Page 64 of The Marriage

Right.

Karine stood up, then, and waved at them.

Roman shook Sylvia’s hand before he walked over to his wife so he could take her in his arms and kiss her one more time.

They only had a little time—the rest could still wait.

*

“Is Sylvia pissed with us?” Karine asked as he held her in his arms, enjoying the heat of the sun beating on his face. The weather in Nevada in the colder months was nothing like New York.

“Fuck Sylvia,” Roman uttered, bending his head down to run his mouth over her neck with quick, peppered kisses.

She shivered with a giggle.

Standing in the garden, in the open for everyone to see, he didn’t care if it was inappropriate.

He was paying these people a lot of money to have Karine here, and he was done being lectured on what he could and couldn’t do with his wife.

How did this hurt her recovery? She couldn’t help herself but lean into him, to want him. And given how viciously he’d ripped himself apart over the last while at the idea she didn’t want him, he was all too happy to soak this up.

Karine did eventually pull away from his mouth with a breathless laugh. “I’m already embarrassed enough by last night—the girl who handles the desk blushed at me earlier. Stop it.”

“Don’t really want to.”

She gave him a half-hearted glare. “Well, try.”

“Or ... we can go somewhere else. There’s a path, let’s walk.”

That seemed to work for her. Roman weaved their hands together, and they started down along the cobblestone path.

Karine couldn’t stop peeking over at him, each time making her grin bloom even wider. Happiness gleamed in her eyes. He still couldn’t believe how much he loved her—how right she felt beside him.

With him.

“I thought you would be disappointed in me,” she said.

“I’ll never be disappointed in you, Karine. I’m proud of you, and I know I hurt you by bringing you here. The way I did it ... no excuses, babe, that was wrong. I should have had a conversation with you about it.”

She nodded. “Maybe. And maybe I would have still resisted. I didn’t really want that week to end, you know?”

He pulled her hand up to his mouth, and kissed her wiggling fingertips.

“I didn’t want it to end either, and I promise we’ll go away on a vacation. Somewhere far away with beaches and palm trees—white sand and ocean for days. Just as soon as all this is over.”

“You mean as soon as Dima stops looking for me?”

That stopped him in his tracks, and her, too. She turned to him, offering only a shrug to explain what she’d asked.

“When he stops looking—he’ll be dead,” Roman said frankly. She drew in a quick, shaky breath and he thought, now or never.

“Karine, there is something you need to know. Something about your father.”

Her smile sagged for a split second as she searched his eyes, and didn’t find something to calm her worry.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing to be—”