Roman's Having Sex Again

by Nikki Ashton

  Roman grimaced and shook his head.

  ‘So, how long was it since you’d had sex?’ I asked with a smile.

  ‘Not as long as she thinks,’ he told me. ‘But this is different anyway.’

  His eyes twinkled as he looked at me before kissing me softly.

  ‘Roman,’ my dad said, coming back into the room. ‘Perhaps we could have a chat.’

  I burst out laughing as I watched my dad eye Roman as though he was a small boy who’d just been caught looking up my skirt.

  ‘Dad!’ I exclaimed. ‘Stop it.’

  ‘What?’ Dad asked, hands on hips.

  ‘Honestly, Summer, it’s fine,’ Roman said.

  ‘No, it’s not. You’re not giving Roman the third degree. We’re going out, he hasn’t asked to marry me.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter, Summer,’ my dad grumbled. ‘I want my daughters to be with men who will cherish them. As your father, I’m entitled to ask.’

  ‘Raymond,’ Mum moaned as she came in with a tray of tea and cakes. ‘Leave the poor boy alone.’

  ‘Mum!’ Now she was at it. ‘He’s a thirty-one-year-old man, not some spotty teenager.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Summer,’ she replied, busying herself pouring the tea. ‘But it must be important to you, for you to actually come home with Roman and introduce him to us.’

  She had a point. I’d never taken a boyfriend home so early on in a relationship before. I’d been going out with Alex for almost six months before he met the family.

  ‘I think,’ Roman interjected, ‘Summer was keen because my parents know, and so we wanted you both to know as well. Plus, we’re aware it’s all very new, but I think we’ve both realised that this could be something special.’

  As my stomach did a little flutter, I marvelled at how sweet Roman was at times. My heart was in free fall. He was right: we were new, but I knew it wouldn’t take much to fall in love with this man.

  ‘How will this work in the office?’ my dad asked as he slowly prowled backwards and forwards, his hands firmly in his pockets.

  ‘It’s worked fine so far, Mr. James,’ Roman answered. ‘But knowing how moody I can be at work, I’m sure Summer will have to pull me into line on a few occasions.’ He grinned and nudged me playfully.

  ‘You see, Summer,’ Dad sighed, ‘that concerns me. What if you break up and can’t stand working together. You’ll have to find something else.’

  ‘We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,’ I huffed. ‘I wish we hadn’t come here now.’

  ‘Hey,’ Roman said, pulling on my hand. ‘Your mum and dad are worried, that’s all. But if things don’t work out between us, then we’ll sort something out. It might be hard, but I think we’re both adult enough to be able to work together.’

  I gave Roman a watery smile. Even this early on, I wasn’t sure I could work with him if we weren’t together. The thought of doing so, while he moved on was awful. But I was going to take my own advice and deal with that if, and when, it happened.

  Dad sighed, but he nodded and finally sat down to drink his tea. As he did, Roman’s phone shrilled in his jeans’ pocket.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, reaching for it. ‘I’m waiting for a call about a job.’

  He stood up and moved into the hall. While Mum and Dad asked me questions about Roman, I had one ear on his conversation, wondering whether it was good news. After a few minutes, he came back into the room. He looked uneasy and he was chewing on his lip. As he reached the sofa, his eyes met mine.

  ‘You got a minute, Summer?’ he asked, indicating towards the hall.

  ‘Yeah, sure.’

  I followed Roman out, and watched as he paced up and down the hall, a hand running through his hair. After a couple of steps, he turned to me.

  ‘That was Caroline,’ he stated.

  My heart dropped. Every time I heard her name it plummeted because I felt as though there was a connection between her and Roman that Roman just wasn’t telling me about.

  ‘Okay,’ I said, hesitantly.

  ‘She didn’t tell me the other day, but she split from her boyfriend a few weeks ago. I guess now that’s why she asked me to be a guardian for Maisie.’

  ‘And?’

  He rubbed at his temple with his forefinger and blew out a breath. ‘And, she’s been evicted from the apartment that she’s been staying in.’

  ‘Okay,’ I repeated slowly.

  ‘She has nowhere to go, and has asked if she and Maisie can stay with me for a couple of weeks until she finds somewhere.’

