Page 53 of Bratva's Innocent Obsession
My sisters shriek, and they’re both bouncing with excitement as Kon kisses me. And I know, for sure, that this is where I’m meant to be. I’m home.
27
KON
Six months later
The buzzer of the front door goes, and I glance across at Taylor, whose eyes brighten at the sound and she begins levering herself to her feet from next to me on the large reading sofa we put into her library. It has rugs and cushions, and I tease her that it’s like a nest. The shelves are still far from full, even though Taylor has bought hundreds of books and arranged her spoils by colour and category. There are some sections packed edge to edge with special editions with gold that glints, and bright purples and blues and reds, popping against black.
The library is one of our favourite places to spend the evenings. Taylor reads her books, and I work on my laptop.
“I’ll go.” I’ve put the bowl of Russian strawberries and cream sweets and my computer aside and risen faster than her within a second. She’s as big as a house, so it’s not hard. She’s gorgeous in this later stage of pregnancy, if slightly less manoeuvrable.
“Are you sure? You’re not my bell boy.” But she pauses.
I grin. “No, I’m your husband, who loves you, and will fetch your parcel. What are you expecting?” I think I know the answer.It’s too late in the day for her sisters to be visiting, and I haven’t got anything due.
“Ummm.” She winces and her cheeks are pink as she relaxes back onto the cushions.
“Is it…” I plant my hands either side of her, staring her right in the eyes. “More smutty books?”
“Eeeeeuuuuugggg maaayybeee?” She attempts to hide her smile.
“Taylor,” I say severely. “What’s the correct phrase here?”
Ducking her head, she mumbles, “Where are my books, husband?”
Her unwillingness makes a laugh bubble up in my chest, even as my heart expands. I love it when she calls me husband. “Again, but like you mean it, zhizn moya.”
With visible, teasing reluctance, she looks up into my eyes, swallows, then starts off strongly with, “Get me my books…? Husband. Please.” She trails off in the middle of the sentence, lips twitching with amusement.
“Love of my life, it would be my honour,” I purr. “Good girl for using your words.”
There are three cardboard parcels outside the door with the blue logo of the online bookstore Taylor uses when she’s too impatient to order from one of the local bookshops. I scoop them up and bring them to her, leaning down to kiss her as I balance them on her swollen belly.
She giggles and grabs them as they slip off, and I settle onto the sofa next to her.
The anticipation on her face as she rips the tear strip and opens the sleeve, and where I expect to see a hardback special edition with coloured page edges and a picture of a dragon, Taylor’s “oooo” is for a plain-looking paperback with a cartoon of a woman and a blackboard.
“It’s for my teaching course,” Taylor explains, opening it as eagerly as though it were a newly released fantasy romance novel.
She’s excited about the ballet school she’s started, and wants to have official qualifications to go with her extensive experience.
I pull her towards me as she leafs through the book making contented noises.
My laptop is discarded now, and I rub my palm over her belly.
“Look, this is what I was telling you about…” She points at a diagram in the book, and starts explaining about how it relates to dancing.
There’s a kick, right on my wrist, and I chuckle.
“She’s got opinions about teaching methods.” There’s a smile in Taylor’s voice.
My heart is so full as our baby makes her presence known again. I love feeling our baby kick, and I can’t wait to hold her in my arms.
“You know what she needs?” I reach over and grab a little treat—one of the Russian sweets Taylor bought for me only last week—and remove the paper proclaiming it “strawberries and cream candy”. “Here.”
I slip the sweet into her mouth and run my finger over her lips. My cock rises to the occasion, because my wife is the sexiest woman I’ll ever know.
