Page 19

“I think you’re in love with him,” Rhiannon said casually as she adjusted her sunglasses, letting the sun warm her skin.

Valentina choked on her iced mocktail, nearly spilling it as she ripped off her sunglasses to glare at her best friend. It had taken weeks of assuring and convincing her family that she was fine before paying her best friend a visit to finally escape her family, who especially babied her because of what had happened. The last thing she expected from Rhi as they sunbathed in her backyard was this random bombshell of an accusation.

“Excuse me?”

Rhiannon merely shrugged, shifting for a better angle. “Think about it. It’s been three weeks since you came home, and he’s all you talk about. Before, it was ‘I want to strangle him in his sleep,’ and now it’s more like ‘I want to strangle him and fuck him at the same time.’”

Valentina scoffed, adjusting her bikini strap. “That doesn’t mean I’m in love with him. It means I’m still annoyed.”

Rhi turned her head and gave her a look. “Uh-huh. Right. Annoyed. That’s why you miss him, right?”

Val scowled, taking a long sip of her mocktail to avoid answering. “For the record, no, I don’t miss him, and you’re insane.”

Rhi smirked, unfazed. “Am I? Because every time his name comes up, you get this little look―like you’re remembering something you shouldn’t be.” She shifted her sunglasses to peer at her friend. “And conserving how you used to talk about him like he was the bane of your existence, the shift is very telling.”

“I still want to strangle him. That hasn’t changed.”

“But now you also want to ride him.”

Valentina’s mouth fell open, looking round as if someone would hear their conversation. “ Rhiannon! ”

Rhi burst into laughter, reaching for her drink. “Oh, please. You’re not as subtle as you think. Your whole face heats up whenever you talk about him, and trust me, Babe, I know that look.” She turned onto her side, propping herself up on an elbow. “So, are you going to admit it, or am I going to have to drag it out of you?”

Val glared at her for a long moment before exhaling and slumping back into her lounge chair. She couldn’t help but miss him, his absence a hole in her life for the last three weeks. She missed their banter, how he picked her mind apart, and how he wasn’t afraid to call her on her bullshit. She hadn’t told Rhi about their sex because it was like a secret treasure she wanted to keep to herself alone.

“Fine.” She succumbed.

Rhiannon grinned in triumph, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Why, you dirty little girl. You fucked Ilya Nikolai.”

Valentina groaned, covering her face with her hands. “Stop saying it like that.”

“Why? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Rhi nudged her. “Come on, spill. Was it good?”

Valentina hesitated for a second too long.

Rhi’s jaw dropped. “Oh my God. It was .”

“Shut up,” Val muttered, grabbing her drink again, suddenly feeling thirsty.

Rhi wiggled her brows. “How good are we talking? Like, fucked-so-good-I-can-have-his-babies good? Or just slightly better than average?”

Valentina shot her a flat look.

Rhi gasped, dramatically placing a hand over her heart. “Oh, you’re so doomed.”

“This conversation is over.” Valentina groaned.

Rhiannon laughed, leaning back against her chair. “Alright, alright. I’ll leave you alone for now. But there’s an event this weekend. You should come.”

Valentina raised a brow. “I thought you wanted me to stay in bed for one month. Now, you want me to attend a party?”

“Because I miss partying with my best friend.” Then Rhiannon smirked. “And because Ilya will be there.”

Valentina rolled her eyes, even though her heart was already reacting at the thought of seeing him again. “Not a selling point.”

Rhiannon simply laughed. “Oh, we’ll see.”

***

The Nikolai estate was alive with music, laughter, and the clinking of champagne glasses. Crystal chandeliers bathed the grand ballroom in golden light, and the air was thick with the scent of expensive cigars and floral arrangements.

Valentina took a slow sip of her drink, but the usual crispness of the champagne did nothing to settle her. Her stomach twisted―not unpleasantly, but enough to make her set the glass down. She blamed it on the nerves that had been gnawing at her ever since Rhi mentioned Ilya would be here tonight.

And then, as if summoned by thought, she saw him.

The crowd around her faded into the background as her eyes locked onto him. He stood near the bar, tall and commanding in a perfectly tailored black tux. His beard was neatly trimmed, and his dark hair had grown just enough for a few strands to curl over his forehead. He looked devastatingly good, and by the way his gaze dragged over her body, she knew he thought the same of her.

