Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“No,” he shook his head slowly. “That’s why I came in this morning. I would’ve been in earlier, but I had to go deal with some shit with Fedorov that didn’t go as smoothly as we thought.”
I’d had months to practice not reacting to the name, and I was proud that this morning was no different.
“Well, I’m sure they’ll be glad to see their uncle,” I told him, glossing over everything else he’d said.
Before he could say anything, the door opened, and the nurse wheeled them in.
“Morning, Penny. Your boys woke up s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g this morning, so they had some formula. It’s a good sign, though, so don’t be disappointed. You’ll be getting their wake-up calls all by yourself soon enough, so enjoy the peace a little while longer,” the nurse rambled as she clicked the breaks on the wheels of their bed.
They preferred being together and cried when they were apart, so now that the worst was behind them, the hospital had given the thumbs up for them to sleep together.
“You’ll—” she stopped as she looked up and saw Hunter sitting next to me. “Oh, is this Daddy?”
“Ew!”
Getting smoothly up from his chair, he walked over with his hand out. “Name’s Hunter Hamilton, I’m Penny’s big brother,” he stopped and read her name tag, “Natalie.”
Natalie was fifty-nine and married with five kids, but even she fell for his charm. “Nice to meet you. Well then, this one here is your nephew Walker. And this guy next to you is Hendrix. Great names, aren’t they?”
I shot him a smug grin when he looked over his shoulder at me, getting an eye roll and a shake of the head.
“Yeah, darlin’, they’re great,” he muttered, staring down at them. “Christ, they’re tiny.”
“Not really,” she waved his comment away. “I’ve looked after smaller, and these guys are going to be big bruisers in no time, I promise. Now, do you need anything or have any questions before I go, Penny?”
Getting up and walking to the opposite side of the bed to where Hunter was, I shook my head as I smiled down at Walker. “No thanks, Natalie.”
“All righty then, just hit the button if you do. Have fun!” She waved and then walked back out, while my brother stared down at Hendrix.
“They look just like him,” he whispered, hesitantly reaching out and touching Hendrix’s fist with the tip of his finger, then chuckling when he grabbed onto it. “Careful, man, you’ll break it squeezing it like that.”
Focusing on picking Walker up, I asked, “Who do they look like?”
I’d only just gotten him appropriately situated in my arms when he replied, “Fedorov.”
I might not have reacted on the outside, but it didn’t mean I didn’t do it on the inside, and that my fingers didn’t spasm slightly either. It felt like all of the air had been forced out of my lungs when he said it, but he was right.
Both my sons had their dad’s dark hair—albeit a sparse amount on their heads, unlike Taras’ thick hair that always looked like he was four weeks past needing a haircut—and his hazel eyes.
But dark hair and hazel eyes weren’t exactly rare, so why would Hunter attribute them to Taras?
Forcing my muscles to relax, I shot him an amused look. “Which Fedorov? There are three of them.”
“It’s unlikely you’d tie yourself to Bogdan, even if you’d decided to have a sugar daddy,” he replied, his face blank. “It’s equally unlikely you’d have chosen Dmitri, seeing as how you’ve been in love with his brother since you met him.”
Walker had wiggled while he was talking so I had my eyes on him, but as he said the last bit, they lifted back up. I might have responded with that move alone, but I had no words to say either for or against what he’d just said.
Moving to sit on the edge of the bed with Hendrix now in his arms, my brother shifted until he was comfortable, his long legs slightly bent but stretched out in front of him.
“I wasn’t blind to it when he turned up to your twenty-first party. And every time after that, I wasn’t blind to it either. I thought it was just a crush, reciprocated on both sides, though. What I didn’t realize was that he was the father of my nephews, until the bomb went off and I watched him do the math on how far along you were with the pregnancy.”
Taking a step to the side, I sat down in the comfy chair, unsure what to say.
“I also saw his face when we got to you and he saw your back bleeding, and again as you had the boys. Now, don’t get me wrong, I want to shoot him in the dick, especially because he knew he was getting married while he was with you,” I flinched at this, getting a slow nod from him.