Page 54 of His Smile
Roman bit down a curse as he watched insecurity settle intoboth women’s eyes. Neither Mikhail nor Alexei had bothered to explain just whoexactly their wives were going to be introduced to tonight. When he arrived,Roman had fought off both women’s inquiring questions about the mystery girltheir husbands had been telling them about. Roman had gone along with it,partly enjoying their curiosity and thinking Rahina would arrive in her usualafter practice clothing and introduce herself to the women. Now all three menwatched with discomfort as Mikhail’s young seven-month pregnant wife andAlexei’s disheveled wife, who had spent the entire afternoon cooking for all ofthem, stared at the beautiful dancer who knew their husbands on a first namebasis. Leave it to Rahina to turn his plan upside down.
Alexei cleared his throat at the awkwardness in the room.“This is my wife, Christelle.”
Reaching over Alexei's shoulder, Christelle offered a smileas she shook Rahina's hand. "I think I have seen you on TV.”
Rahina was about to reply just as Misha chimed in. “I havetoo, you’re going to be in the new play with Yuri Gosev, right?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Rahina nodded, pulling out the chair inbetween him and Misha to sit down. “You look so familiar; do I know you? Didyou go to St. Helen's Catholic school? I can hardly remember my graduatingclass; I swear I am always running into people I went to school with but can’tremember.”
Roman laughed, and Mikhail shot him a dark look. Misha wasfar too young to have graduated with Rahina. Roman took great pleasure inprovoking the stoic bastard about the young wife he practically raised.
“No,” Misha’s curly hair bounced as she shook her head witha smile. “But I know Yuri, I performed with him once.”
Realization struck Rahina as she sat up straighter with anexcited smile. "The violinist!" she exclaimed. "I knew Irecognized you from somewhere when I was looking up some of Yuri's pastperformances, I came across yours with him. This is wonderful.”
“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” Christelleannounced.
“I would offer to help but…” Rahina made a grimacing face.“I have been told by numerous people my cooking is abysmal,” Rahina laughed,crossing her legs in her chair.
It felt as if every eye in the room magnetized to thedancer’s long legs as she adjusted, Roman observed with a scowl. Looking up, heeven noted Mosca, who was standing dutifully by the kitchen entrance, turninghis gaze away.
“Are you sure you don’t want this?” Christelle interruptedhis thoughts, offering him an ice pack.
“Yes, he does,” Rahina insisted, standing up to take the icepack from Christelle. “Thank you.”
Not waiting for his approval, Rahina stood next to him andpressed the ice pack to his face, ignoring his wince. Standing up to go helphis wife in the kitchen, Alexei left them both to themselves at the far end ofthe table.
“I feel like an overdressed giraffe,” Rahina whispered. “Whydidn’t you tell me this was going to be informal, I would have changed before Igot here?”
Wrapping a hand around the back of her thigh, Roman resistedthe urge to slide it up the length of the strong tapered muscle and squeeze.“Since you only seem to dress this way for other men, I assumed you would befine.”
He could feel her body tense beneath his hand, and he tiltedhis head back to give her a provoking smile.
“How many times must I apologize for that?” she hissed.
“When we get home tonight, I will tell you just how many.”he promised, enjoying the look of sexual awareness color her eyes.
Pressing her lips together to hold back a smile, she grabbedhis hand and replaced it where hers was previously holding the ice pack to hisface and turned neatly in place facing Christelle at the kitchen counter.
“Umm, I feel a little overdressed,” Rahina gestured to heroutfit. “Is there any way I can run down to my car and grab my gym bag andchange into some extra clothes I have.”
Christelle gave her a large smile in return. “Sure, you canuse the restroom next to the nursery. The door should be open.”
When she reemerged later dressed in a wrinkled loose-fittingshirt and a pair of tights Roman could swear, he heard an audible sigh ofrelief somewhere in the room. Dinner went exactly how he expected it afterthat, the women kept the conversation going and occasionally asked for themen’s input. It was pleasant, Roman realized. Sitting down like this talkingand surrounded by smiles and laughter—it felt like something only he childhooddreams contrived. But he knew he didn’t deserve it, to ask for this would betesting fate. Watching Alexei laugh at something his wife said or watchingMikhail as he silently stared at his pregnant wife with a tenderness no memberof the bratva should ever be able to possess.
Maybe for them. But Roman wasn’t a fool.
Devils had no right to dance with angels.
~*~
“I really enjoyed talking to Misha and Christelle,” Rahinacalled out from the bathroom where she stood freshly showered and combing outher hair in front of the vanity. She was wearing a plain black satin nightgown.
When she came back to the dinner donned her in the lookRoman dubbed as her “mushroom look” the awkward tension that Rahina noticedinitially seemed to disappear. Which was totally understandable in hindsight,she realized, both women were just introduced to some strange woman both oftheir husbands had previously met. If she was in their place, she would haveprobably been more than just a little awkward, she would have drug Roman off byhis ear for some explanations. The sudden visual stilled her, did she justimagine Roman as her husband in that scenario?
Looking up at the mirror, she caught Roman's gaze as hestood wearing only a pair of gray lounge pants leaning on the bathroom doorwaywatching her. The bruising at his eye and lip was much darker now.
Setting down the comb, she turned and crossed her arms,leaning back against the counter. “Are you going to tell me now, just whoexactly you were fighting and why?”
