by Bethany-Kris
Gia released a shaky exhale, her blue eyes watering as she met his stare. “I’m sorry for being jealous.”
“Don’t be. I get it. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Your baby is making me crazy,” she mumbled.
Demyan laughed deeply. “Yeah, but you’re my crazy.”
• • •
Two weeks later, Gia had Demyan in bed, promising a surprise. Her surprises were the best kind whenever it involved her and a flat surface as far as he was concerned, so he indulged her little game.
“Close your eyes.”
Demyan did as he was told, placing his arms behind his head all the while.
“Ready?” Gia asked, straddling his waist in a way that had his cock growing thick.
“Yep.”
“Okay … look.”
Demyan opened his eyes to a black and white sonogram picture of his child’s face. It wasn’t the first time he saw the baby, but it was the first clear image of the child’s profile. It was fucking amazing.
“Look at that,” Demyan said, his grin widening by the second. He leaned up on his elbows to get a better look. “The little nose slopes just like yours.”
“I know, right. She was sucking on her thumb, too. It was so cute, but they wouldn’t let me take a video. I don’t know why. Hospital policy or some bullshit. I think the tech was just being a bitch.”
Demyan choked on air. He didn’t care about hospital policies or any of that other nonsense. “She?”
“Yeah.” Gia bit her lip; her excitement was palpable. “It’s a girl, Demyan.”
Demyan cursed lowly. He missed finding out the gender of his first child because of some stupid test worth twenty percent of his overall grade. Un-fucking-believable.
“Hey, don’t,” Gia said gently, placing the sonogram picture to the bed. Her warm hands slid under his shirt and up to his chest, making his heart and lungs stop. “I know that look, Demyan. Don’t be angry. The test was important. You’ve been to every other appointment. There’ll be more. It was only one.”
“An important one, Gia,” he argued. “God, a girl?”
“A girl.”
“A girl,” he repeated. “My daughter.”
“Are you happy?” Gia asked, her fingers tapping a tantalizing beat to his skin. “You were pretty set on the boy name and all. I thought maybe that’s what you wanted.”
Demyan all but shouted his joy. “Fuck, yes. I am … ecstatic. We’re having a girl, Gia.”
“I know.” Gia’s face lit up. “You want to tell the world or no?”
“No,” Demyan said instantly. “Not right now. Christ, come here.”
With no warning, Demyan grabbed Gia by the waist and flipped them over in one movement. He fit perfectly to her body with her thighs tight around him as he rained kissed down her face and neck. Running his hands down her sides, he fisted her dress and dragged the fabric up until the pink lace of her panties were exposed and she was grinding her core against the bulge in his jeans.
As far as he was concerned, the best way to celebrate her surprise was for him to love her like only he knew how.
Gia’s blissful sighs filled the room and Demyan to the brim until he was so hard it ached and he couldn’t think about anything else but being buried inside of her. Demyan made quick work of ridding them both of their clothing. His fingers slid along her slit, finding her slick with the silky wetness of her arousal. She was always ready for him, her body responsive and wanting. Christ, he loved this girl like nobody knew.
Gia’s nails scraped gently down his pecs as he kissed her hard and deep, wanting her closer. Two of his fingers plunged into her sex as her tongue flicked to the seam of his mouth “God, Demyan.”
“What do you want, babe?” he asked with a huskiness building in his tone. “Soft or hard?”
“I’m not breakable,” she mumbled against his lips while his fingers stroked inside her clenching walls. “Just pregnant.”
“Oh, I know. Thought I should give you the option.”
Demyan withdrew his fingers from Gia’s body and flipped her over onto her hands and knees, sending her blonde curls flying in a mass of waves over the bed. He kissed her back, tasting the flavor of her skin with his tongue while his hands palmed her ass. Gia groaned, fisting the duvet as she backed into his groin.
