Page 68 of The Bratva's Innocent Pregnant Bride
To my surprise, Daria pushed a big present into my hands, and Emerson plopped a gift bag on top of it, with a volcano of sparkly tissue paper erupting from the top. The children paused in playing with their favorite gifts to watch me open it.
Inside the bag was a pretty gold bracelet with a heart charm on it, along with a handwritten certificate from Lev offering boxing lessons.
“You’ll need to know how to defend yourself now that you’re one of us,” he said with a grin.
“No she won’t,” Dan said, putting his arm around me. “Not as long as I’m around.”
“I love it, and I’d love to learn how to throw a proper punch,” I said, making everyone laugh when I pretended to knock Dan on the chin.
“Do you like the bracelet?” Alina asked, bobbing on her toes. “I picked it.”
“It’s my new favorite,” I said, holding out my wrist so Dan could put it on. “I’ve never had a prettier one.” My little snowboarding student glowed with pride, urging me to open the other box. It held a beautiful cashmere sweater and scarf set, so soft I couldn’t stop petting them. Once again I found myself blinking back tears, but thankfully everyone went back to opening their own gifts and didn’t notice.
It was all over in a half an hour, with the kids drunkenly stumbling through the wreckage and piling up their toys in order of what they wanted to play with first. The adults were half heartedly pushing aside crumpled paper, then giving up and joking about spiking the orange juice at brunch.
I was happy to sit on the sidelines and soak it up, occasionally answering a question or smiling at the kids when they started showing off. The last few weeks had been such hell, full of stress and fear and disillusion. This was like reaching an island after being adrift all alone, thinking I was lost forever.
“Wait, what’s this?” Dan said, pushing aside the branches of the tree and hauling out a package that was almost as big as he was. The paper crinkled as he dragged it over to me and he smiled like someone who just won a major prize.
“Is that for you?” I asked. He’d been lavished with new clothes, a laptop, a watch from his brothers, and enough bottles of fine liquor to start his own bar. His family was certainly generous and definitely doted on each other.
“It’s for you,” he said, putting it down at my feet. “From me.”
“Looks too big to be a ring,” Rurik called.
“She’ll get one of those,” he grumbled, then smiled at me. “I bet you like this even more.”
Confused and curious, I leaned over and ripped away a strip of the wrapping paper. My breath hitched in my throat as I instantly recognized what it was. I let out a sob as I kept tearing, revealing my old snowboard, all cleaned up after being buried in the snow.
“How?” I asked, leaning across my treasured board to hug him. “I thought it was lost forever.”
“Not when you get everyone who works on mountain patrol to be on the lookout for it,” he said. “And when you offer a reward to the one who finds it.”
I hugged him tighter. “It’s just an old, beat up wreck,” I said. “You shouldn’t have done that.” Knowing him, he spent thousands, probably more than a new, top of the line one would cost, and certainly more than it was worth.
“It means something to you,” he said quietly. “It’s priceless, just like you.”
“You turned him into a romantic,” Masha said.
It was the best gift I had ever received and no matter how much I prodded him, he refused to say how much he spent on the salvage mission. I held on tighter, turning my face to kiss him. After a long moment, I remembered where we were and pulled away, hiding my blush.
“I love you,” I said in a low voice. It was crazy how easy it was to say now.
“I need you,” he growled back.
Melting against him, I turned to see no one was paying us any mind. The kids were wrapped up in a game and most of the adults had wandered into the dining room where a chef was setting up a spectacular Christmas brunch.
I was hungry but not for food. With his arm around me, Dan and I slipped away, up the stairs and into his room. The chair was buried under a pile of my clothes that he insisted I bring in, not wanting to be away from me even for the length of time it took to get dressed.
It should have been infuriating but instead it was sweet. He could be as possessive as he wanted, because I was his and he was mine. Once the bedroom door clicked shut behind us, he turned the lock and grinned down at me.
“Merry Christmas,” he said. “The first of many together.”
Warmth spread through me at that promise and I locked my arms around his neck, rising up on my toes to kiss him. The taste of hot chocolate lingered on his lips and I pulled back, smiling. He had gone from driving me crazy in a bad way to driving me wild.
“The best one ever,” I said, meaning it.
“Until next year.”