  I waited a beat, knowing that whatever I said next could either make me look like an absolute bitch, or I could be handing my new boyfriend to a woman who I was sure had feelings for him.

  ‘Would you mind?’ Roman asked.

  The fact that he’d asked if I minded, totally surprised me. It really had nothing to do with me, but it felt good that he cared enough to ask.

  ‘It’s your house, Roman, and she’s your friend.’

  ‘Yes, but you’re my girlfriend.’

  That made little swarms of butterflies take off. ‘Girlfriend’, a simple word, but I loved when Roman said it.

  He reached for my hand and linked his fingers with mine. ‘I can’t do nothing,’ he said. He looked down at the floor and scuffed his foot along the ornate runner. ‘I have to help, for Michael’s sake. I couldn’t forgive myself if I did nothing.’

  Sad eyes looked up at mine, and I could see that losing Michael still affected him, no matter how hard he was trying to move on from his death.

  ‘Of course, I don’t mind,’ I replied, swallowing around the lie. ‘You have the room, so it’s logical.’

  He let out a breath and gave me a dull smile. ‘Thanks, baby. I can’t say no to her, so you being fine with it is a weight off my mind.’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ I replied, feigning a smile. ‘Do you need to go to her now.’

  He winced. ‘Is that okay? She has to be out of her apartment by morning, so it’s best to move her out tonight. She doesn’t have much, a few clothes that’s all. The apartment came furnished.’

  I nodded towards the lounge door. ‘I’ll tell them you got called away.’

  Roman tilted his head back and frowned.

  ‘You’re not coming?’

  My mouth dropped open and my eyes went like saucers. ‘You want me to come?’

  ‘Yeah, of course I do. We had plans tonight, don’t forget.’ He gave me an eyebrow wiggle.

  My initial thought was to tell him he didn’t have to say that, just to make me feel secure. The problem was I couldn’t: I needed him to make me feel secure.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah, why not. I’ll just have to keep you quiet.’

  The next thing I was pulled into his arms, and kissed until my lungs almost gave out.

  ‘Why did Caroline only tell you tonight that she’s being evicted tomorrow?’ I asked, as we pulled up in front of Caroline’s apartment building.

  Roman shrugged. ‘No idea, maybe she thought she could sort it out by herself. Maybe that’s why she came by the office, but then couldn’t tell me. We hadn’t seen each other for so long, she was probably embarrassed.’

  ‘Why didn’t you see each other?’

  ‘We just didn’t see eye to eye on who she was living with.’

  I was going to ask more, but as Roman was manoeuvring his huge black truck into a parking space, I decided to leave it. Once he turned the engine off, he twisted in his seat to face me.

  ‘She said she hadn’t wanted to call me, but had no idea what else to do,’ he explained. ‘Her parents live in a little one-bedroomed bungalow, so they can’t have her. I just …’ he trailed off and sighed.

  I opened my mouth to suggest she went to a B&B, but when I saw the stress etched on Roman’s face as he looked at me, I knew that I shouldn’t. He had to do this, and I knew it was for Michael as much as for Caroline and Maisie.

  ‘Michael would hate this,’ he ground out, confirming my t
houghts. ‘He loved her and was so excited about Maisie coming.’

  His eyes roamed my face, and I could see he felt conflicted. I’d thought that I’d managed to hide my worry: evidently not. He cared what I thought, but his loyalty to Michael was immense, and I had to respect that.

  ‘Roman, it’s fine.’ My voice sounded much surer about this than I actually felt. ‘She needs somewhere to go and you have the room.’

  ‘It won’t be for long,’ he said confidently, giving me a gorgeous smile.

  ‘No problem.’ My reply was given airily and with a grin, but I still felt worried.

  ‘One thing though,’ he said tentatively.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Please don’t tell Tiff about this.’

  My eyes widened. ‘Why? Roman, what’s going on?’

  ‘Something bad happened between them.’

  ‘Like what?’

  I was stunned that he was even considering this if it was going to upset his sister.

  ‘Tiff hates people knowing about it, so it’s not for me to tell you. But Tiff was hurt, badly.’

