“And downstairs, we can make an office and a room for weapons.”
Maxim’s smile glinted. “You are the perfect wife for me.”
I rested my head against his shoulder. “Oh, I know. And you’re the perfect husband.”
This was the start of the rest of our lives together, and it was going to be amazing.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Maxim
One Year Later
The sunlight glinted on the water, reflecting rays sharply back against the stark white of the deck of the boat Roman had let us use for our adventure. He’d come along to help me skipper, but I was more than comfortable at the helm, with a cold beer in my hand and Elizabeth and Alexei, our son, in my sight line.
She looked stunning sitting out on the front of the boat in from the side in case of waves. But there weren’t going to be any. The ocean was calm and tame. And that was a bloody good job because I was distracted by her sinfully cutaway swimsuit and the perfect swell of her rounded breasts, still engorged with milk from feeding our son.
I loved her body before she had our child and I loved seeing her pregnant, knowing she was growing him and now I was even more in awe than I thought I could be that her beauty and strength could soften and bend to provide everything he could ever require. Watching the way the rest of the world seemed to shrink right down when she was with our son was such an amazing thing.
Her large floppy sun hat was shading both of them, and Alexei had on a little cap too. His chubby cheeks were smeared with suncream so he didn’t burn. But Elizabeth took most of my focus. Between her large sunglasses and the sinful cut-out bathing suit she had on, she looked like some kind of movie star and I thanked God for the thousandth time that we were put together by fate. As always, I was overcome by how much I wanted her. I always wanted her, and I didn’t see any signs of that ever stopping.
She looked up and everything in me glowed with pride and possessiveness when she raised Alexei’s hand to wave at me, pointing over towards me to show him where I was.
“Look Alexei, can you see Daddy driving the boat?”
I waved back and Alexei let out a shriek of a laugh, waving his hands up and down in the air.
Our son was strapping and healthy, beating all the height percentiles for his twelve months. I couldn’t have been prouder of him. The love I felt for our child was a power I had never imagined could be real. Elizabeth was my world and he was the first star in our sky. I planned for there to be a whole constellation.
Behind me, in the back of the boat, one of Roman’s staff was grilling up marlin steaks and Alexei’s godparents, Mitch and Cassie were looking on with interest. Valentin had flown them out, making sure there was someone to look out for Mitch’s gym while he was away and we’d been showing them the Florida life while it was still ours. .
It was worth the negotiations just to see Elizabeth’s face. She might not have had any blood relatives, apart from our child, but I knew these two meant a lot to her, and if I could make it happen, they’d be as welcome in our home as if they were true family.
The pair of them had wasted no time in getting sunburnt and were now both glowing pink representatives of Brits abroad everywhere. Elizabeth didn’t seem to share that trait and I loved what the sun did to her skin, but even if she had to stay in the shade, I would have loved her pale, and interesting. To me she was always going to be perfect.
Elizabeth picked Alexei up, shifting him onto her hip as she came over to join me at the helm. I could never resist kissing her, and she leaned in making a low moan against my lips that had me hard in an instant. I’d have dragged her down into the cabin below and had my way with her for the rest of the trip if we hadn’t had company.
We’d be heading to Russia in the spring and we’d need a nanny who was prepared to come with us. Elizabeth had insisted on someone British or American, so she could make sure there was no question of her being misunderstood, but for now, she barely trusted anyone with our son at all.
It would have been a brave woman who misunderstood my wife in any language and her Russian was coming on well enough, but I had no reason to argue.
“Let me take this little one off you for now.” Cassie was the exception and I watched Elizabeth’s face soften with thanks as her friend took our son and bounced him up and down, making him shriek with laughter. “Mummy and Daddy want a bit of time to themselves. Yes they do Little Mister. You come and see your Uncle Mitch.”