Epilogue
CARTIER
Andrej is discharged from the hospital the day before Christmas Eve.
I stayed at the hospital after Yuri’s attack, dividing my time between Andrej and Ivana, watching him slowly regaining his strength and health, while Ivana remained in intensive care.
Tamara arrived the day after her sister’s surgery.
I was surprised to discover that, although they are identical twins, they look nothing alike.
Everything about Tamara is softer than Ivana.
Her hair, while the same raven-black and cut into a shoulder-length bob as her sister’s, has gentle mermaid waves.
She lacks the teardrop tattoo on her face, the green flicks on her eyelids, and is slightly more approachable if still aloof.
The only time Tamara left Ivana’s side was to speak to the doctors about her recovery.
They said that it would be a slow process, and that she might never regain her physical fitness, at least not to the standards demanded by her role as enforcer for the Ivanov family.
“I don’t know what we’ll do,” Tamara confided in me when she received the news. “Working for Leonid is all we’ve ever known.”
I’m not sure if she realized that she was speaking about them as if one couldn’t work without the other, or if it was simply how she was programmed. They’re twins. They were sold together and discovered together. I guess it was only natural that she couldn’t imagine working without her sister.
“Leonid won’t dismiss her because she can’t work.”
From what I learned about Leonid through Gianna and the construction of the women’s shelter, he cares about the twins as if they were his sisters, and neither he nor Andrej would see them homeless and jobless.
Tamara shook her head, but she didn’t articulate what was concerning her.
The doctors advised against Andrej traveling back to the States immediately.
So, with Tamara’s help, I arranged for all the food I would need to prepare Christmas dinner to be delivered to the Ivanov mansion before we arrived.
She declined my invitation to join us. I didn’t need to ask why; she refused to leave her sister’s bedside.
We spend the first night wrapped in each other’s arms in the four-poster bed, my head resting on Andrej’s shoulder.
I wake up early the next morning, and leave him sleeping peacefully, while I sneak to the bathroom.
The nausea is intermittent. Some mornings, if I eat as soon as I open my eyes, I feel fine, and others, I find that I’m struggling to keep food down all day.
Unbeknownst to Andrej, I took a pregnancy test while we were in the hospital. It was positive, as expected.
I’m planning on telling Andrej today: my Christmas gift to him.
Downstairs, I stream Christmas tunes through the sound system and sing along while I prepare the turkey, slide it into the oven, and busy myself peeling and chopping vegetables. I miss Mika and Gianna, but I won’t leave Russia without Andrej.
And besides, the snow is still falling, and after my childhood spent growing up in Florida where the winters are mild and wet, I’m strangely excited to spend the holidays in the snow. Just the two of us. Our first and last Christmas as a couple.
I’m considering opening a bottle of wine when a chuckle startles me.
I whirl around, dropping diced carrots on the floor, to find Andrej watching me from the kitchen doorway.
He’s wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, his shoulders still slightly hunched as if protecting his chest wound.
His hair is tousled from sleep, and his stubble has grown into a thick and neatly trimmed beard.
And he has never looked so goddamned hot.
“How long have you been watching me?”
He shrugs and leans casually against the doorframe. “Half an hour. Maybe longer. Did you know that your ass vibrates when you’re chopping vegetables?”
I pick up a carrot and throw it at him, and he dodges it easily.
He crosses the kitchen, lips set into a narrow line. He doesn’t realize that he’s doing it; taking things easy isn’t in his nature, and I think he’s aching to get back to full fitness again, so I pretend that I don’t notice.
“Sit.” I gesture to a chair at the table and switch on the coffee machine, turning my back on him so that he obeys. “We’re having French toast and mushrooms for breakfast. Then we’re going to watch Christmas movies in the den until dinner is ready.”
“Mushrooms?” His eyebrows quirk upwards, but he lets it ride. I’m craving mushrooms this morning; I didn’t think it was odd until I said it out loud. “Does your Christmas movie list include Die Hard?”
When I turn around, he’s watching me with his customary lazy grin, and I fight the temptation to straddle his lap and ride his cock.
“Just this once.”
“Should I get shot more often?”
“Don’t you even think about it!” I don’t even try to convince him that I’m serious. “I can’t do this again.”
“Baby…” He extends his arm and pulls me onto his lap when I take his hand. He wraps his arms around me and nuzzles my neck. “This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out about the world we live in. But I promise to be more careful next time.”
