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Stupefied, I could only stare at her like a full-blown idiot.
After waking up from a near month-long coma, the last thing I expected was to hear a profession of love from Hanna. I never had any doubts about her feelings for me as I could clearly see the adoration and affection in her eyes whenever she looked at me; the intensity in which her eyes shined whenever I told her I loved her was more than enough for me. She didn't need to express her feelings verbally to reciprocate my love for her.
I wasn't complaining, though. I just never thought it would hit me so hard. After all, they were just three words. Yet, hearing Hanna say them had me feeling like a love-struck fool, an awkward teenager getting their first kiss ever from their hot crush, or a horny virgin getting laid for the first time.
If it weren't for the annoying beeping of the machines, I would've thought I died and went to Heaven. Well, that and Heaven was way out of reach for me because of my life.
"Say that again." I demanded, still stunned and wondering if I'd misheard her.
"I said I love you and to marry me." Hanna replied in a sure voice with a soft huff.
"You're asking me to marry you?" Now, that part caught me more off guard than the confession.
"I'm not asking, I'm telling you, demanding. You are going to marry me as soon as you get out of this damn place. I don't want to spend another second as your girlfriend, I want to be your wife. I am going to be your wife." She was definitely demanding it, almost as if she stated a fact.
"Well, someone's certainly gotten bold in my absence." I joked dryly in an attempt to ease my nerves away.
Warily, I studied her stern face. "Are you sure? We don't have to do or change anything if you aren't ready, tigress." I was more than ready to sign my life away on some damn papers to be tied to her for the rest of our lives, but I wanted Hanna to be completely sound with it all; I didn't want her making this decision because of my near-death experience.
"Yes, more sure than anything in my life. I want you Styosha, for now and ever. I've had a lot to think about the past three weeks, and I've made up my mind about us when you were to wake. I want you as my husband, and I your wife. I fucking need it." Her words grew softer and softer the closer her lips got to mine until there was no space left between us.
A growl ripped from my throat as I tangled a hand into the back of her head, pressing her lips harder against mine as the heat in the room rose from our pent-up passion exploding.
"Wha—hey! You're not healed up enough yet, quit being so fucking aggressive." Alexei's scolding made me break away from Hanna with a chuckle. "I do not have the time or energy to dig around your body again to put you back together."
"Oh go get laid and stop being a sourpuss." I chuckled with a pained groan from the sudden aches.
"If it turns me into idiots like you lot then no thanks." Alexei bit back as he urged Hanna off to examine me.
"Can I leave?" I'd been awake for hours before sticking my hands down Hanna's pants when I noticed her slipping into a nightmare from her whimpering and twisted face. So, I was rather impatient to leave already.
"If you promise not to strain yourself, as in no physical or strenuous activities. You might be out of the woods for now, but your body still needs to recover, and that's going to take weeks to months." Alexei narrowed his eyes knowingly at me with his arms crossed.
"Alexei, I'm not an idiot, I'm not going to let my dick make decisions for me." Would not have survived this long if I did.
Granted, nothing ever went accordingly when it came to Hanna.
Never in my life did I ever thought my own wedding would be in my own backyard two weeks after waking up from a coma. Hell, I never thought I'd have a wedding, period. Yet, here I stood in the gazebo in my backyard with Hanna in a lacy little white dress, me in a pair of black dress pants and a white button-up, and Angel's half-brother Greg as our officiant.
I never really thought much when it came to my nonexistent love life before. I had my flings and visits at the club, but that was about it. The past few girlfriends I had in my younger years didn't last too long, and I gave up on relationships when I entered my thirties. I'd come to accept the lonely bratva life as Nikolai had before his and Angel's arranged marriage.
Nikolai got lucky with Angel, and I was a little jealous for a moment because he got lucky and won the lottery with Angel; he'd been crushing on her ever since she saved him from a car wreck one fateful night. It just so happens she had a thing for him as well, so it was almost a match made in Heaven.
All five of us had resigned to the fact we'd be lost causes in the game of love and relationships; from gold diggers to those who couldn't handle being with a mafia man, we eventually gave up in that area of our life and stuck with no strings attached flings.
So, when Nikolai ended up going back on a promise and got hitched in an arranged marriage, I was kind of peeved. Granted, it all worked out in the end, and after the initial shock of everything, I was genuinely happy for Nikolai and Angel. He deserved his little piece of happiness given the shitty life he'd been dealt by the hands of our father. I might have gotten it bad, but Nikolai got it a hundred times worse, being the oldest and the one our father groomed to take over.
Well, not like any of it mattered now; things went down how they did. He was happy with his wife and soon-to-be sons, and I had Hanna—my soon-to-be wife—the one who held a very familiar-looking bouquet of roses. "Did you—" Before I could finish my sentence or fully turn my head to look at the rosebush behind her, Hanna grabbed my face to keep it centered on her cheeky face plastered with a big grin.
"We have our wedding to worry about, hon." She knew fully well what she did; cute how she thought she'd get away with it by using our wedding as an excuse.
The ceremony started and went in the blink of an eye, and by the time I knew it, it was time for our vows. "Now, do you, Stepan, take Hanna to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Greg asked, looking over at me from his little book.
"I do." These two simple words change everything.
Taking Hanna's lovely face into my hands, I look at her with all the love in the world. "This wasn't how I'd imagine our wedding to go or happen, but nothing ever goes accordingly when it comes to you. You threw my world off kilter when you stepped into my face, now it revolves around you. No matter how hard I tried to keep away from you, I always got pulled back to you. You are the center of gravity to me, my sun, my moon, my seas, and my skies. My everything. I'm obsessed with you, Hanna, always have, always will." With a big, uncontrolled smile, I leaned in and rest my forehead against hers, and looked deeply into her warm eyes. "I swear, I will cherish and love you as the precious treasure you are. I will always care for you and be there for you, through hell and back, through sickness and health, through everything." Leaning back up, I give her a promised filled look and smile. "I will always have your back, always have you in my sights in the darkest of nights and the brightest of days. I love you so much, Hanna."
Turning to Hanna, Greg repeated the same question, getting the same answer from Hanna before she started on her little piece.
