AllFreeNovel
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“Bee.”
“I’m just saying. Those dimples.”
Don’t remind me, I think with a grimace. Out loud, I say, “We need to lock her door.”
“Absolutely not.” Bee jabs a finger into my chest. “Did you not hear a word I said? We need to make her feel like she’s a guest, not a prisoner. She needs to feel safe here. And that all depends on you not scaring her away with your big, bad boogeyman act.” She bats her eyelashes at me. “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, baby.”
“I’m a fucking pahkan. The hell would I want with honey?”
Her eyebrows flatline. “First of all, you might actually benefit from taking your crown off once in a while and remembering what life is like amongst us mortals. And secondly, you’re not dealing with a vor or an ally or an enemy; you’re dealing with the woman who’s carrying your baby. If you don’t put her at ease, then every day is going to be a knock-‘em-down, drag-‘em-out brawl. Things will be so much easier if she actually wants to be here.”
I snort. “I don’t see that happening.”
“Fine. You want concrete reasons? How’s this: the more stressed she is, the higher the chances of her miscarrying will be. If she’s had to resort to a fertility clinic at… How old is she?”
“Twenty-eight,” I supply without thinking.
“At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, it means she probably has fertility issues. Which means her pregnancy is going to be more delicate than normal.”
“Fantastic,” I mutter. “This keeps getting better and better.”
Bee keeps jabbing her finger into my chest. “This is on you, oh mighty Lord Egorov. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Will you stop doing that?” I hiss, moving out of her attack range.
“I will when you start listening. So, no, probably not.”
“Blyat’.” I rub my chest where she’s been clawing me. “Fine. I’ll do my best to… explain shit to her. After she’s gotten her rest.”
“Can you do it with a smile?”
“Now, you’re asking too much.”
Bee laughs and tucks her talons away, temporarily satisfied. “I have a good feeling about all this,” she muses with a satisfied nod. “I think it’s gonna turn out just peachy.”
I sigh and turn my gaze out the window. I can feel Bee scrutinizing me, wondering if I’m going to share with her all the things circulating through my head. Plans, possibilities, pregnancies I did and didn’t ask for.
When I don’t return her gaze soon enough, she pokes me in the side again. “Share with the class, Dmitri,” she orders.
I stroke my chin as I turn to regard her. “If we take your father out, this whole ruse won’t be necessary.” Her throat bobs with a nervous swallow. “All you have to do is say the word.”
“Would you really do that for me?”
“You know I would.”
She closes her eyes for a moment and just breathes. When she opens them again, there’s a vague sense of resignation there. “You know… I’ve wished since I was a very little girl that someone who could actually go through with it would make me that offer. Hell, I’ve thought about doing it myself. But… you’re in this fake, fucked-up marriage for your own reasons, you know? Through me, you get the Zanetti mafia. If my dad dies, that all goes up in smoke.”
“I can live with that if it means you are free and happy, Bee.”
She plucks some imaginary lint from my shoulder and smooths out the lines of my shirt, doting and primping on me the same way she has since we were children. “I appreciate the sentiment. But we’ve come this far. And I quite enjoy being fake engaged to you, if only because the jokes are endless. I’m sure you’ll make an amazing fake husband.”
I snort as she moves into my arms and hugs me tight. I kiss the top of her head fondly before she releases me.
“So—are you meeting the hot waitress again for a third date?”
Bee wrinkles her nose and bites on her bottom lip. “She’s dust in the wind, my friend.”
“Already?”
