Page 21 of Between Us

When Roman got home that evening, it was well past dinner time. After parking the car in the driveway, he stopped to inspect a couple of loose bricks in the pavement on his way to the front door. It reminded him he had yet to speak to Alessandra about house renovations.

The ground floor was dark and quiet when he stepped into the foyer and closed the door behind him. Spinning his keys around his index finger, he took the stairs, heading straight for the master bedroom.He found Alessandra sitting on the bed, staring at her laptop’s screen. Her long hair was swept up into a messy bun, and she was wearing a white tank top with matching yoga pants. Her tanned skin contrasted nicely with the white of her clothes, and Roman couldn't help but think that she really was a beautiful girl.

Alessandra looked up when she heard him enter the room, offering a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. “Hi.”

“Hey,” he said, tossing the keys on the nightstand before removing his suit jacket and discarding it on the back of a nearby chair. Silence stretched between them for a long moment, until Roman realized he was going to have to be the one to initiate conversation. “What did you do today?”

She shrugged one shoulder delicately. “Not much. I watched TV, swam a bit and ordered lunch from a Thai restaurant.”

Her words evoked a small pang of guilt because it was the same answer she had given him for the past few nights. He’d been too busy with work and hadn’t really thought of helping her settle into her new life. Their marriage was something new for the both of them, but somehow, Roman already knew that he was better equipped to handle the sudden change.

Truth be told, up until that moment, he hadn’t really considered his wife’s feelings at all. He’d been pleased with her sweet demeanor and beautiful looks, so much so that he’d overlooked the emotional side of their arranged union. As a man raised and formed by the Bratva, he’d detached himself from any false illusions of true happiness from the moment he found out that he had to marry the enemy’s daughter. But as he looked atAlessandra’s face and the shadow of sadness he could detect in her eyes, he realized that maybe he needed to pay more attention to his obligations as a husband.

As he contemplated this, he remembered something. Reaching into his pocket, Roman grabbed his wallet and pulled out a brand-new Amex. “This is for you. I picked it up today.”

“I already have a card,” Alessandra said softly, her gaze moving from the plastic in his hand to his eyes.

“And from now on, you will use this one. You are not your father's responsibility anymore.”

With a small nod, she accepted the card. There was something in her expression Roman didn't like—a reluctance toward him and whatever he had to offer. It both pissed him off and intrigued him. He worked on the buttons of his dress shirt as he continued to watch her. “Found a cook. She will start next week.”

They had briefly touched on the subject the day before. Since Alessandra didn't know how to cook, Roman had decided it was for the best they hire someone. It had taken a few phone calls on his part and twenty minutes of his busy day to find the right person—discreet and affiliated to the Bratva.

“That's great,” she said, though her enthusiasm sounded flat.

“What's wrong?” he asked, his patience starting to run thin. He could tell something was bothering her, but he'd had a long day and was in no mood to try and figure out what that was.

Alessandra sawed her bottom lip, suddenly looking a little nervous. “I, uh… I wanted to ask you for something.”

“Let's hear it.”

She hesitated for a long moment, and he reined in the urge to demand that she speak already. “My papà didn't want me to go to college, but he let me take an online business course. I’m about to finish phase one, and if I want to enroll into phase two, I’ll have to pay the fee in the next week or so. It’s a little over three thousand dollars, and…” She glanced at the Amex. “I was going to ask Papà, but can I use this one to pay for it?”

Roman kept her gaze, surprised by the vulnerability he heard in her voice. “You want to go to college?”

“I know it's not an option—”

“That's not what I asked,” he cut her off, walking to her side of the bed.

Alessandra looked up at him with soft brown eyes, and he thought he saw a flash of hope behind those warm-toned irises. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

Before he could stop himself, he cupped her cheek with his palm, running his thumb over the lip she’d been assaulting a moment earlier. “Then you can go to college. Why settle for an online course?”

The shock coloring her face was almost comical. “You don't think it's useless for... well, forme?”

“You want to be a trophy wife?”

“No,” she said more quietly.

“Unlike your father, or even mine, I don't think a woman's purpose is to look pretty on her husband's arm. If you want to do something with your life, learn business or whatever it is you want to learn, then go for it.”

“You're serious,” she breathed incredulously.

“Why would I joke with this?”

In a flash, she jumped to her knees on the bed, her arms going around his waist. “Thank you.” Her voicewas barely a whisper as she buried her face in his chest.

Taken aback by the force of her gratitude for such a small gesture, Roman ran a palm over the length of her back. Did it take so little to make her happy? The thought almost made him smile. Maybe he wasn’t such a lacking husband, after all. If giving her things she wanted got this kind of reaction out of her, he was tempted to do it over and over again, just to see that look of amazement on her face.

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