Saved by the Outlaw: Motorcycle Club / Hitman Romance (54 page)
Read Saved by the Outlaw: Motorcycle Club / Hitman Romance Online
Authors: Alexis Abbott,Alex Abbott
E
ven if it
was just a few months ago, all that feels like ancient history now. Finally, the longest year of my life with Ivan has come to an end.
And there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than at his side.
Both of us are bundled up in heavy jackets as we crunch through the leaf-covered roads of the little country road we’re taking a walk down. It’s been our routine this past week, walking around and taking in the sights outside the little villa we rented outside Marseille, France.
I’ve always wanted to see Europe, but I thought that dream had been crushed when the mafia-run Amber Room fell into my lap. If I could go back in time and tell myself that mafia tie would end up sending me on a two-week vacation to the French countryside wrapped around the arm of the man of my dreams, I would have laughed in my own face.
But here I am, and I couldn’t be happier!
Ivan’s just as happy as I feel, too. As we make our way through the rustic scenery, where autumn is casting its blanket over the whole picturesque hillscape, I look up into his stormy blue eyes, and when he isn’t looking lovingly back down at me, his gaze is roaming around the amber fields and forests with the same wonder I saw him looking at Central Park all those months ago. A lifetime ago.
Ivan has been paying for the whole trip, at his insistence, but thanks to how well the Amber Room has been doing, I could pay for a whole second trip, if I wanted to.
Business has been in full swing, and I haven’t had to worry about a thing from the mob since Ivan and I fell in love.
Particularly since he put a diamond ring around my finger.
He proposed in Central Park, and even if it was just as corny as the first time he took me on a carriage ride there, I bawled my eyes out before hugging him tight and telling him I’d never let him go. Now, my club is mafia-protected in the truest way, and so am I.
I couldn’t have taken this big of a vacation if it weren’t for my incredible staff, either, and I haven’t forgotten all their support in getting me where I am, either. As business picked up, so did my staff’s paychecks, and Natalie has been training a crew of the best bartenders and servers Brighton Beach has ever seen.
That’s not her only accomplishment in the past few months, either. Just before Ivan and I left for France, Natalie and Ashton took a day off to move into their new apartment together, and from what I hear, it’s about twice the size of either of their old places.
I’m snapped out of my reminiscing by Ivan’s voice.
“A carriage, I think.”
“Hm?” I look up at him and tilt my head. He peers back down at me and smiles.
“That little cafe in the city I told you about this morning, I think it would be nice to take a carriage ride into town to enjoy the sights. Wouldn’t want you tiring yourself out,” he adds, extending his hand to rub my swollen stomach affectionately.
In fact, it’s been about six months since Ivan and I shared a night together without protection, and to say I’m showing is putting it lightly. Ivan has been supporting me the whole time we’ve been on our walk.
An hour or so later, our carriage is rattling down the old stone roads towards Marseille, and I’m snuggled up against Ivan lovingly. His strong arms, hard and defined even through his autumn coat in what’s turning out to be a chilly winter for France, make me feel as loved and protected as they did the first night I went home with him, when he was a total stranger I slept with before even knowing his name. It’s so strange to think back to when I thought Ivan would just be a one-night fling, but I couldn't be happier for what it’s become.
We sit in loving silence together, taking in the sights, sounds, and aromas of the fields around us when I finally break it with the news that’s been in the back of my mind all morning.
“I think it’s a boy, Ivan.”
I feel him tense up in surprise at the sudden news, and it’s followed by a tight squeeze closer to him as he beams down at me with adoration.
“Wh- are you sure? How do you know?”
“I just know,” I say, cuddling tighter into his embrace. “And he’ll be every bit as strong as you, I can feel it.”
I feel his heart beat faster and his lips press against my forehead. He slips his hand around mine, and after a few moments adds, “I know you weren’t so sure about a name before, have you…?”
“Henry,” I say after a pause, “I think I want to name him Henry, after my dad.” I’ve been conflicted about it over the past few days, thinking about names of any gender, but when I say it out loud, it feels right.
Ivan smiles warmly at me, and I know he feels the same. “Henry it is.”
Now it’s my turn to stretch myself up to kiss him, but he has to bend down a little to help me reach, and I end up giggling into his neck as we come closer, our lips pressing together and tongues delving into each other’s mouths.
“Ivan,” I finally say as we break the kiss, “It’s been such a long year, and when this first started, there was nothing I wanted more for it to all be over. But now, it’s like all the memories I really want to hold onto are the ones that happened after we met. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you, right now.”
There’s a tear in my eye at my own outpouring of emotion, and as Ivan looks down at me, he wipes them away with a finger.
“I feel the same,
mishka
. To tell you the truth,” he twiddles the thumbs of those powerful, deadly hands, “I...I never realized it until sometime into our arrangement, but looking back on it,” he looks up at me again with those eyes that hold so much tenderness in reserve for me alone, “I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
We move in simultaneously to press our lips together, and after we break, I bring my ruby-red lips to his ear and whisper, even as a smile tugs at my face.
“I think I’d like to renew our year together, my love. Make it a lifetime.”
A
lexis Abbott is a well
-rounded author of romantic suspense and erotic thrillers, to contemporary romance between two people who shouldn’t fall in love.
Today, Alexis is focusing on giving fans tastes of darkness, pushing them to the limits while exploring criminal underbellies, corrupt billionaires, and the women who get wrapped up in events they don’t want to control. She also writes as Alex Abbott for her less romantic suspense novels.
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