Page 69 of The Agreement

Really, she wasn’t thinking about Dima, or her father. Or anything else except the man touching her, for that matter. Even if that meant she was stupid to do so. All he had to do was say the words for Karine to agree, but Roman held back.

He hesitated, and she saw it.

Felt it, too.

“Is it because of my father?” she whispered.

His jaw worked hard, tensing over and over while his hands stilled on her body before he finally replied, “Partly.”

He didn’t want to overstep—but the boundaries were already fading into the distance, right? That was long gone, now.

Although, Karine wasn’t about to forget the fact that just seconds earlier, Roman touched her like he wasn’t afraid of having to answer for it. She willed that boldness from earlier to come back—that piece of herself that wasn’t afraid to ask him to taste her, touch her. If she asked now, would he fuck her, too?

She decided she would just say it, whether he said one thing and did another, but the sound of the door squeaking open to her side stopped Karine’s words right in their tracks. The restaurant’s emergency exit door.

Something snapped in her, dragging her back to a horrifying reality, and she forgot all about the courage building inside her. Roman came to the same conclusion she did, his reaction mirroring hers when Karine pulled away from him, and he didn’t stop her.

“Karine, are you out here?” came the call from the opened doorway.

It was Masha. The older woman stood silhouetted by the shadows at the door, peering into the darkness because she probably couldn’t see more than a couple of feet beyond her position.

Luckily.

Roman had slipped off to the side, further hidden in the shadows. She hoped Masha couldn’t see him when she stepped up quickly towards her nanny whose gaze affixed to her emerging figure through the darkness.

Masha’s brows furrowed—a mixture of worried and annoyance stared back. “What are you doing?”

The woman didn’t even attempt to hide the way she looked her over, taking in every imperfection she could manage. Karine brought her fingers up to her face, reminding herself how her makeup and hair was likely ruined. So was her dress, now.

She almost apologized for her state.

Almost.

Karine couldn’t find it in herself to care, though. Not after ... everything else. She was still riding a high of her own making—as precarious as it was.

“Sorry, I lost track of time ... and the rain,” she tried to say, the excuse already forming on the tip of her tongue.

Masha’s eyes grew narrower. “Just get inside—go to the bathrooms where you were supposed to be. I brought a bag of things in case we needed it. So we can fix all this. It’s nothing to worry about. Go on, now.”

Karine tried to smile, and at least appear grateful as she walked past in a hurry. She didn’t dare look back for Roman, hoping he would have enough good sense to remain where he couldn’t be seen until Masha had followed her inside.

She slipped beyond Masha in the open exit door, and once again, the sounds of the celebrations inside hit her. Apparently, that was what she needed to kill the high vibrating inside of her like the wings of a hummingbird.

Just like that.

It all vanished into thin air.

But it wasn’t that simple, and just because the feeling was gone didn’t mean her memories were. A shudder ran down Karine’s spine as hot tears stung the backs of her eyelids. The kiss might be over, and it would likely never happen again, but she could still feel it.

And Roman.

If only that meant something.

Except it couldn’t.

FOURTEEN

“She is spoken for.”