Page 41 of Shared By 3

I stare at him for a long while, seeing how genuine he is. He strokes down my hip, then grabs my thigh as he backs me against a wall. “You keep staring at me like that and I’m going to get worked up.”

“You’re that easy to work up, baby boy?” I tease.

“When you’re involved, I am,” he growls. Chase strokes up my thigh and pauses with a sigh. “Valerie, seriously?”

“Knives are important!” I argue.

He chuckles. “You should never be afraid of anything in any room, you realize that? Beyond having three vicious men ready to defend you, you have a knife and your wits. What more do you need?”

“My fiancé to come and talk sense into me.” I kiss him soft then deepen the kiss. “I love you, Chase.”

“I love you, baby doll. Forever.”

“And a day. Because if you don’t outlive me, plan for all out war,” I warn.

He laughs and shakes his head before leading me back to the table. Josefine and Vanya have my mom so excited and glowing just talking about me. It’s weird to watch. On one hand, I’ve never seen her talk about me like this, with so much pride, but on the other, I hate that she’s owning me as her daughter when she ignored me for so many years.

Hunter takes over, watching me and rubs down my back. He kisses my temple. “On a scale, I think you handle estranged mothers better than I do.”

“I think I’m supposed to,” I murmur.

“You’re not a psychologist right now. You’re a person and you’re allowed to feel whatever you want. Don’t you tell me that all the time?” Hunter asks.

I’m emotionally overloaded today. I fan my face and Hunter pales. “I didn’t mean ... Let me get Lief over here to talk about the weather or-”

“No, you’re wonderful, Krolik,” I say, assuring him, leaning against him. “So good for me.”

“You say that like you’re not my personal sanity bank,” he cups my face. “I love you so much, Valerie. And not to influence who you marry on paper, but Valerie Volkov has a nice ring ... not to mention the power association there.”

I laugh and stand on my toes to kiss him. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Better than things you’ve called me in the past,” he says with a shrug.

“And we both know it’s true,” I sigh.

“You know what’s getting me through all this, including my father bonding with Nick?”

I glance over and see that they’re deep in conversation. I blink a few times in surprise, then look up at Hunter. “What is getting you through that?”

“Reminding myself that all of this means that we’re going to marryyou, Dorogaya. I don’t know how long engagements last, but I want this to be fast. I want to call you my wife and even if that happened today, it wouldn’t be soon enough,” Hunter says.

When the hell did my men become more well-adjusted than me?

I can’t get the words in my head to come together into even one sentence. Instead, I kiss him, sucking his bottom lip, then pulling him down to tangle our tongues. I don’t care who sees. I want him to know, feel, and experience how much he means to me. I stroke the back of his neck and rub over his chest.

When I draw back, I feel how hard Hunter is. He nods. “Yup, this party needs to wrap up now. Right now.”

I giggle and rub his chest. I pull him back down to me and switch to Russian, just for him as I speak against his lips. “I love you so damn much. The rest of the world doesn’t matter.”

He jerks me against him and pants. “You don’t get to say that kind of thing to me in public.”

FIFTEEN

Chase

When we get homeafter the party, I can tell Hunter is excited and very ready to capitalize on whatever Valerie said to him at the end of the party. I feel energy coursing through me, too. Knowing that it’s official, that everyone important to us knows this marriage is going to happen, makes it feel real.

Once we park, though, Hunter glances at the back seat. Lief and Valerie are passed out. I shake my head, but smile. “I think today was a success.”

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