Epilogue
Four months later
Artur
I flip the steak on the barbecue and take a long sip, draining the last of my beer as I watch the lake from the front lawn of the mansion.
Behind me, Kaz and Maria are laughing and wrestling in the pool. He’s being gentle with her, considering she’s heavily pregnant.
“If you drown her, I’ll have to come in there and sort you out,” I warn him, grinning.
“No, don’t stress, man, I’m giving her mouth-to-mouth,” Kaz shouts back. I hear another scream of laughter and watch Kaz grab Maria and kiss her, sloppy, wet, and disturbing.
“Gross,” I mutter, turning away, chuckling.
“Stop that,” Maria yelps, crying from laughter.
Misha arrives next to me, handing me a fresh beer and taking the empty bottle from my hand. “That steak smells great, man.” He lifts his bottle of beer, and I tap mine against his.
“Good to have you here staying for the weekend,” I smile at him.
It’s been weird adjusting to everything, but at the end of the day, I made peace with Misha for Maria’s sake.
I think he did the same with me. Maria is incredibly special to all of us, and the goal is for her to be happy.
So we sacrificed our history and our tension, and we’ve made it right.
Besides, the guy did save my life. He saved all of us from that fire.
Joe arrives too and sets a bowl of chips on the table near us.
Ben is lying on the sun lounger, eating a grilled cheese sandwich.
“Why is he eating? Isn’t lunch about to be served?” Misha asks.
“Ben will eat that, and lunch, and another lunch, and still be hungry after,” Joe snorts.
“I can hear you, you know,” Benedikt mutters, standing up and dusting crumbs off his chest. He smirks, then runs for the pool, leaping into the water and grabbing Kaz as he does to dunk him under the surface.
While Kaz splutters and recovers, Ben steals Maria’s attention.
“Can I show you how a real man kisses a beautiful woman?” he asks her.
She giggles and nods.
He cups his hand around the back of her head and kisses her softly, tenderly.
“Now that’s a kiss,” I agree, nodding.
“This is so fucking weird,” Misha laughs, shaking his head.
Maybe to some, it is weird. But to me…this is perfection. I’ve never been happier in my life.
Benedikt
I pull her into my arms in the pool, and she wraps her thick thighs around my waist. Grinning, I kiss her again.
“You really are the most beautiful creature on the face of this earth,” I tell her.
“Just the earth?” she muses. “What about…let’s say an alien spaceship landed, and…” I tickle her side, cutting off her ridiculous scenario.
“The most beautiful creature that ever existed on any plane in any realm in any timeline,” I tell her.
She grins and nods. “I guess that will do,” she muses.
I place my hand over her swollen belly and rub gently across it. “I can’t wait to meet him,” I say sweetly.
She bites her lip and looks down into the water. “I almost wish it was going to be a girl so that I had some backup against all of you guys,” she confesses.
“You don’t need backup. We are your backup.”
When she looks up at me again, I can’t help myself. Her lips call to me. I kiss her again, and my cock grows hard beneath the water.
She whispers, “Stop that, my brother is here,” and nips at my lip.
“You'd better get away from me then, princess. I can’t stop myself when you look that radiant,” I warn her.
She slips off my lap and swims to the steps, glancing over her shoulder at me to blow me a kiss.
Fuck, my life is fucking perfect.
Kazimir
I watch the guys enjoying the afternoon sun as I sit on the edge of the pool, stretched out and lazy after playing around with Maria in the cool water.
She walks over to me and kneels next to me, almost losing her balance. I grab her arm, and she groans. “I keep forgetting that being this pregnant means I can’t move as easily as I used to,” she giggles.
“What were you coming down here for?” I tease.
“A kiss,” she grins.
“But I gave you a kiss in the pool,” I laugh.
She pulls a face and shakes her head. “No, I want a real kiss, not that sloppy mess you gave me in the pool,” she teases.
