“I love it, baby. Thank you.”
I was right about the green of the sweater bringing out the color of his eyes. When he holds it against his chest, I suck in a quick breath at how damn good he looks. He gives me a wink before carefully setting it aside.
“I’ll be wearing that a lot, since it’s obviously going to get me laid a good bit.”
I try to give him a stern look, but just end up laughing. He’s not wrong. He’s going to look damn delicious in that sweater, and I doubt I’ll be able to keep my pants on for long when he’s wearing it. I’m still thinking about it when he starts on his next present while Nutmeg saunters over to investigate and play with the discarded balls of wrapping paper.
“It’s kind of a tradition in my family to buy a new, special ornament every year,” I say when he holds up the ornament. “I thought maybe we could continue it.”
He looks at the wooden ornament and smiles. It’s a moose couple wearing snow hats and big goofy grins, and I’d had them writeAleksandr and Holly Lenkovunderneath with the year beside it.
“I really love it,” he says, standing up and hanging it on our tree so it’s right in front and easy to see.
Instead of sitting back down, he starts handing me presents from beneath the tree until I’m surrounded by a stack of gifts.
“Your turn,” he says, giving me a wink.
I want to carefully preserve every name tag and keep a scrap of the wrapping paper to remember today by, but aside from that, I tear into the gifts with an excited grin on my face. By the time they’re all open, I’m so emotional that I’m biting my lip to keep from crying like a big baby. Every gift is perfect, not just generic presents that anyone could pick out, but genuinely heartfelt stuff that he took the time to shop for, knowing that I would love each and every one of them. I run my hands over the soft pajamas with foxes, the red-and-white argyle sweater, the set of tins with fancy hot chocolate flavors that makes my mouth water just reading them, and he even got me the new fantasy series I mentioned in passing the other day and said I wanted to read.
“You’re not supposed to cry when you open presents,lisichka,” he says, leaning forward and cupping my face in his hands, brushing away the tears I hadn’t realized are falling.
“I’m just really happy,” I tell him, making him smile. “I love everything so much. Thank you, Sasha.”
“I have one more for you.”
He grabs my hand and places a small, velvet box in it.
My breath catches in my throat at the sight of it. Everyone knows what those small, velvet boxes mean. I look up and meet his green eyes.
“Open it,lisichka.”
My fingers shake as I open the box, revealing the most gorgeous diamond I’ve ever seen. It’s huge and surrounded by smaller diamonds, all of it on a delicate platinum band.
“It’s so beautiful,” I whisper, running my finger over it, too afraid to actually take it out.
He senses my hesitation and removes the ring for me, gripping my left hand in his before kissing the palm of it.
“I never got the chance to properly ask you to marry me, so you never got an engagement ring.”
He slides my ring on, nestling it against my wedding band. They go perfectly together, and I can’t stop staring at how that big diamond sparkles every time I move my finger.
“Thank you for marrying me,lisichka. I know you may not have wanted to at the time,” he says with a soft laugh, “but you’ve made me happier than I ever thought possible, and I’ll always do everything I can to make you just as happy.”
“I am happy, Sasha,” I tell him, my voice shaky, and even though I try and stop the tears, they just keep coming. “I love you so much, and I’m so glad you came into my life. I don’t care what you do for work because I know the man you are. You have more morals and decency than a lot of so-called good guys in positions of authority. I know you think I’m naïve, and maybe I am, but I know that good and bad aren’t so clear cut. I know you, though, and I love the man you are.”
He smiles and pulls me closer, pressing his lips to mine. The kiss is gentle and sweet, but like everything between us, it quickly turns hungry, and soon I’m sprawled on top of a pile of wrapping paper, having my pajama bottoms roughly yanked off. I watch as he makes quick work of his own, and then lowers his body on top of mine before slowly sliding into me.
“I want to feel you against me,lisichka,” he says against my lips, pulling my shirt off while I tug on his at the same time. Soon we’re both fully naked, and the sight and feel of my husband’s powerful body thrusting into me has me letting out a moan and holding onto him even tighter.
My hands run over his back, feeling the muscles move beneath my fingers as he kisses a line down my neck. He circles his hips, sliding into me even deeper, awakening every nerve ending in my body until my nails are digging into his back and I’m screaming his name. He murmurs something in Russian in my ear before letting out a deep groan as he gives in and lets me push him over the edge with me. I feel him grow even bigger inside me, a thing that always takes me by surprise and makes me gasp from the sheer pleasure of it. I hold him tighter, opening my mouth to him when he brings his lips back to mine. He kisses me softly as aftershocks race through me, making my body shake and then relax into an absolute bliss that I never even knew existed before meeting him.
“I love you so much,” he whispers against my lips in between kisses.
“I love you too.”
He laughs when I add, “You still have one present left to unwrap.”
Rolling us over, he lifts up and scoots back so he’s leaning against the couch with me on his lap, my head resting on his shoulder.