Page 97 of Lease to Love

A tear slipped down my cheek.

Then another.

“Come on, damnit!” I cried in frustration.

I sucked in a breath that came out shaky and thin, and suddenly I was right back on the edge of losing it.

And then a hand covered mine.

Steady.

Warm.

Solid.

Roman’s body was close behind me, heat radiating through the thin velvet at my back and warming something deep in my bones.

He was silent. Let me catch my breath before saying anything.

“You weren't gonna say goodnight?” he asked quietly.

I turned my head just enough to look at him.

He looked the same as he had all night — the dark suit still sharp, his posture still that unshakable, unbothered straight line I'd never once seen him drop, like slouching was a business decision. Same man. Same jaw. Same hands that had spent the whole ride to Bethesda finding reasons to touch me like it was nothing, like it was everything.

But his eyes… His eyes weren't doing the same thing they always did.

There was no amusement in them. No smug edge, none of the armor he usually kept polished and ready. Just something raw and unguarded and a little bit afraid, looking at me like I was something breakable he didn't know how to hold, and it knocked every bit of air straight out of my chest.

And that's when it all came spilling out of me.

"I'm sorry," I said, the words tripping over each other on their way out. "I don't know what happened, I just—I ruined the whole night, and your business friends are gonna think I'm insane, and I didn't hold up my end of this, I wasn't supposed to be the thing that made you look bad, I was supposed to be the thing that made it easier, and instead I stood up in the middle of a ballroom and screamed like a—"

I let the tears fall.

“Sunshine.”

That stopped me. My waterfall of apologies coming to a halt before he spoke again.

“Baby, open the door.”

I blinked at him through watery eyes. “What?”

He reached down, wrapped his fingers around mine, and helped me get a proper grip on the key.

“Open,” he said again, his voice low and firm, “the door.”

I took a shaky breath.

Then another.

Roman didn't rush me.

Didn't tell me to stop crying.

Didn't tell me everything was okay when neither of us knew whether it was.

He simply kept his hand over mine and steadied me until the key finally found the lock.