11
“S o, he’s nice?”
Alessandra frowned down at the dress shirt in her hands. She tried to remember what color it had been when she’d put it in the washing machine. She didn’t think it had been light blue.
Crap.
Had it been blue?
She glanced back at the laundry basket, her eyes landing on one of her dresses. It was brand new and… bright blue.
Double crap.
Why did she ever think it was a good idea to try her hand at doing laundry when she hadn’t done it before? At home, they had maids doing it. But since moving in with Roman, he hadn’t mentioned anything about hiring help, except for a cook who was supposed to start in a couple of days.
“You there?”
Her attention snapped back to the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, where Mia was still talking to her.
“Sorry, I’m here.”
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“What question?”
“About your husband. He seems nice from what you’ve been telling me.”
Alessandra stood, taking the laundry basket with her. She set it down on the wooden counter covering the washing machine and dryer. “Yeah, he’s okay.”
Mia paused for a beat before speaking again in a lower voice. “You didn’t tell me about your wedding night.”
Alessandra glanced at the ironing board, sawing her bottom lip as she contemplated how much she wanted to share with her friend. “He was… considerate, I guess.”
“Did it hurt?”
“A little.”
“But he didn’t force you, or anything?”
“No.”
“Did you enjoy it?”
She sighed. “What’s with the inquisition?”
Mia let out an amused breath. “Don’t answer a question with another question.”
Alessandra moved her gaze away from the ironing board because no, she didn’t need to screw up some more. She turned off the lights and stepped out into the hallway. “Are you done interrogating me?”
“No.”
She rolled her eyes as she headed for the bedroom. “If you must know, I did enjoy it. Satisfied?”
“No. What’s he like in bed? Does he have a big dick?”
“Mia!” Alessandra hissed, scandalized.
The other girl laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I wouldn’t even know. It’s not like I have something to compare it with.”
“He’s tall and has some nice muscles on him, so I’m just going to assume he has an equally attractive dick.”
Alessandra laughed back, plopping down on the bed, her body bouncing up slightly as it met the mattress.
“I saw your mom at lunch yesterday. She seemed… concerned. Have you talked to her yet?”
“I called her the day after the wedding. I tried to tell her that I was fine, but I don’t think she really believed me.”
“Maybe you should pay her a visit.”
“Yeah, I’ll talk to Roman about it.”
She’d thought about visiting her family, but hadn’t yet dared to touch the subject with her husband. It had only been a little over a week since the wedding, and she wasn’t sure how her request would be received, so she had decided to wait a little longer.
The sound of a car pulling in the driveway filled the lovely quietness of the bedroom.
She sat up and walked over to the windows to see who it was.
Roman stepped out of his Mercedes, dressed in one of his suits, sans the jacket.
He headed for the front door, and Alessandra decided to cut short her chat with Mia.
“Hey, can I call you back later? Roman is home.”
“Sure. Take care.”
After hanging up, she headed out of the room, taking the stairs down to the ground floor. Roman was in the foyer, studying an envelope from the bank that had appeared in the mail that morning. He looked up at the sound of her bare feet hitting the steps.
“Hey,” Alessandra greeted with a smile. “You’re home early.”
She hadn’t seen him since the night before when they’d had a late dinner together.
Her eyes quickly scanned his broad frame, lingering for only a second below his belt buckle on the bulge she was becoming quite acquainted with.
Feeling her cheeks turn red, she met his eyes and tried to chase away thoughts of her conversation with Mia about her emerging sex life.
“I’m on my way to one of the nightclubs,” he said. “But first, I need to pick up something from the study.”
She nodded, not even bothering to ask what that something was, knowing it was none of her business.
He walked over to give her a quick peck on the lips, and she fought the impulse to wrap her arms around his neck and deepen it. “What were you doing?”
“Laundry.”
His lips curved up. “Laundry?”
“Yeah, the hamper was full.” She shrugged then gave him a sheepish look. “I was wondering… do you happen to have any light-blue dress shirts?”
Roman looked at her for a long moment. His smile widened a little as he seemed to realize why she was asking that. “One or two, but I’m pretty sure I left them at the apartment. What did you do?”
“I may have mixed one of your white shirts with my blue dress?” She gave him an apologetic smile. “I think the color came off.”
Roman chuckled, and she was a bit relieved that he didn’t seem upset about it. “I’ll ask Annika to show you how to use the washing machine.”
“Annika?”
“The cook I hired.”
“Ah.”
“What? he asked. “You want to hire someone to do it?”
“No,” she said quickly, not wanting him to think that she was lazy. “I mean, I have the time. I can clean and wash and whatever else needs to be done around the house. If Annika can give me some pointers, that would be great.”
Roman nodded. He watched her for a second longer before heading down the hall to the study, the envelope still in his hand. Alessandra watched him leave then padded quietly into the kitchen for a cold glass of water.
She was at the sink, washing a dirty bowl she’d left there in the morning when Roman entered the kitchen, the envelope from the bank replaced with a manila one.
“I won’t be home for dinner,” he told her as she closed the tap and turned around to face him.
She fought the disappointment washing over her, trying to hide it behind a smile. “Okay.”
It seemed Roman was more intuitive than she’d given him credit for. He put the envelope on the island top then grabbed her waist. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just thought that maybe we could order pizza and watch a movie. But you’re busy, and it’s fine. I get it.”
“You want to watch a movie?”
She shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. “One night, yeah, that would be nice.”
They were doing the whole marriage thing wrong, but she didn’t know how to verbalize that to him.
Even though they were having sex every night and sometimes in the morning too, they still barely knew each other.
The physical attraction was there, and it was plenty.
Emotionally, they weren’t even close to forming any kind of bond.
Alessandra hated that. She’d envisioned her life as a wife a little differently.
Now that she knew Roman wasn’t as bad as she’d feared, hope rekindled in her chest—timid, but it was present.
She wanted to love and be loved. She craved it.
For her sake and her future children’s, she would fight for a chance at true happiness.
“How about we do that tomorrow evening?” Roman offered. “I’ll try to get home early, and we can order takeout—whatever you want. I’ll even let you pick the movie.”
Her lips twitched a little, though she was pleasantly surprised by his proposal. “What if I want to watch Barbie?”
“Is that a movie?”
“Yeah. Guess what it’s about.”
“No trashy movies,” he said more sternly, but she could see the amusement reflecting in his eyes. “Pick something with a little action so I don’t fall asleep five minutes in.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a man.”
He smacked her ass lightly. “Is that supposed to be an insult?”
“Ow. Yes.”
He laughed quietly, letting go of her with a brief kiss and picking up the manila envelope. “I’ll see you later if you’re not asleep by the time I come back.”
She let her gaze wander over the line of his shoulders, his back, and lower to his backside as he walked out of the kitchen. Damn him and his good looks . Alessandra had the sudden feeling it was going to be too easy to fall for a man like him.
She only hoped it would be worth it.