Chapter 9

CHRISTMAS

SCARLET

The light streams through the penthouse, lighting up the darkened bedroom, with Thane gently snoring next to me. My mother’s quilt lies over the chair in the corner of the room. I’ve slowly moved into his place. My heart thumps in my ears. It’s Christmas morning, and my heart is bursting with happiness. Last night, Thane took me to a Christmas Eve fundraiser. I dressed up like Cinderella going to the royal ball. The hotel banquet room was full of important people with more money than I could ever imagine. Thane spent five thousand dollars in raffle tickets because I liked the painting being raffled. Looking back, I didn’t really have any place to put it, but Thane assured me he’d hang it in his living room if it would make me happy. I chuckle. We actually lost the raffle, but Thane bought it from the guy for twenty thousand dollars as a pre-Christmas gift to make me happy. I glance at Thane. The blanket fell off his torso, and his tats captivate my attention. It must have hurt like a bitch to get those. I move the bedding and drop my feet off the bed.

“No.” Thane’s long arm wraps around me. “Come back to bed.”

I shimmy away. “I have to pee.” I grin like a loon. “And it’s Christmas morning. Get up. I’ll make breakfast.”

“Go pee, come back, and I’ll take you to breakfast after I fuck that pussy.”

I cock my head as I jut out my hip with my hand on it. “No one’s open, silly. It’s Christmas.”

He raises his head. “They’ll open for me.”

Yeah. They would. I didn’t realize along with his intimidating personality, he’s rich. I walk toward the bathroom, humming “Jingle Bells.”

“Hello?” Thane answers from the bedroom.

Who’s calling at eight in the morning on Christmas? I finish up in the bathroom and stroll to the kitchen to make my man a feast. It’s the least I can do considering how much pleasure he gave us the night before. My body shudders remembering his touch.

Thane steps into the kitchen bare-assed, naked, with a hard-on that could hoist a flag. “Jeez, baby. I’m surprised he’s got the energy to stand up like that.”

He presses his big dick against my naked stomach and pulls me into his body. “I was serious about coming back to bed.”

I look up. It’s a stretch for me because he’s so damn tall. Keeping my hands away from his glorious erection, my hands reach up to his pecs. “I’m happy to go back to bed after I feed you, and you open your presents.”

His eyes twinkle. “You got me a present.”

I nod. “I did. I made you one, too.” God, please be happy with my surprise.

He wraps both arms around me and kisses the top of my head. “I love you, Red.”

My heart explodes in my chest as the rushing sound of surprise engulfs my brain. “What?”

He slips his finger under my chin and raises it. “I love you. I should have told you before now.” Joy radiates off the tatted man. “You don’t have to say anyth…”

I blurt before he can finish. “I love you, too. I have for a while. I just didn’t want to push you away.”

His arms lift me, pulling me up and cradling me in his arms as he walks us back down the hall. My head turns toward the kitchen. “Breakfast?”

“It can wait. We can’t.”

THANE

Red snuggles into the dark blue, fluffy comforter on our bed. My penthouse has become ours. I made her quit at the club because I didn’t want other men seeing her naked, but if I’m honest, I just wanted her to be mine all the time. She’s going to be pissed when she finds out I paid her tuition for the rest of the year and bought her a new car to replace that piece of shit she drove. I pause. Her hair cascades across the stark white pillow, reminding me of the scarlet cloak she wore while stripping. My cock jerks to attention as I get off the bed. Breakfast seems like a spectacular idea. I walk down the hall into the kitchen and pull out the ingredients to make pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Yes, I know how to cook. Mom made sure we all knew how to cook, clean, and do laundry. She said a man without household skills was a failure. I chuckle at the face my mother made the first time Cynric and I made breakfast for her birthday.

In the kitchen, I stack the last blueberry pancake onto the pile and shift my attention to the pan of bacon I have cooking in the oven. I turn off the oven and crack the door to keep it warm but make sure it doesn’t burn. This is the third Christmas in a row I’ve been away from my family. This time it’s not because I’m gone. Papa is out of the country again and my younger brothers are busy with Bratva business. Cynric and Isabella chose to do a private Christmas alone in a chalet in Switzerland. The last one they’ll get alone for eighteen years.

A noise startles me. “I was going to make you breakfast.”

I turn and smile at Red. Her hair is tousled and her smile lights up the entire penthouse. She’s thrown on the henley I was wearing the night before. It covers her to mid-thigh, and I wish she’d walked out naked. “I didn’t have the heart to wake you.”

She grabs a seat on the other side of the counter.

“How do you want your eggs?”

I’ve never seen someone actually turn green before. Red throws her hand over her mouth as the color drains from her face, leaving a dusky greenish-gray color. She stumbles off the chair and runs for the hall bathroom.

I stand there, stunned for a second, before I bolt after her. She’s gagging and retching in the toilet when I run in. “Babe?”

She throws up her hand with her palm, facing me as she continues to vomit.

I move to her and wrap her long hair around my fist, holding it back from touching the toilet. “What’s wrong? I’m not that bad a cook, you’ll see.”

She sighs hard and shifts next to the toilet as I pull her hair into three pieces and do a quick braid. She shudders. “I’m sorry. This is so gross.”

