Christina
“We’re checking into a hotel. I had no idea it was going to be this involved,” Ivan grumbles as he pulls me into his arms from behind.
“Me either,” I admit as I lean against him. “Some paint, some new carpet, not tearing down a wall. Although I guess it’s a good thing or we would never have found the leak. We’re lucky no mold has formed.”
We are now two weeks into what I thought was going to be a simple refresh of the place. That’s what the interior designer called it when we talked on the phone. Then she came to the condo and did a walk-through. It then became a full-blown remodel. I kept thinking I was going to say no until she showed me what it could look like. If Ivan had even pulled a face I wouldn’t have, but he was adamant all he cared about was what I wanted—the cost or length of time wasn’t an issue. Three weeks after the initial walk-through, here we are.
“Are you mad? Is this too much?”
His arms tighten around me as he drops his mouth to my ear. “I’m not mad. This isn’t too much. I’m fucking delighted you’re finally showing an interest in our home. If this is what it takes, we’ll do it. Now go get packed.”
***
Ivan
“Is the box meowing?” Dmitri asks as he sits down.
I nod. “Now that the remodel is done and there is no concern it will get into open paint or sheetrock dust, I got Christina a cat. The woman was not supposed to bring it until this evening, but some personal problem meant it was meeting her here or not getting it until tomorrow.”
Shaking his head, Dmitri laughs. “I never thought I would see the day. You don’t like animals.”
“Hm, I’m also allergic to cats. However, I want Christina to be happy. She was quite depressed at leaving the kittens behind at your place. That night she asked if I liked cats. She always wanted one but her grandfather would not allow it.”
“Allergic? You are in love. You’ll be miserable.”
“There is a reason I paid seven thousand dollars for the cat. It’s a Siberian female created in a petri dish. There is less than two percent of the enzyme in her saliva that will trigger my allergies.” As far as I’m concerned the cat is worth every penny.
“Honestly, Ivan, you can’t just leave it sitting in the box until you get it to Christina. Give it here.”
I hand him the box. He takes out the kitten, handling it with an ease I had not been able to do.
“Are you hoping the kitten is a hint at the baby you intend to give her whether she wants it or not?”
I cannot believe I told him my thoughts the last time we had lunch. It came out as concern after discovering that for the second month in a row Christina was not pregnant. I hadn’t accidentally forgotten a condom as often as she thought I did.
The first time I did it, I couldn’t summon a single ounce of guilt even though I knew it was wrong. I needed to tie her to me in way that was indestructible. On the flight home, I finally figured out what I had been feeling when I realized I forgot the first time: it was hope. Hope that Christina would become pregnant. She wanted children. I wanted whatever made her happy enough to never leave me.
That first time, I knew it was during a vulnerable time in her cycle. When I apologized Christina’s breath caught in excitement, her own hope clear on her face for a dazzling moment, before catching herself and offering to take a morning-after pill. At my refusal her pleasure assured me that she wanted it as badly as I did. I give in and admit it to Dmitri.
“I want her pregnant. I want the whole relationship settled. She isn’t going anywhere. Not now, not ever.”
“There are any number of ways to do that, my friend. You could try setting a date to go along with the ring.”
“Divorces happen every single day, a wedding is not enough. She already has my ring on her finger, she agreed to be my woman. She’s mine. A child would provide a forever link between us.”
A nod. “I still think you should discuss the whole thing first. It might make her more...docile.”
I consider the suggestion. “Perhaps. She went out last night with her friend Anna. For dinner and drinks.”
I shake my head as I remember how she dug in her heels over going out. The way she kept repeating it was just dinner and they wouldn’t even leave the restaurant for drinks. But she was going, either I accepted it with grace or it was going to be a fight. I accepted it, after I fucked both her pussy and her ass, and made sure she swallowed my cock. If she was going out then she was doing it filled with me.
“At the very least, set a date. Women love weddings, might go toward the whole issue with her grandfather.”
“Actually, she is proving to be stubborn in that regard as well with him. They finally met and it was going well until she invited him to our home. He refused to visit us until we are married. Now the tension is back between them, I had a mind to become involved. It was the first time we’ve argued. I did not like it, I will not attempt it again.”
It took too long for me to realize how much her grandfather upset her by his marriage demand. All I could see was the need to fix it, when in her mind it was not broken.
“You gave in much easier than she thought you would on keeping her in the office. Elise remarked on it to me, reminding me of my unwillingness to allow her to keep working with me in the office. I’m surprised. How did Connor take his promotion?”