Page 98 of Obsession of the Bratva

He stared at me and then burst out laughing. Two years ago, I would have never imagined this. Not the laughter or the teasing or the ease with which life came to us. Back then, everything had felt fragile. Like happiness could disappear if I looked away for too long, but now it felt different. Not because life had become simple.

It hadn’t.

The Romanov empire still existed and the alliances still existed. The responsibilities still existed and there were still meetings. Operations. Security concerns. Threat assessments. Enough dangerous men to fill several prisons. Nico was still gone for days at a time and I was always terrified for his life and safety. The only difference was that none of it controlled us anymore. Not completely. We had built something stronger than survival.

Something stable. Something real. Something worth protecting.

“I’ll go put her in bed,” Nico whispered and moved towards the nursery.

My gaze drifted toward the city beyond the balcony windows. Right after the wedding, we had shifted back to Nico’s penthouse. The place where we had made most of our memories when we had started dating all those years ago. Miami glittered beneath the evening sky and the water reflected hundreds of lights. Traffic moved in steady streams and life continued.

Beautifully ordinary. Dangerously normal. I loved it.

Nico followed my gaze as he returned and came to sit down beside me. “What are you thinking about?”

The question was simple, but the answer wasn’t.

“Everything.”

His mouth twitched. “Well, that was certainly helpful.”

I rolled my eyes and sank deeper into the couch. I rested my head against his shoulder; the same way I had done thousands of times over the past two years. Nico adjusted slightly so I fit more comfortably against him.

Another habit. Another instinct. Another thing neither of us questioned anymore.

“I was thinking about how strange life is.”

He considered that. “Once again, that’s not very specific.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be.”

“Fair.”

“Do you remember our first date?” I asked.

Nico groaned instantly, and I laughed.

“What?”

“You thought I worked at the shelter.”

My grin widened. “I did. I don’t know what I was thinking because you definitely didn’t look like you worked there in your expensive ass suit.”

“I was dropping off a donation.”

His expression became suspicious. “How does that support your argument?”

“It doesn’t.”

I laughed before he could continue, and he rolled his eyes.

“But if you think about it, that was just our first meeting. Our first date was when I took you out for coffee; after that, you ended up spilling your entire iced latte on me. That is when I should have walked away.”

“Oh, please,” I laughed at the memory. “You were obsessed with me.”

“I was not.”

“You absolutely were.”