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Niki rolls her eyes. “Paige is an independent, twenty-first century woman. She wants to be able to stand on her own two feet. I want the same.”
“Women,” I sigh under my breath, knowing it’ll piss Niki off. She punches my arm harder than I would’ve expected. “Fuck,ow. Maybe those martial arts lessons aren’t a total waste.”
She shakes her head and starts flipping through the manual. I look over and realize Mother has been watching us this entire time. She’s smiling fondly.
“What?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I was just thinking how nice this is.”
I don’t need to ask what she means. I spent the entire year after Maksim’s death avoiding the family. But since Paige has entered my life, that has changed. I’ve found a certain level of comfort with them again. Tentative and fragile, but real. Being with them isn’t just a constant reminder that Maksim isn’t here.
It’s nice in its own right.
“All thanks to Paige,” Niki says. “She’s like the wizard who gave ole’ Tin Man his heart.”
I want to shoot back a snarky retort, but how can I?
She isn’t wrong.
60
PAIGE
I step out of the car and breathe in deep. The fresh air is like a balm to my soul.
Then I turn and see the cabin nestled between the trees like something out of a storybook. “Oh my God. Is it made out of gingerbread, or what? Are you gonna cook me and eat me?”
Misha just smiles. “Eat you, maybe. But not the way you’re talking about.”
I roll my eyes and whack him in the arm. He surprised me with this impromptu trip only this morning. He said it was to celebrate my first hosting gig as a Bratva wife, but I suspect it was his way of forcing me to quit working. Either way, I agreed.
But I would have agreed a lot more readily if he’d shown me a picture of this cabin.
The roof is conical and thatched, and so quaint it hurts. I half-expect to see storybook animals waiting on the porch to greet us. Little squirrels will make our coffee in the mornings and singing songbirds will braid my hair.
I turn around, tilting my ear towards the trees. “I can hear water.”
“There’s a waterfall not far from here. If you walk around the back of the cabin, you should be able to spot it from the lookout point.”
“Then that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Do you want to come?”
He shrugs his shoulders, lifting the bags in either hand. “Let me put the bags in our room first.”
I watch him walk across the ground littered with pine needles and through the front door that bears a large, gold knocker set into the center of the wood. I can’t stop grinning from ear to ear.
This place is magical.
He reappears on the porch with a stretch, his muscles straining against his shirt. “Okay. Quick walk before dinner.”
“Why does it have to be quick?”
“Because the sun will set in less than an hour and you haven’t eaten anything since last night.”
I loop my arms around his waist and pull him closer. At almost seven months along, my growing stomach has become somewhat of an impediment, but Misha doesn’t seem to mind. “I’m only hungry for you right now,” I say flirtatiously.
He smirks. “That will have to wait until after dinner.”
“Seriously? I know you’re not actually turning me down right now.”
