Guarded Rebellion (The Baranov Legacy)

33. Lev

33

LEV

T he following week…

If anyone were to ask me, all this fuss was overkill.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been tortured, you know,” I quipped wryly as Eva smoothed down the sheet that draped over me.

“I don’t want to think about that,” she replied, sassy but prim. “I know this is a hard life and violence is the norm, but I would kindly request that you avoid being captured and tortured again.”

I arched a brow, tugging her onto the bed with me. “Oh, you’ll kindly ask?”

She kissed me before standing. “Yes, I’ll kindly ask.” She crossed her arms. “But unkindly demand it. The next time you think you need to rush off and be my hero, consider I might be able to save myself, too.”

The Boss entered, tapping his knuckles on the hospital door’s room. After the Baranov backup arrived, I’d been taken straight here for a minor surgery and to cast a fracture in my leg.

“I beg your pardon, niece,” Oleg said, “but as the recording on your phone proves otherwise, you didn’t save yourself. Irina Petrov helped.”

Eva sighed, nodding. “I still can’t understand why.”

Oleg shrugged. “That’s an assignment for another soldier.”

“I can?—”

The Boss smirked at me. “Not you,” he deadpanned.

I exhaled, knowing how ridiculous it would be for me to insist on an active task like going back to that college campus anytime soon. Not in this condition.

“Rurik can handle it,” Oleg said. “Besides, it was my fault to send you with her to that campus in the first place. When they said they were targeting the Baranov , they meant you.” He shook his head at me, slightly smiling in that way that suggested he might be amused. “Not Eva.”

“But that wasn’t the first thought that came to mind.”

“Why not?” He crossed his arms.

“Because I’m not a Baranov.”

“I should hope not, considering you’ll marry my niece.”

Eva and I reacted in unison. She whipped her head around to stare at him, shocked. I opened my eyes just as wide as hers had popped open too.

We hadn’t told him. It had been chaotic in the aftermath of what went down.

“Uncle.” Eva cleared her throat. “I…”

He lifted his hand to quiet her. “For such a smart young woman, you seem to have short-term memory issues. Your phone was recording, Eva.”

She winced with a smile. “Oh. Right.”

It seemed that when she reached for the metal file in her coat pocket the first time, she’d pushed the video button on her phone. She’d captured it all. What Irina told her. What we said. The first time we’d told each other that we loved each other had been captured in the recording that her uncle listened to later. Hell, many men in the family had likely heard it.

I smiled at her, taking her hand to squeeze it.

“You do wish to marry her, correct?” the Boss asked.

“If I may, sir,” I replied.

“Uncle Oleg,” Eva said gently, “it just… happened.”

He nodded. “I can see that. That’s why you won’t be following up with what we’ve learned from Irina that day. Or this matter of any family trying to expand their territory. Or who is to blame for that drug trade deal falling apart.” Shoving his hands into his pockets, he rocked back on his heels once, looking every bit the part of a man at ease, not a taxed and overwhelmed crime lord.

“You’ll be busy marrying her.” He smiled at her. “And good luck keeping her in line, Son.”

She grinned, hugging him. “You mean it?”

“It’s up to him to ask, but you have my permission.” He kissed the top of her head. “I can see the love you share. And I would be a fool to stand in the way of it.” Then he huffed. “As if I’d trust another family to let you marry into them.”

I laughed, pleased that she returned to me and sat down on the bed.

“I wanted to check on you and make sure you’d be resting, not eager to get back up on your feet,” Oleg explained. “Rurik can resume looking into this angle with Irina and the Petrovs. Marcus has been eager for more challenges too. We are a family, Lev, and we have plenty to keep us all safe. A family you are a part of, not just if you marry Eva. You’ve been a part of this family since the day I took you in and you swore your loyalty to me.”

“Thank you, sir.” My heart squeezed with the pure joy and sense of belonging that his words carried. “I appreciate that.”

“You’re past due a break, don’t you think?” He winked as he moved toward the door. “You need to pause from the assignments, especially if a wedding is on the way.”

After he left, I turned to Eva and smiled at the pure, bright hope shining in her eyes.

“I—”

“Marry me.” I cut her off, impatient to say the most important words of my lifetime.

She leaned against me. “Just like that?”

I nodded. “I love you, Eva. Be my brat.”

She climbed closer to straddle me, mindful of the surgery on my shoulder. “Your brat?” she teased softly, leaning in to kiss me.

“My sassy, defiant brat,” I whispered back as I pulled her down for a longer kiss.

“Not your slut?” she asked playfully, reaching lower to rub against my dick.

“Fuck, Eva. Here?”

