The Promise (Darkest Lies Trilogy Book 2) by Bethany-Kris (fiction book recommendations .txt) 📕

over the course of their many phone conversations that while Karine loved the lodge, the property full of dense wilderness, and the safe space it allowed her, she also liked to just ... be. Sitting under a tree with a blanket, curled in bed watching the fire crackle in the fireplace. But she wasn’t the active type.

A stroll was great, long walks ... not so much.

“Anyway,” Karine said, drawing him from his thoughts. “Michelle and I, we went for a walk around the lake right after breakfast, then we kept talking and talking, and lost track of time.”

He did chuckle at that. “So, did you really mind all the walking if you lost track of time?”

“Listen.”

His next laugh came out full force, and Karine quickly joined in. It made Roman happy to hear that dance in her voice, a chirpy sweetness he hoped meant that she was still taking the distance between them better than he’d expected. If he was honest, though, he got a strong impression that her sessions with the psychiatrist were making a huge difference in the ways Karine approached different things.

“What did you talk about today?” he asked, making her scoff playfully in response.

“You know I’m not gonna talk about that. Nice try.”

“Ugh, straight to the heart, Karine,” he said. Then, just as fast, Roman added, “Just kidding.”

Fact was, he didn’t push her to discuss the things she talked about with Michelle. Karine had made it clear shortly after he’d left Vermont that the woman suggested she didn’t unless she was truly ready to, and he didn’t think she was.

That was fine.

Mostly.

Roman wasn’t a liar.

Or he was trying real hard not to be.

Karine only laughed at his joke, but that was because she hadn’t heard the slight dip in his tone. Thankfully. Just because he was letting her call the shots didn’t mean he was comfortable with every choice she made. He did wish she would tell him what was on her mind all the time—every single secret Michelle had managed to pull from the depths of her mind. Only so he could try and figure her out, understand Karine better, maybe.

But they weren’t his secrets to know.

And he already had enough of his own.

As Karine chatted on, telling him about the things they’d found on a new trail, his thoughts wandered to the fact that he was hiding something crucial from her, as well. He hadn’t told Karine about the fire. No official statement of Maxim’s death had been made—sure—but that didn’t change what they believed. Her father was most likely dead.

Most definitely dead.

That would be a loaded statement, the very second it came out of his mouth, because he knew what would come next. It was inevitable. She would eventually ask him who had done it, and Roman would have to lie to her again.

He hated that.

“Anyway, then Jimmy, you know, the—”

“Mmhmm, the bull,” Roman interjected, refusing to delve into his thoughts more than he already had. Fuck it. He should just enjoy his chance to talk to Karine, and not issues that he couldn’t currently handle.

Karine continued, “Yeah, him. He was like a kid, I swear it. Running up to us with two shotguns, looking like a madman with a smile on. You should have seen Michelle’s face, Roman. I died. She was ready to bolt—I don’t think she’s come that close to a gun before.”

It was her soft giggle that made his grin grow wide in an instant. He loved that sound. Every time he doubted himself, or felt like he didn’t know what he was doing—that he was risking everything for the sake of a woman he couldn’t even have at the moment—he reminded himself of these conversations. How she laughed, the way she could be bubbly and sweet, despite everything.

If that wasn’t strength, what was?

“Why did he have two shotguns?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“He was going to teach me how to shoot skeets.”

She didn’t contain the excitement in her voice, and that alone was wonderful, but Roman felt a surge of petty jealousy. All the same, there it was.

He did not wear that monster well.

A part of him believed his parents were to blame—that from the second he was born, despite having an older sister, he might as well have been an only child. They spoiled him. Gave him things, told him they were his, and never once expected Roman to share.

So, he didn’t.

Ever.

Well, apparently that shit had translated into his romantic life as well because the jealousy was real. He wasn’t given much of a choice but to share Karine’s time and attention when he couldn’t be there to fill up every second of her damn days.

Roman knew Jimmy—the guy was decent. He trusted the man to get the job done and keep Karine safe, but he’d never discussed socializing with her. In fact, he’d told all the bulls to leave her alone unless she made the first step to close the bridge. The rationale behind that was she was free to do whatever she wanted, as long as she wanted to do it. If Jimmy and she were becoming friends, and she was comfortable with a particular bull, then Roman had no say in it.

And it wasn’t a bad thing, his father had pointed out to him when he dared to bring it up to the man. If she felt more comfortable with a particular bull, it could make things better for her in many ways.

Demyan wasn’t wrong.

Roman just didn’t like it.

There was that monster—again.

Besides, the more she engaged in these things, the more distracted she was going to be from his absence. However, the alternative reality where she enjoyed shooting skeets and laughing with one of the bulls—he practically buzzed with envy.

Not that he let it show.

“And how’d it go?” Roman asked.

“The lesson?”

“Yeah, babe.”

“Not too bad,” she replied, a smile coloring up her words brightly. He couldn’t see it, but he swore he could hear it. “I hit a couple. Jimmy said I was a natural,