by Eve, Melody
Not that that would be the end of the world. I love sleeping with Roman, but I need some time to decompress and let my life catch up to me. I’ve been gone so long I can hardly wait to get back to work tomorrow.
I turn on every light in my new apartment and walk around taking it all in. I didn’t have a chance a week ago when I was here before David barged in with his pictures and documents.
The remodel couldn’t have been more perfect. Everything right down to the leather pencil holder with intricate carvings on the desk in the living room is how I would have done it myself. I turn off the lights and check the locks on the door before going into my bedroom.
I change into a t-shirt and a pair of flannel shorts and brush my teeth in the ensuite bathroom that is twice the size it used to be. In fact, the whole apartment seems bigger. Maybe they pushed into the empty apartment next door and stole some square footage? I wouldn’t put it past Roman.
I pull back the beautiful jewel-toned comforter to crawl into bed and freeze. On my pillow is the photograph of Millie that David brought to show me last week. I left it on the dining room table, I’m almost positive. There’s no way it could have gotten under my comforter unless someone put it there.
Roman is the only other person with a key, but he would never do something like this. He would like nothing better than for me to forget I look like his deceased wife. He would never purposely remind me of her. But David would. How could he get in here?
I pick up the photo and take it back to the table where the envelope is still lying there closed with the little string wrapped around the toggles on the back. I open it to see if this is indeed the same picture, and it is. The only thing in the envelope are the papers showing Roman had been hospitalized.
I slide it back inside and carry the envelope to my closet where I have a small two-drawer file cabinet. I file it away in the folder with my taxes from last year.
Suddenly, I don’t feel one bit safe in this apartment. Someone has been in here, and if they got in once, they could do it again when I’m home. I consider calling Roman for a moment but decide against it. I don’t need him going all caveman on me and dragging me back to his house. He would never let me leave if he knew someone has access to my apartment.
I slip on a pair of old Converse and pull on a hooded sweatshirt. Without knowing where I’m going, I grab my bag that’s still sitting next to the door, disarm the alarm, and unlock the door. When I’m in the hall, I tap the Uber app on my phone and order one to take me to the nearest hotel. It’s close enough to walk, but not in the dark and not in this neighborhood. If a mugger didn’t kill me, Roman would when he found out.
I stand just inside the doors waiting when Mrs. Jenson, who lives down the hall, comes in from the street wearing her scrubs. She’s a nurse’s assistant at a nursing home nearby, and she’s just gotten off work. “Hi, Mrs. Jenson, how are you?” I ask.
“Oh my goodness, Aria. I thought you’d moved out. I haven’t seen you in weeks. Didn’t you get married to that nice baseball player?”
“Oh um, no, actually that didn’t work out after all. I still live here. I was on vacation, just got back tonight.”
“I’m so sorry, dear. He seemed like such a nice boy.”
“Mmm, he did seem like it, didn’t he? You haven’t seen him around lately, have you?”
She looks sympathetic as if she thinks I’m hoping he stopped by. “No, I’m sorry I haven’t seen him, but I’ve been working a lot, and I come home late.”
“That’s okay, I was just wondering. It was good seeing you. Don’t work so hard.”
“It was good to see you, too. I’m glad you didn’t move out, you’re such a good neighbor.”
“Aww, thanks. Oh, my ride is here. I have to go. Have a good night.”
“You too, dear. Welcome home.”
She limps down the hall to her apartment. She’s too old to be doing such hard work. I feel bad for her.
I open the door and wave at the Uber driver, so he knows I’m coming. One last look back at Mrs. Jenson to be sure she made it to her apartment, and I’m darting down the steps to hop into the car. I glance across the street at the Mercedes as we pull away and notice it turning on its lights and making a U-turn in the street to follow us.
Great, I’m leaving because I’m afraid of someone breaking in, and now someone is following me. “Hey, could you do me a favor and try to lose the Mercedes that’s following us?” I ask Jeff, my Uber driver for the evening. He looks in his rearview mirror, and his face pales before he glances at me and back at the road in front of us.
