Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
I nod. “What details?”
“I need you to consider making time for things other than the bakery.”
My deep kiss softens him. He walks me out of the shower, not taking his mouth from mine as he leans over and grabs a towel to wrap around me. He uses it as a way to hold me against him as he walks me to the bed.
“I intend to make time for you,” I tell him as he follows me onto the mattress, his hand easing between my legs that I part for him.
“And I need you to consider making time to be my wife,” he adds between hot kisses he trails down my neck.
“Is that a formal proposal?” I ask, holding him to me. Nothing can erase this smile from my lips.
He slides his fingers into my pussy just as I grip his hard cock. I moan at the stretch, knowing there’s more coming—the full, aching drag of him buried deep, driving me to the edge.
“It’s a necessity,” he replies. “I need you, Liliana.” He shows me how much by replacing his fingers with the head of his shaft.
I arch my back, watching him as he pushes all the way into me.
“I need to make sure the world knows that you are the woman I want.” He pulls out. “The woman I call my wife.” He plunges back in, lighting up my nerves. “And the mother of my child.” He leans in to kiss me as he withdraws. “My future.”
I hug him to me, stunned that I can be the happily-ever-after he wants.
After he seats himself again, he faces me with the adoration I never imagined having from a man like him. “Will you marry me?”
I kiss him, then as I drop my head back to the bed and relish the stretch of him so deep inside me, I smile. “Yes. I can’t wait to call you mine, Anton. Now and forever.”
My answer is what makes him lose control. Afterward, I smile as I doze off, knowing there’s nothing in this world that would bring me greater joy than this man choosing me as the woman to share his life with.
EPILOGUE
ANTON
One year later…
Liliana smiles at Viktor as he holds Luka. My son is still sleeping, oblivious that it’s the day of his baptism, but that might be for the best right now.
I sigh, watching my wife and child from across the church, wondering if I look half as happy as I feel.
“He looks so innocent,” Jenni quips as she comes to stand next to me in the vestibule of the church. I’ve gotten to know this good friend of Liliana’s over the last year, and I’m grateful she’s here to become my son’s godmother. She’s not just a friend but a resource I can count on.
From the start, after I sat her down and made sure she understood how much Liliana means to me, she’s been my eyes and ears at the bakery. If she ever sensed some kind of danger near, she’d alert me. I never expected her to act as a confidante or share Liliana’s secrets with me. Liliana needs her friend. Someone not within the Bratva. It helps that Jenni knows who I am and what I represent.
“Don’t jinx it,” I tell her.
As if on cue, Luka fusses and cries.
“I swear, it’s like he has a radar,” Liliana says.
Jenni pats my back and leaves me to go assist—if she can. Luka prefers me or his mother, and if that’s the way it’s going to be, so be it.
Luka’s been a challenging baby so far, but no matter how much sleep deprivation he is going to cause us, I will never stop loving him or wanting to make his life a good one.
Liliana doubted we could pull this off today, too, especially with Luka going through a growth spurt and keeping us up all night with cluster feeding, but she doesn’t look the least bit tired.
I smile as I admire her. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in our lives, I will never fail to see her beauty and savor her goodness. I still can’t tell if she has such a pure and hardworking heart because she wasn’t born within the world of crime, or if it’s just who she is. All I can do is know I’m the luckiest man alive to have the right to call her my wife.
She’s radiant, glowing as a new mother. Her body is curvy and as delectable as ever, even after she lost some weight to morning sickness toward the end. Her appetite took a harder hit when her mother, then her father, passed away over the last year.
It’s a blessing that they lived to witness our wedding, but not even a week afterward, her mother sickened with an infection she just couldn’t beat. Her father followed her not long after. Two days after Liliana buried her mother, he died of a heart attack no one saw coming.