Heat licked at her spine, her skin prickling under the burn of his attention. The air between them felt charged, almost intoxicating. For a second, her head felt light as they stared at each other across the room, like they were the only ones there.

Fuck, she hadn’t realized just how much she had missed seeing his stupidly handsome face.

Valentina took a steadying breath and forced herself to move through the party, pretending not to notice the way Ilya’s eyes followed her like a magnet. But she felt it―like a touch, like a pull she couldn’t escape.

She was near the balcony when he finally approached, his looming presence as impossible to ignore as ever.

“Didn’t think you’d show up, Princess,” he drawled, sliding his hands into his pockets. She had missed him calling her that, too. “Figured you were still sulking about being forced to leave our little love nest in the mountains.”

She scoffed, heat touching her cheeks. “Please. I was counting the minutes until I could get away from you.”

“Mm.” He took a step closer, his smirk deepening. “That’s why you’ve been eye-fucking me all night?”

God. Ilya and his dirty mouth .

Valentina rolled her eyes, even as heat curled low in her stomach. “I was staring at the unfortunate fact that they let you in here looking like that. Who told you that tux was a good idea?”

Ilya exhaled a low laugh, tipping his head slightly. “You, apparently. You haven’t stopped checking me out since I walked in.”

She bristled, determined not to give him the satisfaction, even though she was itching to touch him. “I was admiring how your beard is finally trimmed. Makes it easier to see your insufferable face.”

“And here I thought you liked my face,” he murmured, his voice a shade lower now. “You seemed to enjoy it just fine last time I had it between your thighs.”

Valentina scowled at him, cheeks heating as she narrowed her eyes. “You’re disgusting.”

“Yet you keep coming back for more.”

His smirk was lethal, his nearness intoxicating, and she hated how easily he unraveled her. How effortlessly he got under her skin. But she’d missed it too much to stay annoyed for long.

She meant to deliver a scathing retort, but then his fingers brushed against his hip―just barely, just enough to make her breath hitch.

“Nice dress,” he noted, pinching the flimsy material between his fingers. “Too bad I want to rip it off you.”

And suddenly, the sharp words tangled in her throat, lost in the growing heat between them. A brush of fingers, a stolen glance, a smirk that lingered too long. They didn’t need to say it.

And then, minutes later, Valentina barely had a second to think before her back hit the door of one of the venue’s empty rooms, Ilya’s body pressing against hers, heat radiating between them. His hands were already on her, sliding up her thighs, gripping her waist, his mouth crashing into hers with an urgency that made her head spin.

She gasped against his lips, but he swallowed the sound, kissing her deeper, hungrier, fucking her tongue with his. His fingers tangled tightly in her hair, tilting her head back as he licked into her mouth, devouring her like he’d been starving for three weeks. And maybe he had. Maybe they both had.

“You couldn’t stay away,” he murmured, his voice thick with lust as he trailed his lips down her jaw, her throat, his hands squeezing the back of her thighs, lifting her to wrap her legs around his waist. “Knew you’d come back for this. You’re that greedy.”

She didn’t bother denying it. Not when she was already yanking at his tux jacket, pushing it off his shoulders, desperate to feel the hard planes of his muscles. She was soaking wet already, desperate to feel him buried snugly in her heat. She rolled her hips against his, and he growled when her nails scraped against his skin. Suddenly, he dropped her and spun her around before she could blink, pressing her palms against the door.

“Tell me you missed me,” he murmured, his breath hot against her ear as he hastily unbuckled his belt.

Valentina’s fingers curled against the wood as his hands dragged up her dress, pushing the fabric over her hips. She was breathless, thirsty for his kisses, needy for his touch. “Shut up and fuck me, Ilya.”

He let out a low, dark chuckle, his fingers slipping between her thighs as he shifted her damp panties to the side. She shivered against him. “So impatient.” He tsked, sliding his fingers against her slick folds before rubbing circles over her pulsing entrance. “You’re so wet for me, Valentina.”

She hissed when he teased her, his touch light, taunting. She could feel how hard he was behind her, pressing into her, yet he still wanted to take his time, still wanted to hear her beg.

