Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“I’m sure you’re right.”
But again, the niggle of doubt entered her mind, and she couldn’t push it away. It was there, rooted in her mind, not giving up or letting go.
****
“This is progress,” Antonio said, pointing at them.
They sat close together, holding hands. The moment Roman sat down, he’d moved closer to Alex, and she had done the same. Their knees were touching, and their hands were locked together.
Roman was worried about looking at her.
Today had gone so well with the kids. They’d been excited about him bringing the beach to them. Some had complained there were no sharks, but he considered that a good thing, seeing as sharks meant death. Several of the guys and even a few of the girls were fascinated by sharks and would often be watching them on television, especially documentaries.
He had to find them all new hobbies.
The guardians were still in residence and had been the whole time, and he’d left them alone to go find Alex, to let her know he had a lawyer looking into the adoption process, when he heard her talking to Millie.
She suspected him.
Alex wasn’t stupid, and he was fast coming to realize that. He hadn’t had a chance to talk to his friends about what he’d overheard. This wasn’t good for him.
Liam had raised a very astute daughter. He couldn’t be angry because the truth was, his feelings toward her and his actions were mixed.
He was trying to get her to fall in love with him at the order of his father. The adoption, licking her pussy, and enjoying spending time with her, that was real. Roman also knew why she had her doubts. He hadn’t been a very nice guy to her in the beginning.
His anger should have been directed at his father and Liam, but instead, like a fucking idiot, he’d directed it at his wife.
The first couple of months of their marriage, he hadn’t said anything nice to her. He’d not had the time for her. He’d done everything he could to ignore her. But what he hadn’t done was cheat on her. There were no other women. Just Alex.
Not even his hand.
Sex had been the furthest thing from his mind as he’d been dealing with Liam and all the new problems having a new tie to the Greco name incurred.
“We’re good students,” Alex said.
Antonio nodded and took a seat.
He waited for Marlo and Cash to stand up, to give their orders.
Nothing.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked.
“We’ve been trying this for a week now, and we’ve come a great deal, but we’ve been talking,” Marlo said, pointing between himself, Cash, and Antonio. “And we don’t think we’re the ones who can help you guys. You two need to want this. We’ve given you all the pointers to help. The constant touching, kissing, dancing, and just being in each other’s company, but the rest of it has to come from the two of you. And we can’t do that for you.”
His friends got to their feet, and then they started to walk toward the stairs. “We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us,” Cash said.
And like that, he was alone in the basement with his wife.
“Wow,” Alex said.
“Yeah, wow.”
They were still holding hands and still sat close to each other. Roman didn’t have a fucking clue what to do.
“We have one week to get this right,” Alex said.
“No, we don’t,” Roman said. “Look at how far we’ve come already. I don’t want us to put too much pressure on ourselves. There’s no need to.” He forced a smile to his lips. “We’ll be ourselves next week. There’s no reason to panic.”
Alex frowned. “That’s a new … tactic.”
“Not a tactic. I don’t want to play a role to anyone else.” Roman let go of her hands and got to his feet. He watched as she stifled a yawn. “And you’re tired.”
“I’m fine. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
Again, she tried to stifle a yawn.
“Go to bed, that’s an order.”
She rolled her eyes again.
“I’ll put that down on the board.”
She chuckled, and he looked toward the board at their names as well as their weaknesses. Roman walked over and rubbed it all off.
Making his way to the main house, he closed the basement door and found his friends in the small study, sipping bottles of beer.
“Sneaking it in again?” Roman asked.
“Someone has to. There is no hard stuff here but a can of soda,” Cash said. “Want one?”
Roman shook his head. He stopped drinking beer years ago. He was a scotch man himself.
“Alex suspects what we’re doing,” Roman said. “What I’m doing.”
“Which part?” Antonio asked.
“Manipulating her to fall in love with me,” Roman said.
“How?” Marlo asked.
“I don’t know how she knows, but I heard her talking to Millie today.”
“Oh,” Cash said.
“Yeah, oh. I can only guess that Liam has taught her to be cautious of everyone and everything.”