Vengeance Aside (Wanted Men 0.5)(46)
He covered her mouth when it looked as if she was about to start hyperventilating. The quick breaths coming from her elegantly sloped nose heated his skin.
“Stop this, O Prophet of Doom.” Why did he suddenly want to laugh when not a minute ago he’d wanted to throttle her? “Where the fuck are you getting all this?” He did laugh, then, because winning always made him feel good, and judging by how far into the future Dale’s thoughts had gone, she was already planning their lives. “Like every other couple, we’ll learn about each other as we go,” he assured her, conveniently ignoring the fact that she’d said she didn’t want to know him. “And we’ll be tolerant and considerate because that’s how people are with those they care…”
His humor faded when he realized he might have won long before now. “You don’t want to know me because you don’t want to care about me. And you’re scared because you feel you can? Or maybe you already do…?”
She reached up and grabbed his wrist with both her hands, but she didn’t remove his palm from her mouth. He was right. He could see it in her eyes. She was afraid of the way she already felt.
“Aw, fuck. My sweet little berry,” he sighed, rubbing his nose across hers. “Who did this to you? Who was it you cared about that hurt you so badly?”
Her eyes flooded with tears as she shook her head, her small nostrils flaring.
“Okay. You don’t have to tell me. Not right now, anyway.” He removed his hand in time for a sob to pop from her mouth.
She bit her lip and blinked rapidly, trying to gain control.
He went back to their original topic to give her some time, and because he had to nail her down while she was vulnerable. A prick move, sure, but hey, one he wasn’t above using to get what he wanted.
“I swear on my family; I will never reject a child of ours. Not even if she comes from your body missing an arm and both legs. My experience has taught me that people with disabilities are sometimes better equipped to love more generously than the rest of us. Maybe because their focus in life is different? I don’t know. But I can tell you this with complete certainty, my mother being confined to a wheelchair for much of her life never hindered her ability to love and care for her family. She…cherished us. My brother and I, and my father, too, flourished because of the connection she formed with us. Working limbs and an upright stance had nothing to do with that.”
He could see Dale was shocked. And beaten. He’d never been more pleased to see a woman look so resigned at the idea of being stuck with him.
He’d have to tell her about his mother and her MS in more detail. He just didn’t feel comfortable doing so now, when he was acting in a way Leane Zavrazin would never have approved of. She’d have been disappointed that he was pushing so hard to get his way. It wouldn’t have mattered that he was doing so to please his father—and, as mentioned, to get his way because he was used to things working out for him. It wasn’t right, and his mother would have called Lukas out on it.
“Believe me, yagodka.” He pressed his lips to her brow. “Feeling abandoned or unwanted is not something my children will ever experience through their father.”
He wished he had an unlimited amount of time to prove all of this to her. Unfortunately, he didn’t, and they had to move this along. His father needed some solid, tangible reasons to stay with them instead of leaving this life to be with his wife. And Lukas knew showing up at the hospital today with a diamond on Dale’s finger would be a great beginning.
FOURTEEN
Dale let go of Lukas’s arm and did something that seemed to be getting harder and harder. She moved away from him. Then she wrapped herself up and began pacing in front of the French doors. It felt as if the floor was vibrating, but that was just her.
“Listen, why don’t we—”
She put up a finger for him to give her a minute. She needed to seriously think about what was happening in her head right now.
A decision had been made without her realizing it. She could feel it. That same excitement she’d felt when she’d moved in with Liam, times a million. It was buzzing over her skin, zapping her with little blue and pink blasts of anticipation.
She was going to do this.
She was going to stay with this powerful Russian and have his children. Her children. The ones she would form an ironclad relationship with. The ones she would love without reservation. She would shower them with that love. Kiss and hug and fawn over them. And her precious children would return her love. They would look to her for guidance and comfort. She would be their shoulder to cry on and their champion to celebrate victories with. She would support them in their endeavors and be there for them when they stumbled. They would never know indifference from their mother…
She stilled. Not her children anymore. Their children. She threw a brief glance at daddy and almost had an orgasm. She wouldn’t be the only one showing love and guidance. They would now do that. She and Lukas would raise their babies together.
Feeling abandoned or unwanted is not something my children will ever experience through their father.
She bit her lip as his words passed through her mind. That statement had to be the most erotically charged thing any man had ever said to her.
Nibbling on her thumbnail, she wandered over and bent to look at a framed picture of Lukas and Samuel propped on the low table next to the loveseat. They were on a beach somewhere warm, both of them in khakis and untucked white button-up shirts.