I stalled, wondering if that were true in ways other than sexually. “Do you?”
Instant. “Yes.”
“No.” I undulated against him. “Not this way. I mean—”
He cut me off, placing one finger on my lips. “I know what you mean, my sweet. And the answer is yes.”
My heart softened even more, and I grinned. I knew it was big and goofy, but I couldn’t help it. “I think I like that.”
His lips lifted more. “Think you can help me with something else I need you for?”
I chuckled. “Yeah. I think I can help with that.” I looked at him sternly then. “But, you’re going to feed me afterward.”
His smile increased, and he had a special twinkle in his eye. “I think I can help with that.”
I turned immediately suspicious as I started moving down his body, staring at him hard. “What are doing?” That look in his eye didn’t bode well.
Daniil grinned. “Trying to make love, Ms. Forter.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured, pulling his pajama bottoms—the sexy as hell ones—over his lean hips. “What else are you doing?”
“Loving you, Ms. Forter,” he stated quietly.
I paused, my gaze meeting his. Those dilated brown eyes said it all. He loved me. Flat out loved me. And he wasn’t hiding it. I sputtered the first thing that came to my mind, “Is it a little too early to for that?” I was falling in love with him…but…
He smiled, brushing his finger over my cheek. “Sometimes you just know.”
My heart was damn near full, but… “I…I…I’m not…” I finished lamely, “quite there yet.” I bit my lip. “I’m sorry.”
His grin only improved. “I know.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, so I blubbered, “Thank you?”
He sputtered on a laugh. “Beth, my sweet, you’re so adorable, it’s precious.” He pulled me up and kissed my lips lightly. And then proceeded to show me just how much he loved me. Twice.
We went down for breakfast, pretty much just throwing our night clothes back on because we were running late. I pushed my glasses up on my nose, fumbling around with my hair as we walked down the stairs barefoot. It was surreal walking around his mansion dressed as we were. Like it really was home. And oddly, I was beginning to feel like it was. My parents had even settled in peacefully.
Over the days, since my mom and I had lost our jobs, we started looking online for baby room ideas. Daniil had offered my mom—Kirill and Artur, also—jobs doing some such thing, but she had turned them down politely, saying right now she was where she was needed. And then, Daniil gave her a black charge card of some sort—my mom’s eyes had bulged—and he said to buy whatever we needed for the baby and ourselves. Neither one of us had bought anything for ourselves, but we were busy making plans for the babies’ room.
Daniel disappeared during part of the day into his study, and even left to go with Roman to the new club that was under construction, so I only saw him in the mornings—I actually got up early to eat breakfast with him—or at lunch, and then the evenings. I knew I would get cabin fever eventually, but right now, I was doing all right. Plus, tonight we were supposed to be going out to dinner, and to my cousin, Mary’s performance tonight. Along with art, Mary also sang in a small band. She was an artist all around.
It had taken some talking to Daniil about, but he had eventually agreed once he had the logistics of every location we were supposed to go. I was pretty sure he had the security down pat for our first venture out together. There would be paparazzi everywhere, I was sure, but we couldn’t stay holed up in his house forever. So tonight was our first public outing.
I glanced at Daniil, fumbling with my own hair. “Maybe you should have put a shirt on.” He hadn’t even bothered to comb his hair. We look straight from the sack…which we were.
He met my gaze steadily. “This is my home. My children will just have to deal with it. I’ve given them long enough.”
I sighed. He wasn’t the one they would look at knowing I had just had sex with their dad. They were all fine with me…as long as they didn’t see anything going toward the sexual. Then they all kind of backed off. “You’re starting fires that don’t need to be started.”
“No,” he shook his rumpled head. “I’m putting the fire out for good.”
I kept my mouth shut. This was one of those instances over the past few days I didn’t quite understand. But I had learned to just sit back and watch. And learn. He hadn’t been wrong so far.
We entered the loud dining room where everyone was already seated and eating. Most were ready for the day, but some, like Kirill and Artur were in last night’s clothes still, just getting home from work. And Nikki and Beth were with us for this last half of the week, so they sat in their pajamas—like Daniil and me—eating pancakes and dripping syrup down their chins looking adorable. Grigori and Ember were sitting side-by-side, but Grigori hadn’t been able to repair the rift between them yet, so they were quiet next to each other.
And everyone’s attentions turned toward us as we walked to our normal places. I tried my hardest to ignore my parents and everyone else’s stares. It wasn’t hard when I spied what was in front of my seat. There, on the table like a golden gift, were…donuts and a box of Fruity Pebbles. I stumbled and stopped to stare. My jaw gaped because I had been dreaming about food lately before waking. Those were the two main stars in my dreams.
I glanced at Daniil, my dropped jaw turning into a huge grin. “How did you know?”
