After Happily Ever Afte- Astrid Ohletz Page 0,31

herself to hang it. The way her former stepmother had died…the way she’d lived…it was all so wrong. Twisted.

Natalya studied her father’s bushy brows and lean, long face in this photo. His medals shone. She missed him. He had raised her alone for most of her life, and he had been her only connection with her past. She had been on her tour of Europe just seven months when the nursing home had called her. It had rocked her to her core, hearing of his death, even though it wasn’t unexpected.

His funeral had not felt safe enough to attend. The reason lay only a few steps away. Natalya and Alison didn’t discuss it, then or now. They didn’t discuss a lot of things. What was the point of scraping over the past? It wasn’t necessary. They had the present. They had this.

But the ache was there as she studied her father’s gentle face.

“I’m making a new recipe I learned in cooking class. Here, come try it.” Alison’s disembodied voice sounded so excited.

Natalya smiled in spite of herself and headed to the kitchen.

Every pot and pan in existence had been pressed into service in the steam-filled room. Tomato spatters were everywhere, along with eggshells and vegetable offcuts. But all Natalya could see was one thing—the delight in Alison’s shining blue eyes. Her hair was sticking up at random angles, and her nose wrinkled as she focused.

Alison held out a wooden spoon to her. Natalya inspected the tomatoey goop on it and her nostrils twitched. Didn’t smell half bad. Her tongue inched out to taste it. Bold, primary flavours hit her, as onion, tomato, and garlic punched in. Then the aftertaste hit.

“How much booze did you put in this?” Her eyebrows lifted in surprise.

“Enough to give it a kick. I might have improvised that bit. Why? Did I overdo it?”

Natalya’s lips twitched. “I think that could kick a donkey. It’s tasty, though, aside from that.”

“Damn. I wanted it to be perfect. For our anniversary.”

Natalya paused and her brows knitted together. It wasn’t quite two years since Alison had moved to Vienna. She remembered the date distinctively, as she did all dates, times, and places. Details were important.

“October 16,” Alison supplied. “It’s five years to the day that you first met me outside that experimental music club.”

Ah.

“‘Met’ is not quite how I remembered it,” Natalya said. “I’m fairly certain breath-freshener-as-mace was used as a threat on my life.”

Alison gave her a sly grin. “Well, sure, but calling it the anniversary of your stalking me because you wanted to kill me has some unsavoury connotations.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Natalya smiled and decided if Alison could whitewash those days, so could she. She winced as she shrugged out of her jacket and slid it on the back of a wooden chair at the kitchen table.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

Natalya glanced up. Alison’s eyes never missed much.

“My masseuse found that scar on my back today, and decided it needed a special kind of pummeling.” She wriggled and straightened her back, stretching a little. “Actually, I think she used her entire body weight on it at one point.”

“Ouch,” Alison said in sympathy, putting the lid on the pot and then turning the heat way down.

Natalya ran her eyes over her lover, taking in the tight jeans and blue shirt rolled up at the sleeves. She felt a familiar tightening of arousal, something she’d never stopped having for this woman. Any thoughts she might become bored with her, or of this life, were fears that had yet to come to pass.

Alison came closer and the smell of her freshly washed hair and scrubbed skin, mingled with tomato aromas, made Natalya want her even more. More than anyone she’d ever known.

What had Mi Na called Alison? A sweet little thing? Actually, she was a woman who had stopped an assassin in her tracks by just being herself.

Alison’s keen, interested gaze took her measure. Something of Natalya’s desire must have shown in her eyes, because Alison’s cheeks warmed. “In the mood, are we?” she asked.

Always in the mood. For this, and for you.

Natalya had never used to want like this. But everything was different with this unassuming woman. She had redefined what Natalya’s body craved. Natalya allowed a seductive smile to curl her lips, making her interest known.

Alison’s lips captured hers immediately, and her tongue sought out Natalya’s with enthusiasm. Alison pressed hard against her, pushing her into a wall and grasping fists of clothing as she eliminated