Page 45 of Between Us

“Couldn't have you pout every time one dropped anchor in the harbor.”

“I did not pout.” Although shehadoccasionally gazed at them longingly from their suite's balcony. Roman didn't answer, his attention still glued to his phone. “What are you doing?”

“Replying to a few e-mails.”

This time, she did pout. “You said no work.”

“Ten minutes,” he promised, distant.

Alessandra fell quiet. She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and rolled onto her stomach. A moment later, a warm hand brushed over the swell of her ass. “You need more sunscreen. Your ass is turning pink.”

She let out slow, even breaths, her eyes closed. “I thought you said you were busy.”

She felt Roman shift, and then a generous drop of sunscreen lotion landed on her back. Wordlessly, he rubbed the lotion from her shoulders all the way down to her feet. When he was done, he pressed hot lips to her temple. “I need to cool off. I'm going inside.”

Peeling open one eye, she watched him walk away with his phone and bottle of mineral water. The muscles in his back and shoulders rippled with each movement, and she stared until he was out of sight.

Only when the heat licking at her skin started to become uncomfortable, Alessandra was finally ready to get out of the sun. Grabbing her turquoise cover-up, she pulled it over her white bikini and set off after her husband. She found Roman lying on the bed in one of the cabins, phone still in hand. His eyes raised to meet hers when she entered the room.

“I could sleep right now,” she said with a yawn,crawling into bed with him.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her body closer. “Sleep, then.”

“Mmm.” She snuggled into him, one palm coming to rest on his naked abdomen below his Cyrillic writing tattoo. She was about to doze off when a random thought slipped past the barrier of her lips. “What happened to your mother?”

Roman stiffened beneath her, and it was enough to drag her back from the sweet pull of sleep. With a small frown, she blinked her eyes open and wondered how badly she’d screwed up.

“She died six years ago.”

Alessandra raised her head to study his face, only to find that his expression gave nothing away. “I'm sorry to hear it. How...”

“Breast cancer.”

“I'm sorry,” she said again more quietly, feeling the need to apologize for bringing it up, even though she’d had no idea. “That must’ve been hard.”

“It was.”

“You don't seem to like Yana very much.”

Roman’s mouth curved into a grimace. “What’s there to like? The only reason she married my father is his money. At least he had the good sense to make her sign a prenup.”

“I doubt she could divorce him even if she wanted.”

At that, Roman let out a bitter chuckle. “Trust me, with a woman like her, you need to cover all bases.”

“In my family, we don't believe in divorce. You marry for life, even if you don't love the person you're basically tying yourself to forever.”

“Is that what your father told you?”

“I was told what was expected of me from the moment my father promised me to Luca. I was to always respect him and give him children. The rest didn't matter.”

Roman shifted his gaze to look away, just as a shadow crossed his face. Alessandra wondered if her mention of Luca was the reason for it, but didn’t dare ask.

Deciding not to open any more cans of worms, she placed her head on his chest and closed her eyes. Eventually, his rhythmic heartbeats lulled her to sleep.

When she woke up two hours later, she was alone in bed. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she stood and headed out of the cabin. Roman was sitting at the bar in the living area, talking to a pretty brunette in a blue-and-white uniform. The woman smiled at him, and Alessandra's stomach twisted with a sudden feeling of unease. Realizing she was being irrational, she walked into the room and tried to keep the jealousy from showing on her face.

The brunette noticed Alessandra, and after addressing a few more words to Roman, took her leave.

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