AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t you think that’s a little… much?”
“Not for my wife. If you want your independence, my love, this car is the only way you are driving anywhere without me.”
I pout, just a little. “You sure know how to take the fun out of my independence.”
“Most people would say this car is fun. And I’m just trying to keep you safe.”
“I know. Which is why it’s so hard to be mad at you.”
I stretch onto my toes to kiss him, and Misha loops an arm around my lower back and dips me low. We kiss until someone aggressively clears their throat.
“This is a shower for the babies you already have, not a venue to start making more, you horny little rabbits,” Nikita scolds.
Nessa chastises Niki for being crude, and then Nessa, Niki, and Misha slip into the kinds of memories and reveries that only a loving family can have.
I leave them to it as I creep away to find Rowan. I find her talking to Konstantin in a dark, quiet corner, so with a sly smile, I change course and head to the porch instead.
“Having fun?” Cyrille asks when I find her out there.
I sit on the swing next to her. “You guys have gone above and beyond. I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
“You deserve it.”
I inch a little closer so that we’re less likely to be overheard. “How’s Pavel?”
She suppresses a smile. “He’s on the job today, but we’re meeting tonight for dinner.”
“Another dinner?” I wag my brows. “That’s a good sign.”
“He is definitely hitting the gas, but I’m not sure I want things going that fast. I have Ilya to think about.”
“So tell him that.”
“I have,” she says. “He insists that he wants to take things slow himself, but then he keeps asking me out to dinner and parties and this and that. He asks me all these deeply personal questions. He seems interested in hearing about my day, my life. When I told him about your baby shower, he spent half an hour asking me about what we had planned.”
“Wow. He really is interested in you.”
She nods. “It freaks me out a little.”
“The man has good taste.”
She laughs self-consciously. “Sometimes, I think I should just end it. But selfishly, I’m having too much fun to seriously consider it.”
“Then don’t. You’ve told him where you stand. If he doesn’t listen and gets his heart broken, that’s on him.”
She considers that for a moment. “Maybe you’re right.”
“As Konstantin would say: duh.” I pat her knee. “You deserve to be happy, Cy. And if Pavel’s able to see how amazing you are, then maybe he deserves the right to be in your life.”
She gives me a grateful smile before her eyes veer into the sitting room. “Rowan and Konstantin seem to be getting along famously.”
“Yeah. Interesting, isn’t it?”
She grins. “Interesting, indeed.”
71
PAIGE
