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)
“Let me stop you there. I have no idea if I can handle this life.”
“You live with your father.”
“Only because I know what he does. I’ve not been … exposed to it.”
“I think you’re handling it a lot better than even you realize.” He went back to holding her hands, and Alex didn’t even realize she could have pulled them away from him.
“Why do you want this marriage to work so badly?” she asked. There had to be some other reason he was willing to keep this charade up, or to even contemplate making it work. It made no sense. She had given him an out. She hadn’t realized what that out would cost and the far-reaching consequences, but she had … tried. The thought of people dying just so she wouldn’t have to be married to him scared her. There was no way she’d be able to live with herself.
“The same reasons I want you to stay, Alex.”
She leaned forward. “I’ve heard the rumors about you, Roman. You kill easily.”
“I do what I’ve been trained to do, but that doesn’t mean I want to be responsible for the death of hundreds, if not thousands of people.”
“Thousands?” she asked.
“Do you think the only people who will get injured will be our men and yours?” he asked.
She held her hand up. “Stop it. I already said I wasn’t going to ask for an annulment or a divorce. I get it. If we separate, it’s bad news. Why all of a sudden do you want to … make this work?”
He shrugged. “I guess I came to the realization that I don’t want to hate coming home. I don’t want to look at you and see how disgusted you are with me. I’m not promising love. I can never love. I’m not capable of it, but I can be a good man to you.”
Alex frowned as she looked at him. Why? What? When? How? That was all that went through her mind. Part of her wanted to trust him, but another part of her, the realistic side of her brain, told her something else was going on. She’d been living with this man for two months, and they hadn’t been easy.
At times, he’d been a cruel asshole. Always critical. Always pushing her like he wanted her to go running back to her father. Something didn’t seem right, but she also didn’t want the picture he painted. All the unnecessary deaths as well as the life living with him that she hated. There was no reason to it. At least, she didn’t think so.
“Fine.”
“What do you want in a man, Alex?”
She lifted her gaze to look into his blue eyes. There had been a few times over the past couple of months when she had felt his eyes held pure evil, especially when he had nothing nice to say.
Tonight, they seemed soft, almost calm and beautiful.
“I-I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”
“Okay, what about marriage?”
She tried to tug her hand away, but he held on to her, making it impossible for her to let go. Forcing a smile to her lips, she glanced around the restaurant. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but I never imagined getting married.”
“You didn’t.”
“No. I never fantasized about my wedding dress, or what the big day would be, not even the guy I would be marrying. I guess I figured no man would be strong enough to get past my dad.”
“I am.”
“Not quite. We weren’t exactly a loved-up couple. This is a business arrangement. You wouldn’t have looked at me twice.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know to a certain extent, Roman. I’ve seen the women you’ve been with.” She didn’t like the thought of him being with the other women. Again, she tried to tug her hand away, but he wasn’t releasing her.
Gritting her teeth, she glared at him, but he merely tilted his head to the side as if they were only having a conversation.
“You’ve never met the women I’ve been with.”
“Two of them came to the wedding. I know because I overheard the women saying how ridiculous it made me look. Are you going to tell me that they weren’t there?”
He cleared his throat. “They weren’t supposed to be there. It’s why I had them escorted away as soon as possible.”
“You didn’t use them? You know, to make the wedding night sweeter?” she asked.
“Did you want me to fuck you on our wedding night?”
“No.” She didn’t know why she’d brought up his mistresses or ex-girlfriends, or whatever they were called. “Will you please let go of my hands?”
“You’re angry.”
“I’m not angry.”
“Jealous?”
“I don’t have anything to be jealous about.” She had never felt jealous. Not a moment in her life.
Roman smiled.
“I don’t know why you’re smiling.”
“Simple, you’re jealous.”
“Whoever you sleep with is none of my business.”
“So, in your ideal marriage, you wouldn’t care if your husband was with other women.”