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I couldn’t help but smile, even as I felt myself blush. Roman looked up at me from his place across the table, also hiding a grin. He reached out, brushing it off of my face.
There it was again. The smallest, most thoughtless gestures from him somehow made me feel safe and comfortable, and also stupidly turned on from the simplest things. It made me feel like I was his. Like I was something precious, for the first time in a long while.
>>Theo: I really need to change your name in my phone to Roman instead of Hot Bar Guy. Or maybe I’ll just change it to Knight in Shining Armor?
>>Hot Bar Guy: Shut up.
>>Theo: LOL.
>>Hot Bar Guy: You are so fucking adorable. You know that, right?
“Well, gee, Turtle, you sure are addicted to that phone of yours for someone who is so anti-technology,” Donna said, letting out a long laugh at Roman.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, sliding his phone into his pocket. “You’ve got me.”
My heart felt about two sizes too big for my chest.
Do not fall for him. Do not fall for your bodyguard who doesn’t actually want to commit to another man yet, anyway. Let alone a man with a fucked-up life.
It was no use, though. When he sent me little messages like that, and especially when he kissed me like he had last night, I couldn’t control how I felt about him.
I was nervous as hell to go back to Los Angeles, but for once, I actually believed that I would be safe there with Roman beside me. The idea of going back didn’t feel like walking straight into a jail cell. Not with Roman.
And no matter what, I was determined to make the trip worthwhile.
13
Roman
Theo liked to joke about how little I knew about pop culture and Hollywood, but I sure as shit knew who Brad Pitt was.
And when I saw Brad freaking Pitt walking out through a set of tall gates, nodding at me, and then getting in his Ferrari that the valet drivers had pulled up for him, I certainly got a sense for the caliber of celebrities that must have been inside this mansion. I was standing outside the gates of Garett McKennaugh’s house, realizing that this “party” that Theo was attending must have been a lot more star-studded than I’d even known.
The night was mild with a gentle breeze, how I imagined all nights in Los Angeles must be. Theo and I had left the still-grey Kansas skies for sunny LA this morning, on a private jet that felt like being inside of a futuristic spaceship.
I had thought that flying on a private jet would be life-changing, but really, it just felt like being in a fancy bus. The drinks were plentiful. The food was good. But my sixth sense had been on high alert the whole time, watching as Theo got more and more fidgety the closer we’d gotten to California.
He had been trying to play it cool, acting like he felt just fine flying back to LA, but his body language told another story. He kept biting his lower lip as he looked out the plane windows. He bounced his leg so much I thought he might start to vibrate. And when we landed, he was gripping the armrests so hard his knuckles turned white.
I’d wanted to pull him in close to me. I knew he needed somebody.
But I also knew it was just my own selfish ass wanting to get my lips on his again—which wasn’t something I should have been getting used to.
I stayed calm and collected as we got into the city and took a black car to his house, which was somehow even bigger and more museum-like than I’d even expected. I couldn’t imagine how Theo had ever had privacy in a place like it. He kept mentioning little stories about Garett McKennaugh, stories about how he’d treated Theo that I didn’t like the sound of, one bit. Theo claimed that a partnership with Garett would be stellar for his career, but from where I was standing, Theo’s career was already fucking astronomical.
By the time we left his house—with Theo driving like a maniac again in a sleek black Lamborghini—I had learned lots and lots of facts about Theo and Garett’s past.
And I wasn’t a fan.
I didn’t care how much I’d enjoyed the dude’s movies. Apparently, he’d been a total dick to Theo in the past, probably even more than Theo had admitted to me. Anybody who could hook up with Theo and not want more was out of their mind, in my opinion.
My chest tightened with anger just thinking about it. I couldn’t imagine it. Kissing Theo’s perfect lips? Looking into some of the most beautiful eyes on the planet, and then kicking him out of bed the next day?