She nodded, mischief burning in her eyes. “Everywhere.”

I laughed. “My brat. My slut. My princess.” I gripped the back of her neck and held her close for a longer kiss that left us both panting.

“My bride,” I added as she ground against me.

She nodded. “Your wife,” she whispered as I moved my hand until I could slide my fingers over the bare silky skin under her skirt. One tug snapped the seams of her thong, clearing my access to her sweet cunt.

“Yes,” she whispered as I slipped my finger into her. “Yes.”

“Then be quiet, baby,” I whispered against her ear as she moved the sheet over. “So no one interrupts this celebration.” She straddled me, sinking onto my cock.

And she rode me, muting herself by kissing me. Beeps sounded from the monitors on the panel next to the bed, and I reached over to unplug the wires that showed how she made my heart race and my blood pressure rise. She always would, no doubt about that. But I didn’t need a nurse hurrying in here to stop us from commemorating the first day of our future together.

Afterward, she cleaned us up and relaxed in the bed alongside me.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a ring yet.” I held her hand and traced her delicate fingers.

She kissed my chest, smiling. “No rush.”

“I intend to marry you as soon as possible.”

“Good. I’m impatient too.”

I narrowed my eyes, detecting a slight hint of a falsehood there. “But?”

“But…” She shrugged. “I’ve never dreamed about a wedding. You know? It was always just supposed to happen and I wouldn’t have a say in any of it. Especially not my groom. I’m still shocked that Uncle Oleg is letting me have you. He did say that, right? I’m not dreaming?”

I kissed the top of her head. “He gave us permission.”

She sighed happily. “I’ve never given my wedding much thought, but now that it will be happening soon, I wish I could count on Kelly to be there. Maybe as my maid of honor. Something like that.”

“I bet we can make that happen.”

She lifted her gorgeous gaze to mine. “I’m worried about her, still being on campus. I wish she could stay with me.”

“You’re not going back to school?” I asked. “That’s a definite answer?”

She shook her head. “No. I’ve got my fate plotted out for me, remember? Get married and have a bunch of babies.”

I grinned. My babies. After our marriage was official. “But if you want to continue…”

She shook her head, twining her fingers with mine. “I wouldn’t want to be distracted from being with you. Besides, I can do online classes too…”

“Are you sure? I don’t like the idea of you giving up on your dreams.”

“Lev, you are my dream, the one I hadn’t realized I could wish for. Besides, he only ever told me that I could go to school so he could have you spying there. It was never about letting me study because I wanted to. It was still ‘business’.”

She was right, but it didn’t sound like she was bitter or sad about it.

“I just wish it didn’t have to mean that I’d never see Kelly again.”

“I’m not sure you can assume that. Rurik will be there to follow up with the Petrovs and the drugs there. He’ll check on her.” I bet he’d be invested to keep a real close eye on the blonde who seemed to intrigue him.

“I hope so. If anything, she could be invited to the wedding.”

“Our wedding,” I said softly, cupping her face and staring into her eyes.

She would be mine.

No matter how many times I’d tried to remind myself that she was just a job, just an assignment and a duty to see to, she’d proven me wrong.

Eva would be my wife.

Forever.

“I love you,” she said, letting me see the vulnerability of her emotions. It wasn’t just lust. It was so much more than hot sex. She trusted me with her love.

“I love you,” I replied, “so fucking much.”

I lowered to kiss her again, but as I leaned down, the pillow shifted behind my head. She pushed it aside, reaching up to kiss me for as long as she pleased, but eventually, we were interrupted by a nurse coming in to check vitals.

“Oh, no. What happened here?” she asked, deadpan and sarcastic when she spotted the wires unplugged from my monitor.

“Whoops,” I quipped.

“Mmm-hmm.” She gave Eva a knowing look, too, likely suspecting what we’d been up to. Before fixing the monitor, she lowered to get the pillow and hand it to Eva.

“Jeez.” She squished it in her fingers. “This thing is a flat lump.”

I laughed, loving that my pillow pickiness was rubbing off on her.

“I’ll bring you something better tomorrow,” she promised.

“No need,” the nurse said. “Doc says he can be discharged this afternoon.”

Eva and I shared a smile. I wasn’t sure what she was grinning about, specifically, but I was overjoyed with the opportunity to have my bride all to myself somewhere more private than here.

Knowing her, she’d act up sooner or later and need my… guidance. It had been far too long since I’d had a chance to redden that ass with my hand or hear her sexy moans as I filled her.

Yeah, married and pregnant.

She’d be meeting her fate really soon here.

And I was damned glad that it would be tied to mine.

That she would irrevocably be mine .