I pluck her off the floor and carry her from the bathroom, through the primary bedroom and into our bathroom. I set her on the counter and keep my hand on her as I wet a washcloth with warm water. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Red. You’re mine. Sick or well.”

She takes the washcloth and wipes her eyes, face, and mouth. “I wanted to give you the present, not this.”

I smile. “You can give me the present later.”

She shrugs. “I should give it to you now.” She tosses the washcloth into the clothes hamper near the door and drops her legs off the counter.

“It can wait until you’re feeling better.”

She puts her feet down on the floor and extends her hand to me. “Come on.” We walk towards the kitchen, and she leads me into the living room and the large Christmas fir we decorated earlier in the month. She reaches down and pulls a shoe-box wrapped package from under the tree and hands it to me. “I’ll preface to say that I didn’t plan to make this, and I doubt you did either.”

I sit down, pulling her onto my lap as I cradle the gift in my hand. I maneuver her to sit against the side of the sofa as I use both hands to unwrap the red foil paper. The anxiety on her body is thick like gravy. She puts her hand on mine. “I love you.”

I take my hands off the package and caress her face with my hands. “I love you, Red. You’re my future. You’re the woman my mother would have chosen from me.” My attention shifts to the package, I rip the paper and pull open the top of the box, setting it onto the ground. She shifts and holds her breath. The white tissue paper folds around a smaller box, and I pick it up as she smiles a hesitant smile.

My brain searches for ideas as to what could be in the two-inch by two-inch by nine-inch box. I grab the end of the box and slide an object out the end. A piece of white plastic is surrounded by a Ziploc bag. I turn the object over. It’s a pregnancy test. I’ve seen them in commercials. I press the plastic to see two pink lines.

She whispers. “I’m pregnant.”

A flurry of emotions surround my heart and bombard my brain. A baby. I’m going to be a father. Another Bravikov heir, as my father would call him. Or maybe a her. Shit. A girl. What the fuck do I do with a girl? It feels like seconds I’ve been pondering, and she stiffens. I’ve taken too long. I set it on the coffee table and wrap my arms around her. Her body softens and a whimper escapes. “I’m happy. Thank you, Scarlet, for making me a daddy.”

Her body begins to shake, and the whimper turns into a full-blown sob. “I was so afraid you’d be mad. I didn’t do it on purpose.” She’s rambling with tears gushing down her face, and I don’t know what to do. “I don’t know how it happened. I missed a few pills when I had the virus earlier in the month, but I didn’t think I’d get pregnant.” Damn! I lean to kiss her and she jumps up. “No kissing. I taste gross.”

I stand up and take her hand in mine. “Do you feel like eating?”

She nods. “Yeah. Just not eggs.”

“No eggs. Got it.” I lead her back into the kitchen, wanting to scream out to the world that I’m happy. Happier than I’ve been since before my mother died. “Just for the record, I don’t think you tricked me, and I’m thrilled you’re pregnant.” The stunned look on her face as she sits down on the stool squeezes my heart. “You’re going to be a great mom, Scarlet.”

“You never call me that.”

“I know. I guess I should start calling you Mama.”

She beams and I know everything is going to be just fine.

JANUARY

SCARLET

My new classes started this week. I still can’t believe Thane paid for it all. I have ten courses left that I now don’t have to spread into two years to pay for it. Beaming, I think about him. I argued. He spanked me. We fucked, and I agreed. That’s the way it works for us. He says he’s happy. I haven’t told anyone else about the baby. I just don’t want to share it yet. I walk up the path to the university building for my first full day of classes, with no side job to pay for it. Pretty good for a girl who wasn’t expected to graduate high school.

Tony catches me as I walk through the door. “Hey, Scarlet. How was your holiday break?”

I smile. “Good. What there was of it when you do the winter semester. And yours?” I’m being careful not to send mixed signals so I’m not as warm as I was before. I felt relief to take classes during the winter break without him.

“It was okay. Spent it with family. My grandfather spent most of his time busting my balls about nursing.”

I’m so lucky my grandmother has always been my number one supporter, well until Thane. I nod. “That’s sad. He should be proud that you want to help people.”

He laughs. “Yeah. That’s not the kind of man he is.”

My phone pings, and I glance at the text, answering him as my face reddens with annoyance.

“Fuck. I’m going to kill my boyfriend.”

Tony’s brow lifts. “What?”

“My boyfriend. I’m going to kill him.”

He scoffs. “You’re kidding?” The man looks ready to shit himself. He thinks I’m serious. Ha.

“Sure. Yeah. I’m kidding. But I’m not really. He just drives me crazy.” Annoyance covers my mood. Hormones. This has to be hormones, right? I love Thane. I chuckle to myself and take out my notebook.

Class ends and I pour myself into Thane’s SUV.

“You look tired, Red.”

“I am. And I’m mad at you for making an appointment. Did you tell your sister-in-law I was pregnant?”

He shakes his head. “No. I haven’t told anyone. I won’t until you say I can.”

“Thank you. I’m hungry. You need to feed me before I head to my afternoon rotation.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I giggle. “I like that. Maybe I should tie you up next.”

“Dreams. It’s good that you have dreams. But that’s never going to happen.”