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“I love you too,” she murmured. “Did… did you turn the oven off?”
Luka couldn’t help but burst into relieved laughter. He kissed her and stroked her hair, nodding. “Yes. And I blew out the candles.”
“Good. Luka?”
“Da,malyshka?”
Kira nuzzled into his arms and peered up at him lovingly. “Can we go home?”
Luka beamed down at her. “Absolutely.”
CHAPTER20
KIRA
“Luka, have you seen my phone?”Kira asked.
She was flitting from place to place around the tiny apartment like a butterfly. The enforcer, dressed to kill in a casual suit, smiled at her from the loveseat.
“You already put it in your purse,” he said.
“Oh, where’s my…”
“Your purse is on the counter right there. Next to the bouquet. And the freshly baked brown-sugar blondies. And the homemade Father’s Day card,” Luka listed off bemusedly.
Kira laughed nervously. “Am I going a little overboard?”
“You just have a lot of energy this morning,” he said. “Especially considering last night.”
Kira blushed, remembering flashes of their passionate lovemaking the night before. She replied, “I’ve never slept better than I do these days. I used to toss and turn. I sleep like a rock when you’re next to me.”
The bright summer sunshine illuminated Luka’s handsome face as he gazed at her across the room. Kira’s heart beat a little faster just looking at the way the light played across his features, how he stared at her with such unapologetic devotion. Kira belonged to Luka; that was obvious to everyone. But Kira knew it was mutual. Luka washerswithout question.
He looked her up and down, admiring her body in her flouncy green dress embroidered with tiny white flowers. Her hair was pulled back into a braid coiled over her left shoulder with a matching white ribbon tied into a neat bow. She grabbed her purse from the counter and slung it over her shoulder. It was shiny and new, with a designer label sewn smartly onto the side. The pearl-white purse matched the pearls around her neck and her white strappy heels. Kira felt like a million dollars in this outfit, which was casual enough for a day out but far more stylish and expensive than Kira’s usual wardrobe.
Luka insisted on spoiling her at every turn. Every time he had to leave her for a mission, he would inevitably return with another little gift. He was happy to supply her with whatever she wanted and fulfill any passing whim. He bought her as many romance novels as her heart desired, although she had become less obsessed with reading them as of late. She was a little distracted living out her own love story.
The enforcer was a force to be reckoned with, but Kira got to see the romantic hidden inside of him. Luka took her on dinner dates and picnics in the desert. They lounged around his apartment or hers watching movies and cooking elaborate meals in the kitchen together. They took late-night drives around the neon-lit city, listening to music and holding hands over the console. Luka told her that she was his sweetest escape from the bloody life of an enforcer. It calmed and grounded him to take care of her.
And as far as he was concerned, taking care of Kira also meant supporting her parents. He had been sending them money just like Kira used to, but so far, they didn’t know it was coming from him. Of course, Luka wanted to tell them. He understood perhaps better than most that pride was integral to a man’s self-worth. He assumed that Stepan would resent being lied to about their finances. But he also understood that Kira wanted to break that news to them gently. They hadn’t even met Luka yet, and she wanted to gauge their impression of him to know how best to proceed.
At least, Kira recalled with relief, her parents already knew about Luka working for the mafia. That was a conversation she’d had with them over FaceTime just days after Luka and the others rescued her from Rurik’s trafficking route. As soon as she and Luka had made things official, she knew they had to talk about it. Her parents had uprooted their lives and moved across the ocean to the Nevada desert just to escape crime at home in Russia. It ate Kira up inside to lie to them about her own involvement with the mafia here in Las Vegas. The conversation was lengthy and intense, with rounds of rapid-fire questions from her concerned parents, plus some emotional tears. By the end of their hours-long video call, Sonja and Stepan were smiling, happy to see the clear improvement in their daughter’s life.
But today, there was a lot more news to share.
Kira and Luka carried out their various gifts to his car and started the drive across town to Kira’s parents’ townhouse near Whitney. As always, their hands naturally met and interlocked between them.
“I hope Dad doesn’t try to serve champagne or something,” Kira said.
“Well, they’re going to find out today anyway,” Luka reminded her softly. “Unless you’re reconsidering telling them about the baby.”
Kira’s heart thumped a little harder. It was so early, so new, it almost felt like a dream. She had taken a pregnancy test just a couple of days ago. The results had been positive. She’d asked Luka to bring her several more tests, just in case. Again, every single one was positive. It wasn’t exactly planned, but they were both over the moon. Since that first positive result, they had been discussing at length whether or not to share the news.
Still, it was only about three and a half weeks, by Kira’s estimate. Luka was wary of putting too much pressure on her so early in the pregnancy, and he rather enjoyed this brief window of time in which it was their little secret.
“No, I’m certain,” Kira affirmed.
“You don’t think we’re going to overwhelm them with big news?” Luka prodded gently. “I know your parents are both, uh, medically fragile and I don’t want to give them a big shock.”
