Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
I don’t want to take advantage of her. That’s why I had to leave after I said that stuff about how she belongs to me. What if I told her—it feels so damn true—and she said she felt the same, felt obligated to, or was drunk on the attention. The term love bombing was created for a reason.
Bombs do damage.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Mikhail says. “We’ll keep working away here. Let’s hope these morons see sense. If not, well, we’ll do what needs to be done. In the meantime, there’s no reason Ania can’t have some happiness.”
“Are you going to tell me yet?” she asks.
“Do you know what a surprise is?” I counter.
She shoots me one of her sassy looks. It feels like a million years ago that we were on the military plane across the country, but also too recent, like I could wake up with half a wooden ballerina in my hand, realizing this was all a fantasy.
“I think I’ve had enough of those lately,” she replies as we drive closer and closer to the studio.
Four cars border us on all sides, with two more trailing behind and a helicopter on standby. There’s no way I’ll let anything happen to her—to my woman. Again, I push that idea away. I can’t let any of that out. It’s not fair. Just because I’m going nuts with desire, it doesn’t mean I need to force it on her, too.
Finally, I pull into the parking lot. Ania gasps when she sees the sign out front: Westside Ballet Academy.
“Aiden, I don’t have my things.”
“Everything you need is inside,” I tell her. “I know how much you must miss it. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve this. I can wait outside or—”
“No, come in, but just you, yeah?”
I smirk, nudging her playfully. It’s like we can momentarily put everything behind us. We don’t have to think about her brothers, the rival Bratva, the kidnapping, or all the unspoken things between us. “Somebody wants to show off.”
She rolls her eyes at me, but her cute-as-hell smile tells me I might be right. That’s fine with me. A free show from my lady … How can I complain?
Opening the door, I walk around to her side, meaning to open hers for her. But she’s way too keen to get going. She’s already burst from the car, hurrying toward the entrance.
“Wait a sec,” I call after her. “Just let me clear it with security.”
After a quick walkie-talkie conversation, I’m able to confirm that the studio is safe. I lead Ania inside to the changing rooms.
“I’ll be just outside,” I tell her.
“Why?” she says, looking at me daringly how she does when she’s sleepwalking, except now she’s wide awake. Now, excitement and confidence flurry through her.
I smirk. “You won’t get much ballet practice in.”
“Don’t be such an animal,” she laughs. “Maybe I just want you to see and …” She pauses, then breaks my heart, something I didn’t even know was possible. “… and make sure all that food hasn’t ruined me.”
“Oh, Ania,” I say, taking a step forward.
She holds her hand up. “It’s not a big deal. I’m serious. I need an opinion, and you said nobody else gets to see me naked.”
“Nobody,” I say fiercely.
She smiles almost with a guilty look, as if she doesn’t think she deserves to.
“Okay then. Where’s my stuff?”
I gesture to the locker. “There should be a bunch of sizes in there.”
“You just have to promise to give me your honest opinion.”
I sit down, reminding myself this is a big moment for her. I try to convince myself somehow not to pounce on her the second I see her naked body. She slowly starts taking off her clothes, giving me small, nervous looks.
When she reveals her breasts, it’s like I can taste her nipples again. She pulls down her pants, then her underwear quickly, standing in front of me naked, her cheeks turning red. Fuck. I’m on my feet, staring at the triangle of her pussy, the small gap between her thighs, the perfection of every inch of her.
It’s not just the physical. It’s something else. She could be any size, any shape, as long as she’s Ania. It goes beyond the skin. It’s weird. I don’t understand it, but it feels so damn true.
“This part,” she says, touching her stomach.
“Shh,” I tell her softly, walking toward her. “You’re perfect, Ania, and you’ll be perfect even if you gain a hundred pounds. Damn. Just you … You’re enough.”
She looks at me almost in awe as I walk toward her, lowering her voice. “Really?”
I reach out, so tempted to bring my hand to her pretty slit, but then I stop myself. This is about her beauty. I need to tame the savage inside somehow. Instead, I gently wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She makes a sound somewhere between a sigh of relief and a sob.