I press my finger beneath her chin and lift her face as I sit up. Locking my lips over her mouth, I kiss her in a way that conveys my emotions. Each movement writes how much I love her. She moans softly as I pull her even closer into my lap. I deepen the kiss, and need grows between us.
“Okay, wait, stop,” she gasps.
“What?” I grin.
“That was too good,” she complains.
“Sheesh, I can never make you happy,” I groan, rolling my eyes.
She grins at me.
“Too sloppy, too sexy. I guess I will have to keep practicing,” I tell her, pulling her lips back to mine.
“Mm,” she moans, pulling away again. “You know I have no control over my hormones since the pregnancy,” she whispers.
“Darling, you never had control over your hormones, you little slut,” I chuckle, winking at her.
Joe
“Hey, why are you hogging our wife?” I ask, standing over Kaz and Maria. I hold my hand out to her, and she places hers in mine so I can pull her to her feet. “Come on, princess, let me put some fresh sunblock on you. The swim washed all the rest of it off.”
She follows me to the sunlounges and sits in front of me as I straddle the chair with her between my legs and her back facing me.
Slowly, I massage sunscreen oil into her perfect skin.
I kiss her neck and watch goosebumps break out over her back.
She giggles and shivers in delight. “Don’t you start, too,” she warns me, sighing softly as I run my hands over her body, slipping them around her stomach and holding onto her swollen belly.
“I can wait until tonight,” I whisper.
Movement against my hand makes me shout excitedly. “He kicked!” I blurt out.
Instantly, the others are around us with their hands pressed against her belly. She leans her back against my chest and laughs.
“You four are hilarious. You act like it’s his first kick every time he kicks,” she teases us.
After a while, they give up and move back to the barbecue, and I’m alone with her again.
“I love you, sweet, beautiful girl. I can’t wait to have a family with you…with everyone. You’re going to be such an amazing mother,” I tell her, stroking her hair.
“And you’re going to be an incredible father. You never have to worry about how amazing you’ll be, Joe. I see right into your heart, and I adore every inch of you. So will our son,” she whispers to me.
My heart swells with happiness as I nuzzle my face into her neck and hold her, watching the ocean stretched out in front of us.
Maria
My life has fallen into place like a puzzle with pieces that fit perfectly together. I lie on the lounge with my back against Joe’s chest and his arms around me. Every single one of them smothers me in affection and adoration.
Every moment of every day is filled with love and laughter. I get teased and doted on. I get spoiled and treated like a queen.
I never in a million years would have guessed that one day I would marry not one, but four Pakhans. But here I am.
Looking around the garden, I see my family.
My brother, who is making a huge effort to be a part of my new life. My husbands, each of them beautiful, loving, and gorgeous men.
This all seems far too good to be true. How did one girl get to be so lucky?
I grin as I think about how perfect it all is.
The baby kicks again, and I move Joe’s hand so that it’s in the right spot. He lets out a soft sigh of happiness, and this time doesn’t call the others, keeping this moment just for himself.
“Man, I am excited to meet him,” he tells me again.
“Lunch is ready,” Artur calls out.
“Oh, thank goodness, I was about to gnaw your arm off, I’m so hungry!” I groan.
“I’m beginning to think it might be Ben’s baby, considering how hangry you get,” Joe teases.
Joe lifts me to my feet because I’m useless at getting up and down on my own at this point in the pregnancy.
We walk toward the barbecue, where the guys are taking the steak off the grill.
Artur slips his arm around me, and I lean into his side.
“Hey, beautiful,” he whispers, kissing my forehead.
“Hi sexy, you’re the hottest chef I’ve ever seen in my life, can I get your number?” I tease him.
“You can get more than my number, princess…how about we get married and make babies together?”
I laugh and snuggle even closer.
My heart flickers as though a thousand butterflies are dancing in my chest. This really is my life. It feels like a fairytale, but it’s all real. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.
*****
THE END