Daydreams had gotten me closer to this moment. I’d manifested this future, but after the ups and downs from being kidnapped then isolated, I had to take a second and really absorb what was happening here.
Maxim was proposing. After swearing he’d never commit because of his issues from his mother, that he’d never want to be with a woman for long.
It seemed like a miracle that I could be the woman to tame this Mafia boss, but I knew what was actually happening here.
It was love.
Simple as that.
We were in love.
And I knew with all my heart and soul that he meant every word of his commitment. He would be with me. Not just own me and keep me locked up in his house. He would raise our child with me, not whisk his heir away because he could.
“Yes.” I felt like I was soaring with happiness to agree to this. As he slid the gorgeous emerald and diamond ring onto my finger, I curled it and caught his hand in mine. “But not yet.”
He frowned, cupping my face. “You can’t take it back. You said yes.”
I smiled and leaned up to kiss him, reveling in the fact that this rugged man would be mine. Forever. The world would know it.
“But not yet.” I brushed my hair back, knowing that I’d need to get used to this back-and-forth sensation of danger and excitement and no dull moments in between. “Nik. He was just taken. And you said your father is recovering and…”
He smiled and kissed me again, slower. “I fucking love you.”
“Because I’m practical?” I said with a huff as I stood.
“Because you are practical. And stubborn.” He kissed me again.
“Which is why I say we’ll marry but not yet,” I repeated. “At least wait for Nik to be okay and returned to us.” I refused to think of that in terms of if. If he’d be returned to us. I had to keep all my faith in the power of this mighty Mafia family.
“Yes. We can wait until he’s back,” he replied, holding my hand as we exited the small room.
“And he will be,” I said.
“Are you asking or stating that?” He opened the door for me so we could get our pictures of our baby from the front desk on the way out.
“Both?” I winced.
“He will be back with us,” he said. “My phone was going crazy during that appointment.” He got it out of his pocket. “Lots of reports.”
“Good,” I said before taking the papers from the front desk and thanking them. The receptionist seemed a little nervous with all the Ivanov men in the waiting room to cover us, and I knew I was already well on my way to being used to them everywhere I went. Everywhere my fiancé went.
Smiling at my ring, I felt terrible to be so happy and excited when Nik was taken. As we walked back to the car, though, Maxim was on his phone. He held my hand, and as he listened and replied to his men, it sounded like they were still on Nik’s tail, chasing the van that had taken him.
Back in our car, he paused with his phone to smile at the ring on my hand. Lifting it to his lips, he kissed my finger just above the ring.
“Maybe we can elope tonight,” he said. “It sounds like they’re about to go after them and get Nik out of the van.”
I smirked. “Don’t be rash.”
“I’m not.”
“We just made up an hour ago and we’re engaged.”
He tapped the ring, situating it so the gorgeous gems stuck up at the front. “I picked out that ring the morning I took you to breakfast.”
“Hmm.” I refused to think back to the bad part of that morning. It was in the past. “You still owe me those pancakes,” I teased mildly.
“Anything you want.” He kissed me as we rode away. “Everything you want.” He kissed me until I felt so aroused that I’d ask if we could pull over.
“I think I knew you were the one when you gave me that private dance at the club,” he admitted.
“You knew I was the one back when you were convinced you didn’t want a one?”
He nodded. “You’re so stubborn that I couldn’t resist. From the first moment.”
I smiled, resting my head on his shoulder as he resumed checking texts and taking calls about retrieving his brother from the enemy’s clutches.
I looked forward to it all. Being home with him, starting a family with him. We’d be together, but I wouldn’t adapt to not worrying, too.
With how easily Nik was taken, it was proof that I was entering a lifetime of danger.
Those concerns would always be there now. As Maxim’s good girl, his Mafia bride, or his wife, danger would be waiting for me and this sweet, innocent life inside me. We had seven more months to meet this little one, but when he or she entered the world, both Maxim and I would fight to keep our future safe.
I sighed, secure against my Mafia boss, and I relaxed with one simple fact—I’d never regret choosing this man to be mine forever.