“Are you in some kind of trouble? I don’t want any trouble. This is my dad’s car he lets me drive to earn extra money. If anything happens to it, I’m screwed,” he says so fast I hardly understand him.
“Trouble? No, it’s nothing like that. Never mind just take me to the hotel. It’s fine, everything is fine.”
I don’t want this poor guy to wreck his dad’s Jeep because he got nervous. I’ll just hurry into the hotel and go to my room. Whoever is in that car can’t get to me there.
We pull up in front of the Shoreline Hotel, and I practically jump out before the car is stopped. The Mercedes is hanging back trying to go unnoticed. Too late, buster. I see you.
“Thanks,” I say slamming the door to Jeff’s father’s Jeep.
In the lobby, it occurs to me that they might not have a room available. I start chanting in my head please have a room, please have a room as I approach the desk.
“Good evening, miss,” the clerk says looking at my odd ensemble.
“Hi, I was wondering if you had any rooms available. I don’t have a reservation. I actually just saw a mouse in my apartment, and I left in a hurry.”
“Oh my, how horrible,” he says waving his hand in front of his face in a high-pitched rather feminine voice. I check his name tag and see that his name is Gregory. I like Gregory. Anyone who doesn’t like mice is a friend of mine. “I’ll find you something, honey. Don’t you worry,” he says clicking on his keyboard like finding me a room is a major emergency.
I watch his determined face staring at the screen and start to envy his beautiful platinum blond hair that is cut and styled with perfect accuracy. “Do you like to read, Gregory?” I ask thinking I’d like to see him in my bookstore adding diversity to my clientele.
I’m all about interesting customers. Average people are great, too, but when you mix them up with hot pink hair, tattoos, people dressed in native clothing and speaking different languages, you have my vision for Savage Books—a melting pot where we can all learn from books and each other.
“Yes, actually I really do. Why do you ask?”
“I own Savage Books down the street. You should stop in sometime. I’ll give you a discount.”
“Well, aren’t you just the cute little entrepreneur? Sure, honey, I’ll come by. I need a new romance to read anyway. Oh, here we go! You. Are. In. Luck! I have a cancellation. You don’t mind a double, do you?”
“Oh, no not at all.”
“Okay, perfect. I just need a credit card, and you’ll be all set, button.” He smiles cocking his head to the side and clasping his hands. Gregory is my favorite person in the world right now.
“Sure,” I dig out my American Express because it has no max, and I know it’s safe. “Here you go.”
“All righty, sign here, and here’s your key.” He slides a paper and the key card across the counter. I sign and push it back glancing toward the door for Mercedes man.
“You thinking that mouse followed you?” Gregory says in a hushed voice.
I laugh my nervous laugh which sounds a little like a wounded hyena. “Oh, no, of course not. Um, Gregory, could you do me a favor and not let anyone know I’m staying here?”
“Absolument, mon ami! Go, get some sleep. I won’t tell a soul you’re here.”
I lay my hand on the counter. “Thank you, thank you so much, Gregory. Your first book at Savage Books is on me.”
&n
bsp; “Yay!” he says clapping his hands together. I wave goodbye and head to the elevator. My room is on the tenth floor, nice and far away from the lobby where Mercedes guy can’t find me.
When I’m finally in bed, I pull my phone charger from my bag and absently connect my phone and drop it on the nightstand. My alarm is set, and I’m more than a little tired. I should be asleep the second my head hits the pillow.
Except that I’m not. Lying here in the dark, the list of questions in my head keeps getting longer and longer. Who was in my apartment? How did they get in? Are they planning to come back? I also can’t stop thinking about the man outside my building and how he knows Roman. What’s he up to? Is he a bodyguard, and if so, why? Does Roman suspect someone is watching me or following me? Maybe he’s just paranoid because, for the first time in six years, he won’t know where I’m at?
