CHAPTER 29
Anastasia
When I’m sure Rodian is asleep, I sneak out of bed and grab my thick sweater. As I shrug it on, I shove my feet into my slippers before tiptoeing out of the bedroom.
I walk to the room beside ours, and softly nudge the door open before slipping inside.
With the bedside lamp on, I can see beads of sweat forming on Andrei’s forehead.
I hurry closer, and picking up the bowl, I go pour the old water out and fill it again before carrying it back to the table beside the bed.
Rinsing the facecloth, I squeeze out the excess water, and carefully pat over his forehead.
God, I worry about him.
Having lost one and a half fingers, the bullet and stab wounds, and all the cuts to his face, I’m not sure he’ll ever fully recover.
The doctors said he might recover up to five percent of his vision in his left eye, but they don’t have much hope.
His good eye opens, and noticing his iris is almost black from the pain he’s in, I check the time. “It’s still another two hours until you can get painkillers. What hurts?”
“Left eye and migraine.”
I sit down on the side of the bed and gently begin to massage his left temple while humming a soft tune.
My gaze drifts over the bandages on his face, and I wish I could magically heal him.
Andrei stares at me for a little bit before asking, “Why are you so good to me?”
I don’t hesitate to answer, “We’re family.
” The corner of my mouth lifts. “And we share someone very special. Rodian. You’re like a brother to him, so I guess that makes us in-laws.
” My expression grows somber, then I add, “And when they attacked, you made sure I was safe, not even thinking about yourself.” My voice cracks as gratefulness fills my heart.
“Very few people have put me first, so what you did means everything to me.”
“Just did my job,” he whispers.
“I suppose. How’s the pain now?”
“Much better.” Rinsing out the facecloth, I wipe his forehead again, then he says, “I would go through it all again for you.”
My gaze snaps to his, and seeing he means it fills my heart with sisterly love. “Thank you, Andrei.”
When I get up, he mutters, “I hate that you saw it.”
Flashes of Andrei being stabbed and cut bombard my mind, and I sit down again, taking hold of his hand in both of mine.
“I wish I could’ve done more. I’m sorry I started rambling about cabins in the woods.” I shrug while admitting, “Dreaming helped me get through some horrible moments, and I guess I thought it would help you too.”
“It did. It gave me something to focus on.” When I meet his gaze, he says, “I’m going to buy a cabin in the woods the first chance I get.”
“Yeah?”
He nods, then a flash of pain tightens his features that are visible beneath the bandages.
“Is the pain back again?”
“Yeah.”
I resume massaging his temple, and when he finally falls asleep, I carefully get up so I don’t wake him.
Turning away from the bed, I see Rodian leaning against the doorjamb, an awe-filled expression on his face. He holds out his hand to me, and I give him a sheepish look as I walk to him.
Taking his hand, I pull the door shut before saying, “Sorry, I just had to check on him.”
“Don’t apologize.” Rodian leads me back to our bedroom, then says, “You’re really good with him.”
I shrug while kicking my slippers off and removing the sweater. “He has a soft side beneath all the grumpiness.”
“Which he doesn’t show a lot of people.”
We climb back under the covers, and I scoot closer to Rodian, snuggling into his side while he wraps his arm around my shoulders.
Happy in my husband’s arms, my mind grows quiet until I drift off.
I’m woken by Rodian tugging my pajama bottoms down my legs and let out a sleepy chuckle. “Hmm… what are you doing?”
“I need you.” His tone is gruff with desire as his palms rub up the inside of my thighs. “So fucking much.”
“Then have me.”
He begins to stroke my clit while shoving my shirt up, and his mouth latches onto my right nipple, sucking and biting it into a stiff bud.
“I’ll never get enough of you,” he groans against my skin.
Feeling his manhood by my opening, I lift my hips, and when he enters me with a hard thrust, we both moan from how good it feels.
“Iisus Khristos.” Rodian doesn’t take me fast, but instead, he continues to lavish my breasts with attention while remaining buried deep inside me.
The need intensifies in my abdomen until I desperately say, “You have to move.”
“Not yet.” He lifts his head and gives me a devilish grin.
“Why?”
His hands move up and down my sides before he squashes my breasts together. “I want to push you as far as I can.”
“What did I do to deserve this kind of torture?” I gasp, struggling to swivel my hips beneath the heavy weight of his body.
“I want you to come so hard you pass out. It’s my way of saying thank you.”
I hook my legs behind his, again trying and failing to rub my clit against him for some relief. “No, this is torture. Move!”
A chuckle rumbles from him, and he continues to bite and massage my breasts, making my abdomen tighten more.
“Oh God,” I whimper. “I think I can come if you continue doing that.”
“Yeah?”
My head bobs up and down as I arch my back and Rodian goes to town on my nipples, sucking them hard. Sparks of pleasure shoot through my torso to my core, and I clench hard around his manhood as I begin to orgasm.
Rodian pushes up, bracing his arms on either side of me, and then he finally fucks me the way I need him to. Unable to make a sound, I squeeze my eyes shut as ecstasy steamrolls through my body.
“Blyad?… Blyad?… Blyad?…” he growls as he comes, his body slamming into mine, making the entire bed shake.
My vision goes spotty, my head tilted back and my mouth open in a silent O. Only once the pleasure begins to lessen does my body go limp and I suck in desperate breaths.
Rodian slows down, and filling me with two more thrusts, he slumps over me, his breathing ragged while his body spasms.
“Holy crap,” I say, feeling thoroughly fucked.
“Your body was made for me,” he gets out between breaths. “That was mind-blowing.”
