Page 63 of The Bratva's Forced Innocent Bride

“Not good enough.” He tried to look stern but ended up smiling.

“I’m yours,” I told him.

He dumped me unceremoniously and got up to pour us some wine, one of our nightly rituals. I wasn’t just glad Luca was taken care of because he was a menace to society, but because it meant Max was going to have much more free time. He held up two bottles for me to choose from, and I swelled with pride, since I had become a bit of an aficionado. Pointing to the Chenin Blanc, I hopped up to run to his side, wrapping my arms around his waist as he pulled the cork.

“I was going to sit back down,” he teased.

“I couldn’t wait.”

I had wanted the perfect time to tell him how I felt, and had planned so many different scenarios, from a fancy dinner to a day at the beach, but the way he made me feel so warm, complete, and utterly safe, I couldn’t wait any longer.

“I love you,” I blurted, my face pressed against his chest.

He set the wine bottle down and went completely still. “Say that again?”

Since I had my face mashed into his shirt, he hadn’t heard me. Maybe I could still salvage this. Embarrassmentand shyness battered me like the waves crashing against the shore outside the back deck. Jumping from family to family, I had never made many close connections, certainly never loved anyone with the force of what I felt for Max. The words didn’t come easily, even though the feeling burned in my chest with the strength of the sun.

He moved me away from him and tipped my chin up, looking down at me with all of his own love pouring out of his eyes. And just like that, I was no longer self-conscious. This was Max, the man who’d not just saved my life, he gave me the best one I could have ever asked for.

“I love you,” I said, loud and clear.

“I know,” he said smugly, picking me up and bringing me back to the couch, where he dumped me once again.

I yelped and finally lapsed into giggles as he returned with our wine glasses. “What should we toast to?” he asked. “The fact you finally admitted I’m like a god to you?”

“Can you Fokins ever be serious?” I said.

His laughter faded as he leaned close, dark eyes intense. “I’m very serious about us, Brooke. Are you happy now?”

“I guess I’m pretty happy,” I said with a shrug, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

He growled and began kissing my neck, nearly spilling wine all over the new couch that had just been delivered a few days ago. “I’m not going to stop until you admit you’re really happy,” he said.

“Wrong threat,” I told him, letting my head fall back and enjoying every second of his mouth on my throat.

He pulled back, raising a brow. “Then I’m not going to do it again until you admit it.”

I couldn’t stop beaming as I reached for him to drag him back. “I’m really, really happy. I don’t know how it can get better than this.”

His smug look returned in force. “Just wait,” he said, a promise that he sealed with a kiss.

Epilogue - Max

Three months later

There was no doubt in my mind that my wife was the most beautiful in the room, whip-smart, and bestowed with many talents, but cooking wasn’t one of them. The woman could barely cook bacon without incinerating it, and her few attempts to surprise me with a homemade dinner had been inedible, leaving me laughing and Brooke wiping away frustrated tears before she started cracking up at the fiascos herself.

So, why we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner was beyond me, but I couldn’t say no to her.

“Smells great,” Katie said, taking a big sniff as I let her, Aleks, and my niece Alina in.

“That’s because it’s catered,” I admitted, just to wipe the look of worry off of Aleks’s face.

He’d been invited over for lunch a few times when he was down to inspect some of the new bars I’d invested in, and he knew if Brooke had been slaving over an oven all day, he wasn’t in for a good time.

“Oh, you should have just told me, and I would have arranged everything,” Katie said, getting her feisty little daughter out of her jacket so she could toddle off to find her half-sister, who’d arrived with our younger sister, Mila. It was a full house.

“You’ve met Brooke, right?” I said jokingly. “When she puts her mind to something, there’s no arguing. “She’s determined to be the best hostess there is, so play along.”

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