He knows.
He has photos of them.
He looks at them all the time?
What if he was going to take them from me? Just the thought of it made me start panicking again.
“Get that idea out of your head, dorogoy,” Taras growled. “I know what you’re thinking, and there’s no way that would happen. My family may have,” he paused and glanced at Dmitri, “questionable ways of doing things, but we’d never do that.”
Swallowing over the lump in my throat, I nodded stiffly and looked around the room, stopping on the clock at the wall. Shit.
“I have to go. I’ve got an appointment with the doctor to get my staples and stitches removed,” I muttered, trying to get up off his lap, and failing when his hand tightened across my thighs.
“Taras, seriously, it’s in two minutes and I don’t want to be late. He’s meeting me on this floor so I don’t have to leave the boys. It would be rude to hold him back when he’s doing that for me.”
Instead of letting me go, he picked me up and carried me over to the door.
“Can you both watch them while we do this?” he asked over his shoulder, and then followed it with, “Text me if there are any problems.”
Then, not waiting for an answer, he carried me out the door and down to the reception desk.
“Put me down,” I hissed quietly, looking around to see people watching us. “People are staring.”
“Let them,” he replied, stopping at the desk. “My girlfriend has an appointment. The doctor has arranged to meet her here for it.”
The nurse behind the desk let out an audible sigh as she looked at Taras, and I couldn’t stop the eye roll it evoked.
“What’s her name?” she breathed, reaching blindly for something and giving up.
“Penelope Hamilton.”
It took her a long moment to shake it off, but finally she looked down at her screen and nodded.
“He’s waiting for her in the room over there.” She pointed at a door in the direction we’d just come from.
Giving her a nod, he turned back around and walked toward it, pausing for a moment and staring at the elevator where a large group of people had just got on.
Using his distraction, I asked nicely, “Taras, do you think you could put me down, please? I’m perfectly capable of walking, and I know you must be busy, so…”
With his eyes still on the closing door, he replied, “No, and nothing’s more important than being here.”
Realizing I wasn’t going to win, I sighed. “Then can we go?”
Not saying anything, he nodded and resumed walking to the room, stopping once in front of a man in a suit and giving him some signals with his hand, before moving us the final steps to where my appointment was.
“You’re not coming in with me,” I warned him, wiggling slightly to get him to put me down.
Again, he just tightened his hold on my legs. “Watch me.”
“Did it hurt?” Hunter asked as I settled down in the chair with Hendrix, who was starting to make his hungry noises.
“It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad,” I mumbled, my mind mostly on how I was going to try to breastfeed him with the three men in the room.
The emotions their inability to latch on caused weren’t what I wanted them to see, but the thought of my son being hungry was my priority.
“Could you press the button and ask them for a bottle for him?”
I didn’t hear him say anything, and when I glanced up, both Dmitri and Hunter were leaving the room and Taras was crouching down in front of me.
“Try to feed him, malysh. Every day they’re getting bigger, and I read last night that babies who struggle to breastfeed can outgrow it as they grow. The advice was to try every time they’re hungry, and to use your nipple like the one on the bottle.”
“You looked it up?” I asked quietly, the shock evident in my voice.
Shrugging, he didn’t look in the least bit embarrassed or uncomfortable by the topic.
“It was upsetting you, and it’s good for the boys. If I can make it easier on you, I will, Nell.” The words were said softly but with force behind them, too.
Then his tone changed to a more business-like one. “Now, lift your breast out and squeeze your nipple as you touch his mouth. They said the trick was to rub it over his lips to bring out a feeding response.”
I wasn’t comfortable doing it with him here, but I wanted to have this bond with them so badly.
So, swallowing my pride, I did what he’d suggested, not looking at his face once. Once my breast was free, I raised Hendrix slightly, relieved when Taras helped turn his head toward my nipple.
All it took was five swipes, and he latched on.