Her arousal dripped down his fingers as he slid them away before slotting them into his mouth, lapping her essence like it was a drug. “Still so fucking sweet.”

“Ilya,” she snapped, twisting to glare at him.

He smirked and shoved his slacks down just enough. “That’s my girl.”

Then he was thrusting into her, burying himself to the hilt in one hard, desperate stroke. Valentina choked back a moan, her body arching, hands scrambling for purchase against the door.

“ Fuck ,” Ilya groaned, his grip bruising on her hips as he pulled back and slammed into her again. “Fucking missed this pussy.”

Valentina bit her lip, trying to keep quiet, but he was relentless―pounding into her with brutal, hungry thrusts, his fingers digging into her waist, keeping her exactly where he wanted her.

Her moans turned into whimpers, his name falling from her lips like a prayer, and he leaned in, kissing the back of her neck, his voice rough in her ear as his hips snapped loudly against hers.

“Look at you,” he murmured. “So fucking perfect, taking me like this. You love it, don’t you?”

Valentina nodded, panting, her body tightening around him. He was fucking her so hard that she surrendered completely to him, letting him use her the way only he knew how to. The way she liked it.

“That’s it, Baby,” he coaxed, moving faster, rougher. “Come for me.”

A few more thrusts and she shattered, pleasure ripping through her like a surge of electricity, leaving her boneless in his hold. Ilya groaned as he followed, burying himself deep, his fingers gripping her hips as she milked his orgasm out of him.

For a moment, they just stood there, panting, their bodies still molded together. Then, with a lazy, smug grin, Ilya kissed her on the slick, bare skin of her shoulder.

“Told you you’d come back for more.”

Valentina barely had time to fix her dress before Ilya was already straightening his tux, smoothing a hand over his beard, looking as put together as ever.

Meanwhile, her legs still trembled, and her heart was hammering in her chest.

Breathlessly, she shot him a glare. “It’s not my fault you have a magic wand for a dick.”

Ilya chuckled, tucking himself back into his slacks. “Fucking minx.” He leaned in, pressing a lingering kiss to her swollen lips. They kissed too affectionately, too deeply, for a beat too long. Then he stepped back like he was burnt by a flame. His expression shifted into something unreadable. “See you at the party.”

Valentina returned to the gathering after him as if nothing had happened, slipping seamlessly back into their usual dynamics―sharp insults, lingering looks, pretending that he hadn’t just fucked her senses away in that tiny dark room, desperate and ravenous for each other.

But something was shifting, an invisible thread tightening between them. Valentina could feel it in their kiss, every time their gazes met across the room, every time his fingers brushed against hers in passing.

As the night wore on, she decided she was ready to go home. But as she stood to leave, a sudden wave of dizziness hit her, and she swayed, grabbing onto Rhiannon for support.

“Whoa,” Rhi said, steadying her. “You okay, Babe?”

Valentina blinked, trying to shake off the lightheadedness. The queasiness from earlier had returned with a vengeance, and her stomach lurched. “I think―I just need air.”

But Rhiannon wasn’t convinced. The sudden paleness of Val’s face and the unsteady walk didn’t help either. Rhi ushered her out of the venue and straight to the hospital, her worry outweighing Valentina’s protests.

An hour later, she sat in a sterile exam room, staring blankly at the doctor in front of her, her ears ringing as she registered his words.

Pregnant .

The word rang in her head like a gunshot, moving in circles around her mind, and for a long moment, she couldn’t breathe.

This wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.

Except it was.

The sex with Ilya had been raw, but she had been confident in her birth control. A little too confident.

Rhiannon’s grip on her hand tightened, her eyes slightly wide. “Val…”

Valentina barely heard her. Her mind was spiraling, caught between a thousand fears. How was she supposed to tell Ilya? What if he didn’t want this? What if she was just a fling to him, nothing more? She wasn’t even ready to be a mom.

Yet, here she was, carrying the child of a man she now realized she was falling in love with.

She was still trying to gather her thoughts, still trying to tell Rhiannon to keep it a secret between them, when the door burst open.

Ilya stormed in, his dark eyes wild with something close to panic. “Who?” he demanded, his voice sharp enough to cut through steel. “Who the fuck hurt her?”

Valentina’s breath caught. He was here. He had come for her.

But he didn’t know yet.

And she had no idea how to tell him.