Demyan’s fingers found her sex again. He used his one hand to fuck her while his other wrapped around her thigh to reach between her legs and circle fast strokes to her clit. Gia cried out when Demyan didn’t relent in the pace or power of his motions. It wasn’t long before her tart juices were soaking his hand, her thighs shook, and she was coming hard around his digits with a shout.
He didn’t wait for her to catch her breath. His fingers left her sex just long enough to be replaced by his cock. Sliding into her wet, hot channel blew away every thought in his mind. She was still bearing down from her orgasm, her walls contracting like a vise around his shaft when he bottomed out inside her.
“Shit, yeah,” Demyan hissed, a white heat searing through his senses. “Christ, you feel good.”
“Stop talking and fuck me,” Gia whimpered.
Demyan held Gia up a little higher with one arm. He took her how she wanted with hard and long thrusts that sent her breathy moans spinning into high cries. Her fingernails dug into his arm around her middle and the soft curls of hair tickled his chest as she tossed her head back.
Demyan knew this woman. He understood her cues, her body and how to work it. There were many females for him during the periods of their splits when they were younger, but only Gia had been the one to teach him her. His first time was a messy, fumbling encounter with a girl older than him in the backseat of a car. His next had been Gia. There was never a time when he didn’t regret not waiting for her back then, but everything he knew about what she liked, needed and how to fuck her—love her—was because of Gia.
When her fingernails scored deeper and her walls fluttered around him, Demyan pulled her back into his chest, turned her face and kissed her mouth. His teeth nipped at her bottom lip, giving her the bit of pain that would heighten the euphoria of her orgasm, as she came undone around him.
“There it is,” Demyan murmured. Fuck, he was so close. “Ready, babe?”
“So ready,” Gia said, breathless and giggling. “Don’t hold back.”
Demyan let his hold on her go. Gia caught herself with her palms down to the bed. In the next second he was pounding into her harder than before, letting the pressure build in the base of his spine until he was about to explode.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Demyan growled.
Demyan’s vision blurred with the force of his release. A rip of pleasure tore through his insides as he emptied himself deep into Gia.
Spent, he withdrew from her body and pulled them both down to the bed, adjusting his lover so she was tucked snugly into his side and his hand was placed on her slightly rounded midsection.
Gia sighed. “I should surprise you more often.”
“Yes, do that. Fuck, where’s the phone?”
“Why?”
“Tell the world, you know,” Demyan said before he kissed her naked shoulder.
“Can we get dressed first?”
“No, I have to call my father.”
“He’s not going to know if you took an extra couple of minutes—” Gia’s words cut off and she snorted in the cutest way. “Never mind, yes he would. He knows everything about everyone. He’s crazy like that.”
“Crazy is one way to put it. Grab the phone.”
Gia leaned over to grab both their cellular phones off the nightstand. She tossed his phone over before plucking up her dress and turning her home screen on.
“Eva will be pissed off something fierce if she doesn’t hear it first,” Demyan said, keying in his father’s number. “So will Anton.”
Gia agreed. “That’s why I grabbed both phones. Call Anton, I’ll call Ma.”
“Sexy and smart. I picked a good one
with you, huh?”
“No, I picked a good one,” Gia said, poking his side. “Call your father.”
Demyan grinned, hit the call button, and put the phone up to his ear. Gia’s call to her mother was still ringing when Anton picked up Demyan’s. She pulled the dress he had yanked off her earlier back on as he focused in on his call.
“Privyet, Demyan,” his father greeted.
“Hey. Where are you right now?”
“Home. Convincing your mother to make me a pie. Why?”
“I’m not making you a damn pie, Anton, so there’s no convincing going on here,” Viviana said in the background. “There’s a half of a fucking cheesecake in the fridge that you wanted me to make yesterday. Eat that.”
“There’s a shop down on the boardwalk that sells apple and cherry ones, Vine.” Demyan laughed when his father added lower, “Twenty bucks says she’s going to make me a pie, now.”
