Page 6 of The Marriage

“Well, I want to anyway,” Karine said, stretching her hand toward his.

Roman hesitated to pass her the cigarette that she’d wanted to try at first, but because she didn’t ask the second time—I want to, she said, not let me—he gave her the nicotine stick. Passing it carefully from between his fingers to hers.

He didn’t want his bad habits tainting her, honestly. She was precious to him. More precious than money or any of his possessions ever could be. The woman also had a mind of her own, and could do whatever she wanted to do—he wouldn’t control those things.

Not that he didn’t like the sight of the cigarette between her plush lips when she pulled in her first drag. Or the way she watched him while she did it.

Karine had never smoked a cigarette before, and it was obvious when that first drag led to a coughing fit that melted into more laughter. It didn’t take long, however, before she’d figured the task out and was passing the smoke back and forth to share the rest with him.

“You know what else we should get while we’re here?” he asked, watching her take another pull from the cigarette. “Just for fun one night.”

“What?”

“Edibles. You get the best kind in Vegas, I swear.”

Karine snorted at that, passing him a look. “Numb and high, a state I know well.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

She shrugged, unbothered, saying with a devilish grin, “I know.”

She had a dark sense of humor with a twist that he sometimes didn’t see coming until it was too late. Roman’s dark chuckles only had her preening at him when he rolled over to reach for her, cupping Karine’s cheek in his palm.

He constantly wanted to touch her.

Especially now.

“If you do want something,” he told her, “all I need to do is make a call, and they’ll have it brought up. Whatever it is, that’s their job.”

And he paid a lot for the convenience.

Karine reached for his wrist, pulling him closer to her so he could hear her say, “I kinda want to, but I don’t like the idea of you leaving my side. Even for a second.”

Right.

They were never quite gone from that—the fear lingering somewhere in the back of her mind, and refusing to let go. No matter how hard he tried to make it so.

Roman let out a slow breath, accepting the cigarette she passed back to him without a word. Falling to his back, he tried to figure out a way to break it to her that this wasn’t going to last.

Their honeymoon, that was.

This fairytale.

Just because they had managed to distance themselves away from all the danger, and the reality of their lives for a few days, didn’t mean it was altogether gone. They couldn’t keep running—well, he couldn’t, anyway.

Roman just needed a bit of time to make plans work before he was ready to face what would be waiting for him on the other side.

“I don’t want to leave your side either, Karine,” he finally said, rolling over to crush what remained of the cigarette to the ashtray on the floor. “Everything’s better like this.”

Karine folded an arm underneath her head and sighed, her gaze settling back on the ceiling. At least, she appeared relaxed and satisfied. Like a woman with not a single care in the world.

How she should be ...

If only.

“How about we try the oysters?” he suggested, sitting up.

He didn’t want to keep thinking about how time was ticking away in the background, minutes counting down into hours they would never get back. If they continued like this, he would have to fuck her again just to get his mind off those depressive thoughts. Not that the sex was something to complain about, but he couldn’t keep using Karine like a drug whenever he needed something to help him deal.