Page 49 of Teaching Roman

“Oh, chicken. Stop now, love.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “That looks like painful embarrassment.”

This was why I loved him. He didn’t bat an eye at the idea of a long-term relationship with Jillian. Chronic illness would have scared most guys away, but not Liam. He had staying power. He was in love with her and that was all that mattered. My gaze darted to Roman. He wasn’t so easily scared off either. If only we could find a real man for Cassie. But two out of three wasn’t bad, and it proved to me that life had a way of sending you what you needed.

“It’ll work out,” I assured her, suddenly and totally certain.

“How?” She looked at me with the familiar, searching eyes I knew so well. She hadn’t looked at me that way in months. At some point, I’d stopped being the person she turned to for comfort and advice. I suppose facing the prospect of losing Liam, she’d fallen into old habits.

I glanced to Roman, understanding how subtly romance changed all your relationships and not always in bad ways. “I just know it will.”

Something had shifted in our relationships. There was a time—not terribly long ago—when the idea of marriage would have had both of us running for the hills. I’d also thought of it as something reserved for women much older than myself. At best, it was about companionship. At worst, it was a solution. I could see why Jillian would be wary of solving Liam’s visa dilemma by saying “I do.” But I also knew without a doubt that when he finally got down on one knee, she would say yes. My stomach did a nervous flip at how adult our lives were becoming.

“Oh my god!” Cassie yelped, slamming her hands on the table. “It’s not bad enough to be the fifth wheel when you two have landed yourself hotties, but now you have to talk about all that serious bullshit right now? It’s enough to drive a girl to take a vow of celibacy.”

“Get thee to a nunnery!” Liam called, pointing at her.

“I’ll have none,” Cassie quipped back.

I raised an eyebrow at her from across the table.

“What? I know Shakespeare,” she said. “You don’t have to be a Brit to know the Bard.”

Liam leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. “I’m not a Brit. I’m Scottish.”

“You keep telling us that.” Cassie shot him a wicked smile. “But I haven’t seen you in a kilt yet.”

“You’ll have to trust me on that then,” Jillian said, leaning against Liam’s shoulder, momentarily distracted from the visa trouble. “The man has a kilt, and he looks seriously sexy in it.”

Somehow we’d gotten from visa to marriage to Shakespeare to kilts—that was why I loved my friends. Two pitchers later and Cassie had met her next soul mate at the bar. I watched her with a bemused smile, hoping my creep radar wasn’t off. The last thing she needed was another Trevor in her life.

“How about we go back to your place and study some anatomy?” Roman whispered in my ear.

A shiver raced along my neck, but I faked a nonplussed look. “Or we could have sex.”

“If you insist.” He was already pulling a twenty out of his wallet. Standing up, he held out a hand and helped me from my seat. “Jillian. Liam.”

Liam nodded in that typical masculine way. “Good to see you, man.”

“I’m going to spend the night at Roman’s,” I told Jillian.

“Our neighbors couldn’t handle it if we both had our men over at once.” Her lips crooked into an impish smile.

“No doubt,” I said, shaking my head. It would sound like the building was going to collapse. “Keep an eye on Cassie.”

“I’ll try.” We both cast doubtful glances in her direction. Flirting had transitioned to dancing. With any luck things would end there.

Leaving Garrett’s, Roman slung his arm over my shoulder as we stepped into the cool night air. The sky was inky black with no stars in sight thanks to the cloud cover shedding a light mist all around us.

“I always feel like a vegetable when it rains like this,” I confided to Roman.

“A vegetable?” he repeated with a laugh, pulling me closer to him.

“Like in the grocery store,” I continued. “They have those misters that keep the produce fresh.”

“You’re much prettier than a carrot.” He dipped his head and kissed me swiftly. “And sweeter, too.”

I relaxed in his embrace as we headed toward his apartment. I didn’t even mind that it was raining, not with him by my side. Despite the stress of upcoming finals and MCATs, life felt less hectic than usual. Roman had become the constant I could look forward to after classes and study sessions. We could work together and still find time to hang out. It was a nice change of pace.

Stopping on the sidewalk near the dock, I turned into him, lifting my face to his in invitation. He accepted, slanting his mouth over mine and kissing me deeply. My lips parted in welcome and his tongue flicked across my own, sending sparks of desire ricocheting through me. I would never get enough of him. Of this. Of us.