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“What if we get married and have kids?”
My heart fills with lead. I have to tell him I can’t have children, but not here and now.
“For now, I want to finish school. It’s important to me. And I want to do it on my own. Can you support me on that, emotionally?”
“Sounds like it’s the only way you’ll let me support you,” he says gruffly.
“Look, Anton. I love you. I want to be with you. But I’m never having my hopes and dreams steamrolled again.”
His expression softens and he leans his forehead down against mine. “Did you just say you love me?”
“I guess…I did, yeah.”
“Was it an accident?”
I laugh softly. “No.”
“Say it again.”
I whisper it against his lips. “I love you, Anton Petrov.”
He brushes a kiss across my lips, then plans soft ones on each of my cheeks, my nose and my forehead.
“I love you, too, Mia. So much. You’re my world. And as long as we’re together, I’ll support you in everything that matters to you. I want us to be partners, in every sense of the word.”
“I want that, too.” I close my eyes and wrap my arms around his waist.
“So I’ll make a deal with you,” he says softly. “You keep your financial independence for now. If you need anything from me, ever, it’s yours. But I won’t give you anything you don’t ask for.”
“Deal,” I say.
He hums softly. “I wasn’t done.”
“Oh.”
He continues. “And when we get married, which is happening at some point, we pool everything. I don’t want any separation at all between us then.”
Married? I’m not sure he’ll still want that once he knows I’m infertile, but for now, I go along.
“Okay.”
He kisses me tenderly, then says in a teasing tone, “See how much easier it is when you just let me make the decisions?”
“Uh huh.”
“Repeat after me: yes, Anton.”
I whisper, “Eat shit, Anton,” and he cracks a huge smile.
His expression turns serious then and he says, “I like your fire, Mia. Don’t ever be afraid to tell me what you need from me. Even if you need me to back off.”
“Thank you.”
Alexei comes back in the room and walks over to us.
“Hey, did you ever hear back from Eileen?” he asks me. “Is she coming?”
“Shit,” Anton mutters. “I meant to send a car to the airport for her, I completely forgot.”
“She’s not coming,” I tell them. “She emailed me this morning and said she was at the airport yesterday afternoon to board her flight and she just couldn’t. She said she’s too heartbroken.”
“Damn,” Anton says. “I guess I get that. She just heard from him after all these years, and now he’s gone before they even got to see each other.”
“I never even knew Uncle Dix was married,” Alexei says, shaking his head. “Did you?”
“He mentioned her to me once,” Anton says. “But he didn’t say much. He told Mia more about her than anyone in the family knew.”
Alexi nods at me, impressed. “You must be some kind of dickhead uncle whisperer.”
“Don’t talk shit about the man at his funeral.” Anton lowers his brows in judgment.
“Eh, he wouldn’t give a shit,” Alexei says, shrugging.
“Well, it’s my call, because I was his favorite.”
Alexei’s eyes widen. “Bullshit. Uncle Dix loved me.”
“Yeah, but I was his favorite. He told me.”
“You are so full of shit,” Alexi mutters. He turns to me then. “You heard Kingston’s ugly ass girlfriend make that comment about you, I saw your face. I’m gonna lay him on his ass for it next time we play the Flamers.”
Anton’s eyes narrow and his jaw tightens, but I don’t know if it’s over what Alexei said about Kingston’s girlfriend or his nickname for the Blaze.
“What did she say?” Anton asks me.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Anton answers instead. “That Kingston’s not gonna be Mia’s third.”
“Really?” Anton turns to me, obviously pissed off.
“Don’t worry about it, she’s just a bitch,” I say.
“No, I’m not having that. I’ll take care of it.”
The sense of shame I felt over the comment earlier fades away. Anton means too much for me to let stupid stuff like that affect my mood. He knows who I truly am. Any of the wives and girlfriends can assume I cheated on Adam and that he’s the victim. I don’t fucking care. If Anton’s willing to face the judgment, so am I. He’s well worth it.Chapter Twenty-FiveMia“You’re back ‘cuz you missed me, ain’t ya, dollface?” a burly man with many chins asks from the other side of the bar.
“Yep, that’s it…what’s your name again?”
He scowls, looking hurt. “Robert.”
“You’ve got about two seconds to order, Robert, I’m crazy busy tonight.”
“Bud Light bottle.” He glowers. “And you ain’t getting a tip.”
I pop the top off the bottle and slide it to him. “I’ll recover. The beer’s five bucks.”
I’m back at Lucky Seven. Janice actually smiled when I came in and asked if she needed bartending help. I felt slightly bad that she fired my replacement to bring me back, but hey—circle of life. Or whatever.
