Page 56 of Between Us

The sales manager's smile almost dropped from her face.Almost. “Sure. What don't you like about this one?”

Alessandra got out, rearranged her purse over her hip and shrugged innocently. “It's pretty, but I want to see something else.”

The other woman nodded tightly. “I think I have another model that could interest you.”

She walked away, and Alessandra was about to follow when a hand coiled around the back of her neck, keeping her in place. Roman's warm breath brushed against her ear. “Behave.”

“I didn't do anything.”

He nipped her ear. “Lie to me again and I'll spank your ass red.”

She gave him a smile when he released her. “So touchy.”

Ignoring her remark, Roman pressed his hand to the small of her back and gave her a small push, urging her forward.

Twenty minutes later, they were closing the deal on the RS5.

Stepping out of the dealership with ninety thousand dollars less in his bank account, Roman reached for Alessandra, his fingers wrapping around her shoulder. “You happy?”

Her arms went around his waist as they headed toward Roman’s car. “Very. Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

She paused beside the car. “Can we have lunch together?”

He checked the time on his watch. “I can spare another hour, maybe a little more.”

As Roman drove them to a restaurant, Alessandra put her hand on top of his on her thigh. For the first time in almost two weeks, she felt content—blissfully so.

“Guess what?” she told Roman after a few minutes.

“What?”

“I washed your shirts this morning, and I didn’t ruin a single one.”

His chest rumbled with laughter. “Is that so?”

She beamed up at him, feeling weirdly proud of herself. “Yep.”

“That’s great, baby.”

“Also, Nika showed me how to makekartoshka. I’ll trymy hand at it one of these days.”

Roman laughed again, no doubt at her butchering the word. “Can’t wait to eat it.”

“It looked easy enough, so I don’t think I’ll ruin it.”

“You seem to be getting better at his housewife thing.”

Even though she knew he was joking, she slapped his arm anyway. “Hey, don’t get used to it. It’s only temporary until I start college. Then I’ll turn into a career woman, and you’ll have to hire someone to do the house chores.”

“You wanna get a job?”

The smile faded from her face, afraid she’d ruined a playful conversation. “I don’t know. Maybe. Would that bother you?”

He seemed to consider it. “If it would make you happy, then no.”

“Really?”

---