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“I’ve loved it,” I said. “Getting to see where you grew up. And where you get your kindness from.”
Roman stood a little taller, pulling in a deep breath. “I can show you to the guest room,” he said. “Which was actually our childhood bedroom, I’m embarrassed to say.”
“Did you share a room with your brother?”
“Brody and I fought like hell in there, but we loved it, too,” Roman said quietly as he led me down the hall and to a small room on the left. “When we were really young, we had bunk beds on this side of the room. Then when we got a little older, we had two twin beds on opposite sides. At one point, there was definitely tape down the center of the room.”
“This place keeps surprising me,” I said. The room was quaint and charming, just like the rest of the house. But this room was like another treasure trove. On one wall was a guitar. On another, something that looked like a small harp was resting on a table. There was a big old globe, a few small lamps around the room, and in the corner, a queen sized bed with four tall posts on its bedframe, made out of some kind of beautiful, dark wood.
“It’s a fire hazard, if you ask me,” Roman said. “Mom can’t get rid of anything.”
“But it doesn’t look like a mess,” I said. “It looks amazing. That bed frame especially.”
“An old woman down the street gave that to Mom. She was moving to Florida to be in a retirement home,” Roman said. “Mom’s always getting free stuff from somewhere.”
On the frame of the closet, there were a bunch of little pencil marks. I looked closely and saw that it must have been Roman and Brody as kids, measuring their heights as time passed.
I could picture little Roman, so excited that he’d finally reached four feet, then five, then six. Rain was still pattering on the window and the sound filled the room, making it feel like Roman and I were in a comfy cocoon, away from the rest of the world.
I loved feeling tucked away like this. Like nobody could ever find me here, safe and comfortable, complete with a six-foot-five man here to protect me.
“It’s impossible to picture you being this small,” I said, letting my fingertips trail over the pencil marks.
He smiled. “When I finally hit six feet in high school, it was the best day of my life.”
“Did you want to be a basketball player when you were young?”
He shook his head. “I was athletic, and I liked working out, but I never got super into sports. It always seemed like my brother’s thing, more than mine.”
“You said that earlier tonight, too,” I said softly. “That being attracted to men was your brother’s thing, not yours.”
Roman looked a little uncomfortable. I wondered if I’d said too much.
“Brody’s always been comfortable in the spotlight,” he said. “I never was. I liked being in the background. Making things work for everyone else. Taking care of my mom and brother, and then later on, keeping people safe as a security guard. You asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, and the answer is really that I didn’t care when I was young. I just wanted to be able to help my family if they ever needed it.”
“But sometimes it’s okay to take care of yourself, too,” I offered gently. “That’s what you’ve been trying to teach me, at least. Hey, even at the farmer’s market, I tried to use one of those breathing techniques.”
“Did you really?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.
“I did,” I said. “It seems like you give your everything to other people, though.”
“My brother has said the same thing to me,” he said, a small smile on his lips again. “When I finally got into security, I realized it was a career path I could really care about. And being a bodyguard was one of my dreams.”
“And that’s why you’re perfect for the job.”
“Even when you end up at my mom’s house, unplanned.”
“Fuck yeah,” I said.
Roman turned to the guest bed and fluffed the pillows for me. “Well, it’s not exactly the Four Seasons hotel, but the sheets are clean and the mattress is pretty comfy. I can drive you home tomorrow morning as soon as I see the storm has cleared. I’ll get you a spare toothbrush and a towel for the bathroom.”
He was back out in the hallway again in an instant. I peeked out and saw him rustling through a bathroom cabinet, procuring a new toothbrush, a little tube of toothpaste, a hand towel, and a bath towel. He set it all out near the sink and then turned to see me leaning in the doorway.
“You’re amazing,” I said. “I hope you know that.”