“Next time?” My voice shakes.
Andrej cups my face in both hands and kisses my eyelids and then my lips. “I promise that I will always come home to you, baby.”
I want to believe it, but a part of me knows that this isn’t a promise that he can commit to. Ivana is still in the hospital. She might never work again, and that could’ve been Andrej. He could’ve been killed.
But it’s Christmas, and I don’t want to spoil the day I’ve planned for us.
“I promise that I’ll always be waiting for you to come home.” I kiss him back and extricate myself from his arms. “But first: breakfast!”
I feel his eyes on me while I whisk eggs and milk in a bowl.
“And after breakfast?”
“After breakfast, you’ll get your Christmas present. I know it’s a day early, but it can’t wait.”
“You got me a gift?”
I can see it in his eyes, the disappointment that he has nothing to give me.
“You could call it a joint effort.”
We eat breakfast to a soundtrack of Mariah Carey, Michael Bublé, and Bing Crosby, then decamp to the den where I leave him watching White Christmas while I prepare his gift.
In the bedroom, I undress, studying my reflection side-on in the mirror.
My stomach is still flat, but my breasts are unmistakably larger, and when I brush my nipples, they’re so tender, my breath catches in my chest. I always wanted children one day, I just never expected it would be so soon.
Because until I met Andrej, I’d never met a man I even wanted to date let alone have babies with.
It has been a whirlwind, so much has happened that I can barely keep track of it myself, but I’d better get used to it because this is my life now.
This is our life.
Opening the chest of drawers, I remove a wide, red satin ribbon that I set aside from the decorations Ivana purchased and wrap it around my naked body, fastening it with a bow across my abdomen.
I slip a robe on over the top in case I bump into a bodyguard in the hallway and make my way back to the den.
My heart is thudding as I open the door and step inside.
Andrej is still sitting where I left him, facing the TV, his back to the door. So, I tiptoe around the couch, stand in front of him, and shrug the robe over my shoulders letting it slink into a pile behind me.
His eyes darken as he studies my body, tracing the ribbon until they settle on the giant satin bow just above my pussy.
“Cartier.” His voice is husky with desire. “You’re the only gift I ever want.”
I lick my lips. “It isn’t only me though, Andrej.” I peer down at the bow suggestively.
He follows my gaze but doesn’t speak.
“I did a pregnancy test while we were at the hospital. It was positive. We’re going to have a baby.”
His smile is so wide his cheeks must ache as he offers me his hand. “Come here.”
I go to him and straddle his lap on the sofa.
He smooths my hair away from my face. “I don’t think you have any idea how happy you make me.”
“Hmm…” I peer above his head and pretend to ponder the idea. “Perhaps you could show me.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
Holding my hips in place, he lies on the sofa and shuffles his body down so that his mouth is directly underneath my pussy. I’m already wet. My clit is pulsing at the thought of his tongue inside me, and my nipples are hard.
“Merry Christmas, baby.”
He spreads my thighs and drags his tongue flat across my clit. The effect is instantaneous. My pulse races, and my breathing is shallow.
“Enough?” He lowers his head back onto the cushion and grins up at me while I cling to the back of the sofa.
“No.” Wow, how the fuck did I get so husky? “Don’t stop.”
“Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten started yet, baby.”
His lips are warm on my inner thighs. He licks my pussy, deliberately avoiding my clit, deep hungry drags of his tongue.
When his mouth reaches my mound, he sucks hard, drawing blood to the surface of the skin, and leaving behind an imprint of his kiss.
His gaze latches onto mine, watching my reaction.
“Ready for me?”
“Always.”
“Good girl.”
His eyes gleam with mischief before he plunges his tongue inside me. He laps up my juices, sucking and licking, while my legs tremble with the orgasm that’s waiting to explode. I want to close my eyes, focus on the sensations swirling around my pussy, but I can’t stop watching him.
He stops licking and leans back. “Do you enjoy watching me lick you?”
“Yes.” I’m panting.
“What else do you enjoy watching me do to you?”
“Fucking me.” My clit is throbbing. If he doesn’t lick it, I’ll come without him.
“With my tongue?” He knows how close I am. He’s teasing me, dragging it out, seeing how long I can wait.
“Yes! I want you to suck my clit, Andrej.”
“Oh, baby.” He grips my thighs with both hands and spreads them wider. “I fucking love it when you tell me what you want.”