EPILOGUE: CORA
TWO YEARS LATER
Ivan parks and kills the engine, but I can’t bring myself to get out of the car. I sink down in my seat and stare up at the house. The porch steps might as well be Mt. Everest.
“I feel terrible,” I mumble.
“We’ll get you inside and you can lay down.”
I shake my head. “Not physically. Emotionally. I feel bad.”
Ivan chuckles and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “There’s nothing to feel bad about. The night got cut a little short, but we didn’t have to go out in the first place. I was fine staying home.”
“It’s our second anniversary, though. We have to celebrate.”
“Yes,” he agrees, leaning in and kissing my shoulder. “Which we could have done from our couch. Niles would have loved to order us an anniversary dinner.”
He’s not wrong. Niles made little inquiries all week about what our plans were and if there was anything he could help with.
I groan. “Now, I feel bad about that, too. I already pulled out of the trip he tried to surprise us with. The least I could have done is let him make us some dinner.”
“Niles knows why you pulled out of the trip. He isn’t mad at you.”
“You don’t know that. Niles would never admit he’s mad in a million years, even if he is.”
“Because he knows I’d string him from the chandelier by his ankles.”
I snort. “You would never hurt Niles.”
Ivan arches both brows. “I’ll hurt anyone who makes my pregnant wife feel bad about being too sick to take a trip. You are growing a person and taking care of a toddler. You deserve to do whatever you want when you want it.”
He’s rubbing my shoulder. I reach up and grab his hand, then hold it in my lap, my thumbs tracing his knuckles. “You’re really not upset? Because I’d understand if you are. We were supposed to go to Bora Bora. Instead, I couldn’t even make it through the entree at our favorite restaurant before I felt like I was going to hurl.”
“If I’m mad at anyone, it’s the bitch next to us who ordered the seafood.”
I laugh. “That ‘bitch’ was at least ninety.”
“She could be nine hundred and I still wouldn’t give a shit. I should’ve punted her to the curb.”
I know he’s not serious, but I love being the person Ivan will always fight to defend.
I also love being the person who can calm him down.
Slowly, I drag my hand up his arm. “It’s okay. The nausea has passed now. But I’m still suffering from other first trimester symptoms.”
“I’ll get you whatever you need. Just tell me.”
I turn to him, our eyes meeting in the dark. “Do you remember what things were like when I was pregnant the last time?”
I’m trying hard to feel sexy, but it’s a chore considering that, fifteen minutes ago, Ivan was holding my hair back while I threw up in a planter box by the curb. My teeth are brushed—all pregnant women should keep an emergency kit of toothbrushing supplies in their purse—but I’m not sure mint toothpaste is enough to recover the mood.
At least, I think so. Until Ivan understands what I mean.
He gently wraps his hand around my throat and tips my head to one side. His eyes are black in the lights from the car’s console. “You were fucking insatiable, Cora. I thought you were going to wear me out.”
“But I never did,” I grin. “You were always up for the challenge. Are you up for it now?”
He chuckles darkly and slides my hand down to the front of his pants. He arches a brow in challenge. “I’m up for it if you are.”
The mix of pregnancy hormones racing through me are most definitely up for it. I can already feel the dampness pooling between my legs. I can also definitely feel how rock-solid Ivan’s erection is.
He strides around the car and opens my door. Then we creep up the front steps.
“Matvei should already be asleep,” Ivan whispers, slipping his key silently into the door. “If we can creep past Yasha and Jorden on the couch, they can stick around and make sure he stays asleep while we take care of you upstairs.”
Between Yasha and Jorden and Anya and Lev, Matvei has no shortage of aunts and uncles who are dying to take care of him. Not to mention Grandpa. My dad is an absolute softy for my baby boy. But I’m glad he’s not here tonight. With the way I’m feeling, the last person I want to run into on my way upstairs is my dad.
My body brushes against Ivan’s arm. “If you want to fully take care of me, they might need to stay the night.”
Ivan smiles and the soft curve of his lips paired with the square line of his jaw is almost enough for me to throw myself at him right here. Forget sneaking upstairs—we can do it on the porch.
But propriety and a little mercy for whoever on the security team is manning the cameras tonight wins out. I tuck away my inner freak and follow Ivan inside.
The house is dark and quiet. Usually, Jorden and Yasha put Matvei to bed and then post up in the den and watch movies. But I don’t hear a sound tonight.
“Maybe they are upstairs in his nursery?” I whisper.
Ivan nods like it’s a possibility, but his brows crease together. He tiptoes into the sitting room. When he finds it empty, he stands tall and spins around.
My chest tightens. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m going to call the security shack and see if they’ve heard—” A soft thud interrupts him and Ivan whips around. He’s staring at the closet in the hallway, every muscle in his body tense.
“Ivan?” I hiss.
“Go check on Matvei,” he orders. Then he inches towards the closet.
I’m suddenly terrified. Whatever is going on, I want to know that my baby boy is okay.
I pull out my phone and open the baby monitor app. The live feed loads up for three excruciating seconds before I see Matvei lying on his side in his crib, perfectly safe and asleep. His room is otherwise empty.
For the moment, he’s safe.
So I turn my attention back to Ivan and watch him glide across the room. My anxiety spikes higher with every step. I’m not armed, so I grab a key from the ceramic bowl on the foyer table and hold it between my knuckles like I’m Wolverine. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.
