Chapter 36
“It’s just a matter of time. We aren’t sedating him heavily anymore. He’ll wake up whenever he’s ready.”
“Mr. Taranov, if you can hear me, I’m your nurse. I’m just going to check your vitals, okay? It won’t hurt at all.”
“We’ll do another scan, but there were no abnormalities on his MRI that would lead us to believe he suffered an anoxic brain injury during his cardiac arrest. He received high-quality CPR immediately in the field, thanks to your…employees. He could wake up at any moment.”
So many voices and beeps. Constant beeps, overhead announcements, and people in and out of my space.
Wherever the space is. I guess it’s a hospital.
I heard these same sounds when I got my tonsils out back in the day.
Everyone wants me to “wake up,” whatever that means.
I don’t think I’m asleep. Or, if I am, I’m lucid dreaming.
There’s only one reason I have to wake up, and I haven’t heard her voice yet.
Two reasons…My love and my baby. All of this back and forth…
none of it matters anymore. She didn’t trust me; I didn’t trust her.
The only thing that matters is that she’s okay, our baby is okay, and she forgives me.
Even if I never open my eyes again, I need to know they’re okay.
If I knew that, maybe it would be easier to wake up.
“My Teddy, oh my big, strong boy!”
“Since when is he your Teddy, Nonna?”
“Since he saved my Elia and my grandson!”
“It could be a girl, Teresa.”
“Si, Giulia. We should be so lucky as to have another patatina running around. Can you imagine how precious?”
“My vote is still a boy. We can start working on the next generation of the Santori hockey team!”
“Taranov hockey team, Niccolo. Unless she leaves the bastard, then I suppose she might keep Santori.”
“Gabriele! Don’t say that about the man who saved your sister’s life. I know you’re still upset, but now that we know the Taranovs had nothing to do with Leonardo…there’s no reason to stay so mad all the time.”
“Your mama is right, figlio. It’s time for us all to move forward as a family. We can wait and see how your sister feels about Theodore. We’ll follow her lead.”
“I love him.”
My Ellie. The love of my life. She’s here.
“I love him, and I need all of you to leave us alone so I can try to wake him up and tell him I’m sorry and I love him. And that he needs to get better fast because I need my feet rubbed.”
Chairs scrape as the family stands to follow Ellie’s command, and I wonder briefly if she’s gone with them as the silence drags on. Then a soft weight rests on my hand. Fuck, why is it so damn hard to open my eyes?
“Hi.”
My love.
“I’ve thought so much about what I would say to you when I finally got here. I tried to convince them to release me early—”
Release her?
“I was also in the hospital for a little while, just getting checked out and some IV fluids. But our nugget and I are both fine.”
My baby. My woman kept my baby safe.
“I heard that you already know about the baby. I was so mad that I didn’t get to tell you.
I had this whole plan A, then plan B, even a plan C…
but so much happened and everything was so awful.
I’ve missed you so much, Teddy. I’ve been so sick, then losing Leo was almost more than I could bear.
I needed you, and to not have you has been awful.
You have to wake up so I can show you this sonogram, and I even recorded the heartbeat for you. Please.”
Her plea escapes on a sob, and finally, I open my eyes into the terrible brightness of the room. As I guessed, it is a hospital, but I couldn’t care less. All I can see and feel is my love. My Ellie.
Before I can say anything, she dissolves into tears and presses the call button to summon the nurse, who brings in a steady stream of doctors to assess me and ask me questions until they’re satisfied that I have my wits about me.
According to them, the fact that I’m mentally intact after so much blood loss and CPR is nothing short of a miracle, and if the shot had been even an inch over, it would have gone right through my heart and killed me instantly.
Once they’re all gone, I turn to give my full attention to Ellie, who has her back to me, looking out the window.
“Ellie.” That’s all I can think or say. The beautiful, perfect name of my beautiful, perfect woman. As raspy as my voice is, I can’t stop once I start. She has to know, right now, exactly how I feel. “Ellie, please. Please look at me, baby.”
Her face as she turns is devastating. Free of makeup, as gorgeous as I’ve ever seen her because she’s fine and whole and alive. But with tear-streaked cheeks and dark under-eye circles that tell the truth of the ordeal she’s gone through without me.
“I love you.” I can’t let another moment go by in this universe without her hearing it straight from me.
I don’t care if she thinks she already knew.
Hopefully, I’ll have a lifetime to prove that, however much she thinks I love her, it’s at least an order of magnitude higher, if not more.
But she deserves to hear it. “I love you, I love you, I love you.” The tears flow as I finish, and every emotion I’ve been unable to express as I slept rushes forth in a painful wave.
“I love you too, you absolute idiot!” She launches herself at me, luckily landing on my good side that didn’t take a bullet, and buries her hands in my hair before claiming my mouth as voraciously as she’s claimed my soul.
We’re both crying too hard to kiss much, though, and when she pulls back to look at me, I drink in the details I couldn’t see from across the room. God, I missed this face.
“Tell me. Please, tell me, baby. Like you wanted to.”
Her watery laugh is music to my ears, although I hope to hear it thousands more times without the tears over the next few years.
“Well,” she huffs and rolls her eyes. “I had a whole thing, but somehow this is better.” She takes my hand and gently places it over her lower stomach.
