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Chapter Thirteen
Raina
~Two weeks later~
I wake to the touch of the gentle breeze flowing in through the windows, and sigh with genuine relief. It’s the first time I’ve woken without fear, finally certain the nightmare I endured in the empty condo two floors beneath me is over.
Alek swore he’d move us immediately from this beautiful penthouse, find us another home, another city, but I told him no. I even forced him to take me back down to that condo, to see the chair, the empty rooms. The kitchen. Despite his brother’s taunts, there’d been nothing in that room to harm me. He’d merely been trying to scare me. He’d succeeded—but not for long.
Because Alek had come to rescue me.
Setting aside my own fear and pain in the days following Vlad’s attack, I’d been terrified that Alek would be hunted down by his father, as his brother had threatened—but even that had proven to be a truth that had existed only in Vlad’s head. According to Alek, his brother had been taken from the building and returned to New York to heal, and to face the judgment of his family. Alek’s father, a tall, distinguished man with silver hair and a gaze as piercing as Alek’s, had come to visit us the very next day. He’d watched Alek and me together for only a moment before speaking to his son in Russian. They’d embraced and left the room shortly thereafter to let me rest. When Alek returned later, I’d known everything had been made right between them.
And I’d known, instinctively, that I’d become part of the Ivanov family.
“Raina.” As if summoned by my own thoughts, the voice at the door makes me turn, and I look up to see Alek striding forward with a tray overflowing with enough food to feed an army. It all smells delicious—porridge and cheese fritters and Russian pancakes—and he sets it carefully on the table beside me before surveying me critically. “How are you feeling?”
“I think you should tell me.” I move the covers aside, revealing my naked body, and he doesn’t hesitate. Discarding his clothes with a few efficient moves, he climbs into bed with me, the food instantly forgotten. He reaches for me, and I gladly welcome his strong arms. He’s held me every night since that terrible morning with Vlad, treating me like spun glass.
The bruises are all but gone now, the pain along with them…and as of this morning, the nightmares too.
“You’re better,” Alek whispers, brushing his mouth against my hair.
“I’m better,” I agree. “In every way except one.”
As I expect, that instantly worries him. He pulls away from me, staring down. I take the moment to stare into his beautiful face, amazed as I am every time I look into his eyes and see the love, devotion, and genuine need shimmering in their emerald green depths.
“What is it? What still hurts?” he asks quickly, searching my face. “You look as beautiful today as you did the moment you ran me over on the church steps.”
I laugh, that entire day frozen like a perfect diamond in my memory, and pull Alek back to me. “Everything’s healed, my love. Nothing hurts. I carry no fear in my heart for what might happen to me, not even a little. I know you’ll protect me.”
His arms tighten around me, tentatively at first, then more insistently, and I revel in the strength of this man, strength that he would willingly pour out of himself completely should I ever need it. I have only to ask. He kisses me lightly on the lips before studying me again. “Then how can I help you?” he murmurs. But a smile now tugs at the corner of his lips, and he doesn’t protest as I push him back into the bed, then pull my body up higher against his.
“I think you know what I need.” I slide my leg over his waist, straddling him. His shaft is hard and ready, pressing up urgently as I rock against his body. But as I brace myself against his chest, he reaches up to cover my hand with his. “Are you sure?” he asks, and I laugh, low and deep.
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.” I lift my body slightly, then find the tip of his shaft, sinking down over its heavy thickness. I let my eyes drift shut as I indulge in the sensation of Alek filling me, our bodies perfectly joined. He’s made love to me only a few times since the attack, and always at my insistence, but he’s been desperately afraid of hurting me. “Oh, Alek,” I sigh, my eyes still closed to experience him more fully. “This is perfect.”
“In that case…”
My eyes flutter open as he reaches one long arm over to the breakfast tray, lifting up the lid of the tiniest covered salver. I catch only the slightest burst of sunshine glinting up from his hand as he moves it back to me—and then I realize it isn’t sunshine at all.
“Oh!” I breathe out, tears suddenly filling my eyes. “Alek!”
“I cannot think of any way I would more rather start my life with you officially, then with the two of us perfectly joined together,” he rumbles. I can only stare as he places the most extraordinary diamond ring I’ve ever seen on my finger. “Please tell me that you’ll be my wife.”
“Yes—yes!” I don’t miss the way his cock swells inside me, filling me up, but I can’t help staring at the ring. It’s a starburst of tiny diamonds set around a single enormous stone, a design that looks so familiar… “Where have I seen this before?” I whisper.
Alek’s hands settle on my hips, guiding my movements more forcefully as he watches me admire the ring. “I took the detail from the tiara in the painting of The Swan Princess.” He laughs with fierce joy as my gaze shoots to his, taking advantage of my surprise to settle me more firmly over him. “That’s right, my Raina. You are my princess, my beautiful swan princess, and I am here to help you fly. Say you’ll be mine forever.”
“Oh, Alek, yes,” I say again, dropping my hands to his chest as we rock together. Tears are spilling down my face now, dropping onto his bare skin, but neither of us seem to notice. The sunshine pouring through the windows sets everything alight—his stunning emerald eyes, the intense sapphire blue of the sky, and the brilliant sparkling perfection of my beautiful diamond. I couldn’t be any happier, I’m sure of it.
And then Alek proves me wrong again.
“I’ve also already picked out your wedding present.” He slides his hand forward on my hips, and I jerk in surprise as he flicks his thumb against the tight, throbbing bundle of nerves that is already stimulated nearly to the breaking point by his shaft. The brush of his touch makes me gasp, and I have trouble focusing on his words.
“This?” I manage, and he laughs.
“No, this is a gift you’ll have every morning, noon and night, my beautiful Raina, any and every time you want. But your wedding gift is something different, if you want it.”
“What is it?”
“A jeweler’s studio,” he says, and I can’t help but burst into tears, bringing my hands up sharply to my face. He doesn’t stop his slow rocking, or his maddening tease between my legs—and he doesn’t stop talking either. “All the precious gems you could want, to make whatever beautiful creations your heart desires—to sell, to give away, to keep—I don’t care. But your gift is too magnificent to hide, my swan princess, just as you are too magnificent not to fly.”
And in that breath, he gives one final twitch of his thumb and suddenly, I am flying—soaring into a climax so strong I half believe my body will crack in two. As I shatter, Alek shouts as well, and the two of us cry out in exultation, everything around us as bright and perfect as a tumble of jewels in the shining sunlight.
