Grabbing his hand, I walk over and smell the orange blossoms. “They’re so beautiful.”
“Daddy helped,” Aleks yells with a big smile
“Just a little bit. You did most of it, little man.”
Standing back up, I wrap my arms around Valeri and pull him close. “Thank you for my beautiful flowers,” I tell him before he kisses me. I get lost in that kiss, just like I do every time he presses his lips against mine. Time stops, and everything else fades away until nothing exists except him. Only now my ears also stay alert for our son.
When I hear him squeal and yell, “Uncle Vasily!” we both pull apart with a laugh.
“We’ll finish this later,lapochka,” Valeri whispers against my lips.
Vasily and Nina walk around the side of the house, carrying plates of food. Their daughter, Natalia, stays close to her daddy’s side, but as soon as she sees Aleks, she smiles and runs over to him. Her eyes are just as dark as her mom’s, but they’re usually lit up with the same mischievous glint that Valeri swears is all Vasily. She’s already keeping them on their toes.
“Hey, Dmitri,” I say, pulling my nephew in for a hug and then give a wave when I see Volodya and Maddie appear with their kids.
Dmitri smiles and lets me love on him before I finally release him so he can go play with Misha. I kiss Natalia’s head, laughing when she shows me her pink fingernails.
“Beautiful,” I tell her.
“Daddy did them for me.”
I laugh and look over at her tatted-up dad, who’s giving me a smile and shrugging his shoulders. “She wanted to watch a princess movie with me while I painted her fingernails. We did the toes, too, didn’t we, sweetheart?”
She laughs and looks down at her pink sandals, the same shade as her toenails.
“I’m actually getting pretty good at it,” Vasily says with a laugh.
Nina smiles and pulls me in for a hug. “Nobody would ever guess what big softies they are,” she whispers.
I laugh and nod my head in agreement. We get to see a side of them that no one else does. They may be the most dangerous men in the city, but right now they’re smiling and laughing and watching their kids play. Volodya’s youngest son, Yuri, is nestled in his arms, his big grey eyes staring out at everyone. Maddie gives his head a kiss before walking over to join us. The Medvedev family just keeps growing. Valeri and I are thinking about trying for another soon, but for now, I’m still on the pill. I love the idea of having more kids, though. I want a big happy family, the kind I always wished I’d had.
“Tatiana said she’ll be coming in for a visit in a few weeks,” Maddie says, following me into the house so we can start getting the food ready.
“That’s great,” I say, grabbing the plate of hamburger patties from the fridge. “I’m so glad she’s been visiting more.”
“Yeah, me too.” Nina grabs the veggie tray and a few sodas. “I know they’ve missed having their mom around, and I’m just glad she’s not the mother-in-law from hell.”
“Hear, hear,” Maddie says, making us all laugh. “We got damn lucky.”
Maddie’s not wrong. Tatiana Medvedev may have been hiding away from the world after her husband was killed, but she’s slowly learning to live again, and she’s been nothing but kind and loving to all of us. Meeting her grandkids was the reminder she needed that life isn’t over yet. There’s still so much left to live for, and I’m glad she’s finally ready to take that step. She visits several times a year, but we’re hoping she’ll agree to move here soon.
Loading up the patio table with food, we sit down and munch while our husbands man the grill. Valeri flips a burger and gives me a wink, smiling when he sees my cheeks flush. The desire in his green eyes always makes me blush, no matter how hard I try and stop it.
When it’s time to eat, we round up all the kids and dig in. Valeri squeezes my thigh under the table and passes me the bowl of potato salad, making sure my plate is filled before he gets his own food. He takes care of me in a million different ways, and I’m so grateful for every single one of them. I lean over and surprise him with a kiss.
“You’re the best husband ever,” I whisper in his ear.
He laughs and presses his lips closer so only I can hear when he says, “Thinking about those orgasms I gave you this morning, sweetheart?”
Memories of him waking me up with his head buried between my legs has me sucking in a quick breath. I swear when I close my eyes, I can still feel his tongue running up my wet slit.
“I am now,” I say, making him laugh again.
“Be a good girl and maybe I’ll lick your pussy again later.”
My face is beet red when he pulls back. His green eyes light up in amusement when he sees the effect he’s having on me. He kisses the tip of my nose. “So perfect,” he whispers before pulling back so I can get some much needed air.
All through the rest of the meal, my mind keeps drifting back to what Valeri whispered in my ear. It doesn’t help that he keeps shooting heated looks my way and caressing my skin. Right now, he’s running his thumb along the nape of my neck. He knows it drives me crazy when he does that, and judging by the wicked smile on his face, that’s exactly why he’s doing it.
