Chapter 32
LEAH
“Did you hear the doctor? I’m okay.”
When the nightmare with Andrei was over, when we were safely ensconced back in the Chelsea house, when Eliza was playing with Benji and Athos in the small, wintry yard still perfectly manicured despite the temperatures, I finally broke down.
The reality of our situation, the way death had hung over all of us in that warehouse, the emotions, fear, and terror I held back for so long to survive finally hit me like a ton of bricks. And then came the cramps in my abdomen.
Viktor had, justifiably, gone into crisis mode.
My doctor had appeared at my bedside in less than half an hour, a miracle considering the traffic and distance between us.
I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Antonov Pakhan had flown him by helicopter.
I didn’t ask how he’d gotten the equipment the OB used, and neither did she.
The baby was fine, and so was I. I was put on a strict bed rest regimen until further notice.
It wasn’t all bad—I got one-on-one time with Eliza, which she needed as much as I did.
We watched movies, read books, and I was even able to put serious time into applying to law schools, which had been an impossibility with everything going on before.
The dogs rested with me often, and with two enormous animals sprawled with me, I was glad the bed itself was so large.
When he could, Viktor worked from his home office. He would check on me often and even bring me my meals personally, instead of leaving it up to the personal chef.
I’d finally gotten the okay from the doctor to be—carefully—mobile. But Viktor had still insisted on bringing my dinner upstairs.
Viktor sits on the bed, his hand automatically finding my leg under the blanket. “Eliza is having a tea party with Iliya. We have some time to ourselves. We should take advantage of it.”
My eyebrows draw closer to my hairline. “You took a picture of that, right?”
A deep chuckle is my answer as Viktor gets to his feet and disappears into the closet. “Of course, I’ll send it to you, so you can forward it to Suzie.”
He reappears with my parka, then chuckles again at my expression, gesturing to the terrace with a dip of his head. “Come on.”
I slip out of bed and into the parka to have Viktor escort me to the small table decked out with a tablecloth, dinner, a winter bouquet, and, thank goodness, heat lamps.
“What’s this?” I ask with a laugh as Viktor gallantly pulls my chair out.
He pops the cork on the sparkling cider. “A dinner. To celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?”
“Us. This. You.” He waved his hand grandly before pouring cider for me and then for himself. I already told Viktor he didn’t have to abstain on my behalf, but if I couldn’t have champagne, he wasn’t going to, either—my gallant lover.
We eat food that is, of course, incredible—nothing that comes from the hands of Viktor’s private chef is ever bad. We talk and we laugh. We plan the baby’s nursery because we know there’s a future between the two of us.
The four of us.
As the sun sets over Manhattan, as the stars begin to twinkle as though someone has strewn diamonds across the frozen night sky, Viktor comes over to me, takes my hand, and gets down on one knee.
“I made an absolute mess of this the first time, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a second chance. A chance to do better. To be better. If the past weeks have shown me anything, Leah, it’s that nothing I have means anything without you by my side.”
It’s hard to keep the tears back, and they chill my cheeks as they slip down my skin and drip into my parka. They’re happy tears, yes, but they’re also tears of relief, because I genuinely thought this would never happen.
“Leah, will you marry me? Will you be my partner? My lover? My heart and my soul, my home and my wife?”
I look into Viktor’s blue eyes, those steel-blue eyes that caught and held me so tight the first moment I met him and haven’t let go since.
The eyes of the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
The man with a multiverse of people within him, each of whom I love, because I love all of him, even the monster.
Because without them, Viktor would not be himself.
“Of course I will.”
The ring is already on my finger, but Viktor takes my hand and kisses it before he grins up at me.
“I would hope your answer isn’t just so I can save face. I’ve omitted the audience this time.”
I laugh again and wrap my arms around his neck, pressing my mouth against his. His response is immediate, his fingers digging into my arms as he pulls me so close, I can feel every defined muscle as they bunch and move against me.
His tongue rakes mine, his mouth all-consuming, claiming me.
He radiates his desire for me, the fire burning ever hotter as we cling to each other, devour each other.
But my desire burns as hotly, and we don’t even make it to the bed before we’re entirely naked, our layers of clothing discarded haphazardly like a trail in from the veranda.
Viktor is a wild animal, as though making up for all the moments we spent apart. His mouth explores every inch of my skin, his fingers gentle yet thorough, his hands grasping all those parts of me he loves.
I can feel his love for me as he worships me from the tips of my toes to the top of my head and everything in between, driving me to heights of pleasure that make lights burst in front of my eyes and draw out cries from deep within me.
But more than that, I revel in the mirrored pleasure on Viktor’s face, the way he moans and gasps in time to my movements.
We have opened to each other completely, put our trust and our deepest selves in each other’s hands and hearts.
It is unlike anything I’ve experienced before, this passion and pleasure that takes up my entire body, my entire mind, my entire being.
When my orgasm comes, it’s an explosion that rocks me to my core and draws the world in until it’s just Viktor and me. Until only the two of us exist in that one liminal moment between rising and falling, as my scream echoes through my ears with Viktor’s shout.
Our hearts have become one, our bodies have become one, and soon, we will become one family, facing the world together.