Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I swallow past the tightness in my throat.
“Tate… how? How did you…”
“I can’t claim all of the credit,” he says. “Maks didn’t tell you, but a few days after both of you cut ties with the family, he did a tiny little mission.”
“Mission?”
“A B&E.”
“Breaking and fucking entering? What?”
“Maks said he always knew of one of the windows in your father’s house that didn’t have a good angle for the security cameras. He went in and nabbed a few things he cared about, or thought you would care about. One of them was an old photo album.”
“Holy shit, Tate.”
“He gave me the album, saying that you might want it one day, even if you didn’t right now. I went through and found each photo that was just you and your mom.”
“It’s so beautiful.”
A stray tear drops off from my eye and down onto the glass front of the frame. I put it down on the hall table nearby and pull Tate into a close hug.
“I’m so glad you like it.”
“Fuck. I am not smothering you, am I?” I murmur against his hair, clutching him so tight against me.
“No. Well, maybe a little, but I love being smothered by you.”
I puff out a laugh as one more stray tear falls down my cheek. I finally release Tate and he leans back, kissing me at the bottom of my jaw.
“Thank you,” I tell him. “This is what I want to think when I remember I am a Petrov. This is more important, anyway.”
“She loved you so much, Roman. You can see it in every picture.”
“God, I love you, Tate. I love you—”
I barely have time to finish saying it before I crush my lips against his in a kiss. It’s never been so obvious that Tate is my person.
I will love him for the rest of my life.
I’ll fuck him for the rest of my life, too, making him shake, scream, and beg for me, and keeping him as happy as I possibly can.
And if anyone ever tries to hurt him, he knows that I will protect him to my dying breath.
Tate was the first bit of sunshine in a darkness that was swallowing me whole.
I could never change what I was born into, but the family I choose is right here, tucked into my arms in the way both of us love so much. He fits with me perfectly, in every sense of the term.
And if my past is what it took to lead me to Tate…
Then every goddamn moment was worth it.
My beauty.
And the man I will love until I take my last breath.