Both of her parents? Just her father? Or was she still anxiety-ridden about her mother’s impending arrival? He didn’t want to ask and inadvertently bring up something else for her to worry about.
“The team has scheduled a meeting this afternoon,” he told her.
Ava nodded, but didn’t ask any questions. On one hand, he was relieved. On the other, it broke his heart a little that some of the spunk had gone out of her. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
“Dutch and Monk will be here with you.”
Again, she only nodded.
Razor pulled a chair closer to her. “Talk to me.”
Ava’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself,” she blurted.
“Didn’t say you were. So, what’s got you in tears?”
“It isn’t like Quinn had her mother at her wedding. That had to be as hard or harder than me not having my father at mine.”
“There equally difficult.”
“I hate those weddings where the bride has her mother walk her down the aisle. It’s just stupid.”
Razor nodded. “Who says anyone has to walk you down the aisle?”
Ava shrugged. “I’ll just look so pathetic.”
“Come here,” he said, pulling her over to sit on his lap. He shifted so she could rest her head on his shoulder.
“We can do whatever we want to, Avarie. We don’t even have to have an ‘aisle.’ All that matters to me is that we’ll be married.”
“That’s all that matters to me too, but I know my mother. She’ll want to go all out, have this extravagant and embarrassing affair. And honestly, I can’t afford it. That’s the other thing, I don’t have any money, Tabon.”
He’d known Striker had asked the justice department to freeze Petrov’s assets in order to make it more difficult for him to run. However, no one was foolish enough to think he didn’t have money in offshore accounts.
Since Ava didn’t have access to her bank account or credit cards, Razor wondered how much she actually knew of her current financial situation. To his knowledge, her funds hadn’t been touched, not that it made any difference to him whether she had money or not.
“That’s the last thing I’m worried about.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
“Why not?”
“I’m sure you don’t want to marry a woman who has less than five dollars in her pocket.”
Razor stood and, in doing so, picked Ava up. He carried her into the bedroom, rested her body on the mattress, and then stretched out next to her.
“Would you have said no when I asked you to marry me if you didn’t think I had much money?”
“Of course I wouldn’t have.”
“Why is it different for me with you?”
He ran his fingers through Ava’s hair and looked into her tear-filled eyes.
“I’m such a burden.”
“Seriously? A burden? You’re hardly that, Avarie. You’re the woman who makes me want to get up in the morning and stop putting my life on the line every day. You make me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever known, and my family adores you. You love my home, and you appreciate all the things about living on the Oregon Coast that most people wouldn’t even see because they’d be too busy bitching about the weather.
“You’re smart, and honestly, hot as hell, woman. If I could spend every day of the rest of my life with you wrapped up in my arms, I would die a happy man.”