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)
“Is it?” Maksim attempts to pull a face a man as shrewd and cocky as he can’t pull off. “I thought this was negotiating. But what would I know? Supposedly I’m not well-versed on how they’re meant to be just and fair.”
“Maksim—”
“I want you at my side, Doc.” I laugh, assuming he is joking when he says, “If I have to buy a hospital to have that, so be it. I’ll buy every fucking one in the country.” But the absolute truth in his eyes reveals he isn’t joking. This is how badly he wants to make me happy. This is how much he wants me to be a permanent part of his life.
He is willing to give me everything, but the only thing I want is him.
When I tell him that, he says, “Then accept my offer, and you will have me twenty-four-seven.”
I want to. Yes is sitting on the tip of my tongue, but if I don’t keep things even between us, I will be eaten alive. So instead, I say, “I will consider your offer after reading a properly drafted contract—”
“Twice,” we say at the same time.
When I recall the last time I shared my mother’s recommendation for any legal document, my mouth falls open.
Maksim’s lips more twitch than part, and they announce that he’s been watching me for longer than we’ve been married.
His smirk merges to a sultry grin when I ask, “Exactly how long have you been watching me?”
He rolls his hips, mindful my anger never lingers for long when I’m horny, before saying, “I could tell you, but then you’d know all my deepest, darkest secrets—”
“And I’m the only one that privileged.”
I giggle at Ano’s interruption—Maksim growls.
“You better have a damn good excuse for interrupting us.”
“It’s the traffic, boss. It is as unpredictable as your moods when you’re not getting any,” he answers through the double doors of our bedroom, enlarging my smile. “Thanks for taking one for the team, Doc. I was getting so desperate for a Maksim mood lifter I was about to offer up my services. To you, not him. Nothing gets a man’s mojo back faster than a brutal bout of jealousy.”
I can’t tell what thumps louder. My clit when Maksim’s race to shut Ano up with his fists frees the last two inches of his cock hidden by his seated position, or Ano’s feet when he realizes Maksim’s threat won’t be idle this time since I couldn’t hold back my moan.
They’re both loud and desperate.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The cuff of Dr. Lipovsky’s blouse tickles my wrist when she slips her hand into mine a foot from Yulia’s coffin. She doesn’t say anything. She offers me silent support until the baton can again be handed to my husband.
Maksim was my rock throughout the service, never leaving my side until Ano whispered something into his ear a second before the assembly of people paying their respects to Yulia slowly filtered toward her coffin.
He initially told Ano to wait—but then he saw the urgency on his face.
Whatever he had to share couldn’t wait.
I told Maksim to go before waiting at the end of the line.
There are so many people in attendance it has taken almost forty minutes for me to reach Yulia’s coffin. I place down the dusty-pink rose the funeral directors handed every attendee upon entrance a second before Maksim returns to my side.
I smile when he places his rose next to mine before sneaking a bag of donut holes into her coffin.
I told him how much she loved them after her first discharge. That is the only time they were mentioned, yet he still remembered.
I couldn’t possibly love this man more if I tried.
“Is everything okay?” I ask Maksim upon noticing the zigzag groove between his brows.
When he jerks up his chin, I almost call out his lie, but the approach of two parents who have every right to hate me shelves my reply.
If I had just stayed by Yulia’s side or transferred her care to another hospital, they wouldn’t be burying their little girl today.
Maksim’s fingers flex on my hip, soundlessly acknowledging he understands my guilt before his lips brush my temple. “Nothing that happened was your fault.” He peers at me for several heart-healing seconds, mending my heart as he has the past five days before he strays his eyes to Mr. and Mrs. Petrovitch. “They know that. You know that. You just need a little more time for your heart to forgive your head.”
I should hate how easily he can read me, but I don’t.
I feel guilty about what happened because if Maksim’s team hadn’t altered everything back, my family name would be stained with more controversy than a man protecting his wife.
My concerns I had before I was drugged were spot on. Dr. Abdulov wasn’t working alone. Multiple doctors and medical staff at Myasnikov Private were part of an illegal entity that netted over seven million dollars in organ sales in the prior twelve months alone.