Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 52062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 174(@300wpm)
"And I would do it again, malyshka," he says.
I let out a sound that's half laugh, half sob. "Don't ever do that again."
"Can't promise you that."
"You scared me."
His lips curve into the faintest smile as he reaches up to cup my jaw. "It’s going to take more than a bullet to keep me away from you."
I close my eyes and lean into his touch, letting the warmth of his palm ground me.
"I love you," I whisper. The words feel too small for what I'm feeling, but they're all I have. "I love you so much it terrifies me."
"Good." His voice is getting stronger, more like the Nikolai I know. "Because I love you too."
I pull back just enough to look at him, to see the truth in his eyes.
“Kiss me,” he says.
“You should rest—”
He reaches for my shirt and pulls me down to him. “What I should do is kiss my wife.”
Our lips meet and it's gentle and achingly tender. Nothing like the fierce, demanding kisses we've shared before. This is different. This is relief and gratitude and fear all wrapped into one soft kiss.
When he pulls back, his eyes search mine, and I see everything he's not saying written there. We nearly lost this and its terrified him.
"Now you should rest," I tell him.
I settle back into the chair, my hand still wrapped in his and watch him drift back to sleep.
Outside, dawn is breaking over the city. The snow has stopped falling.
And for the first time in what feels like forever, I let myself believe that maybe we're going to have our happy ending after all.
39
NIKOLAI
The lodge comes into view through the car window, and something in my chest loosens for the first time in three weeks.
Home.
Not because of the structure itself but because Holly is here. And home, I've learned, isn't a place. It’s her.
The car stops, and Dmitri moves to help me out, but I wave him off. I'm still healing and sore as hell, but I can climb out of a goddamn car. Three weeks in that hospital bed has made me grumpy. But I am healing and over the worst.
And fucking grateful to be home.
“You can take the rest of the afternoon off,” I tell him. “I want to get reacquainted with my wife.”
He smiles knowingly and returns to the driver’s seat.
Holly appears in the doorway before I've even made it up the porch steps. She's wearing one of my sweaters and it's enormous on her. Those big brown eyes find mine, and the worry that's been living in them for weeks softens into something else.
Relief. Joy. Love.
I make it through the door, and the moment it closes behind me, I reach for her.
She comes willingly, carefully avoiding my injured side as I pull her against me. My hand slides into her hair, tilting her face up to mine, and then I'm kissing her.
God, I've missed this.
Missed her. Missed us. Missed the way she fits against me like she was made for this exact purpose.
The kiss is soft at first, almost tentative, like she's afraid of hurting me. But I deepen it, because I need more. I need to taste her and remind myself that I'm alive and she's here and we survived.
When we finally break apart, she rests her forehead against my chest.
"Welcome home," she whispers.
I press a kiss to the top of her head. "It's good to be back."
She pulls away slightly to look up at me, her hands resting gently on my chest, careful of the bandages beneath my shirt. "How are you feeling?"
I brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "Better now that I'm here with you."
I take her hand and lead her toward the living room, settling carefully onto the couch. She curls up beside me.
"We need to talk about what comes next," I say.
She nods. "I know."
"I need to get back to New York. But I’m not going without you. I need you with me. I don’t want to be apart from you. We can live in my penthouse or buy something new. Whatever you want, malyshka. And if you want to get remarried —"
"We’re already married," she interrupts softly. "I’m already your wife."
Something warm spreads through my chest at those words. Your wife.
"I have to return soon," I continue. "Clean up the mess Yuri's death and Ivan’s betrayal left behind. There are things that need my attention."
She lifts her head to look at me. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow." I cup her face in my hand. "But I want one day of rest first. One day where it's just us. No business, no Bratva politics, no cleanup. Just you and me."
Her lips curve into a smile. "That sounds perfect."
"And when I say rest," I say, my voice dropping lower. "What I really mean is I want to spend the rest of the day buried inside you."