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Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
“How can you love someone like me?” she choked out. “I’molderthan you. And I’mboring.And—-”
“I love you,” the billionaire murmured, “and I can love only you because you’re the only woman who pays for dinner when we go on a date.”
She laughed and cried, but when she saw him reaching for his pocket and pulling out a small jewelry box, her heart stuttered, and she burst out unthinkingly, “No.”
A shuttered look fell on the billionaire’s handsome face as he said stiffly, “I haven’t even asked you anything yet.”
“And you shouldn’t.” Her mind was shouting at her for being insane enough to preemptively turn down a marriage proposal from a confirmed bachelor like Sergei, but she knew her conscience wouldn’t have let her live with any other choice. Giving the billionaire a tremulous smile, she whispered, “Not just yet.Please?”
Ah.The billionaire studied her for a long moment before saying finally, “You still don’t trust me.”
She didn’t answer.
“You think I’ll leave you the way your father left your mother.”
She still didn’t answer, but when he started to move, she stiffened, the paranoid part of her already preparing itself to face his anger or disappointment.
But instead all he did was place a tiny kiss of her nose. It was a surprisinglycutekiss, and her toes actually curled hard at the billionaire’s gesture. “It’s okay.” His voice was quiet and gentle, strong and steady.
Definitely didn’t sound like a guy who was going to run out on her,she thought, but she also knew that things could still change, especially when the truth of his impending fatherhood finally sank in.
“I just want us to be both sure—-” Fredericka was aghast to hear her voice crack suddenly. Was this already the start of those rumored mood swings caused by pregnancy?
Hiding a smile when she looked at him with eyes that unconsciously begged for his help, the billionaire said soothingly, “I understand,pchelka,and I will wait for you to be ready. There’s no need to hurry when we have the rest of our lives to be together,da?”
“D-da.” Right now, she would probably say yes to whatever he said. It was strange, the way she suddenly felt weak and confused, almost like she had reverted to being a newborn baby unable to understand how the world worked.
He cupped her face, murmuring, “All you need to do is focus on one thing, and you’ll be fine.”
“A-and w-what’s that?” she asked shakily.
His mouth moved down, and he whispered against her lips, “Just remember that I love you, Fredericka Spears.”
Ah.A wobbly smile touched her lips. “Cheesy.”
“But it’s working,da?” His tone was lazily confident. “You are smiling now, and you are no longer worried about our future.”
“You’re too cocky.” But her voice was breathless, and the way his eyes gleamed told her he knew she wasn’t irritated by his so-called cockiness. Rather, it was a major turn-on, and they both knew it.
When he bent his head, she closed her eyes, and as her lips parted, his tongue slipped in. The kiss they shared was so sweetly possessive it had her toes curling, and in the back of her mind, a thought formed.A future full of kisses like this didn’t sound so bad.Actually, it didn’t sound bad at all.
When the billionaire pulled away, the first thing he saw was the clouded look in her eyes, and the sight made him want to simultaneously laugh and crush her in his arms.Such denseness, little bee,Sergei thought with a mental sigh. This beautiful woman already loved him back. He just had to teach her to look past her fears to realize it.
Chapter Fourteen
THE WORLD AS FREDERICKAknew it stopped existing the moment Sergei officially introduced her as the mother of his unborn child. The first major change was the shift in media coverage. It used to be that she appeared in headlines of dailies, and articles written about her were focused on the cases she handled. Now, she still did appear in headlines, but this included all sorts of tabloids and gossip rags, and the articles were more a collection of rumors and innuendos rather than facts and figures. They also all talked about what an older woman like her could have done to snag a gorgeous Russian billionaire like Sergei Grachyov.
“I think this is the best article about me so far,” Fredericka decided over breakfast one morning, and to prove her point, she turned the paper around so Sergei and the other Grachyovs could read the headlines.
Taking the newspaper from Fredericka’s hands, Seri Devereux read out loud, “Fredericka Spears, following in the footsteps of her mentor Amal Clooney.” A blonde with striking good looks in her early twenties, Seri was famous all over the globe for several reasons. One was because of her work as aseiyuuor voice actor, second was because she was the one girl that all the Grachyov men openly doted on and would readily kill for, and third was because she happened to be dating her stepbrother, Vassi Grachyov.
The second major change in her life,Fredericka mused, and something she was still reeling from if she had to be honest. Pregnancy seemed to have made her unable to say ‘no’ to Sergei, and before she knew it, the Russian billionaire had convinced her to move back to Californiaandlive with him and the rest of the Grachyovs in their sprawling mansion.