Page 117 of Stay Toxic

Then there was now, watching him with our newborn daughter, Viveka.

Vivi.

I could just make out the bulge underneath his suit jacket where his arm was lifted to support our newborn’s tiny little tush.

His eyes were closed, and I couldn’t help but to compare her eyes and his.

They both had the best eyelashes I’d ever seen.

I was so jealous.

The eyelashes on my husband’s cheek swept upward, and his eyes stared deeply into mine.

“You okay?” he asked, voice rough and tired.

We’d been up for hours.

All of our family had just gone home, and we’d finally gotten our baby back.

Honestly, Shasha had been great with passing her around, but he’d gotten tired of it pretty quickly and had ordered everyone to leave.

I hadn’t been surprised.

What I had been surprised about was how we didn’t have a single guard in the room with us.

I imagined they were both outside.

I was never far from Daniil, and he was never far from Alexi.

Now, I imagined, that would continue to happen, though only amped up by a thousand.

I saw the way his eyes had changed the moment she’d been laid into his arms.

He was scared.

Well and truly scared.

When his sister, Maven, had taken him aside to talk to him, I knew that she was helping encourage him to control his fears.

I’d seen him get control, but that fear was still there, though not nearly as bad.

“I’m great.” I smiled. “I have the whole world right here.” I placed my hand over my heart. “I’m freakin’ perfect.”

He leaned over and gave me a kiss.

“You ever gonna give her up, Daddy?”

His mouth quirked up. “Probably not.”

I giggled. “I love you, Shasha.”

He pressed his mouth to my hand and placed it over his heart that was pounding. “You’ve changed my world, Brecken Semyonov.”

“Did I tell you how great that last name sounds?”

He chuckled, which woke the baby up.

“I hate to break it to you, honey, but anything is better than Brecken Sweat.”

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