Page 102 of Born into Chaos

I’m so used to being around him all day, every day, that it just feels natural to slip into being with him all night, too. It’s like putting in that last piece of the puzzle. Now we’re complete and everything is as it should be. Over the next couple of weeks, I baby the hell out of Vitya while also stubbornly not allowing him to do anything. He finally loses it, just like I knew he would, and calls Tony.

When I open the door and let him in, he looks down at me with an easygoing grin on his face. “He finally snap?”

I laugh and motion for him to follow me into the living room. “He lasted longer than I thought he would. I figured he’d lose it when I told him he should follow Samantha’s nap schedule, but he hung in for another few days after that.”

Vitya hears me and turns his head from where he’s sitting on the couch. “You were trying to drive me crazy?”

“Obviously.” I laugh at the look he gives me. “You know how I hate to toot my own horn, but I thought switching all your frozen yogurt out for Ben & Jerry’s was a stroke of genius.”

Tony laughs while Vitya just shakes his head at me. He points a finger my way and says, “Don’t think for a second I don’t know you had help with that one. That has Vitaly written all over it.”

I shrug, refusing to give anything away. It was actually Val and Yelena that ran to the grocery store for me and bought all my favorite ice creams and snacks, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“I feel fine,” Vitya tells Tony when the man steps closer to take a look. “The pain has gone down a lot. I’ve been taking it easy thanks to Ms. Bossy Pants over there, and I feel great.”

Tony steps closer to him when Vitya takes his shirt off, revealing the wound that still looks angry and painful to me. Every time I see it, my heart skips a beat. Partly in fear and partly from the wave of pure love that hits me when I think about how easily he’d stepped in front of that gun for me. When I look up, Vitya’s staring at me, giving me his sweet smile while Tony pokes around, making sure it’s looking like it should.

“This is healing really well,” he says, while Vitya looks over Tony’s shoulder, giving me anI told you solook.

“So I’m good to go?” Vitya asks.

“Well, not quite.” Tony stands while Vitya groans and puts his shirt back on. “I just mean you’re not ready to start working again. You still need to take it slow, but you’re fine resuming normal daily activities. I don’t think you need to follow your daughter’s nap schedule anymore, unless you really want to.”

“I do not,” Vitya quickly says. “Can I start working out again?”

“Take it very slow and stop if you feel pain. Are you still off the painkillers?”

“Yeah, I told you, I can’t handle those side effects. I took Motrin for a while, but I’m not even taking that now.”

Tony pushes his dark glasses back and then smiles over at Samantha. She’s in her swing, baby talking and blowing raspberries.

“How’s my other patient doing?”

“She’s doing great,” I tell him. “She’s rolling over now, and she’s so close to saying her first word.”

I get her out of her swing so Tony can give her a quick look. He takes her from me, handling her like a pro as he smiles and easily gets a laugh out of her. After we found out who Samantha’s birth parents were, Niki dug up all her records, and no surprise to anyone, she was way behind on check-ups, so Tony’s been getting her up to date with everything. She loves her visits with him and never holds a grudge, not even when the visits end up involving needles, even though I think it hurts him more than it does her.

“Don’t worry,” he tells her, laying her onto her pink blanket so he can get a better look at her. “No needles today. I promise.”

She smiles and kicks her legs while he makes funny faces and looks her over. He glances back at us. “I wish all my patients were this agreeable.”

“Hey,” Vitya says while I laugh. He reaches out and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me into his lap. “I’m agreeable.”

When I laugh again, he nuzzles his nose against my neck and whispers so only I can hear, “You found me very agreeable this morningwhen I buried my head between your legs and sucked on that sweet pussy until you came so hard you soaked my face.”

My face heats up at the memory while he gives the crook of my neck a soft bite. I turn my head slightly and whisper, “Behave.”

He gives another deep laugh. “Never, sweetheart.”

Vitya keeps me in his lap as Tony looks over and says, “She looks great.” He tickles her belly, making her squeal and kick and fling her arms around. “Perfect in every way. She’s a healthy weight and hitting all her milestones.” He gives a soft laugh and says, “When I took this job, I thought for sure it would just be treating stab and gunshot wounds, but then everyone started having babies, so I’ve been doing some extra studying.”

“You’re the best, Tony,” I tell him.

Vitya bites my neck a little harder this time before saying, “I think my girl meant to say that you’re a close second after me.”

I give him an innocent smile. “Isn’t that what I said?”

“No,pcholka, it was not.”

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