“Dr. Vera said the baby’s stable. That everything’s fine. That we can—” She stops. Blushes. “That it’s safe.”
Suka.
She’s asking me to fuck her.
After two weeks of hell. Two weeks of thinking I might never make it back. She’s lying in our bed, flushed and beautiful and carrying my child, asking me to take her.
“Are you sure?” My voice comes out rough. Barely controlled.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
I lean down. Kiss her hard. Possessive. Claiming.
She moans into my mouth. Her hands move to my shirt. Fumbling with buttons.
I pull back. Help her. Shrugging out of the leather jacket. Yanking my shirt over my head.
Her eyes go wide. Hands immediately reaching for me. Touching my chest. My shoulders. Sliding down to my abs.
“I forgot,” she breathes.
“Forgot what?”
“How beautiful you are.”
I almost laugh. “I’m not beautiful,malyshka. I’m a killer.”
Her hands stop moving. Slide up to cup my face. Holding me like I’m something precious. Something worth protecting.
Her eyes are glassy. Searching. Looking into me in a way that makes me want to turn away.
But I don’t. Can’t.
“That’s who youhadto be,” she says softly. “Before you knew you could be something else.”
My chest tightens. “Mary—”
“You read poetry.” Her thumbs brush my cheekbones. “You cook. You carried me to bed that first night when you could have just left me on the couch. You protect people who can’t protect themselves. You’re going to be a father.” Her voice breaks. “You think you’re just a killer because that’s what they needed you to be. But I see who you are when no one’s asking you to be a weapon.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t speak.
“You’re not beautiful because of what you look like, Anton. You’re beautiful because of what you are when you’re with me. When you let yourself just… be.”
Tears burn behind my eyes. I blink them back.
“I don’t know how to be anything else,” I admit. Raw. Honest. “This is all I know.”
“Then I’ll teach you.” She pulls me closer. Presses her forehead to mine. “We’ll figure it out together. You, me, and our baby girl. We’ll build something new. Something that’s ours.”
Something breaks open in my chest. Something I’ve kept locked away for decades.
“I don’t deserve you,” I whisper.
“Maybe not.” She smiles through tears. “But you have me anyway. All of me. And I’m not letting go.”
She pulls me down. Kisses me like she’s trying to prove it. “And you’re beautiful. And I want you. Now.”
My control snaps.