“I’m not stupid enough to take that bet, Papa.”
“Hey, Ma,” Gia said, moving to the edge of the bed.
Demyan reached out to stroke Gia’s back as he said to his father, “Put the phone on speaker.”
“Why?” Anton asked. “You know I don’t like doing that. Bad enough the feds listen to all my conversations as it is.”
“Just fucking do it. You’re ruining the moment with your craziness.”
“What moment, Demyan? You can’t call someone and have a moment.”
“Put it on the goddamn speaker so Ma can hear this, Papa.”
“Yeah, we found out,” Gia told her mother on her call.
“Alright, it’s on,” Anton grumbled. “Vine, don’t leave yet.”
“What, why?” his mother asked.
Gia looked over her shoulder and Demyan nodded. Together, they announced the gender of the baby. “It’s a girl.”
Demyan wasn’t sure how Gia’s mother was reacting to the news, but his phone call had gone entirely silent. But, only for a short time.
“A girl?” he heard his mother ask.
“That’s what he fucking said,” Anton muttered. “Give me that, would you?”
“God, you’re such a prick when you want to be,” Viviana snapped.
“But I’m your prick, baby. And you love it.”
“Love something about it.”
Demyan cringed ten ways to Sunday. “You two are disgusting.”
“No one asked for your opinion, Demyan,” Anton replied derisively.
“Anton, what are you doing?” Viviana asked.
“Calling Ivan.”
Demyan was stuck between amusement and annoyance. He placed his cell to the bed and turned on the speaker so Gia could hear the madness right along with him. She rolled her eyes and waved her own phone before turning it on speaker, too.
Shouts of unintelligible excitement rang out from her call. Then, both Ivan and Anton could be heard picking up the call for each other.
“It’s a girl,” Demyan’s father said, laughing. “And you owe me a grand, man.”
“I didn’t agree to that bet, Anton!”
“Did so. Pay up, fucker.”
Demyan shook his head in disbelief. Eva was chattering away about names and Viviana was saying something about Ana needing to be informed. Their families were insane. The brilliant smile playing on Gia’s lips caught Demyan’s attention like the ray of happiness it was.
He spoke to Ivan the week before. His father was right about what he said to Demyan a couple of months ago at his birthday party. He was a good man. A Bratva raised man, sure, but a good one where it counted. Ivan gave his permission, and it finally felt like the right time. He didn’t have a ring, though. There wasn’t any time for him to pick one out, but he didn’t think Gia would mind. Gia met his gaze, her grin growing at the volcano of noise ringing through the phones. He couldn’t think of a better time, really.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Demyan smiled right back. “I know. Me, too. Marry me, Gia.”
Both phones went silent as her jaw fell slack.
Gia blinked. “What?”
“I want you to marry me.”
Gia reached over and ended both phone calls as she stared at Demyan. Not five seconds later, both phones starting vibrating with calls. They both ignored them.
“Why did you turn the phones off?” Demyan asked warily.
Had he made the wrong choice? Marriage had always been a sticky topic with Gia, partly because of their young age, her independence, and what would be Demyan’s future in the Bratva.
“It shouldn’t matter, you know,” Demyan said, keeping his gaze locked on hers. “I know you worry about what might happen to me or whatever. I get you don’t want feds knocking down our doors and searching our house someday if something goes wrong.
“And I know you don’t want to be some pretty little mob wife playing her part, but none of that should matter, Gia. I love you. I’m always going to love you whether you’re my wife or not. But, I’d really like it if you would be. I’ve wanted to marry you since I was five-years-old and figured out why my mother wore a ring on her finger that matched my father’s.”
“Stop rambling,” Gia said.
“Okay.”
“I hung up the phones because I didn’t want anyone to think my answer was based on the pressure of others listening in.”
Demyan’s heart started beating again.
“Yes, Demyan, I’ll marry you.”