When he pulls out, I twitch from feeling sensitive, and it makes him grin. “You better feel me inside you all day long while you deal with Andrei’s demanding ass.”
Lifting my head, I frown at him. “Are you jealous?”
“Of course. He’s taking your attention away from me.”
I get up and follow Rodian into the bathroom, and while we clean up, I say, “You’re being silly.”
“No.” Gripping my chin between his fingers, he locks eyes with me. “I’m being possessive. There’s a difference.”
Chuckling, I shake my head. “If being possessive makes you wake me up like this every morning, I don’t mind.”
He smacks my butt lightly before leaving the bathroom to get dressed, and I take the opportunity to empty my bladder and brush my teeth.
Needing to check on Andrei, I hurry through my morning routine and throw on the first dress I lay eyes on.
“What’s the rush?” Rodian asks as he shrugs on a jacket.
“I want to check on Andrei before I make him breakfast.”
“You’d swear this is a five-star hotel,” he grumbles as he walks out of the closet. “Maybe I need to get myself shot today so you can fuss over me as well.”
Letting out a burst of laughter, I follow him to the other bedroom, and when he opens the door, Andrei mutters, “For the love of God, move your bed away from the wall. All the banging woke me.”
Heat flushes my face, and making a U-turn, I decide Rodian can check on his friend while I flee to the kitchen.
Mam and Marian are already up, enjoying their tea at the table.
“Morning,” I say as I make a beeline for the coffee machine.
“Morning,” they both reply, then Mam asks, “Did you get much sleep?”
“Yes. Andrei had a better night,” I reply as I take four mugs from the cupboard.
“What are you going to do today?” Marina asks.
“I want to work on the dress I’m making for Katya and also spend some time on my collection.” I glance over my shoulder at them. “Why?”
“It’s freezing, and I was hoping you’d make us all a nice, warm lunch.”
“I can do that.”
“No. You busy,” Mam says, shaking her head. “I will make food.”
“But Anastasia –”
Mam cuts Marina off with another firm shake of her head. “My daughter has work. Never much time for sewing. Leave her.”
Staring at my mother-in-law, I’m overcome with a wave of affection.
Artem comes into the kitchen as the women leave, and I ask, “Can I make you coffee?”
He nods, and stopping beside me, he scratches his head before asking, “Can I sit in your workshop while you sew? I like the sounds.”
“Of course. You never have to ask.”
“Ask what?” Rodian walks in, giving us a curious look.
“Artem wants to sit with me in my workshop,” I tell him. “How’s Andrei?”
“Better.”
When I’m done preparing the coffee, Rodian takes two mugs. “I’ve got Andrei.”
Artem and I walk to the other side of the house, and while I drink my coffee, I glance over the patterns I managed to cut out yesterday. Artem fiddles with the spools of thread and begins sorting them from light to dark colors.
Taking a seat at my table, I feed light pink thread through the loop and pull two pieces of fabric closer. As I begin to work, Artem sits down by the window and stares outside, all his fidgeting stopping.
A smile spreads over my face, and even though we’ve all had a rough couple of weeks, I’ve never been happier.
I’ve found a place where I belong with people who care about me. What more could I ask for?
“Anastasia,” Artem whispers. “Come look.”
I lift my foot off the pedal, and getting up, I walk closer and glance out the window.
“Snowflakes,” he says, his tone still soft as if they entrance him.
“Want to go outside?” I ask. “So we can catch them?”
I’ll freeze my butt off, but I’m willing to do that for Artem.
“Yes!”
He’s up in a flash and running to the door, making me chuckle as I follow him. We stop by the coat closet, and I barely have mine on when Artem yanks the front door open and hurries out onto the porch.
Grabbing his hand, I pull him to the lawn, then we cup our palms to catch as many as we can.
The cold is biting, but Artem is in his element, so I power through.
“That’s enough, you two,” Rodian calls from the second floor. “Get your asses back in the house before you catch a cold.”
I wave at him, and taking Artem’s hand, we walk back to the house, but as soon as we’re out of Rodian’s line of sight, I chuckle and run with Artem to the other side of the house.
He laughs, and twirling with his face turned up to the sky, flurries melt as soon as they touch his skin.
I wish I had my phone on me so I could take a photo.
Unable to stop them, the words just come. “I love you, Artem.”
Slowly, he looks at me, then tilting his head, a smile curves his lips. “I love you, too.” He comes closer and points at my shoulder where a snowflake has fallen, and when it doesn’t melt, I stand dead still while he inspects it.
“Iisus Khristos!” Rodian shouts from the back door. “We don’t need another two patients. Why the fuck is no one listening to me?”
“Let’s go in,” I say, hooking my arm through Artem’s. When we’re close to the door, I give Rodian a sweet smile. “Spending time with Andrei makes you just as grumpy as him, my love.”
“I made the ungrateful fucker toast, but he didn’t want it, saying he’ll wait for you to bring him breakfast,” Rodian complains.
“I’ll take over. Go get some work done,” I say, while popping two slices of bread into the toaster.
“He just said no to toast,” Rodian mutters, pointing at the very dark slices on the counter.
“That’s burned! How can you expect Andrei to eat that?” I walk closer and shake my head. “Did you even put butter on?”
“Of course. It soaked into the bread.”
I give my husband a patient look. “I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”
When the toast pops up, I wait for the slices to cool before I lather a thick layer of butter and strawberry jam onto them. Taking shredded cheese from the fridge, I sprinkle some over the toast.
“You spoil Andrei,” Rodian says, then he reaches around me and steals one of the slices.
Artem does the same, and as they chuckle, I place another two into the toaster while giving them playful glares.