“Just right now?”
“I can’t promise more than this moment. This moment, yes. I choose it.”
It’s not enough. Should never be enough. Somehow it is.
I kiss her again, deeper this time. My hands map her body with careful reverence—the swell of her belly barely visible under her clothes, the curve of her waist, the softness of her skin.
She pulls back slightly. “Aleksandr—”
“I’m in love with you,” I say before I can stop myself. “I don’t know when it happened. Maybe the auction. Maybe when you broke into my facility. Maybe when you ran and I nearly lost my mind, but it happened. I can’t pretend otherwise anymore.”
She stares at me, eyes wide. “Oh. You can’t mean that.”
“I can. I am.” I cup her face. “I’m in love with you. Obsessively. Unhealthily. In ways that probably aren’t sustainable or fair. But it’s real, and you deserve to know.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Just don’t shut me out. That’s all I’m asking.”
She’s trembling. I can feel it under my hands. “I’m still angry,” she whispers.
“I know.”
“I still don’t trust you completely.”
“That’s pretty obvious.”
“I—” She swallows hard. “I don’t want the distance either. I don’t want to keep pretending I don’t feel this. Whatever this is.”
“Then don’t pretend.”
We stand like that, foreheads touching, breathing each other’s air. The world outside this moment doesn’t matter. Just us. Just this.
Finally, she pulls back. “Take me to bed.”
“Elena.”
“I need to feel this. Feel you. Feel real instead of just surviving.”
I search her face for doubt, for hesitation. Find none.
“Are you sure? The pregnancy—”
“Is fine. Dr. Kuzmin said normal activity is safe.” Her hands slide up my chest. “Please. I need this.”
I lead her to the bedroom. Strip her slowly, reverently, cataloging every change in her body. The slight swell of her belly. The way her breasts are fuller, more sensitive. The flush spreading across her skin.
When she’s bare before me, I pause. Just look at her.
“You’re beautiful,” I murmur. “Carrying my child. Mine in every way that matters.”
“Show me.” Her voice is breathless. “Show me I’m yours.”
I strip quickly and guide her onto the bed. Settle between her thighs, careful of her belly, my weight braced on my forearms.
“Tell me if anything hurts,” I say. “If you need me to stop, I will.”
“I won’t need you to.”