Chapter Four
Ana
“What do you think?” Cavan asked.
Ana tossed her bag onto the couch and turned a wide circle in the open loft, taking in the view from the windows. “It’s really nice. Quiet.”
“I thought so.”
“So, hey, we’re having a baby shower and engagement party for Demyan and his fiancée tomorrow. Would you want to come with me?” Ana asked, glancing at Cavan over her shoulder.
The look on his face said he didn’t. She wasn’t surprised.
“Not really.”
Cavan was behind Ana in a second. He ran his hands down her sides as he placed a kiss on her neck. Ana shrugged out of his hold with as much grace as she could muster and put a safer distance between them. Cavan was attractive. Ana would be a goddamn liar if she pretended like parts of him didn’t turn her on, but there was a lot about him that kept her at arm’s length.
Like the fact he kept her at a distance.
Ana didn’t know a whole lot about him, and after five dates over the span of a couple months, you’d think she would. He didn’t like to talk about his family, she had yet to meet any of his friends, and this was the first time she had seen where he lived. Other than that, he didn’t make any effort to let her in past his walls.
She was waiting for anything to give her an inclination why. At least something. But, nope, Cavan seemed to think his mystery was a desirable trait or some bullshit. Ana was getting tired of it.
Just because he was handsome and seemed nice didn’t mean Ana was going to jump in bed with someone she didn’t know. That wasn’t going to happen. Ever.
“Hey, what’s that all about?” Cavan asked, raising a single brow.
Ana wet her lips, trying to figure out how to tell him to open up or back off. “I’m not in the market for a casual relationship, Cavan. Coffee, dinner, or a club is fine, but if you want to get any further than that with me, you’re going to have to work a little harder for it. I didn’t come up here with you to fuck.”
Cavan scoffed. “I invited you to my loft, Ana. There isn’t a whole hell of a lot to do in someone’s place, you know. What else did you think I might want? I thought we were good and had something going on.”
Ana bristled. “What we have going on is a few dates and your aloofness. I don’t know anything about you, Cavan. If you want to get me into bed, take me further than the surface. Is that understood?”
Something unknown flashed in his eyes. “Yeah, I got it.”
“Good.”
Ana plucked her
bag up from the couch, ready to leave. Cavan grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “Where are you going?”
“Back to my apartment,” Ana replied. Cavan’s grip on her tightened to an almost painful point and for a brief second, fear slipped through Ana’s veins.
“Is there somebody else?” he asked, anger heating his tone. “Because I don’t get why you keep pulling me in and then pushing me back. That shit is ridiculous. Nobody likes a tease, Ana.”
A tease?
And when had they become anything at all? They weren’t.
She glanced at his hand before saying, “Let me go.”
Cavan did, instantly. “Sorry. Shit, Ana, I just—”
“I get it. We’re on two different wavelengths. Give me a call when you get to mine or don’t bother at all.”
• • •
Large parties were not commonplace to the Avdonins. In fact, Ana’s father preferred to keep people out of the privacy of their home. Birthdays and celebrations were quiet with a small attendance of guests. Especially if Anton and Viviana had the event at their house. Ana understood her parents reasoning, what with her father’s status and the concern of an undercover official bleeding their way in.
Somehow, even though Ana knew Gia didn’t want one, Demyan convinced his fiancée to allow both their parents to throw a co-ed baby shower mixed in with an engagement party. With two families inviting people plus Demyan’s and Gia’s guests, there was no room to move in the large Oceana home. The amount of people made Ana flustered.
Hell, Ana talked to people she didn’t know from a hole in the ground.
Ana bet her father was going insane. But, Anton’s weakness had always been Viviana. Ana had no doubts her mother used that to her advantage for this … thing.
Ever since her brother announced the baby’s gender and the two became engaged a month earlier, the party planning started. Ana didn’t care for parties, but Gia and Demyan looked happy surrounded by people celebrating their joy. That was the most important thing.