“Making up for lost time.”

She giggled. “I like it.”

I kissed her again, sliding my tongue into her mouth and reaching down to cup her ass. Let people see. I didn’t care. This was my woman.

A car horn filled the air, and I broke the kiss to glance over Aurora’s shoulder to see Ivan standing next to a car.

“Come on, I want a drink. Time to go and party,” he said.

Damn. I forgot we were sharing a car with Ivan. Taking my wife’s hand, I walked toward the car. Ivan had already climbed in, and I allowed Aurora to get in next. I closed the door and glanced at Ivan.

“This is cozy,” he said.

I didn’t want him anywhere near my wife.

The car pulled away from the curb as Aurora snuggled against me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and Ivan smiled wide.

“Good to see you two are getting along so well.”

I was tempted to give him the bird, but instead, I kissed my wife’s head. Ivan was still my boss. Best friends we may be, and we’d defied the odds of the Bratva, but I knew if he felt he needed to, he’d take me out in a heartbeat.

My loyalty was to him, and if he thought for a second it was swayed, he’d take Aurora away from me. That, I couldn’t allow.

Chapter Sixteen

Aurora

I hated weddings.

I’d hated my own wedding.

When I’d been the bride, I shouldn’t have been alone and yet, I had been. So alone. Always alone. At this wedding with Adelaide, I managed to still be alone. Slavik had been taken by Ivan and were currently at the table, talking. They appeared to be talking business, so I stood in the corner of the room, nursing a glass of water at Slavik’s insistence. He didn’t want me to get drunk. The champagne looked tempting. I couldn’t deny it, but I sipped at my water, being ignored.

Adelaide kept trying to come to me. Each time she did, Andrei was by her side, holding her close. Had Slavik told him how she struggled with this entire wedding?

No one had tried to calm her down, given her points to hope for. Bethany had taken a sick kind of pleasure in taunting her little sister, and it pissed me off. The dance floor had filled up, and as it did, Bethany took Andrei, giving Adelaide the chance to leave his side. She came to me and instantly wrapped her arms around me.

I wasn’t used to this.

“Thank you,” Adelaide said. “Would you stay? Live with me? We could run away together.”

I laughed, rubbing my good hand on her back in an effort to comfort her. “You’re going to be surprised. Andrei might be an amazing man.”

“Really? He swapped my sister for me. She was his first choice.” She pulled back and I saw tears in her eyes.

An answering ache bloomed in my chest. “My sister is normally the first choice, but my dad … you know what, you don’t need to know the details. I was given to Slavik and it has been good. He’s good to me.”