“I love you too, and I feel the same way, baby. It feels too good to be true.”
I give her another kiss and then slowly slide out of her. I help her out of her dress and then ditch my tux before laying down and pulling her body in close to mine. Running my hands over her stomach, I kiss her temple and think about our baby. I never once thought I would have kids, but now the idea of holding something that’s a part of both of us has me grinning and unable to stop.
“You’re going to be crazy protective for the next eight months, aren’t you?”
I laugh and give her another kiss. “You have no idea.”
“We don’t have to cancel our honeymoon, do we?”
“Of course not, sweetheart. We just have to wait for your new passport to come in, and I want you to see an ob-gyn first.”
She nods her head and lifts up to kiss my chest. “Sounds good.” She runs her tongue over my pec, sparking my body back to life while her fingers dance over my abs.
“Insatiable,” I say with a laugh, pulling her onto me.
I spend the rest of the night proving that I’m more than capable of keeping my little wife satisfied. She finally passes out close to dawn with a smile on her face and her fingers laced with mine. Wrapping my body around hers, I hold her close and wonder how in the hell I got so damn lucky. If her stubborn ass hadn’t broken into my house, I’d still be miserable and alone. The very idea of not having her in my life makes me feel sick. She’s everything to me, my entire world, and now we’re going to be parents. She’s given me the family I never thought possible and filled my lonely life with love.
Brushing a strand of her hair aside, I watch her sleep, smiling when she lets out a soft snore and then burrows in closer to me. Everything I do and work for is now for her and however many kids we may have. I will do anything to keep them safe and to make sure they stay that way. Tightening my arms around her, I kiss her head and finally allow myself to join her in sleep, because if tonight is any clue about her pregnancy hormones, then I’m going to need all the strength I can get.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Charlotte
Walking into the room that I’d once shimmied out of always puts a huge smile on my face. Part of it is because of the memories Mikhail and I shared here, but most of it is because when I walk into our son’s nursery, the peace and happiness that settle over me is nothing short of miraculous, especially when I walk in to see my husband holding our small son against his powerful chest. Seeing how careful and tender he is with Lev has been a constant source of surprise for me. It’s not that I expected him to be rough or distant, but from the moment our son was born, Mikhail has been a natural. He would take the middle of the night bottles so I could sleep, and he’s never once complained about changing diapers. He genuinely loves taking care of our son, and when I walk closer and see the big smile on Lev’s face as he looks up at his daddy, it’s easy to see that Mikhail isn’t the only one who’s captivated.
I wrap my arms around them and kiss the top of our son’s head while Mikhail uses his free hand to pull me closer.
“He’s so perfect,zaichik,” he says, the awe still in his voice even after four months of seeing him daily.
“He is,” I agree. Leaning closer, I kiss the soft, silky strands of dark hair and breathe in his sweet scent. His dark eyes look up at me, and I laugh at how much he looks like a little Mikhail. When he gives a big yawn and then roots around for his pacifier, Mikhail brings it to his mouth, smiling when Lev immediately latches on and then closes his eyes.
We watch him sleep for a few minutes, laughing softly when he finally goes completely slack and the pacifier starts to slip out. Mikhail and I both kiss his soft, chubby cheeks before he’s lowered into his crib. Grabbing the baby monitor, Mikhail leads me downstairs. The house is empty, for the moment at least. Valentina and Lyudmila have already left for the day, and Artyom is down at The Sweet Peach where he spends most of his time now since the grand opening several months ago. Mikhail and I haven’t been back since inspecting the place before it’s opening, and I doubt we ever will. Yuri is making the rounds with several of the other men, making sure the city is as it should be and that everything’s running smoothly. Both men have developed mile-wide soft spots for baby Lev and compete for his affection whenever they see him. I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when Lev is old enough to actually choose to be held by one of them over the other. I’m guessing there’s going to be a lot of bribery in Lev’s future. I can easily imagine Artyom showing up with candy and toys every time he comes over just so he can gloat to Yuri when Lev chooses him.
“What are you thinking about?” Mikhail asks, running a finger over my smiling cheek.
“I was just imagining the competition between Artyom and Yuri when Lev is old enough to run to one of them.”
Mikhail laughs and leads me toward the couch. I follow him, running my eyes over the family photos that fill the room. Many of them are from the honeymoon he took me on. Our smiling faces looking back at me from the beaches of Spain and France, and there are also a ton from the surprise trip to Finland when I was six months pregnant. The rest show us beaming at Lev. Our little family complete and perfect.
Sitting down, he pulls me next to him and relaxes back with a sigh. “They’re going to be terrible. We’re going to have to watch them. They will give him type 2 diabetes by the time he’s two if we’re not careful.”
I laugh and rest my head against his chest while stretching my legs out across his lap. He brings his hand to my thigh and lightly strokes my skin, handing me the remote with his free hand.
“No subtitles,” he says, lifting a brow at me.
I groan and find the Russian movie we’d started the other night and hit play. My Russian lessons are slow going, but I’m slowly getting better. Mikhail insists that the more I hear it, the easier it’ll get, but I still feel at a complete loss when the characters in the movie start speaking a mile a minute.
“It’s too fast,” I complain, making him laugh.
“You’ll get it,zaichik.” He gives my thigh a soft squeeze. “You’ve already learned so much. You just need to get over your shyness at speaking it.”
I smile and run my hand over his chest, feeling the muscles beneath the T-shirt he’s wearing. He laughs and shakes his head at me.
“I know what you’re doing.”
“What am I doing?”