He tightened his fingers in mine, stroked his thumb over the back of my hand, and I saw the curl of his lips as he smirked.
“You’re serious?” I whispered.
“Dead fucking serious, sweetheart.” He leaned in so we were nose to nose. “So serious that I’m not above throwing you over my shoulder and chaining you to my side as we do this.” Although his tone was serious, there was a small tilt to his lips.
“I—I didn’t know how to feel about this.” Getting married in a courthouse, on a spur of the moment, after I’d just been told Dmitry was the man I’d been arranged to marry, certainly wasn’t how I envisioned my wedding going.
Then again, my life had always been a series of crazy, sometimes unfortunate events.
I stared at the man I’d had a crush on, then lusted after, and finally fell in love with. I’d felt things for him for five years.
He was the only man I’d ever wanted to tie myself to.
“Gio won’t approve of this.”
His smirk grew, and I could see he knew I wouldn’t stop this.
“This is so crazy,” I breathed, and he cupped my cheeks and planted a soft kiss on my lips before taking my hand again and leading me down the hall.
We stopped in front of a closed door, and with a quick turn Dmitry opened it.
I stepped inside but froze when I saw Nikolai and Amara standing off to the side.
Amara placed a hand on her slightly swollen belly, my new niece growing safely inside and causing this longing to settle in me.
There was a woman standing beside Nikolai. I’d never met her in person, but I knew who she was. I’d seen a family picture of her with Nikolai and Dmitry at Amara’s house the times I'd visited.
This was the third Petrov sibling. Tatiana.
She was young, maybe only a few years older than me. Although I could see the family resemblance to Dmitry and Nikolai in the shape of their eyes and high cheekbones, that's where the resemblance ended. Where the brothers had coal-black hair and ice-blue eyes, Tatiana had long, wavy brown hair that fell to her waist and bright hazel eyes.
My sister wrung her hands and bit her lip, and when her husband noticed she was anxious, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her snuggly to his side.
I wanted that. Someday. I wanted the husband who looked at me and touched me with such devotion and love. His possessiveness consumed us both. I wanted a little one to look up at me and call me Mama.
I’d never thought of such things so strongly before, but now… seeing my sister and her family, feeling Dmitry tighten his hand on mine, I knew with such certainty this was what I wanted.
I smiled when I saw Luca standing beside Amara, his little arms wrapped around her legs. “Scricciolo. Come, give me a big hug.”
Luca glanced at Dmitry. He might have been Luca’s uncle, but it wasn’t as if he’d ever met in person. And besides, the big Russian was a massive beast of a man who could terrify anyone just by sneezing.
“This is my friend,” I said gently and got down to my haunches.
Luca stepped away from Amara and glanced at his parents. Amara murmured something low in Italian to her son and smiled.
“He’s my very good friend and your papa’s brother.”
After hearing that, Luca looked at Nikolai. His father nodded and smiled, and that gave Luca the courage to come forward.
He eyed Dmitry, who slowly sank to his haunches as well. Dmitry said something in Russian to his nephew. Luca looked at Nikolai again, who said something in Russian as well, his voice soft, a tone he only reserved for Amara and his son.
Luca moved a few more feet and stopped an arm’s length away from where we were. Luca was a spitting image of his father. In fact, he resembled Dmitry as well, since the brothers looked so much alike.
“You don’t know who I am because I was away. But I’m back now, and we have all the time in the world to get to know each other.” Dmitry held out his big tattooed hand, scarred and tanned, to Luca.
When Luca edged toward me, I said softly again, “He’s my very good friend, scricciolo.”
After a second, Luca reached out and slipped his tiny hand into Dmitry’s outstretched one. They shook as if they were business partners, and I couldn't help but laugh softly.
Amara held her hand to her mouth, all the love she had for the situation spilling forth so that it filled the entire room.
Dmitry started speaking to Luca in Russian, and although I knew Nikolai spoke it to Luca, and Amara taught him Italian, I didn’t think he’d be able to understand as much as Dmitry was speaking.