Page 32 of Andrei's Solnyshko

“It is. Even being kidnapped here won’t damper it.”

“We’ll just have to create more memories so that one is forgotten.”

He sends someone a text and the door to the outdoor building opens. Chef Lionel, Roza, and a young woman deliver our dinner for the evening. Chef Lionel rolls a silver cart out with multiple covered dishes. Roza carries Champagne and wine and the young woman follows with the ice bucket and stand. They nod and leave, heading back towards the main house. Andrei places a plate in front of me and lifts the cover to reveal a beautiful salad. He then fills our flutes with Champagne and lifts his in the air.

“To family and future.”

I smile, clink, and sip. That toast no longer has me frowning, because he is my family and my future. We eat our saladsfollowed by perfectly cooked filets and fingerling potatoes. Dessert is Crème brûlée. Andrei moved his chair next to mine so he could have his hands on me the entire time, and I’m not hating it. He’s so attentive and sweet, thumbing the back of my neck, or caressing the top of my thigh.

I take his hand in mine, “I have a question.”

“Anything.”

“You know how we joked about you giving me anything I ever wanted?”

“You joked, I’m in the process of looking at horse farms to purchase.”

I blush and shake my head. “That isn’t necessary, Andrei.”

He lifts my chin and kisses me softly, “Your happiness is the only thing that matters.”

“Don’t say that just yet.”

His eyebrows furrow, “Summer just tell me before I die right here.”

“Dramatic much?” I joke.

“Don’t make me turn you over my knee.”

My sex clinches and I blush. “You know your family toast?”

“The traditional Sokolov family toast, family and future. If you’re going to try to tell me you aren’t my family, I will spank you, bend you over this table, and fuck you.”

“Promises, promises.” I wink, but sober. “I believe you.”

“Then what?”

“I’d like to grow our family.”

He blows out the candles and bundles up the tablecloth and dishes and throws them aside. He lifts me up and sits me ontop of the table, him between my legs and grasping my waist with one hand and settling his other over my stomach. “Are you pregnant? Do you have my baby in your belly? Fuck, tell me you do.”

I chuckle at his intensity. “It’s too soon to know, but I’d like to. I haven’t been taking my birth control since the day you made me yours. I didn’t think to ask someone to get it for me.”

“Good, because I’ve been filling you with my seed hoping to make a baby with you. You will look so hot when your stomach is swollen with my child.”

I wipe away my happy tears. “I’ve never had a family, Andrei.”

“You have one now and we’re going to add as many kids as you want.” He wipes my tears away. “No more tears. I’m not done with you.”

He reaches into his pocket and drops to one knee. “I love you, Summer. So much. I know our romance is unconventional, and that’s what I love most about it. The day I saw you on the security camera was the day I fell in love with you. I instantly wanted to protect you, take care of you, make love to you, fuck you, give you everything you want, need, and more. I promise to give you all of those things, and I promise to take care of you every single day of our lives. Please marry me?”

He opens a jewelry box to reveal a huge pink diamond, solitaire ring. It’s too much, but I love it. I nod and whisper, “yes.”

He takes me into his arms, cradling me on the grass. “You are my world. Zhizn moya, my life.”

He lays me on the grass and takes his knife out of its sheath and slices my dress down the middle.

He removes the fabric and I tease with a pout, “I really liked that dress.”

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