I let my hands slide up her sides, taking in her curves and memorizing every inch of her skin with my hands. “Would you like to hear me play now?”
“What?”
“There’s a piano in the basement,” I replied, a bit sheepish not to have told her before now.
Naomi swatted at my chest. “Are you serious? I’ve been down there and I haven’t seen it before.” She truly looked excited at the prospect of me having a piano, and I wanted to fucking kiss the hell out of her. In these moments, I knew she didn’t see me as a Pakhan or even the man who tried to ruin her life.
She saw me as someone human and not the monster I portrayed myself to be.
She saw me as me.
As hers.
“Because I didn’t want you to see it then,” I admitted, patting her on her hip. “But we can go see it now.”
Her eyes lit with interest as she scrambled off me and I pulled on my joggers, finding Naomi in my shirt with the hem grazing her thighs. Arching a brow, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Really?”
She blushed. “That way you have to go downstairs shirtless, of course.”
Her flirty banter was a new realm for me, one that wasn’t at all unwelcome. I had time for this. I had time to make her happy, to take a few stolen moments and ignore what was pressing around us in case I didn’t make it through.
Plenty of time.
“All right,” I answered, holding out my hand and beckoning for her to take it. “Come with me.”
Naomi rounded the bed and wrapped her hand around mine, allowing me to lead her out of my suite. No one was around, just like I preferred it, but I knew they were watching me, wondering what I was going to do next.
I imagined they would never have expected this. Now that the truth was out, I imagined that my staff were planning on Naomi being carted off somewhere and not being in my life.
After all, that had been the plan once upon a time.
It wasn’t now. I had no intention of splitting us up again, not unless she forced me to let her go. If Naomi did, she wouldn’t be going by herself. She was carrying my child and still was a magnet for danger not only from Hampton but from the Krasnaya Bratva as well.
She was a weakness that they could use against me.
“Gavril? Gavril!”
I looked over at Naomi, realizing I was standing in the middle of the hallway, clutching her hand tightly.
“What is it?” she asked, a bit of fear dancing in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Clearing my throat, I gave a quick shake of my head. “Nothing. I was lost in my thoughts.”
She turned toward me, her hand coming up to cup my cheek. “You don’t have to show me.”
“It’s not that,” I said quickly. “I want to show you. I want to play for you.” I wanted to take the edge off for a few minutes for both of us.
Her eyes searched mine before she removed her hand. “All right.”
I wasted no time in getting Naomi to the little room off the gym, using my thumb on the finger scanner before the door clicked open. The light came on immediately, and in the middle of the room was a baby grand piano, the black top shining under the low lighting. There wasn’t much else in the room other than a few instruments that I liked to tinker with from time to time and a worn leather couch that I sometimes used when I needed a moment to think.
No one knew that the room was here, not even Vera, and no one had access even if they found out. This was my personal space, one that I preferred to keep private.
Now I was going to share it with my wife.
“Wow,” Naomi replied as she rounded the piano, her fingers drifting over the shiny lacquered top. “This is gorgeous, Gavril.”
“Would you like to hear something?” I asked, clearing my throat. She already knew I played and did it fucking well, but to have her in this room watching me…I didn’t know what to think about it or if she would believe what my family had told her.