I flop from side to side trying to get comfortable, stuffing pillows under my head and yanking them out to throw on the floor. I could take a pain pill. It might make me sleepy, but I was starting to like the way they made me feel even when I wasn’t having any pain. I decided it was time to stop taking them before I got addicted.
I have to work in the morning, though, and I need my sleep. I roll over and turn on the light at the same moment someone bangs on my door. “Shit,” I blurt out to no one.
“Aria, I know you’re in there. Open this goddamn door before I kick it down!” Roman yells.
Dammit, Gregory, why didn’t you keep your word? I trusted you, dammit. I consider not opening the door, but I know better. Roman will, indeed, break down the door if I don’t open it.
“Hang on, my God. What is your problem?” I say opening the door to a red-faced wild man.
“Aria, you had better be in that room alone, or I’m about to go to prison for murder.”
“Alone? Of course, who the hell would be in here?”
“I don’t know. I just left you alone in your apartment on your way to bed, and Sam calls to tell me you left in an Uber and checked into a hotel. What the hell, Aria?”
I take his hand and pull him into the room holding my tongue. I want to yell that I’ll take an Uber wherever I want to wherever I want, but if I were him, I would be upset too.
“What’s wrong? Why did you leave?” he says scanning the room for who knows what.
I take a deep breath and hold it as I explain. “When I went to get into bed, the photo of Millie that David brought to me was on my pillow under the comforter. I’m sure I left it on the dining room table. I got spooked and decided to be safe and leave.”
“And you didn’t call me because?”
I release the breath. “Because you would have overreacted like you’re doing right now. I’m a grown woman, I can take care of myself.”
“I hardly think I’m overreacting. I need to know what’s going on with you, Aria. How else can I keep you safe?”
“You’re always talking about keeping me safe like I’m in the witness protection program. If you know something I don’t, now’s the time to tell me. Why are you so worried you hired someone to watch me outside my apartment?”
“I don’t like the hang-up calls you’ve been getting. That’s why Sam was watching you. And it’s a good thing he was, look what happened!”
“Nothing happened. I came to a hotel because I was alarmed to find a photo in my bed. I’m fine, see?” I say spreading my arms wide for him. He surprises me when his arms dart out to pull me into a fierce hug.
“I thought we understood each other in the car earlier,” he murmurs in my ear. “I need to know you’re safe because I cannot live without you. When I think of something, anything, happening to you, it makes me crazy.”
The torture in his voice makes me feel more than a little guilty. This man lost his wife and baby when he wasn’t home. I don’t know why I can’t keep that in the forefront of my mind. I keep upsetting him with my stubborn independence. Maybe we aren’t so good for each other after all.
“Roman…” I say tilting my head back, so I can look him in the eyes.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what? I haven’t said anything yet.”
“The way you said my name was enough.”
“Maybe this isn’t going to work. I’m used to being independent, and you’re fiercely protective. I don’t see how…”
“I said don’t,” he says with more authority this time. Before I know what’s happening, I feel the mattress hit the back of my knees. His mouth claims mine in a wild proclamation of his love. He kisses me with deep desperation and fevered passion. Our chemistry is potent, and his hands are everywhere at once.
My shorts are shoved down and my top nearly torn from my body before he moves us to the center of the bed dragging me along with his arm around my waist. Our breaths come fast and hard. This is the opposite of tantric sex, it’s rough and needy as if we are on a deadline, and our lives depend on us reaching climax within the next five minutes.
I work to unbutton his shirt as fast as I can, and somewhere between him grabbing me and landing on the bed, his pants have been removed. His fingers find my seam and thrust into me with no warning, but I’m already soaking wet for him. He groans in approval and circles my clit over and over until I’m on the verge of coming when he stops. I whimper, and his mouth finds my pebbled nipple. He bites down hard enough to make me yelp, but his tongue laps away the pain.
