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Slowly, he nods as his eyes find mine. “I’ll do it.”
I don’t think. I close the distance between us and launch myself into his arms. He catches me easily. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I cling to him, burying my face in his neck. After weeks of back and forth, and him pushing me away, I was certain he was going to tell me no.
“Thank you, Rome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” I lift my head so that he can see the sincerity in my eyes.
“It’s really fucking hard for me to say no to you, baby girl,” he says softly. His hands are gripping my thighs, holding me to him.
“You tell me no on a daily basis.”
“Not without difficulty.”
“So, I’m wearing you down?” I grin.
The corner of his mouth lifts in a smile. “With this. You wore me down with this.”
“I’ll take my wins where I can get them. Can we do it now? Tonight?” I ask eagerly.
“Can you sit through a few hours?”
“Yes.” I don’t hesitate with my answer.
“Then, yeah, we’ll do it tonight. Let me get this set up and we’ll get to work.”
“Thank you.” I kiss his cheek, and his hands grip my thighs a little harder. He doesn’t reply, but he nods, and I know that’s as good of a reply as I’m going to get. He stares deep into my eyes, and his head leans in.
He’s going to kiss me.
I lick my suddenly dry-as-the-Sahara lips in preparation. He leans in a little closer, so I close my eyes, but it’s not his lips I feel, but his forehead pressed to mine. “This is going to be by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.” His confession is murmured, but I hear every word loud and clear.
“Why?” I know why. He feels this magnetism between us, but he refuses to do anything about it.
“You know why, baby girl,” he husks.
I grind my hips against him, and he grunts, his fingers digging deeper into my bare thighs. “Stop fighting this.”
“I can’t. This is wrong, Em. You know he would never approve of us.”
“It’s not up to him. He’ll either have to get on board, or be pissed off and miserable the rest of his life.”
“He’s my business partner, one of my best friends, and your older brother. He knows me. They all do better than anyone, and they know I don’t date. Add in that I’m a decade older than you, and they’ll all be grabbing their pitchforks.”
I wish he would just listen. Just give this, giveusa chance. “Not when they see how good we are together.”
“There are no guarantees in life, Em. We can’t predict the future. We don’t know how giving in to these desires will end.”
“You would never hurt me, Roman. I know that, you know that, and they will too.” My tone is soft, but I hope he can hear my need for him to give in to this thing between us in my voice.
“Not intentionally.” He lifts his head and his eyes find mine. “Never.” That single word is said with so much conviction, it brings tears to my eyes.
“It’s not fair, Rome. We both want this. Why are we letting everyone in our lives keep us from something that has the potential to change our lives?”
“It would change my life. You—” He shakes his head and takes a steadying breath. “They’re our family, baby girl. We can’t make them choose.”
“They don’t have to choose. You said it. They’re our family. They choose us. We can choose us too.”
“It’s not that easy.” He presses a kiss to my forehead, which takes me by surprise.
“Roman.” My voice is laced with a little bit of sadness, longing, and pleading, all wrapped up in one.
