Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
I went straight from lunch to my hospital appointment. My Rheumatologist was running late, so I sat in the waiting room trying and failing to lose myself in a book. I hate hospitals. The disinfectant smell takes me back to all the times I’ve been painfully poked and prodded and that first, scary diagnosis. They’re huge and echoey and I always feel small and alone.
Someone sat down next to me. I kept my eyes on my book.
Then I caught that citrus-and-vanilla scent. My head snapped around and I looked right into Radimir’s frozen-sky eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I squeaked.
He frowned. “My fiancée is at the hospital. Where else would I be? Now: what’s the matter?”
I stared at him. “How did you know I was here?”
“Valentin has been following you.” He nodded across the room, and I saw Valentin step out of the shadows.
“What?! You had someone follow me?”
“Not someone. It’s Valentin. He’s family. And very good at staying out of sight: you didn’t even notice him, did you?”
I glared at Valentin, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “No,” I admitted.
“And yes,” said Radimir. “I had him follow you. I needed to make sure no harm came to you. Now: what’s the matter with you?”
I stared at him. It was controlling and arrogant and a violation of my privacy...but it was also protective, in a clumsy way. “The arthritis is getting worse,” I told him. “It happens, sometimes: a flare up. When that happens, my Rheumatologist usually changes up my medications and puts me on steroids for a while to damp things down.”
He frowned. “Won’t that damp down your whole immune system, as well?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. If I catch a bug, it’ll be worse. But it’s better than the pain. And flare ups could damage my joints permanently if the inflammation isn’t kept under control.”
His brows lowered and he looked pissed, like he wanted to reach inside me, tear the arthritis out and beat it to death on the tiled floor. “I don’t want you getting ill. But I don’t want you to be in pain, either. There are no other options?”
I shook my head.
Those gorgeous lips pouted, and he nodded. Then he lifted one arm and stretched it out. He did it so hesitantly and awkwardly, I didn’t know what he was doing, at first. Then the arm settled around my shoulders, and he pulled me into his side. And however awkward it was, it worked. The arm felt like a protective barrier, shielding me from the scariness of the hospital. I still felt small but for the first time, I didn’t feel alone.
When my name was called, I hurried in. My Rheumatologist is fantastic, and she agreed that I needed to change my maintenance medications. As I expected, she prescribed a short course of steroids to calm things down while the new medication was kicking in. But she reminded me I’d need to work hard to avoid catching anything because even a mild bug could make me really sick.
When I came out, Radimir was pacing, restless as always. He didn’t see me and I took a moment to just admire him. The elegant lines of his cheekbones. The brutal power of his muscles, even under his suit. He really was gorgeous.
Then I saw a nurse nod towards him and whisper to her friend, and they both blushed and giggled, but went pale when he glanced towards them. A family on their way to visit a sick child, clutching a teddy bear and balloons, saw Radimir and veered off, giving him a wide berth. Two doctors, discussing an x-ray as they walked, broke off to stare at him. “Fuck,” muttered one in fear. “That’s Radimir Aristov.”
My stomach flipped. I’d been seeing these little glimpses of warmth and somehow, between them and the attraction, I’d forgotten what he was. What he was capable of. But everyone else knew, that’s why they were scared of him. Radimir Aristov was a cold-hearted killer.
And in less than three weeks, I’d be his wife...forever.
Radimir drove me back to the bookstore and for the rest of the day I beavered away updating displays and refilling tables. But it felt hopeless because there just weren’t enough customers. If I didn’t figure out some way to get more people through the doors, or cut some costs, or both, I’d be out of business in a couple of months.
I rode the subway to Radimir’s neighborhood. When I got above ground, the air was so cold it hurt my cheeks, and I figured it was going to start snowing again any minute. I started walking fast, arms hugging myself for warmth. But then I passed a hotel with golden light spilling out of an open doorway and a sign: Wedding Expo.
I slowed to a stop. I’d never been to a wedding show. Nathan and I had never gotten as far as planning things. I felt a guilty little surge of excitement, like the one I’d gotten at age six, pretending to be a princess on her way to marry her prince in one of Baba’s old nightgowns.