No bigger now, but soon, I hope. “I hope you meant it when you told me you wanted to give me the big family I always wanted. We made a baby, Teddy. We’re going to have a little nugget that’s half me and half you. ”
Nothing can stop me from weeping now, and all I can do is kiss this angel of a woman who’s alive and loves me, even after all the shit we’ve been through. Our kisses are messy, soaked with tears, and interrupted by apologies that are accepted as soon as they’re spoken.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I never should have gotten so angry with you—”
“No, that was my fault, I jumped to conclusions and listened to my brothers—”
“If I had been honest from the beginning about my family—”
“If I had told you about my family—”
“God, the way I fucked you in the condo. I’m so fucking sorry…” I trail off as she grinds down against my dick, completely awake now and free of any sedation whatsoever. She can’t intend to…
“Oh, don’t apologize for that, babe. Please tell me you’re not planning to deny fucking me like that again.” She’s fully grinding on me now, with her head thrown back and her hands balancing on my knees.
“We can talk about that later, baby. I don’t think you want to—”
“Don’t tell me what I want!” she snaps, and the heat in her eyes as she leans forward to cover my lips with her hand is unmistakable. “You got me pregnant, then left me to my own devices! I’ve had three cravings since you knocked me up, Taranov.”
Fuck, I’ve been last named. Why is that so hot?
“First, I’ve craved not being sick. Not so much luck on that front.
Second, I’ve wanted a damn hot dog for every single meal.
Disgusting. But what Nugget wants, Nugget gets.
Third, and worst, is my insatiable craving for your.
Fucking. Cock.” She pulls her skirt up around her waist and scrambles to remove the barrier of my hospital blanket.
Her little hand wastes no time wrapping around my length, and I hiss in pleasure and decide she can have whatever she wants from me. Forever. Starting right now.
“You missed this dick, baby? Even though I already knocked you up, you still need it?”
She whines and nods, coating me in her wetness and teasing me with every pass of my head against her opening.
“Ride me, then. Show me how much you missed me. Let me watch you take what you need.”
That’s all the permission she needs as she rises onto her tiptoes to position my leaking tip at her entrance and sinks down in one long, slow slide.
It’s heaven, heaven and hell to want to buck up into her, or flip her over and rut as hard as I can.
This is for her, though, at her pace. If she’s been extra horny because of what I’ve done to her…
it’s the least I can do to let her have this how she wants it.
Once she starts riding me like the goddess she is, I can’t hold back, touching every inch of her that I can reach and enjoying the nipples that I can tell are already extra sensitive. She’s focused on her rhythm, but it’s impossible not to tell her how she’s making me feel.
“Fuck, baby. Look at you, riding me like I’m your toy. I am, you know that? I’ll be your dildo any time you need. Just say the word. Goddamn.”
Pinching a nipple, she whines, but her pussy gives her away, clenching around me and proving that my girl still has a side that likes things a little rough.
“Oh, are you sensitive now, sweet girl? I did that, didn’t I? Put a baby in you, and now you’re creaming on my cock just from getting your nipple twisted, aren’t you? And these tits are already bigger, baby, fuck. You’re doing such a good job, already getting ready to feed our baby, hmm?”
She’s getting close, brow furrowing as she chases her pleasure, when the door to the hospital room opens, and a nurse walks in carrying a lunch tray.
“You might not have much of an appetite, but—oh!”
Ellie’s rhythm falters for only a stroke before I grip her hips hard and smack her ass cheek, helping to lift her up and down to get right back on beat.
“I swear to God, don’t you dare fucking stop. You’re close, and as soon as you start milking me, I’m going to fill you up with enough cum to put another baby in you, do you hear me? Do. Not. Fucking. Stop.”
She rides me even harder than before, tits bouncing in my face and ass slapping on my thighs.
“That’s my good fucking girl. Growing my baby, riding my dick like a champ. I’m so sorry you had to live so much life without me, Ellie. I’ll never give you a moments’ peace again, I swear it. You’ll never be out of my sight, baby.”
As she whines and squeezes around me, I realize our audience hasn’t left. The nurse is still frozen just inside the doorway, knuckles white as she grips the lunch tray. I make eye contact and growl.
“You can stand there and watch, or you can get the fuck out. But we’re not stopping, and the next round is likely to be even nastier. Fair warning.”
Finally, she scurries out, and my attention goes back to my sweet girl. She’s tired now, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and I’m ready to give her exactly what she wants. With one hand punching an already abused nipple, I move the other to make the fast strokes on her clit I know she likes.
“You’ve done so well, my love,” I coo. “Such a dirty girl for me. You couldn’t wait another second to have me inside you. I’m so proud of you for taking what you needed. But now I need you to come for me. Let me give you what you deserve.”
My permission is all it takes for her to shatter, her silent scream as she chokes my cock all I need to make good on my promise and fill her.
It’s a homecoming, and as she lowers herself to place her forehead against mine, I keep my gaze locked on hers as I thrust, giving her everything I have.
Neither of us is in the mood to move, both content to stay connected for as long as possible, so I pull my blanket back up over us.
She’s asleep as soon as she gets comfy, and although I’m not fully hard, I can’t resist a thrust here and there just to make sure I’m still inside her. Fuck the Bratva and the Mafia and hockey. I want to fly away with her to somewhere far away and do nothing but this until the end of time.
Knowing that we’ve all made it out of this mess alive feels like winning the lottery, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank her enough for just…
being her. My person. My family. My home.
No matter how many places we live or how many times we have to move. I have a forever home, now. My Ellie.