Page 31 of Unstable

She stared at him for a moment then nodded. “Right.”

He opened the door for her, and Irina headed to her bedroom while he cut across the living room toward the front door. He was two steps away when the knock came, and he peered through the peephole at the young man under the portico.

He opened the door just enough that his body filled the space. “Groceries?”

The young man nodded. “Irina Incardona?”

It was the second time that day her name had been used in conjunction with his, and it still sounded strange. Roman nodded. “That’s us.”

He followed the young man out to his car and helped carry in two cases of water as well as various grocery bags full of items. Once he’d double-checked everything, the young man ran his credit card and finalized the transaction. Roman had taken one step toward the door when the kid’s voice stopped him.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” The man held out a drugstore bag, and Roman reached for it just as Irina came barreling down the hall.

Clad in a wide-brimmed hat and giant sunglasses, she snatched the bag from the kid’s fingers with a brilliant smile. “I’ll take that. Thank you so much.”

Roman watched in disbelief as she turned abruptly and fled back toward her room. Shaking off the strangeness of the situation, he turned back to the kid. The young man remained frozen in place, his eyes glued to Irina’s backside as she moved away from them. Something settled over Roman when he saw him watching her, and he tensed, every muscle in his body going completely rigid. He cleared his throat hard, and the kid jumped, his gaze snapping back to Roman’s.

“I, uh… Thank you, sir.”

He bolted for the front door, and Roman locked up behind him with a slight shake of his head. He seriously doubted the kid had recognized her in her crazy beach get-up. More than likely it was just seeing Irina in a swimsuit that had scrambled the kid’s brain.

Truth to tell, Roman didn’t blame him one bit, because she did the same thing to him.

CHAPTER

TWELVE

The sand squished beneath her feet, giving way and sucking her in, like the mud near the riverbank she had played on as a kid. It was the whitest sand she had ever seen—the only sand she had ever seen in person—and she marveled at the way it stretched from one end of the beach to the other.

The breeze picked up, and she placed one hand on her hat to keep it from blowing away. The sun was hot on her skin, reminding her that it had been too long since she had taken any time to do something for herself. With Roman’s rigid security measures, she wasn’t sure how often they would be able to go out, and she was determined to make the most of the moment.

She increased her pace, eager to get down to the ocean. The sight had literally taken her breath away. It was so vast, so wide, that it seemed never-ending. Parts of it were navy, other areas green, and some closest to the shore were aquamarine. Tiny shells pricked at her feet as she made her way across the sand, but she brushed off the pain and continued, not wanting anything to strip the joy from this moment.

Roman hovered just a few feet away, and she practically ran into the surf. She sucked in a breath as the cool water lapped over her feet and ankles, making her dance backwards out of the way.

“Oh! It’s cooler than I thought it would be.”

Roman gazed out at the ocean. “By the end of summer, it’ll be much warmer.”

She nodded. It was the same as the creek that ran behind the trailer park where she had grown up. The runoff from the mountains filled the rivers and streams during the spring and early summer, but by the end of the season, it warmed to almost bathwater temperature. She turned back to him. “Can we walk a little bit?”

Though he didn’t move, she knew he was taking in every single detail of their surroundings. Finally, he gave her a curt nod. “That should be fine.”

They had locked up the house before coming down here, so she knew their things were safe enough inside. Even down here at the beach, only a few dozen people were visible lounging or playing on the bright white sand.

“Which direction?”

He glanced up and down the beach. “Doesn’t matter. The island is only about seven miles long, and we’re just north of the midpoint.”

She pursed her lips and shielded her eyes, glancing in each direction. Finally, she pointed north. “Let’s go this way today. Maybe tomorrow we’ll check out the southern strip.”

Silently, Roman fell into step beside her, and they walked on, lost in thought for several minutes. A half mile or so up the beach, a cute little bistro sat along the shoreline. Shell pink with white trim, it had a deck off the back for patrons to view the sunset while they ate. “There’s food close by if we want to go out.”

Roman shook his head. “We’re supposed to be lying low.”

She suppressed a huff. She didn’t know why she had hoped things would be different here. She bit down on her tongue to keep a sharp retort from escaping. The idea of a fake honeymoon had definitely sounded better in theory because the reality was looking pretty crappy so far. She drew in a deep breath. Her anger at Roman was misguided. She knew he was just following orders, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. “So, basically nothing has changed? Different house, same guard, same rules?”

Roman side-eyed her from behind his mirrored sunglasses. “Basically.”