Page 167 of Anton

“But I know I want you. For the rest of my life. I want you in this house, in my bed, at my side, everywhere.”

Tears fill my eyes as I gaze at the man who stole my heart from the moment I saw him sulking at Kirill’s wedding.

“I want every morning, every night, every argument, every smile. I want your name tied to mine, and I want the whole world to know you are my wife.”

“Anton…” I slide my hands over his face. “Of course I’ll marry you. In this world. In the next. In all the places in between. You’re mine, and I’m always yours.”

“Are you sure?” Disbelief clouds his eyes.

“Yes.” I kiss his jaw. “Every single time you ask me, my answer will always be yes.”

Anton goes still, then his mouth seals over mine, kissing me so deeply it feels like he’s giving me the pieces of his soul he never trusted anyone else to hold. When he draws back, his forehead rests against mine.

“My wife,” he whispers, as though he’s trying to believe it.

I smile against his mouth. “Yours.”

“I could get used to hearing that.”

We lie in each other’s arms, his fingers tracing lazy circles across my back, and I wonder if I’d ruin this moment by bringing up having a family of our own one day. With his past, he might not even want children. It would hurt, but I want him to know he’s my forever either way, no matter what that looks like.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Would you ever want kids?”

His hand pauses against my spine.

Crap.

I don’t want to scare him, but this is an important conversation. One we need to have before we walk down the aisle.

A long silence stretches between us before his fingers begin tracing my skin again.

“I’ve never even considered it.” He eases back to look at me, his features tightening as the pain he’s trying to hide slips through. “What kind of father would I be? What could I possibly teach a child? I can barely connect with them. You see that, don’t you?”

I curl my hand around the side of his neck, holding him there. “I would never ask you to do anything you don’t want, but being afraid is normal. My mother always said it was practically a rite of passage. No one knows how to be a parent before a baby is placed in their arms. Some people never learn, but others rise to it and discover a love so fierce it changes them. That kind of protectiveness already lives inside you.”

I press my palm to the center of his chest, his heartbeat quickening beneath my touch. “I know you better than you know yourself, Anton Marinov. You would be an incredible father.”

He drops his forehead to my chest. “What if I’m not? What if I ruin him?”

My fingers rake through his hair as I kiss the top of his head. “Then I’ll set you straight.” A grin steals across my face when he peeks up at me with an arched brow. “Don’t give me that look. You know I will.”

He chuckles. “Fine. When you’re naked, I would agree to anything.”

His arms wind around me, and when he kisses me this time, it’s slower, deeper, as though he’s trying to hold on to the future we just let ourselves imagine. And all that he once carried slowly slips away, the baggage no longer his to bear alone, but ours.

Until there’s only him. Only me.

Only the promise of a future we haven’t yet lived.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

ANTON

The following day, I’m at work when all I want is to be home with my…fiancée.