Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
“My choice…?” I ask, confused.
“On whether you want to stay with me or not.” He smirks as if my daftness is cute before saying, “That is your ticket out, Doc. If you want to leave, and I’m too fucking obsessed with you to let you go, that’s your ticket out.” A flare of cockiness darts through his eyes. “Although I doubt even a life sentence could keep me away from you for long.”
I still sound confused while asking, “Why give me an out for the very thing you married me for?” Rightfully so, I’m the most confused I’ve ever been.
“This was never about an alibi, Doc.” A pinch of pain hardens his features. “I thought you would have realized that by now.”
“I do. I just…” I don’t know what I think. I’m so surprised but also so snowed under by this man that I’m constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
This can’t be my life. It is too perfect. Too surreal. I wake up every morning expecting to find out it was all a dream.
I lean into Maksim’s embrace when he cups my jaw before dragging his thumb along my lips. They’re nude and cracked, dried from the number of screams he forced them to release this morning, but he stares at them like they’re without a single flaw.
He bounces his eyes between mine long enough to send a needy current through my blood. “It’ll make sense soon. I just need a little more time.” We breathe as one when he tilts in close and murmurs against my lips, “You need a little more time.”
Ano’s fascination with threatening self-harm almost rubs off on me when he interrupts us a second too soon. Maksim’s lips are only brushing mine. They’re not wholly consuming them.
“Sorry.” Don’t mistake Ano’s apology. He isn’t apologetic. His stirring smile exposes this, not to mention how he rubs his hands while shuffling from foot to foot. “Just thought we should head off early since traffic is extra shit with the upcoming long weekend.”
My eyes bulge when I take in the time on my phone. It is later than I realized. Since Aleena is at a final dress fitting, my chat with Zoya went longer than usual. I’m on the cusp of being late for the first time.
I point to the clothes I was in the process of packing. “They’re mine, and if someone could grab my cosmetic bag out of the bathroom, I would love them forever.” Maksim’s growl makes me smile. “Figuratively.” We haven’t shared those words yet, but I feel them bubbling in my chest every time I am with him, so I don’t think they will be too far off. “And you can keep this.” I shove his bloodstained shirt into his chest. “I don’t need it. I didn’t back then, and I don’t now.”
I kiss him like we don’t have an audience before racing for the door, hot on Ano’s tail.
I’m almost in the clear when I’m stopped by the rumble that’s toppled me into ecstasy more times than I can count the past few weeks. “Doc.”
When I spin to face Maksim, my heart clenches. There’s so much angst on his face, so much turmoil, so I anticipate for him to say something far more troubled than he does. “Don’t work too hard.”
My smile seems odd in the tenseness of our gathering, but I’ve held myself back so much the past nine years that I refuse to do it another second. “I won’t.”
It is difficult to walk away, but I remind myself that it is only for nine hours, and then I will have the entire weekend to smooth the deep groove between my husband’s brows.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“It’s quiet.”
I follow Alla’s scan of the near-empty OR while replying, “It is.” I return my eyes front and center. “I guess we shouldn’t complain.” I pluck another donut hole out of the packet like I haven’t eaten half a dozen already and pop it into my mouth. “We might have had to skip Donut Hole Thursday if we were still rushed off our feet like last month.”
“By rushed off your feet, do you mean swept off your feet? Because from what I heard, you practically rode out of here on a white horse after your husband’s my wife rant last month.”
I chew my donut to mush, hopeful my gnaws will hide my smile.
When it only increases Alla’s suspiciousness, I say, “You heard about that?”
“Ah… yeah. Everyone did.” She leans in close so her following words are only for my ears. “I heard a few of the nurses used it for inspo.” When I peer at her, lost, she makes vibrator noises Zoya would be proud of.
Hiding my jealousy is more challenging than my coyness, but I give it my best shot. “Are you sure you were born here?” I ask, certain I am staring at Zoya’s twin. Alla is a couple of years older, but her maturity level perfectly aligns with Zoya’s. “They say everyone has a doppelgänger, but this is getting spooky.”