Page 69 of Prince Charming

Brows lifted. “Salty fries. The greasier the better.”

“You got it.” Another prolonged kiss and he went through to the kitchen, the TV springing to life in the other room, grinning to himself.

For an uneducated man who could only use his fists, he’d won something pretty damn good tonight.

And she was sitting in the other room, curled on his couch, waiting for him to feed her.

NINETEEN

“The lost boy.” – Arson

Marianna was a light sleeper, having been too long since she’d shared a bed with anyone.

Least of all one the size of Tag.

Who knew he was a snuggler?

In the night, he’d curled his body around hers from behind. One knee wedged between her thighs, his face in the back of her neck and an arm slung carefully around her waist.

Boiling hot.

And more content than she deserved to be.

She knew it was her own conscience waking her in the dead of night.

It took some expert wriggling to extract herself from him and slip out of bed. She’d slept in one of his white t-shirts.

Taking a glance back, her chest flamed seeing he’d rolled to his back and the sheet gathered low around his waist, showing off the deep pelvic valleys. He was seriously the sexiest man alive. Before she did something silly, like climb all over him so she could kiss his lush lips, she tiptoed out onto the wide landing.

The stairs didn’t creak when she creeped down them quietly.

Before they’d gone to bed, he’d told her the five-digit alarm code. Forgetting it almost instantly, it was fortunate she didn’t want to slip out. With the way Tag kissed her neck on the way up to bed last night, nothing much else took up space in her mind.

Until a bad dream woke her, and the familiar heaviness caved her chest.

How could she have a good time with a man when she was flunking as a mother?

It made her the lowest form of a human being.

It wasn’t as though she wasn’ttrying.

She’d tried everything and came up empty.

But just recently, she’d gotten a contact from someone in a chatroom… yeah, safe not so much, but desperate times. Evidently he could fix her up with fake papers and passports.

Two days and she still hadn’t received a reply to her message.

Tag had been wonderful, more than she deserved.

She was so grateful for his strong shoulder to lean on, but in this, she had to deal with it herself. It wasn’t only pride, this was her life, her babies lives, she had to prove to herself she was a worthy mother.

These past months felt like a whirlwind nightmare, one bad day after another.

And then Tag happened and things got better. But she wouldn’t be whole until she could make it right.

It was seven hours ahead in Russia; the call connected in moments. “Galina, how are you?”

“Oh,Lapushka.We were just talking about you.” The closest woman she had to a mother sounded happy. Lily grabbed the phone first and started her rapid baby chatter. God, it hurt Marianna’s heart and made her teary smile as she listened to their park adventures.

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