Chapter 48 – Vivian
“ I have a surprise for you,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
Luka gestured to the center console. “Learning to drive stick wasn’t a surprise enough?”
I smacked his thigh.
He caught my fingers. “Did you just…touch me?”
My cheeks heated. “No!” I protested. “Punching isn’t touching.”
“Hmm, I’ll have to be more creative then. Because…Vivian?”
“Yes?” I said breathlessly.
“You heard the discharge orders. Doc gave me clearance for light activity,” he drawled, voice low and husky.
Warmth shot through my body, settling deep in my core. It had been weeks and weeks of taking care of myself. How I ever survived with toys before…I shuddered.
“Hey, don’t worry.” Luka brought my fingers to his lips. “You can be on top; it won’t hurt.”
I was saved from telling him we’d better wait and see how he was feeling once we got inside when his cousins barreled from the front door. Zoey toddled between them, holding onto a finger of each. Her poofy pink coat made her tiny arms look impossibly stiff.
“What if we had one?” Luka said quietly with a jerk of his chin.
Ripped from the privacy of my thoughts, I stammered to find words. “You had a vasectomy.”
Luka tapped a finger on his thigh. “I had a consultation with a doctor last week. He said I could be cleared for the reversal surgery after Christmas.”
Time slowed and the world grew impossibly silent. A baby, with Luka. A little one who had his glacial blue eyes and my curly hair. I didn’t know how much I wanted it until now, when the possibility became real.
“I’m open to talking about it.” And then I reached for his hand.
We shared a smile before Kazimir yanked open the door. “Your babushka is waiting for you inside. Better hurry.”
“She’s been vying with Chiara for control over the kitchen. Both have been preparing your favorite dishes for dinner,” Dimitri added.
“You spoiled it!” I scolded. “I wanted to tell him Mrs. O’Conner defected from Flannigan’s territory and moved in with us!”
Luka, who had been hugging Zoey outside the door of the Nova, turned to look at me over his shoulder. “Bridgit lives here? With us?”
I nodded. “Surprise!”
“How?! She can’t handle the stairs,” Luka’s voice was a mix of joy and worry.
“We fitted her out in a suite on the ground floor,” Kazimir said, pulling Zoey back so she didn’t climb over her uncle.
Dimitri reached inside, offering his arm for Luka to brace himself on. “She’s Russian now. Even speaks a little. The more colorful words.”
The whirlwind that followed was loud and boisterous but full of love. It took far too long to drag Luka upstairs. His physical therapist said stairs would be fine, but by the time we reached his rooms, Luka was done.
“Do you need to use the bathroom before we keep watching the dragon show?” I asked, finding the remote to click the Roku on. The TV in our bedroom was something I insisted on.
“Come here,” Luka called from his sitting room.
I left the bedroom, frowning. There was a bookshelf open—
And no Luka.
“Where the hell are you?” I demanded but tripped into the opening as I saw inside the small nook.
Words failed me.
It was impossible to say which glittered more. The treasure gleaming in chests and lining the walls or the smile on my mobster’s face.
“Come. Here.” He punctuated each word.
I did.
When his arm wrapped around my shoulder, he reached for the shelf next to his head. There were—
“My shells! From the bungalow!”
Luka’s grin could power a lightbulb. “Yeah, I couldn’t leave them behind. I went back for your stuff that night, after I caught you. What’s with the noose?”
I swallowed hard. The truth of that trinket weighed like a spectral presence. But it was in the past. “One night, drinking at the Warf, I made it to symbolize my freedom. I cut the tether and ran, but I always knew my nightmare could find me.”
“Oh,” he murmured quietly.
“He’s gone now.” I smiled. “I made damn sure of that.”
“Do you want me to burn it?” Luka offered.
I shook my head. “It’s an important turning point in my life. It belongs in this hoard.”
Gazing around in astonishment, I plucked item after item from the trove. It must have taken this thief years to collect all this booty.
“Did I marry a pirate?” I smirked, throwing a sideways glance at the mobster.
Luka rubbed his chin thoughtfully. In his hand was a spiny jewelbox—one that looked suspiciously like the shell we plucked from the beach that first night.
“I need a ship,” Luka mused.
“We can work on that.” Sliding up to him, I rested my palms on his chest. A rumble of pleasure vibrated under my touch. I shouldn’t be touching him, but I couldn’t help it.
“Why that shell?” I whispered.
His secret smile was my only answer, and I knew. I knew it was the one we plucked after our first kill together. Because to be truthful, it was. Luka might have thrown his knife at the intruder, but I didn’t freak out and I cleaned the blood.
A pair of psychos….
Luka held it strangely, but as I watched him, I saw why a moment later.
“Vivian Vlasova,” he began, starting to drop to his knees.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned. “You won’t be able to get off the floor!”
But he shook his head, sinking onto first one and then both knees. “You don’t ask a wild, free spirit like you to bind herself to a poor lost soul like me while standing. You kneel. You bow. So that’s what I’m doing, Vivian. Bowing and begging you to be mine.”
“I already am,” I snapped, but there was no bite behind the words. It was a cover to keep back the tears.
It didn’t work.
“Say yes, baby,” Luka choked, voice thick with emotion. Those bright blue eyes sparkled up at me. “Say yes and be mine.”
I crouched, sniffing loudly, and clapped his face between my hands. “Yes, you crazy, wonderful man. Yes, a thousand times.”
My lips crashed into his.
I moaned as his tongue slid against mine. The need to have one another, to feel the connection of skin on skin after the ordeal we traveled through, was so strong that it nearly overwhelmed the both of us. The shake in Luka’s frame was a cold dash of reality.
“Not yet,” I growled but added the promise, “Soon.”
The kiss left us breathless. I helped him up and half carried him to bed. He was so thin! It was a good thing Mrs. O’Conner was now Russian. Between her, Chiara, and the Russian born cook Mila, they would fatten him up in no time. He needed it.
Tucked into his side, we began to watch House Targaryen and their beautiful reptiles. Luka hadn’t seen it. In fact, his list of films and shows he had seen was pitifully short.
Just as Caraxes’s roar filled the room, something cool slipped on my finger.
I looked down. Luka still held the seashell, the ring forgotten in the passion of the kiss and the desperation to put him to bed. But now it was snug on my finger, yet the ink of his name peeked from underneath.
“Beautiful,” he murmured.
“Is that…never mind.” I twisted my wrist, the light catching on the massive, blood red stone and the smaller rubies decorating the band.
“Yeah, it is,” Luka murmured.
I snorted. “You’d better hope the Irish boss never realizes I’m wearing the stone from the bishop’s dagger, or he might cut my hand off for stealing it.”
“I’ll kill him first. He’s had it coming,” Luka yawned.
Tucking him into my side, his soft breathing filled the room. Mine joined his moments later. “You sure have a penchant for taking things.”
A low rumble sounded in his chest. His grip wrapped around my wrist, and he brought it to his lips. I held my breath. Luka pressed a kiss against the tips of my fingers.
His voice turned rough and husky. “I see something I want, and I take it.”
My heart beat wildly, sending pulses of heat through my veins. “Well, so do I.”
And with that, I dropped my palm against his chest, fingers sliding between the buttons to graze his bare skin.
“Darlin,” he warned. "That's touching.
“Teasing.” I fluttered my lashes innocently. “So…. When’s our next heist?”
His grin was my only answer.