Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
"Thank you."
Mikhail pales. He swallows and licks his lips, and when he speaks, his voice is a little husky. "So my wife and the baby are okay?" She nods and gives him a few more words of assurance. "There may be some discomfort, and I'll provide some recommendations, but she should be fine."
Now that Mikhail realizes that we're safe, the tension in the room finally lets up. He leans over and holds me.
"I'm sorry, doctor. I know I overreacted."
And now another apology? They say men don’t change, but…
She waves a hand in the air. "I understand your concern."
As the doctor talks to Polina and Mikhail, I lay my head back on the pillow. I'm tired after the events of tonight. And honestly? Relieved that it wasn't something stupid Volkov’s men did. I don't want to see my Mikhail preoccupied with revenge.
On the way back home, though, I start to freak out.
I'm…pregnant. I'm having a baby. I'm not ready for this. It's not just that I'm afraid I won't be a good enough mother, it's that I'm taking a whole other step of intimacy with Mikhail.
I feel like even though I've gotten to know him a lot better, we still have so much to learn about each other. And it's absolutely terrifying to me to imagine raising a child in this atmosphere. In this family. What if I don't want a baby?
I'm quiet on the ride home. I already feel like I am taking a next step I'm not ready for.
But my biggest fear of all? What if he only wants to be with me so I can be his baby mama? What if I am not enough?
My entire life, I’ve battled a fear of not being enough. And now, I'm nothing more than a woman who will bear his child.
But when we get back to the house, I have my doubts. Mikhail leads me in with such tender care, I can't help but feel maybe he really does love me.
When I first got here, I feared falling in love with the man that had captured me. But now that I know who that man is, a part of me – a very small part of me – can't really imagine being in love with anybody else. After truly experiencing the full blaze of a heated sun, I can't go back to the shade of who I was before. I might be burned standing next to my Mikhail Romanov, but I couldn't imagine my life any other way.
I take Mikhail’s hand when he reaches for me. He leads me up to our house – our house, not just his – and brings me inside. I laugh when he helps me over the threshold.
"OK, Mikhail, when I am like nine months pregnant and huge, maybe then you can help me over the threshold or help me tie my shoelaces or whatever you need to do. But right now? I'm fine. Please."
"Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean that I’ll take it any easier on you," he says with what is an attempt at a stern look, but he's definitely bluffing.
“Hmph.”
"Are you hungry?"
Polina got me a candy bar from the vending machine in the hallway at the hospital, and while it was a quick fix to give me energy then, now I'm starving.
"Any cravings? Aversions?" he asks.
Okay, so he’s being about as cute as Mikhail gets. “Um, I’ve barely wrapped my mind around the possibility of me being pregnant, and I don't know if I've quite gotten to the cravings or aversions part." I shudder. "Definitely not Moscow Morsels."
He grins. Actually grins, and it's so rare I let myself stare at him, fusing it into my memory for the next time he goes all overbearing asshole on me.
Maybe I am craving something. Something deliciously cheesy and crispy on the edges. My mouth waters. "Pizza sounds excellent right now."
"Good as done. Go lie down. I'll order the food, and I'll join you in a minute."
When we get to our bedroom, I kick off my shoes. He stands behind me and silently unzips my dress. When he bares my shoulder to him, he bends and places a kiss right there. Then he walks away toward the bathroom, still talking.
"I'll have to assemble a team of bodyguards to make sure that you're safe."
"Mikhail? I already have a team of highly trained bodyguards!"
He pierces me with a stern look and raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you talking back to me?"
My heart immediately thumps. Even pregnant, I have no doubt that he will still demand obedience and respect. He hasn't gotten a personality transplant, after all.
"I will stop at nothing, Aria. Fucking nothing to make sure that you and our baby are safe."
"I know you will. That's who you are. That's what you do."
He's experienced grave loss in his life, and he's dedicated to making sure it doesn't happen again. It's more than that, though. I remember what Polina told me about his having to marry, securing his family. I remember him telling me that my duty to him was to bear his child.