There’s another thud and clatter from inside the closet. It sounds like something falls off one of the shelves.
Ivan hesitates outside the door for just a second before he yanks it open. “Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my—”
His voice is lost in a chorus of shrieking. One male, one female.
Then Ivan jumps back with a scowl twisting his face. “For fuck’s sake! Put your ass away, Yasha!”
My heart is hammering from the anxiety and the noise, but I storm into the sitting room. “What?”
The closet door is open and now, I can see exactly what Ivan was talking about.
Yasha’s bare ass is framed in the doorway. His pants are around his ankles. Also around his ankles… my best friend’s feet.
Jorden is pinned against the game shelf in a position that looks eerily similar to the one Ivan put me in on our wedding day.
“Don’t look!” She reaches over Yasha’s shoulder and tries to close the closet door, but she can’t reach. “Close the door, Yasha.”
“I’m a little busy here! If I close the door, Ivan is going to see a lot more than my ass.”
Even in the dim light, I can tell Jorden’s face is beet red. She meets my eyes and seems to wilt in embarrassment. “Oh. Hi, Cora.”
“Ivan, close the door,” I say. “Yasha and Jorden, get dressed and get out here.”
Ivan closes the door and then walks towards me, shaking his head. “So much for sneaking upstairs.”
“What the hell were they thinking?” I snap. A second later, I have the chance to ask the sexual delinquents themselves. “What the hell were you two thinking?”
Yasha is dressed, but his shirt is buttoned wrong and his hair is sticking up in every direction. Jorden looks fine except for her swollen lips and the beginning of a hickey on her neck.
“We were thinking it would be awkward for the two of you to come home and find us on the couch,” Yasha retorts. “We were being courteous.”
“‘Courteous’ would’ve involved not getting hot and heavy in a closet when you’re supposed to be babysitting,” Ivan rumbles.
“I made sure Matvei was asleep first!” Jorden protests.
Yasha arches a brow. “For someone who lives in a glass house, you are throwing a lot of stones, boss. I had the pleasure of walking past the sitting room last week when Cora was on the back of the couch with her legs spread and Ivan was—”
I scream before he can even finish. “We were home alone!”
That day was actually one of my first hints that I was pregnant. I’d followed Ivan into the shower that morning and then, just a few hours later, I was aching for him again. The memory of his beard stubble scraping my inner thighs sends heat flooding everywhere.
“Not quite.” Yasha smirks. “So I thought the closet would be a better choice than that public display.”
Oh, God. Kill me now.
Ivan looks at me and then spins back to Yasha. “Forget you ever saw that. And next time, if you want to be courteous, wait until you’re at home. You aren’t a fucking teenager. You can wait.”
“Actually, we couldn’t.” Jorden bites her lower lip and then holds up her left hand. There’s a cartoonishly large red diamond on her ring finger. It takes me a second to realize it’s a Ring Pop.
I look from the ring to her and back again before it clicks. “Holy shit! You’re engaged!”
Jorden grins and nods. “Yasha just proposed to me.”
“With a Ring Pop?” Ivan asks under his breath.
Yasha elbows him hard. “It’s all I had on hand, okay? I was being spontaneous.”
I pull Jorden into a hug while Ivan claps Yasha on the back.
“You two are cheesy and disgusting, but we’re happy for you,” Ivan says.
I nod. “So happy. Beyond happy! Especially since you two tried to keep it a secret that you were even dating for months. The fact I know the same day that you’re engaged is a shock.”
“It would have been hard to keep it a secret,” Jorden says.
She looks at Yasha and something passes between them. When Yasha turns back to us, his smile is so big it looks like he’s going to burst. He’s bouncing from heel to toe like a kid waiting in line to meet Santa.
Ivan breaks the tension. “Whatever it is, say it. You’re shit at keeping secrets.”
Yasha looks to Jorden and she rolls her eyes, but waves him on.
“The engagement was kind of a rush job because Jorden just told me… she’s pregnant!”
My jaw drops. “What?!”
Yasha looks nothing but relieved to have these two secrets off his chest. For working in a criminal organization, he really is terrible at deception when it comes to stuff like this.
“I’m pregnant,” Jorden confirms, wiping tears from her eyes. “I just found out last week, but you made your announcement and I didn’t want to step on your toes. So I was waiting until the time was right, but—”
“You could never step on my toes!” I squeeze her hands and pull her in close. “I am pregnant at the same time as my best friend in the entire world! How could I ever be anything but thrilled about that?”
“I’d be a little more thrilled if I could open the closet without seeing Yasha’s bare ass for the rest of my life,” Ivan growls. Then he smiles and wraps an arm around Yasha’s shoulders. “But I’m still thrilled.”
It’s hugs and congratulations all around. Then we all sit down on the couch in a haze of happiness.
“I’m going to be a dad,” Yasha finally says, shaking his head. “Can you believe that?”
“I can honestly say I can’t believe it,” Ivan says. “But you’re going to be a great one.”
“Yeah?” he asks.
Jorden lays her head on his shoulder and looks up at him with nothing but adoration. “Yeah.”
Yasha kisses her forehead and Ivan looks over at me. He’s beaming with pride for our friends and there’s no other way I wish this night had gone.
Especially since I know we’ll still make our way upstairs eventually.
We have all the time in the world for that.