Page 180 of Stolen Empire
My question is more directed toward the war with the Radiches.
I want to know if it's over or if we're going to end up locked in more battles.
But Dimitri's mind is going a different direction and it takes me by pleasant surprise.
"Well, my bed is lonely, and I want you in it every night. And then there's a matter of the future of us, and how we'll raise children in this world. But those are all questions that can be handled in the future when we get to them."
I find myself smiling as I turn in his arms and look up at his face.
He's got stubble and tired eyes, but he's still so handsome to me.
"Is that the killer's way of inviting me to move in with him?" I ask playfully, splaying my hands on his chest.
"I don't ask. I order," he says, but he cracks a smile as he dips his head and kisses me.
It's a slow, passionate kiss that warms my insides even though the air is bitterly cold.
Then I sigh and say, "I guess I have to decline, then, because I don't take orders. I’m either your equal or we aren't going to work out."
Dimitri tickles my side and I laugh so hard and loud I think someone will come looking, but when I gasp, "Stop! Stop!" he relents, and I catch my breath.
"Of course I'll move in with you, Dimitri. I love you. But I'm serious about being equal. I don't want to sit on the sidelines. I have skills. I want to use them for you—for us. And I'll think about that 'children' part."
I wink at him, and he kisses me again, harder this time.
"I can't wait to get you back to my bed," he growls against my mouth while his hips grind on mine.
"Ah, ah! There could be people watching, Mr. Vetrov… Pace yourself."
I pull away, taking my heat with me.
"I'm going to turn in. I'll keep your side of the bed warm," I tell him, slipping inside.
Retreating to the room Artemy gave me and Dimitri for the night, I smile to myself already thinking what a wonderful world this may very well turn out to be.
My mother is here. my family is more whole than it has been in years, and I have a man I love desperately who loves me the same way in return.
That sounds like heaven compared to what my life has been.
Somebody pinch me.
30
EPILOGUE
DIMITRI
Rolan stands on a raised platform, a glass of vodka held high at a gathering between Vetrovs and Morozovs to celebrate our victory and our alliance.
After a few months of fighting, the war is over and as expected, we have prevailed.
The crowd falls quiet, and I watch my brother from my position near the back.
His face is flushed from drinking, but his eyes are sharp as ever.
"To the Morozov family," Rolan announces loudly, so that everyone in attendance at the track's banquet room this evening can hear.
"Long thought destroyed, now revealed as stronger than ever."
