.” She sits and her mother claps her hands together in celebration. “And with that, I got the house I hate and the apartment he used to have affairs in.” Viktor looks to the ceiling and I’m sure he is holding on by a string, especially when he was told he wasn’t allowed to go there and break his neck. “Anyway,” she continues and he looks back at her. “I’ve obviously decided to sell both of those, along with my wedding ring and engagement ring. And with the profits, I’m going to use half of the money to open a women’s shelter for battered and abused women in Arizona.” She stuns us all. “The other half will go to the children’s cancer unit. Since Kirby and I will be living there in the off-season and then once he retires. It made the most sense.”