Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
There was no ending to the passage.
Roman slumped.
Not even kissed a boy.
When he’d kissed her in church, her eyes had been wide, and if his memory served him right, she hadn’t even puckered her lips.
Why hadn’t she done that? Did she not know how?
The door to the bathroom opened, and he slid her diary back into his jacket.
Alex had a towel on, and her hair fell around her in wet rivulets. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“My dad likes punctuality, and I need to get ready.”
“I don’t have any clothes here for you. I can go and fetch some from my dad’s room.”
“No need to. I already have clothes here. While I was waiting for you this morning to finish your sewing, I organized some suits. They’re in your closet.”
Their marriage wasn’t coming to an end any time soon, and he doubted it ever would. Everything he found out about Alex showed him this woman was strong, loyal, and loving.
Not the image of his wife he had.
His past lovers and the women in his world were anything but. Innocence was often destroyed, and quickly, unless they were young children.
She rubbed at her temples. “You’re right.”
Roman stepped closer toward her. “You care for that boy, don’t you?”
“I care for all of the kids at the orphanage. They’re all special. He was the one I found.”
“He relies on you a lot.”
She sighed and rubbed at her temple. “Can we not talk about this? It’s hard enough to leave them. I don’t want to think of them alone at night.”
“Don’t they have guardians?” Roman asked.
“They do, but they’re being paid to take care of them.” She went to step around him, but he placed a hand on her waist, stalling her. He didn’t grip her too tightly as he didn’t want to startle her or make her afraid.
“Alex,” he said.
“What is it?”
He stared into her eyes.
Roman had never taken the time to look into her eyes before. They were a deep brown. At first, he had thought they were cold, malicious, and that she was after whatever she could get, but he knew that wasn’t true.
They were warm, filled with a great deal of love. There was a lot about his wife that he didn’t know about.
He looked at her lips, and he had never noticed before how plump and inviting they were. He wanted to kiss them. To be the first man to actually take those luscious lips.
He leaned forward only to have Alex jerk back. “What are you doing?”
Roman frowned. “I was going to kiss you.”
“What the hell for?” Alex shook her head and held her hand up. “No, I don’t want to kiss you. I don’t know what you were doing, but leave me out of this.”
No woman had ever rejected him, and he was taken aback by the sudden move. This had never happened before.
Alex made her way into her closet, and not one to linger, he walked into the bathroom and pulled out her diary again. She hadn’t been kissed, but she didn’t want his kisses?
That made no sense. He was her fucking husband.
Slamming the book down on the counter, he looked at his reflection, and he did appear to be a little … out of it. Roman didn’t go around begging women. They were waiting for him, panting for more, and desperate for whatever he could give them.
He didn’t have time to stand idly by, so he quickly stripped out of his clothes and stepped beneath the shower. The water was warm, and he needed it cold. Blasting his body, he allowed the freeze to take him over. The cold was welcoming. The moment he was done, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out into the bedroom only to find his wife was gone.
Fuck!
In this place, he was always going to be one step behind her. He changed quickly, hiding her diary near her bed, where he hoped she’d never look. The small book was proving to be quite insightful, if not a little obsession of his.
He made his way downstairs, only to come face to face with his father.
“Where is everyone?” he asked.
“They’re at the table. I wanted to have a word with you, in private. Can we step outside?” Lucas asked.
If his father wanted a private word in another man’s house, then he knew without a doubt that something bad was about to happen, but he didn’t say so.
He followed his father away from the building, near his car, and there was no one close by. Lucas clicked his tongue. “Tell me how things are going with Alex.”
“She’s alive. There were no attacks today.”
“Liam seems to be under the impression that at any moment, when Alex asks for it, he will seek to have this marriage annulled. Is that true?”
Roman didn’t want to lie to his father.