Her smile brightened. “You do?”
He chuckled. “As long as you’re willing to accept me as well. All the good and the burned parts.”
She laughed, lifting up onto her toes as she hugged him. “It’s a deal!” she replied, excited and thrilled and a whole host of other emotions. When she pulled back, he started to kiss her, but she placed a hand on his mouth.
“Wait!” she erupted.
“Wait?” He looked confused and she noticed the anger forming in his eyes. “For what?” He bristled slightly. “Calista, you know that I’m taking you back to Skyla tonight, right? We’ll be married by the weekend.”
She gasped, shaking her head. “No! I can’t do that!”
“Why the hell not?” he grumbled, releasing her but his hands fisted on his hips. She recognized his “battle mode” now and smiled, reassured despite his increasing frustration.
“Because I want my sister at my wedding,” she told him, unwilling to budge on that issue. “And Astir along with Rachel. I want my family there with me.”
Goran ran a hand over his face, sighing with increasing ire. “Calista, I need you. I need you by my side. I need to know that you’re safe and under my protection. I need you in my country, in my home so that I can protect you.” He moved closer, pulling her against him again. “I need you in my bed.”
Her heart warmed with those words and she smiled. “I want all of that too. But…I really need my family at my wedding.” She snuggled against him. “I’m fine being with you. In fact, I think we have a lot to talk about and it would be best if we weren’t here during those conversations.”
He looked down at her, but his arms tightened around her. “You’ll come back with me tonight?” he grumbled.
“Yes.”
“And you’ll be in my bed? You’ll act as my fiancée until we can officially be married?”
She smiled at his uncompromising tone. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“We’ll do it all together.” She hesitated, her face resting against his chest. She could hear his heart beating and smiled. “We’ll even go see the doctor together.”
His heart sped up and every muscle in his body froze. Then he pulled away, his hands tightening on her upper arms as he bent to look into her eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
Calista laughed, shaking her head. “No. I’m not sick. But remember that first night at the resort?” she asked, then shrugged. “Well, our first morning. When I did that…thing to you and it sort of made both of us lose control?”
“Yes. What about…?” he stopped. A moment later, he swallowed hard, still staring at her.
“Right,” she said, licking her lips. “Well, you have to understand that I was a bit out of sorts. So the counting the days thing…well, I was pretty off.” She saw his face transform and lifted a hand to his chest. “In my defense, we’d gone through a pretty rough time!” she blurted out. “And…and I didn’t realize that my calculations were off by more than a week. I was flustered and confused and if I’d had a calendar with me, I might have been more accurate. But…”
“You’re pregnant?” he whispered harshly, his hands tightening on her upper arms almost painfully.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t call me immediately?”
She shrugged. “Well, at first, I was so sad that you didn’t come and talk to me. We’d been through so much during that time together. And I thought…!”
“I thought you were done with me!” he growled, releasing her arms and starting to pace. “First of all, my assistant was blocking my calls. I wasn’t getting any information at all. But also, you froze up on me and I didn’t hear from you.”
“I only froze up on you because of the crowds,” she inserted. “I explained all of that to you.”
“Yes, but at the time, I didn’t know that.” More pacing and he ran a hand through his hair. “I thought you were just…freezing me out. Just like before.”
“No. I wasn’t. And then, I was hurt that you didn’t know that about me. But then I realized that you couldn’t know how much I suffer from stage fright. I’d mentioned it, but I don’t know if I conveyed just how serious my fears become. Every time we’d been together, it had been either right before or right after a public appearance.”
He stared at her, his mind seeming to go back in time. Then relief surged through him. His eyes cleared and he rushed towards her again. “You’re pregnant?”
“Yes,” she replied, nodding as if he needed the extra confirmation.
“Are you okay?” he asked. He looked down over her figure. “You’ve lost weight. You need to eat more.”
Calista laughed. “I was lonely, so yeah, I haven’t been eating well.” She lifted up onto her toes and kissed him gently. “But now that you’re here, I feel much better. And I promise to eat better.”
“Good,” he grumbled, pulling her against his chest and resting his head on top of hers. “I’ll take care of you.”
She smiled, hugging him closer. “I’ll take care of you too,” she whispered back, closing her eyes as if silently vowing to make that promise come true.
“I love you!”
Calista hadn’t realized that she’d been waiting to hear those words until he uttered them. The rush of emotions brought tears to her eyes as she replied, “I love you, too!”