Page 71 of The Bratva's Forced Bride

I clear my throat.

Asher looks at me pleadingly, then sighs. “We’ll probably be home late. My husband wants to have fun tonight.”

“Are you going to have fun?” Piper asks. “Or are you and your brother going to watch Penny and Asher have fun.”

“You think it’s not fun to watch my wife dance seductively?” I ask.

Piper pulls a face. “Off you go. I have a textbook to read. I’ll do it in the rocking chair in her room.”

Asher looks somewhat satisfied and I grab her coat and hold it out for her. She slips it on. She’s wearing the blue dress I first saw her in.

Renat drives us to the club where we skip the queue and head straight to the VIP section.

Penny and Asher hug tightly and go off to get drinks while I shake Kervyn’s hand and settle beside him. Asher brings me back a double whiskey neat, and she and Penny put their drinks down on our table. She shrugs out of her coat and goes to the dance floor with Penny, where they start their dance-the-night-away routine.

I watch her, so in love with her. I’m happy she decided to quit her job at the art gallery and have her own exhibition featured there instead. Her pieces are unique, and I am so proud of her. I know which ones I’m buying for our home.

I don’t remember a large part of the night after that. When I wake up, Asher is naked in my arms. I stroke her back softly and want to stay like that, but I need the bathroom. I slide out from the bed and relieve myself before I put on some long pajama pants and my gown and go check on Jade.

Piper has fallen asleep in the rocking chair. I pick up a blanket and drape it over her after I pry the textbook from her hands. She’s like Asher; once she has a grip on something, she won’t let go.

I go downstairs and out onto the patio. I light a cigarette and stand watching the sun rise while I have a smoke.

“Why aren’t you in bed?” Asher asks sleepily as she steps outside in her own gown. “I couldn’t sleep,” I say. “Go back to bed. I’ll be back in a short while.”

“No, I want to stay with you. Even if you’re smoking.” She wraps her arms around me, and I wrap my free arm around her.

“It isn’t often we get to watch the sunrise,” she says quietly.

“That’s because I have the morning shift with Jade. You see plenty of sunrises when that child wakes you up.” I chuckle. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Is that why you’re awake? Did Jade wake you up?”

“It’s my body clock. It’s used to waking up for Jade at this time, but she was fine. Piper needed a blanket, though.”

“It’s like we have two children,” she jokes.

“We do have two children. Your sister and Jade.” I grumble. “And your sister is a handful on her own.”

“Jade isn’t a handful,” she yawns.

“Yes, she will be because you’re her mother, and Penny is her aunt.” I flick my cigarette into some soil nearby.

“I love you, Danil,” she says, looking up at me. She’s told me every day since the day she blacked out. And I hope she never stops saying it.

“I will give you the world, Asher Milov. Anything you ask because I love you with everything I have,” I murmur before I kiss her softly.

“Right now, I want to go back to our warm bed,” she says after we break the kiss.

“Then let’s get going.”

I take her hand and lead her back inside.

Content.

*****

THE END

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