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Sleep did not come to me until near dawn, and when it did, it was full of uneasy dreams.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Anastasia
“Good morning, Zaichik,” Alexei announced cheerfully as he plopped himself beside me, already dressed in a custom suit. I was just finishing up my breakfast on the lower deck, which overlooked the sea.
I eyed the massive Bloody Mary in his hand. Moments later my other cousins joined us. Anton had a huge plate of food, true to form. He ate like a horse and never seemed to gain a pound. All three of them had tomato based alcoholic beverages in their enormous hands.
None of the brothers were heavy set. Just superbly fit and expensively dressed. They were all classically good looking, and nearly identical though their coloring was very distinct. You would not confuse them, even in dim light.
But the chiseled good looks? They reminded her of Vice, and more than a little bit. In fact, if someone cleaned up my betrothed and thrown a suit on him, you might have thought there were four Aslanov brothers.
It was kind of funny when I thought about it.
“Did he touch you?” Alexei asked baldly. “I want to know if I need to cut off his dick before the wedding.”
“Shut up, svlovach! Don’t say dick in front of her. She is a lady, you dickhead!” Andrei looked horrified. As annoyed as I was by them, I was struggling not to laugh.
“Now you are saying it, Andrei,” Anton grumbled. He was the oldest by a couple of months, and never let the other two forget it. “You are both pigs.”
“No one will be removing any body parts from my husband or anyone else! Today is my wedding day. Please behave yourselves,” I said, sniffing the air with disdain. “You all reek of Vodka!”
They grumbled and sipped their drinks sullenly.
“We drank a bit last night,” Andrei admitted. “But it was good fun.”
“We outlasted the fabled Preacher,” Anton said with a look of pure male pride.
“Can we cut off body parts tomorrow?” Alexie asked hopefully.
“It’s kind of our thing,” Andrei added, looking at me with a question in his eyes. They were ridiculous. Like little boys.
“If you must. But not Vice! And none of his friends,” I added, realizing my cousins would obey my wishes. But I was also aware that they were also fond of loopholes. I didn’t want any of our saviors loosing a finger, or worse.
I shivered at the thought of blood and mayhem. I frowned and put that firmly out of my mind. I was leaving the family, for better or worse. There would be no torture or murder in my future, God willing.
Vice would protect me. For the rest of my life. And in my way, I would protect him. At least, I hoped that my family’s reputation would. This marriage would not just be in name only. It was not just so he could get into my pants. It was not just to appease my family.
The man wanted me. Truly wanted me. I knew it in my soul. I had been afraid to believe him when he had first said that he loved me. But I believed him now. He loved me. And I loved him completely, in return.
His love made me feel safer than I had ever felt in my whole, entire life.
I knew that I had fallen in love with him, but I wasn’t sure when. It was like the old movies I watched growing up. He was my Heathcliff. My Rhett. The Bogart to my Hepburn.
My love for him was epic. One for the ages. And he claimed to feel the same.
I knew I was innocent. I was inexperienced. I was sure Vice had been with a hundred women. Maybe a thousand. Worldly women. How could I compare?
But he seemed to like me just the way I was. And I trusted him with my life. I even trusted him with my heart.
I definitely trusted him with my body. He knew how to make me feel things I had never even imagined. I shivered again, but this time with the thought of the pleasure he had given me the night before.
My cousins reacted immediately. In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman… ‘Big mistake. Huge’.
Yes, even I had seen Pretty Woman.
“He did fuck you. I will kill him now,” Anton said, his casual tone belying the severity of his words. I stared at him in a panic as he sipped his Bloody Mary. But the look on his face was cold. Calculating.
“No! He did not!”
“I believe her,” Andrei said.
“I do not believe her,” Alexei said in a way that made me stand up and stomp my foot. He turned to me. “I do not believe you, little bear. You look like you have been, excuse my language, fucked.”
“Vice has touched me. He has kissed me. And more! But he has been very careful not to cross the line. Because of your meddling, which I do not appreciate!”