  I turned and looked up at Caroline’s apartment. ‘Then you can’t do this,’ I protested, turning back to him.

  Roman’s head dropped to rest against the steering wheel. All he said was: ‘But it’s for Michael.’

  When we got up to Caroline’s apartment, she was already packed up and waiting.

  ‘Oh hi,’ she said full of surprise as I walked in behind Roman.

  ‘Hi Caroline.’ I gave her a smile and tried to feel relaxed.

  Everything about her had me feeling as taut as a piano wire, and, to be honest, a little insecure. Aside from what I thought her designs on Roman may be, she was absolutely beautiful, so why wouldn’t Roman be attracted to her? Even now, when she was moving home, she looked gorgeous.

  Her auburn hair was piled up on her head; she wore the skinniest jeans I’d ever seen, and a T-shirt so tight it looked as though it was spray-painted on—and she evidently wasn’t wearing a bra because her nipples were sticking out far enough to hang your coat off.

  Unable to look at her without feeling even more inadequate, I looked down at the floor. That was when I thought that I might actually hate her. She was wearing my most coveted shoes. The shoes that I had tried everywhere to buy, but could never get them in my size. She had on a pair of Sophia Webster Pink Flamingo print, ‘Lola’ court shoes.

  I think I actually whimpered. Who the hell wears shoes like that for moving house.

  ‘You okay, baby?’ Roman asked.

  My head shot up, startled. ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘You made a strange noise.’

  ‘Did I? Oh sorry, just thinking about something.’

  Roman looked at me with a small frown, and then kissed my forehead. ‘Okay.’ He then turned to Caroline. ‘You ready?’

  ‘Yes, sure,’ she said quietly. ‘I’ll just get Maisie. Most of the stuff is in the lounge.’

  ‘Is there much?’ Roman asked, moving and pulling me with him.

  ‘No,’ Caroline called over her shoulder.

  ‘Uncle Wo,’ a sweet little voice called as we entered the lounge.

  ‘Hey, Maisie, how are you?’

  Roman went over to Maisie, who was sitting on the sofa clutching a pink teddy bear. He knelt in front of her and poked at her little pudgy tummy that was sticking out.

  ‘Okay,’ she whispered, giving him a shy smile. ‘Are we coming to live with you?’

  Roman blanched and then smiled at the little girl. ‘Yes, sweetheart, you are, just for a little while.’

  Maisie’s eyes shot to me, so I gave her a little wave.

  ‘That lady was at your work?’ she whispered, leaning closer to Roman.

  Roman looked over to me, and then back to Maisie. ‘That’s my girlfriend, Summer.’

  Maisie rubbed her cheek against her shoulder, and giggled. ‘She’s pwetty.’

  Roman laughed and tickled Maisie under the chin. ‘Yes, she is, just like you.’

  Watching him with Maisie, caused a huge ache in my heart. I was falling more and more for him every day, and I could see myself wanting everything with him. Except that wasn’t possible. My nose started to tingle, my throat itched and tears threatened as I thought about the children that I’d never have. My head was full of the children that I could never give Roman—if we ever got to that point.

  That momentary dull thud of the pain I’d felt in my heart in Roman’s office when he had me on his desk was now a searing agony.

  As soon as I’d told Alex about my gnarled old ovaries, he’d dumped me, so would Roman do the same? Was it too early to even tell him about it? We were still new, still getting to know more about each other, still enjoying those first exciting and butterfly-filled-stomach weeks of a new relationship. We certainly weren’t at a point where we should be talking about having children, but he needed to know.

  ‘We’d better get going,’ Caroline said a little impatiently. ‘It’s way past Maisie’s bedtime.’

  ‘Okay,’ Roman said, standing up. ‘I’ll put the boxes and the suitcase in my truck, and you can take Maisie and whatever is left in your car.’

  Caroline didn’t speak, but simply nodded and moved from the lounge.

  ‘You okay to help me take some of this stuff down?’ Roman asked me.

  ‘Yes, of course.’ I gave a quick smile to Maisie, who was watching me, and then picked up a box and a bag of toys, and followed Roman back down to the car park.

