The kind of moment that ignited the next, which would lead to the next and the next until, eventually, everything would fall apart.
Everything always fell apart.
Chapter Two
Before
Three Days Later…
Roman Dvornakov didn’t much care for coming home to Denver for extended periods of time.
He had a gig taking photos for Uncle Sam and he loved it. He and his camera, Louise—yes, he’d named her. No, he didn’t think it was weird. Louise went through all the shit with him and came out on the other side. She may have been a camera, but they were a team.
Once he’d taken off for basic, he hadn’t looked back toward Denver. His future was with his career, the military, and Louise. That’s where he liked to keep his focus.
Eye on the prizeor whatever cliché bullshit that was.
This time, coming home hadn’t sucked quite so hard. Probably because he spent the majority of his last weekend in town with a pretty brunette who had a penchant for driving his blood pressure up with conversation and, well, other things, too.
“I just think that if you’re going to call it one of the blockbuster movies of the summer, then it should actually be a good movie.” Her hips swayed where his hand lay against her waist as they walked out of the theater.
“I didn’t hate it.” He hadn’t actually liked it, either.
“I’ll never get those hours of my life back,” Sadie said with a huff.
Yeah, he’d heard that loud and clear when she’d announced her intention to leave several times throughout the show.
In the end, she’d convinced herself to stay each time. See the thing through. He’d had such a good time watching her argue with herself, he’d figured it was worth the price of admission.
“Maybe by ‘blockbuster,’ they just meant the amount of money the movie made.” She started talking with her hands like she always did when she entered into a Sadie-debate with herself.
Roman gave her side a little squeeze. “Or maybe by ‘blockbuster,’ they mean the movie’s just okay.”
“That makes no sense. They have to have a reason for why they called it that. So it’s either quality or money. Those are the only two things that make sense.” She threw her hands wide.
The thing was, he figured Sadie’s fire would eventually fizzle out if he didn’t engage. He had a sister who got riled up, and a mother who gotmoreriled up, and his grandmother? He shivered.
He didn’t claim to understand women. No, not at all. But he understood, in this situation, the best case was to simply let Sadie go on about whatever got stuck in her nerves. If his hunch was correct, she’d eventually let it go and focus on something else.
She was the only person he knew who could accomplish such a solid debate without anyone else being involved.
“I think they should clarify their advertisements,” she went on. “Hey, come see our movie! It makes lotsa money, but we half-assed the cinematography.”
He gave a throaty laugh. “I’d buy a ticket to that movie.”
“You already did, so you don’t count.” Her mouth moved into a smile then. The kind of smile he hoped meant she was over her tizzy and would now release her tension another way.
A better way.
The bedroom way.
Although, that way didn’t have to include a bed. Sadie was inventive, that was for sure.
He was all on board with wherever they landed.
They circled around the large fountain outside the theater.
“I love fountains,” she said, wistful.
