Page 80 of Bloody Lace

“I’ll do it,” I say immediately, and she frowns at me.

“I’m not an invalid?—”

“I’m glad you’re arguing with me, because it means you’re feeling better,” I shoot back. “But you’re in no condition to take the dog out just yet. I’ve got it. I’ll be right back.”

She grumbles, but leans back against the couch, and I whistle for Buttons, slipping him into his harness. Ten minutes or so later, we come back upstairs, and I see Evelyn just where I left her, staring out towards the city skyline.

My chest aches, seeing her here, in my home. Inourhome—what I want to be ours, if she’ll tell me what I want so badly to hear. And as I walk towards the couch, her gaze meets mine, andI see something soft in her face. Something that makes my chest tighten with hope, as I sink down to sit next to her.

“I’m sorry I made you wait so long,” she says softly. “I needed to think about what life would be like without you. What my life would look like, if I didn’t choose to stay. I wanted to be sure, because if I said yes—if I chose you, I didn’t ever want to take it back.”

Evelyn presses her lips together, and for a moment, I feel like I can’t breathe. “I tried to picture it,” she murmurs. “Life without you. And I don’t think I can, any longer. Your life is brutal—so much more brutal than anything I ever thought I’d be a part of—but you saved me, too. Yousawme. You cared about me in a way that no one I’ve ever tried to have a relationship with before ever has. You cared about what matters to me. And I think you always will.”

She reaches down, sliding her ring off of her finger, and my heart slams against my ribs. “I love you, Dimitri,” she says softly. “I love your confidence, and I love that you make me feel safe. I love that you care about the things that matter to me. I love that you got to know me, that you love me forme, and not what you want me to be. I love that you’ll fight with me, and I love that you’ll fightforme.” She holds out the ring. “Ask me again.”

For a moment, I don’t know if I can speak. I take the ring from her fingers, and I take her left hand in mine, feeling how soft her skin is against the roughness of my palm. I don’t ever want to let her go.

“I love you too, Evelyn,” I say softly. “I love your fire, and I love that you’ll tell me what you think, even if it means we fight. I love your independence, and your talent, and your brilliance. I love that you’re your own woman, that you don’t need me—but that you want me. That you’re willing to trust me with your heart, even if I didn’t know how to treat it at first.”

I swallow hard, holding up the ring, seeing it sparkle in the dim light. “I didn’t know what it meant to love before you,l’vitsa. My lioness. In that way, you saved me, as well. And the only thing I’ll ask of you is this: say you’ll stay with me forever, so I can love you the way I should have from the start.”

Evelyn’s eyes are glossy with tears. “Yes,” she whispers, leaning forward as I slide the ring onto her finger. “Yes, Dimitri. I love you. Yes.”

“I love you, too.” I reach up, brushing my knuckles across her cheek. “Forever.”

“Forever,” she whispers, and then her mouth brushes against mine, and I forget everything except for her.

Everything except for us, always.

EPILOGUE

EVELYN

One year later

New Year’s Eve

“Be good for aunt Dahlia,”I murmur, as I press a kiss to my son’s forehead and hand him over to Dahlia, who is sitting on the couch next to me. Sergei lets out a small cry, reaching for me, and I wrap my hand around his tiny one, giving him one more kiss before relinquishing him. “I could stay in,” I murmur, and Dahlia narrows her eyes at me.

“Go enjoy your evening,” she says firmly, rocking Sergei in her arms. “And let me enjoy the evening with my honorary nephew. You need to get out and celebrate.”

“She’s right.” Dimitri reaches for my hand, helping me up off of the couch. “We should enjoy the night. One evening away won’t hurt. It might even be good for us.”

“I know.” I cast one more lingering glance at our son before I pick up my clutch, following Dimitri to the front door.

A lot has changed in the past year. We moved into the Yashkov mansion, after a thorough renovation that removed all traces of Dimitri’s father’s influence from the house,redecorating it in a style that I liked. He let me do whatever I wanted, telling me once again to spare no expense. It made it feel like a home, especially since I’d never been there before, and I was happy to bring our son home there.

Dimitri was right, too, that a year of careful physical therapy and slowly building up the strength in my shoulder again has made it so that I can once again draw, design, and sew without issue. It’s been slow, starting my business back up, since I want to spend time with Sergei. But I have two clients, and I’ll expand more, as he gets older.

The car is waiting for us outside, and Dimitri opens the door for me, waiting as I gather up the shimmery gold skirt of my gown and slide into the car. His hand rests on my thigh as he slides in next to me, and I shiver, his touch sending a jolt of desire through me just like it always does.

I’ll never get tired of his touch. I’ll never get tired of hearing him tell me he loves me, or the way he looks at me sometimes, as if he can’t believe I’m real. As if he can’t believe that after all this time, he discovered what it feels like to love.

It’s the same thing that he murmurs to me often in the darkness, his hands and lips moving over me, making all the same promises to me over again. Promises that I never get tired of hearing.

“Let’s not stay too late,” I murmur, as the car pulls up in front of the mansion where the party is being held. “I want to get you to myself tonight, before we’re both tired.”

“I can’t argue with that,l’vitsa.” Dimitri leans in, capturing my mouth in a hard, hot kiss, before he slides out of the car and holds out his hand to help me out, too.

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