  ‘Is she asleep?’ Roman asked Caroline a little over two hours later.

  They didn’t have an awful lot of things, so the three boxes and a suitcase were now all in Roman’s spare room—which was now Caroline’s—while Maisie was in the room across the landing from hers.

  ‘Yes, I don’t think I’ll be long behind her,’ Caroline yawned. ‘I’m shattered, it’s been a long day.’

  ‘Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be too late either,’ Roman said, stretching and giving me a glimpse of his hard, tanned abs.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Summer,’ Caroline sighed. ‘This must be the last thing you want, Maisie and I cramping your style.’

  I smiled and shook my head. ‘Honestly it’s fine.’

  It didn’t feel fine: it felt a little unsettling. But she’d been nothing but lovely all evening, engaging me in an excited conversation about shoes, once she’d seen me gazing in awe at her feet. Maisie seemed to like me too. She had watched me all evening, and then when we eventually all sat down she had insisted on sitting on my knee while she showed me her dolly and told me all about the clothes it had. She was a beautiful child, and just having her on my knee, with my nose in her hair, made me ache for what I couldn’t have. Yet at the same time she was a comfort: it was as though she knew that I was anxious and that her cuddling into me might help. God, having them at Roman’s house was going to be hard on more than one level.

  ‘Well, I appreciate it, I don’t know what we’d do without you, Ro.’

  Caroline having a nickname for Roman made my stomach churn with jealousy. I didn’t have a nickname for him, and he was my boyfriend.

  ‘I’m off to bed then.’ Caroline smiled and walked towards the kitchen. ‘Just going to get a drink of water to take up.’

  Roman and I sat in silence, Roman flicking through the TV channels, and me listening to Caroline opening cupboard doors looking for a glass before filling it with water.

  A few minutes later, Caroline padded back into the lounge, now without her Sophia Websters, gave us a wave and went up to bed.

  ‘You ready for bed?’ Roman asked, pulling me onto his knee. ‘Or do you still have some energy?’

  As he kissed up my neck and along my jaw, my nipples tightened and a moan of pleasure escaped.

  ‘I think I have some energy,’ I replied, breathlessly.

  ‘Good,’ he replied, putting a hand up my T-shirt. ‘Because I am nowhere near ready for sleep.’

  I threw my head back, revelling in Roman’s tou
ch and his kisses, hopeful that having Caroline and Maisie in the house wouldn’t stop our alone time, because every day I was getting more and more addicted to him.

  It had been over a week since Caroline and Maisie had moved into Roman’s house, and Roman and I had seen each other every night.

  Obviously, Roman taking me home for tea with his parents felt as though we’d moved on a step, but in the back of his mind I think Roman was also fully aware that I was concerned about him being in the house with Caroline. I really had tried not to show my worry, and honestly thought I’d managed to hide it, but he’d been especially attentive in the past days—not that I was complaining. His extra little kisses and hugs, and sweet little whisperings, made my heart beat a little faster and put a huge grin on my face.

  Things were going well between us, and I couldn’t remember the last time we had fought, or more to the point, when Roman had been miserable and bossy, probably because things were a little easier in the office too.

  Holly had worked her magic and Liam Robertson had decided to push ahead with part of the building work at Darrington Hall. He had asked Roman to go over and talk prices with him about building the extension to the restaurant. Roman came back feeling a little more optimistic. While Liam had agreed the price for the full build, Mark, his partner and Finance Director, would only agree to the extension on the restaurant until later in the year. It was enough to keep us going though, and Roman had agreed to start the work in two weeks.

  ‘This is going to help so much.’ Roman let out a long breath of relief. ‘Mark has written up a schedule of interim payments too, which will more than keep us ticking over until we get The Palisades finished—if we ever get it finished.’

  ‘We will be positive, today is a positive day,’ I replied as I tried to decipher Roman’s spidery scrawl so that I could type up the quotation and Statement of Work. ‘What does this say?’

  Roman leaned over my shoulder to scrutinise the pad that he’d given to me.

  ‘Fuck. No idea.’

  He took the pad from me and held it closer. I looked up at him and giggled. His eyes were screwed up, his brow furrowed and his mouth gaping open.