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My gaze darts to the front of his jeans and the obvious bulge. “Roman.”
“I want you,” he says in a whisper. “The ache is real, but no, I’m not going to fuck you and walk away.”
I take a measured step back to catch my breath.
“I like hanging out with you,” he goes on. “I want more of that too.”
I try to piece that together in my mind. “What are you saying?”
“I want to date you, Bianca.” He reaches to touch my forearm. “I want to take you to bed. I want both.”
Panic drives the next words out of my mouth. “I just got out of a relationship.”
He nods. “I’m not looking for anything serious.”
I lock eyes with him. “What are you looking for?”
“Fun. I need fun. I sense you do too, so let’s have it together.”
“Just fun?” I question to be clear. “Nothing serious? I just got this promotion and with the break-up I need for things to be…”
“Uncomplicated?” he interrupts. “You have my word that I’m not looking to put a ring on your finger.”
I laugh. “Thank God.”
He joins in with a chuckle. “I’ll always be straight with you. When this stops working for either of us, we tell the other. No bullshit games or hidden agendas. We’re two people with undeniable chemistry so let’s act on it.”
I gaze down at the flower. “You make it sound so easy.”
“It is easy, Bianca.”
I take a step back. “Is it?”
“Yes,” he affirms with a slight nod of his chin. “I like my life just the way it is. Work is a beast, but I do it because I love it. I sense you’re dealing with the same thing with your promotion. Our connection is the escape we both need right now.”
I laugh. “This is the strangest conversation about sex I’ve ever had.”
With a hand on my forearm, he backs me up until I’m resting against the brick exterior of a building. “You’re not used to discussing sex before you have it?”
I shake my head. “I’m used to things being more organic. There’s the first look followed by some flirting. A really great first kiss, and then we get to the first…”
“Fuck,” he finishes my sentence. “We’ve had that first look. We’ve flirted, so what’s next? The kiss?”
“Here? Now?” I shake my head. “I like spontaneity, but we’re in the middle of a crowded sidewalk on a Saturday afternoon.”
“Is this not the time or place for one of those really great first kisses?” A smile ghosts his mouth.
I stare at his lips. “I didn’t say that.”
“The when or where of an amazing kiss matters a hell of a lot less than the who part of that equation,” he points out.
I can’t disagree, so I nod.
He rests one hand on the brick behind me. His body towers over mine as I look up at him. “You want to kiss me right now, don’t you, Bianca?”
I almost laugh at the question because it’s the only thing I’ve wanted to do all day.
He knows the answer. I see it in the way he’s looking at my lips. He expects me to reach up and plant one on him now.
“The flower holds the answer to that question.” I raise it and brush it against his chin.
With a furrowed brow, he glances down. “The flower?”
I pluck one petal from the daisy. “Kiss him now.” I pluck another. “Kiss him never.”
He huffs out a stuttered laugh. “Never? Make it later, Bianca. We both know our first kiss is on the horizon. It’s just a matter of when it’ll happen.”
If arrogance were currency, he would be the richest man on the planet.
I pluck another petal. “Kiss him now.” I lock eyes with him as another petal falls from the flower. “Kiss him never.”
He fights a smile.
I pluck my way around the daisy, keeping my eyes trained on his.
He finally breaks our gaze as my fingers grab the delicate last petal.
“Kiss him never,” he whispers.
I pluck it off and let it float to the ground. “Kiss him never.”
His tongue darts out to coat his bottom lip. “Fuck the flower, Bianca.”
As much as I want to lean forward and press my lips to his, I don’t. I won’t. Instead, I rest my back against the wall. “I’d say best two out of three, but I only had the one flower.”
His gaze darts to the right and then the left. “Stay right here. Don’t move.”
I hold in a laugh as he takes off in a sprint to the left toward a fresh flower stand that’s half a block away.
Chapter 18
Roman
I grab hold of two bouquets of daisies. I’m determined to kiss Bianca today. If that means she needs to pluck her way through dozens of flower petals this afternoon, I’m all in.
Until four o’clock. Once the clock strikes that hour, I need to end this date.
