Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
When he lifts my head and our eyes lock, I fall in love all over again. He isn’t solely offering the Petrovitches a lifetime to grieve. He is giving me the same crutch, and although there will be times when I will believe I’ll need more than a lifetime to get over my losses, the burden will never feel as heavy with Maksim carrying a majority of the load.
When I say that to Maksim, he twists his lips. “You’d have to hand over some of the load first, Doc. I don’t think you’re ready for that just yet.”
“I am. I have no issues accepting help.” He almost calls me a liar, but I continue talking before he can. “I’m even considering taking you up on your offer. There are just a few matters I need to take care of first.”
He waves his hand through the air, giving me the floor. I’m reasonably sure he did the same when trying to convince me to marry him, but the memory is still a little cloudy.
“I have to finish my studies. I didn’t come this far to give up now.”
“Not an issue,” he replies without pause for thought.
I doubt his response to my subsequent demand will be as carefree.
“I want to finish them at Myasnikov Private.” His growl sets me on edge and dampens my panties, but we will keep that between us. “The patients there deserve better.” Since he can’t deny my claim, he remains tight-lipped. “It is also a ten-minute walk from our apartment, and since your security team hacked into the surveillance system the day we met, it will almost be the same as having me at your side twenty-four-seven. You can spy on me as often as your heart desires.”
He maintains his quiet front, announcing what I’ve always known.
He’s been watching me from day one.
Aware my demands are not yet over, Maksim says, “And?”
“And?” I pause to build the suspense, boiling the tension that will never evaporate between us. “You need to leave my alarm clocks alone. I set them for a reason.”
He laughs, but instead of remaining quiet like he did when he couldn’t deny his security team hacked Myasnikov Private’s servers, he says, “I learned from the best.”
It takes several long brain-frying seconds for me to unravel his riddle, and when I do, my jaw drops.
My grandmother greeted him like she knew him because she did.
They’d met previously.
When I stare at Maksim, demanding an answer, he smirks before revealing, “She snuck to your bedside to turn off your alarm clock the night we met. I didn’t think she could see me in the shadows, but she told me she’d kill me if I hurt you. I believed her enough to play nice.”
His chuckles rumble through my chest when I murmur, “You’re a shit liar, Mr. Ivanov.”
He hits me with a frisky wink before murmuring over my lips I’m praying are about to become kiss swollen, “I learned that from the best too.”
EPILOGUE
Six years later…
“Not too much longer, sweetheart, and then you will feel much better.”
Beautiful, big brown eyes peer up at me as the anesthetic pulling Veronika under lengthens her blinks. I brush back the locks that snuck out from under her hairnet before lifting my eyes to the lead surgeon on this case.
“Ready?” Eva asks as she heads toward an OR nurse with her scrubbed-to-within-an-inch-of-their-life hands held in front of her.
Once she is gloved up and ready to operate, she spins to face me.
I nod, words above me.
Today is a big day for Veronika’s family, and one they would have never seen if it weren’t for the generosity of Ivanov Industries.
Although I didn’t allow Maksim to buy every hospital in the country, much to his dismay, he secured our charity organization the right to operate in almost every one of them.
We don’t undertake surgical procedures solely on children with neurological disorders. Our help extends to all forms of medical assistance, and our patients don’t pay a single cent for the healthcare they so desperately need.
We’re bridging the gap between wealthy patients and ones with no insurance one case at a time. To date, we’ve helped over seventy families with lifesaving surgeries they were previously denied and hundreds of less complicated procedures.
I was meant to lead in Veronika’s surgery today, but with my stomach as swollen as a beach ball, I chose to sit it out. A standard craniotomy takes three to five hours to complete, but Veronika’s is more complicated, so I couldn’t risk needing to hand over her care mid-surgery if I were to go into labor.
“She is in good hands,” I advise Veronika’s parents when she is wheeled away from them. “Dr. Mahoney is the best neurosurgeon in the country.”
Maksim’s deep rumble rolls through my ears as I direct Mr. and Mrs. Bordoza to the ICU waiting room. “Still a shit liar, Doc.” He props his shoulder onto the doorframe of the OR’s nurses’ station before he drags his eyes down my body in a slow and dedicated sweep. “My wife is a fucking genius.” He returns his now hooded eyes to my face. “And she’s sexy as fuck too.”