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“I have something that I need to tell you,” Viktor told me on the way to pick Sean up from school.
I raised my brows and leaned back in the passenger’s seat, looking over at him skeptically. “Should I be concerned? We spent three hours at the shooting range the last time you had something to tell me in the car.”
A smile spread across his face. “This time, I feel you’re going to like what I have to say.”
“Okay…”
“You’ve been looking for a job,” he said.
I cut him off again. “I know you don’t care if I work. You don’t need to keep reminding me of that. I need something to do while Sean is at school and you’re working. I feel lazy staying home all day.”
“You have a garden,” he expressed.
“I want a job. End of story.”
It had been a constant debate between us for weeks, and nothing I said seemed to convince him that work was genuinely important to me, not just something I felt I needed to do. He offered a monthly allowance—far more than I’d ever made on salary—to stay and keep the home and kids, but that wasn’t what I wanted.
“That’s good, because I found you one.” I whipped my head toward him. “You want to be a teacher, right?”
I opened my mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. I’d kept up on my licensure, going as far as student teaching at schools since graduating college. It had always been a goal, but I didn’t think it was realistic—not when my family name was so well-known and prolific. Nobody would hire me when my father was a monster and I had deep connections to him, going as far as living with him until a few years ago.
I’d tried and failed to secure a teaching job, and I thought it would never happen.
“I can’t be a teacher,” I told him.
“You can, actually. I called in a favor, and the superintendent and principal are going to meet with you in twenty minutes. Your father isn’t going to be a problem here. You’re married to me, and I’m the reason this school is safe. If you’re qualified and they like you, you have the job as a second-grade teacher.”
I had no idea what to say. There wasn’t anything that could be said after what he’d just told me. This had been my dream for as long as I could remember, and I thought it would be one I’d have to forget.
“You—you don’t understand how much this means to me,” I told him.
He pulled a folder from the center console and handed it to me. “I found your resume and experience in your laptop and sent it to them, already. You just have to convince them.”
***
It all felt like a fever dream. I sat with both the principal and superintendent who were keen on hiring me during the next school year, and the interview went incredibly well. Sean waited with Viktor outside the school, and for almost two hours, I conversed with the people who would soon be my new employers. I was honest about the reason I hadn’t become a teacher up until this point, and they assured me it was no problem.
Everything went without a hitch, and I wanted to scream from the uncontrollable joy that pierced my chest as I strode out of the building and back toward Viktor’s car.
“Where’s Sean?” I asked as I looked around.
“He was impatient, so Damien took him for ice cream,” Viktor replied, turning to face me. “How did it go?”
I didn’t even have words to express how amazing it had been, so I nodded as we took off toward the house. He had no idea how much I appreciated and loved him, and I had no idea how to show him. He did so much for me, and I’d only ever been here. He fought for me, and he did everything in his power to make my life easier and better, and I had no way to repay him for any of it.
Words could only go so far.
“Pull over,” I told him.
Viktor gave me a skeptical look before nodding slowly and pulling to the shoulder of the road. It was a coastal street, and traffic continued past us as he pulled as close to the dune as possible, but I didn’t wait for him to put the car in park as I unfastened my belt and swung myself over him, straddling his lap.
He made an approving sound in the back of his throat as I devoured him, grabbing both his cheeks and showing him precisely what I was feeling. I pulled away only long enough to mumble “I love you” before going back in for another kiss.
He gripped my hips firmly, bringing them closer to his body as he deepened the kiss and wound a hand in the back of my hair, tugging slightly. I moaned against him as pleasure shot through my entire body. His mere touch did unimaginable things to me, and I could do nothing to stop the pounding need that roared through me.
“You fought for us,” I told him. “You knew I would fight you on it, and you didn’t let me leave you, no matter how much I said I would. You helped me get over my fear of guns, and you’re giving me a family. Now, beyond everything else, you gave me the career I’ve always wanted. You say you’re not a good man, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone better.”
He grinned against my lips, and as he reached between my legs and unfastened his pants, I praised him for tinting these windows.
