Page 107 of The Marriage

“He told him to tell you that he did love you.”

“I know he did,” she replied soft and fast. “In his own way. And it must have been so lonely.”

Demyan’s words about Maxim’s fear that his love was something like a cancer eating away at people he didn’t want to hurt ... well, maybe that held some weight.

“You’ll be able to say goodbye, in a way.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Karine dragged in a shaky breath, just the one, and then asked, “Are you going to ask me why I left with my father?”

“I suspect you had your reasons.”

“But you won’t ask?”

“You’ve made it clear, Karine, that you can and want to make your own decisions.”

And he didn’t have to like them.

She wouldn’t always like his, after all.

“I thought I would be free.”

Roman didn’t reply because mostly, he didn’t know what to say to that. Of him—of life? What did she want to be free of? Maybe just didn’t want the answer.

Roman fished the pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket, sticking a smoke between his lips as Karine said, “And I also wondered what it would be like to be free. I wasn’t sure if you considered our marriage to be a real one. If Dima was dead and the war was over, I thought maybe it would mean the end of our marriage, too. I was scared to say it, but I did believe that.”

Roman lit the smoke, taking in a heavy drag and blowing it out to the ceiling as he eyed her in the shadows. “I married you because I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I understand if you want to be free. That you can see the world as endless possibilities right now, but I’m sure you only see one kind of life with me.”

It pained him to say it, to even give her the chance to walk away from him now. The truth was he didn’t know if she would take it. Maybe she didn’t plan on staying. Maybe committing her to the facility in Nevada was the last straw.

Hell, maybe she didn’t trust him anymore.

He’d deserve that.

Karine shook her head, her fingers curving around the edge of the wall as she leaned further out of the shadows, closer to him. “But I’ll never be free of you, Roman. You are the only man I’ve ever loved. That’s all I ever wanted.”

When her hand stretched out for him to take, he crossed the room to do just that. The urge to follow her anywhere was strong, even if it was to yet another unfamiliar bed.

He took another drag from the cigarette as she pulled him into the bedroom down the short hall where the French doors were pulled wide open.

“I don’t ever want to sleep in a hotel bed again,” he told her.

“So buy me a house, and I’ll find you a bed you’ll wanna sleep in every night.”

He didn’t doubt her. Roman liked that idea fine.

Karine dropped the hotel robe down her shoulders, showing off bare skin he’d spent so much time loving earlier. Just like that, his tongue watered, his dick got hard, and he thought he might be ready to go again. Even if every part of this tempting woman had been a lie that could have destroyed him, he still would have happily died just to get another taste.

“What happens now?” she asked him.

For once, he could smile when she asked him that question because the truth didn’t have to be scary. There were a lot of unknowns facing them, sure—he’d never deny that. The mess they had left behind just to stand here together now stretched from the city of Chicago to the bright lights of Vegas, and the gated suburbs of New York, New York.

He was still happy about it, though. Despite funerals to plan, and secrets still between them, what could be wasn’t at all frightening anymore.

“Whatever you want, Karine.”

She only shook her head at that, laughing like he was silly. Maybe he was; with her, who’d care?

“Don’t you know?” she asked him, her grin blooming wider than ever as she came to stand on her tiptoes in front of him. Close enough to kiss as she said, “I told you—I want you.”