Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 37828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“Thank you for having us,” Autumn said quietly.
“It was lovely to meet you. I’m sorry,” she replied.
“Don’t be,” Brody said. “We barged in. Maybe next time we can let you know when we’re coming first.”
“Will there be another time?” she asked. She’d like to see them all again. Even the Fox. If he and Dimitri could sit down for a proper conversation . . .
“Will you come back?” Dimitri asked, standing.
The Fox looked at Autumn then Brody. “Well, I suppose I could think about it. It’s been interesting . . . and I like interesting. It definitely hasn’t been boring. I hate being bored.”
They were all gone before she could catch her breath. Dimitri turned and held out his hands to her. “Come with me.”
“I have to clean up, though. I can’t leave all this food out here.” She stood and started grabbing plates. But he took them from her, putting them down on the table.
“Dahlia,” he said warningly. “Come with me.”
She slid her hand into his and he led her into his office.
Uh-oh.
Was she about to get her butt spanked? But when he sat on the sofa, he drew her down to sit on his lap. Then he just held her. Gradually, her body relaxed, the tension draining from her.
Grasping hold of her chin, he turned her face to his and kissed her. “I’m sorry.”
“What . . . what are you sorry for?”
“For not making it perfectly clear how much you mean to me. For being too far inside my own head to see that you were struggling.”
“No. I’m not . . . I’m not struggling, Dimitri,” she reassured him. “I know you love me. It’s just sometimes, I start thinking about the ‘what ifs’. I know it’s stupid. It didn’t happen. So what does it matter?”
“It matters if it upsets you. Look at me.”
She glanced up at him.
“I love you. Dahlia, you’re my entire world. You’re the one I want by my side, in my bed, and my life. In fact . . .” He lifted her off his lap and then stood, moving to his safe, which was hidden in the floor.
When he returned, he held a velvet box in his hand. Tears dripped down her cheeks.
“Daddy,” she whispered as he got down on his knees in front of her.
He took hold of her left hand in his. “L’venok, I think you’re amazing. You’re sweet and funny. Kind and caring. Brave and resourceful. Sometimes too brave. I swear you’ve given me more gray hair since I’ve known you. But I know that you will always do what you think is right. And that it’s up to me to protect you while you do that. I don’t want you to ever worry about what I think of you or whether I want you because when I met you, I knew you were mine and that I would never let you go. No. Matter. What.”
“Really?” she whispered.
“I once loved Galina. She gave me my Zvezda. But what I felt for her . . . it faded a long time ago. It seems I never really knew her fully, so I was in love with an illusion. And I won’t lie . . . I have struggled with that. With missing her true nature. Although I think she grew more depraved and bitter over the years. But what we had? It was my past. And it would have been the past no matter what. Maybe that makes me sound harsh. But you are my present and my future. You, Dahlia. No one else.”
He drew back his hand to open the box. She stared down at the enormous solitaire diamond on a rose gold band.
“Dahlia, will you do this old man the honor of being my wife? Of being my Little, my love, for the rest of my life and beyond?”
“Yes, Dimitri! Yes!” She threw herself at him and he held onto her tight with one arm.
“Let me get this on you before you change your mind.”
“I will never change my mind, Daddy.” But she drew back and held out her left hand.
He slid the ring onto her finger.
Perfect fit.
“Oh, Dimitri. It’s beautiful.”
“Like you.”
She wrapped herself around him, kissing him longingly. Standing, he drew her up with him. He pulled back, staring down at her. She let out a small sound of protest. “It was naughty of you to keep your worries from me, baby girl.”
She stuck her lip out in a pout. “But, Daddy—”
“And don’t think I didn’t notice the Christmas decorations. How did you get those up so high?”
“Oh, um, well . . . I got on a ladder,” she confessed.
“Are you allowed on ladders?”
“No, Daddy.”
“I can see I’ve been neglecting you.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No, Daddy!”
“No? I think yes. You put yourself at risk and didn’t come to me when something was worrying you. That’s going to be a count of twenty.”