Epilogue
Penelope
A few months later…
“Krasotu,” Ivan moans into my neck as we both come. His warm release fills me, and I hold on to him tighter, wanting to stay lost in the moment. Lost in him.
“I’m sorry, krasotu. My control is not strong after last night.”
My eyes open lazily at his words. His dark ones meet mine. He leans in, taking my mouth in a soft kiss. When he pulls back I smile because I got lipstick on him. I should probably tell him, but I like the idea that I left a mark on him.
“I missed you, too, and never be sorry,” I tell him.
Pandora and Mom made me have a sleepover last night, saying the bride isn’t supposed to be with the groom the night before the wedding. Ivan and I reluctantly agreed, but I was glad I did. Spending my last unmarried night with my sister and mom was a memory I will always cherish.
I don’t think Ivan did, though, and I have a feeling he’d been waiting for a moment to pounce on me. This has been the only moment I’ve been alone in the last twenty-four hours. He popped out of nowhere to push up my dress and pin me to the nearest wall. I knew he’d been watching and waiting. It made me smile even more.
“What the hell?” I hear Pandora yelp as she tries to open my bedroom door. “Ivan better not be in there!” she yells. I have to fight a giggle, and even Ivan smiles.
He’s grown closer and closer to my family each day. He’s been giving me more of himself and telling me pieces about his life in Russia. I love that he’s just as much a part of this family as the rest of us, and I know he likes it, too. Pandora is always poking at him and making jokes. At first I used to get all pissy about it, thinking she was being a little mean to him. But then I realized she does the same thing with Henry, and I know that’s her way of accepting him as one of us. I even caught Ivan laughing with her when she does it. He can give pretty good, too.
“My krasotu is here, so of course I am here,” he yells through the door. He’s poking at her, and I roll my eyes.
“Put me down,” I whisper to him. He lets out a deep sigh, clearly not liking the idea. “The sooner I’m ready, the sooner I belong to you forever,” I remind him.
“You already belong to me. And me to you,” he adds, making me smile at him.
“And the sooner we can be off on our honeymoon, where it’s just you and me for three whole weeks.”
“Open this door,” Pandora growls, jerking the handle.
Ivan pulls back, his cock slipping free and making me moan. His eyes darken, and I know he wants to take me again. I feel his release start to run down my thighs as he places me on my feet. The sight catches his eye, and he reaches for me. I have to jump away from him before I’m pinned to the wall again. My dress falls down and covers me up again.
Ivan rights his clothes as I unlock the door. Pandora comes barreling in, her red hair a wild mess. She glares at Ivan for a moment before she looks at me. “You messed up your makeup.”
“She looks perfect,” Ivan tries to correct her.
“Since when do you care about makeup?” I ask. It’s funny how much Pandora has been into this wedding. She’s been running around barking orders at people, making sure everything is getting done. In her defense, I’m not as good at snapping at people as she is.
I already got upset about the invitations being printed wrong. I tried to say something to the company that made them, but they blew me off. I told Pandora about it because I knew if I told Ivan he’d probably burn their building down. She seemed the safer bet, but after that she kind of took over. She clearly did not like the idea of someone trying to push me around.
“Since you had to have three dresses for your wedding day?” she throws back at me, not really even answering my question.
“I needed them!” I snap back. My wedding dress, my after-party dress, then the dress I’ll leave in. This seems completely reasonable to me. “You have an outfit change, too,” I say accusingly.
“Because I’m not wearing a dress all day.” She glances over at Ivan. She’s probably wondering what he’s still doing here. “Don’t you need to be getting ready?”
He merely shrugs. He won’t leave until I say something.
“Okay, okay. We’ll get ready,” I tell her, going back over to Ivan. He leans down, giving me a kiss. “I’ll see you soon, my muzh,” I tell him, calling him “husband” in Russian. Over the last few months I’ve picked up a lot of it.
He cups my face, kissing the tip of my nose before turning to leave.
Afterwards I look at Pandora, who has a wistful look on her face. The look catches me off guard, and I wonder if all her talk about not wanting a man is bullshit.
We both start college soon. It will be the first time we are really apart. She’s moving into the city to go to school, and I’m staying out here and taking some classes online. My aunt Mallory has been pushing me towards accounting, and I’m starting to think that’s what I want to do.
I think Ivan is making a business out of his tracking devices. He’s always coming up with cool ideas of what to put them into. Maybe I could help on the business side of that. Mom and Dad already have him making stuff for them for work.
“That man loves you. I feel like an ass that I ever tried to stand in the way of that,” Pandora finally says.
I walk up to her and grab her hand. “Then promise me something.”
“Anything,” she responds instantly.
“That when the day comes and you fall in love, you don’t stand in your own way.”
She stares at me for a moment like she’s thinking it over.
“Okay, I promise,” she says after a beat. “Not that I think that day will ever come,” she adds, and I shake my head.
“Okay, enough about me. We need to get the show on the road so Dad can walk you down the aisle. Mom and I have bets on how long it will take him to let you go when you get to the end.” She leans in close “I bet ten seconds, so do your sister a solid.”
I laugh.
“For real, though, let’s do this thing. I don’t know how much longer Dad can hold Ivan back. The man already gave him the slip once.”
That makes me smile even more because I love the idea of Dad and Ivan hanging out. They have become close, my dad treating him at times like his own son. God, my family couldn’t be more perfect. They always say I’m the heart of this family, but in truth, it takes us all to make it beat.