change the subject. Wishing I didn’t have that goddamn scar on my chest. I’d be able to avoid all of this. I’m not ready to tell him. I’m not ready for him to look at me any differently than he does now.
“I was born with a heart defect. By the time I was five, I had already undergone three open-heart surgeries. This scar, in particular, is from a valve replacement.”
“Does it affect everyday life for you? Do you see the doctor regularly?”
I heave a deep sigh. He sounds too worried. This was the last thing I wanted. “I told you I’m fine now.” Lie. “I take my medication. I have a doctor. I have it all under control.” Lie. Lie. Lie.
“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”
Guilt slams into my chest as he searches my gaze. There’s so much worry there. I can’t stand it.
I press a chaste kiss to his lips. “I will.”
Another lie.
“Your dad’s questions make a whole lot more sense now.”
My brows tug low. “I didn’t know he asked you about me. What did he say?”
Roman lifts his shoulder in a shrug. “He just asked if you were taking care of yourself. I didn’t know there was anything that needed to be taken care of, so I didn’t exactly have an answer for him. He also said they worry about you, being here all on your own.”
I roll my eyes. Yeah, that definitely sounds like my parents. “They coddle me. It was one of the main reasons I left.” I sigh. “I’ve always wanted to be independent, but with their constant hovering, I never really could.”
“Do you miss it there?”
I think about Long Beach, my old apartment, my ex. A wave of contentment rolls through me.
“I don’t actually. There isn’t a single thing in Long Beach I miss.”
His grip tightens around me. Using this opportunity to steer the topic away from me, I put the spotlight on him, instead.
“So, I know this is new, and I may be overstepping my bounds, but those women who would come here…” I make a face, even thinking about Roman with anyone else. “Were they your girlfriends?”
A laugh bubbles in his chest, vibrating beneath my ear. “No. Relationships weren’t my thing. Those were just women I fucked.”
“That’s kind of shitty, Rome.”
He shrugs. I lift my head, popping my chin on my hands, and stare up at him. “It’s the truth.”
“What about me? What am I to you? Just someone you’re fucking?”
He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, letting the tips of his fingers graze my cheek in the process. “You’re much more than that.”
My heart skitters in my chest. “Why?”
“I wish I knew. All I know is, when I’m with you, Sunshine, heaven feels a whole hell of a lot closer.”
My heart does something strange at that moment. His words wrap around the organ and squeeze. I feel emotion tug at my tear ducts, but I refuse to cry over such sweet words. I search his warm gaze, falling into the swirl of blues and grays there. “Are we…?” He quirks a brow, waiting for me to finish that sentence. I chicken out, deciding to take the easier way out. “Are we exclusive? I mean, how will this work?”
His brows draw together, and heat enters his molten gaze. “You’re crazy if you think you’re going to be fucking anyone else but me.”
A laugh bursts from my chest. “Well, gee. Way to turn up the romance.”
He’s still frowning. “I’m serious. We’re exclusive. Monogamous. Whatever damn label you want to put on it. You’re mine. And I don’t share what’s mine, Olivia.”
Despite his alpha-asshole spiel, a smile breaks across my face. “I prefer the term ‘girlfriend.’”
He rolls his eyes, but I see the amusement there, along with the smirk he’s failing to hide. “Fine. If that’s what you want to call it.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re kind of an asshole?”
A softness enters his eyes, and the effect of it has warmth spiraling through my chest and a hoard of angry bees swarming through my stomach. The buzzing radiating from there is almost too distracting. Almost. He traces my lower lip with the pad of his thumb. Taking my chin between his fingers, he tugs me toward him, ever so gently, pressing his lips against mine.
“Too often to count, babe.”
“All Night”—Beyoncé
After spending the weekend alternating between my bed and Rome’s bed, I wake up Monday morning to the rude awakening of work. I’ve had a blissful weekend, where I didn’t have