And then he is inside of me with one powerful, unanticipated thrust that makes me cry out with surprise, and for a moment, discomfort but ultimately relief. I need him inside me like a crack addict needs a hit, and when I get it, like the addict, I need more and more. And he gives it to me like a dealer trying to keep me hooked and coming back for more.
Who was I kidding? I can no more walk away from this man than skinny dip in Lake Michigan in February. I arch my back and claw at his as he pumps in and out of me at a feverish pace taking what he wants and giving me what I need, a wake-up call.
Ring, ring.
Hello?
Hi, this is true love calling, don’t be a dumb-ass and mess this up. It could be your only chance!
My body is on high alert waiting for the release it needs so badly when Roman slips a finger in my ass and triggers the most intense orgasm I’ve ever known. I jerk, and every muscle in my body tightens as it rolls through me. I try to speak his name, but nothing comes out. It’s like a silent scream of ecstasy that goes on and on and on.
I’m coming down from my high, but Roman isn’t done with me yet. He rolls me over slapping my ass as he slips back in from behind. Digging his fingers into my hips, he resumes his punishing pace until he comes with a mighty roar. I feel him pulsing inside of me, filling me up, possessing me in a way no other man can or ever will.
We collapse together on our stomachs, and he pulls me with him to our sides never breaking the connection. His cock is still stretching me, filling me like he could keep going all night without ever having to stop and recover.
“Don’t ever finish what you were about to say a few minutes ago. Whatever happens, whatever I have to do to keep you by my side forever, know that I will stop at nothing to do just that. I know you’re not ready yet. I know you have healing to do. I also know you are independent, and I am willing to wait for you, but don’t you ever give up on us. Never.”
His words are as much a command as they are beseeching me to stay. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He tilts his hips up filling me even more if that’s even possible. “Promise me.”
I crane my neck to see him. “I promise you, Roman Phoenix Forrest, that I will never leave you for as long as I’m on this earth.” There, it can’t get any clearer than that. I hope it’s not a mistake to make that promise. I want to believe it’s possible. Hell, I need it to be possible, maybe as much as he does.
10
Roman
The sun creeps across the mattress like a thief sneaking in to steal my Aria away from me. I want the night to go on forever, so I c
an hold her in my arms and know that nothing will take her away from me.
Last night she almost said the unthinkable. I know she promised not to leave me, but it was in the heat of the moment, and I can’t hold her to that. I need to find a way to give her space while still keeping an eye on her. Clearly, having someone sit outside her house isn’t going to work. I didn’t give her enough credit, she’s observant.
I can’t let her go back to that apartment until we figure out who put that damn photo under her comforter. I’ll have my head of security for the bank go over and reprogram the alarms and do something about the windows. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s where he came in, and by he, I mean David. It has to be him. He’s the only one who knew about that photo and what kind of effect it would have on Aria to find it in her bed of all places. What a fucking douchebag.
“Mmm, why does every part of me hurt?”
“Because we were up most of the night having wild, crazy sex?”
“Oh yeah, that’s it all right. What time is it?”
“Eleven o’clock.”
She sits bolt upright in the bed and grabs her phone. She growls and turns to give me an evil eye. “It’s only six thirty, you liar.”
“I couldn’t resist.”
“I have to shower and get to the store before eight. I want to meet with my new employees before we open.”
“Employee. Monica is the only one who will be there first thing in the morning. Frank comes in the afternoon.”
“Still, I want to meet her.” She scoots to the edge of the bed and stands pulling on a long t-shirt to cover her gorgeous curves.
“You sure you don’t want to stay home one more day? You didn’t get much sleep last night, you know.”
“I’m aware, and no, I have responsibilities, and I’m not going to shuck them one more day. I’ve worked on less sleep than this.”
“Not while recovering from a head injury.”
She raises her arms to scoop her hair up into a messy bun causing the t-shirt to rise which shows just a hint of her ass. That glimpse of her perfect cheeks is more erotic than seeing her naked.
