Page 59 of Scorch

I shake my head because this doesn’t make sense to me. “Why me?”

He smiles then as if he has a secret that no one else knows, his very special little secret.

“Eventually, I hope you understand that too.”

I blink, surprised when we stop outside a large house.

Oh God. It’s go time. It’s his family’s home—it must be.

“Are we here?”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Lydia

“Yes. Don’t worry, they’re going to love you.” He reaches for my hand and kisses my knuckles.

“How do you know that?”

“Because anyone who gets anywhere near you is helpless to fall in love.”

Before I can respond, a little blonde-haired girl, about four years old, comes running out with Aleksandr sharp on her heels.

“Ivy!” he snaps. “Get over here!”

“Uncle Viktor! Uncle Viktor!” She holds her arms up. Viktor opens his arms, bends to one knee, and the little girl leaps into them.

Oh my God. My heart. Goddammit.

He rises with her in his arms, his grip protective as he stares at Aleksandr. “What did you do to her?” he snaps.

Aleksandr rolls his eyes. “I didn't do anything. I told her she had to eat her dinner before she could have dessert. Don't you see how she plays you?”

A petite woman with light brown hair and freckles on her nose appears behind Aleksandr in the doorway. “That's not exactly true, Aleks. You told her she had to eat her peas before she got dessert, not her dinner. And she hates peas.”

“They're good for her,” he says, shaking his head with a frown.

“They could be the elixir of eternal life for all I care,” she says, her eyes twinkling. “But she doesn't like them, so we're not going to make her eat them.” She looks over at the little girl in Viktor's arms. “Ivy, Daddy's right. You have to at least eat some of your chicken and something green before you get dessert.”

Ivy is sobbing in Viktor's arms, huge crocodile tears streaming down her cheeks. I hide a smile because she is being so overly dramatic, it’s adorable. And Viktor looks like he’d give her damn near anything she wanted.

He whispers something in her ear, and she giggles, her grip around his neck tightening. I don’t care if I have a wall around my heart as strong as Fort Knox and made of stainless steel and diamond. No woman is impermeable to seeing the man she’s attracted to and about to marry, holding a little girl and making her smile with that tenderness and be immune to it.

I fall like a ton of bricks.

Viktor walks over to my side, opens the door with his free hand, and reaches for mine.

“Ivy, I want to introduce you to someone.”

Ivy gives one last dramatic sniff before she turns to look at me. “She's pretty,” she says to Viktor in a little voice. His lips split into a grin, such a rarity. It feels like I’m seeing the sunshine for the first time in my life.

“She’s beautiful,” he says to her, his voice strangely choked. “And she’s going to be my wife, Ivy. Do you want to be the flower girl at our wedding?”

Oh my God. My heart.

“What is a flower girl? I like being a girl.”

His lips twitch, and the woman behind Aleksandr, who I’m guessing is his wife, giggles from the doorway.

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