Satin Princess(107)

“You’re not comfortable in this house, Jessa,” he explains. “Last night, I walked in here to find you shaking in your fucking socks. That’s not what I want for you when I’m away.”

“It’s just because of everything that’s going on right now.”

“Bullshit. It’s because you look around this place and see Marina in every wall.”

He’s not wrong. I open my mouth, then let it fall closed again.

Anton nods knowingly as my silence stretches. “I asked you to move in here with me. But that was the wrong choice.”

Despite the pages in my hand, my heart sinks at the words. He wants to move me into my own house. I’m going to live on my own with our baby. His mistress in every way now. He’ll stop by on weekends, maybe in the evenings, whenever he deigns to spare a minute with us.

I’ll be utterly alone.

“I shouldn’t have forced you to move in here,” he reiterates. “I should have asked you to move out of this house and into a new one with me.”

And just like that, my dashed hopes rally and soar even higher. “Do you mean that?”

“What have I always told you?”

“That you never say anything you don’t mean.”

He smirks. “Glad to hear you listen from time to time.”

A smile spreads across my face, but I try to tamp it down. I need to be coolheaded and rational about this.

“Anton, this will be a huge expense.”

He waves away the concern. “It’s a drop in the bucket. I want a place that feels like home to the both of us. I’m not doing this just for you. Marina tainted so much of this house that I can still feel her presence here sometimes, too. I don’t need that shit anymore. It’s poison. We’re having this baby together and we both deserve a fresh start.”

I find myself pushing back tears. “Anton, I… I don’t know what to say.”

“You could say yes.”

I lean into his broad chest. I want to say that my home is right here in the circle of his arms. If it wasn’t the cheesy thing that’s ever been put to words, I might.

“Of course my answer is yes,” I murmur.

“Great. Then the only thing left to do is pick one,” he says.

I look at him incredulously. “Like it’s that easy?”

He smiles. “It’s only the place we’re going to raise our child. No pressure.”

“Gee, thanks for that.”

“Look through the binder. Anything that you want is what I want.”

I glance back down at all the binders in my hand. “Okay. Which one has the biggest kitchen?”

He smiles and flips to the third house. “This one. Biggest kitchen and second biggest pantry. I checked the square footage of both.”

“Sold.”

He nods. “Done.”

“Done?” I ask, not quite believing it. “Just like that?”

“Yes, kotyonok, just like that.”

“Dare I ask how much it costs?”

“Not important.”

He says it so casually, like money is no object. Which it probably isn’t for him. But I still feel guilty. He’s acting as though we’re shopping for shoes and I picked a pair on the top shelf.

“Anton.”

I grab the binder and look through the pages, confident I’ll find something about the price of the house. But as I comb through the pictures, I realize it’s much more than just a house.

There is a twelve-car garage, a pool, a fully equipped gym, and eleven bedrooms, all of which is spread out on more than an acre of land.

It’s not a house.

It’s a compound.

Then I turn one more page, and a very, very large number pops out at me.

“Dear God!” I clasp, putting my hand up to my heart. “Anton, you can’t spend that much.”

“Why not?” he asks. “I have the money. What good is it doing me sitting in some bank account, collecting dust?”

“I can’t even imagine that much money. What it would even look like. Plus, it’s a really expensive way to make me feel comfortable. We can just redecorate this house.”

“No,” he says firmly. “I’m buying the house.”

“Forty million dollars, Anton? You’re out of your damn mind!”

He enfolds my hand in his. “She’s all over this place, Jessa,” he says softly. “I’ve purged the place of all her things, but her presence is still here. I want to be rid of it. I’m doing this for me just as much as I’m doing it for you.”

I stare at him, wondering if that’s true. Somehow, I don’t think so. He’s doing this for my benefit, because he cares. Because he loves me.

I fall a little more in love with him because of it.

“Thank you.”

He nods. “Let me go make the call.”

He gets up, but I grab his arm, forcing him to stay. He turns to me with raised eyebrows.

“You can make the call later,” I tell him. “I’ve got some business that needs taking care of first.”

Then I pull him towards me and part my legs, dragging him between them. I start to unbuckle his pants, maintaining eye contact with him the whole time.