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Only Roman would think to include it in Olivia’s new room when he’d never had kids of his own.
She picked up the receiver and thumbed it on. An image of Olivia, sleeping in the bed where Ruby sat, filled the little screen.
Relief flooded her body. She would be able to see Olivia when she was out of the room, and it was a good thing too, because Ruby didn’t know if she’d ever be able to really separate herself from her daughter again. The last few weeks had been a waking nightmare.
She stood and took one look back at Olivia, sleeping soundly in the purple pajamas with gold stars she’d found in the dresser drawer. Like everything Roman had purchased for Olivia — everything he’d done for her — they were a perfect fit.
She walked quietly to the door, the monitor in her hand, and carefully let herself out of the room, leaving it ajar a few inches in case Olivia woke in the night and got scared.
She would leave her own door open too.
She exhaled and felt all the tension leave her body. She pushed away any thought of Adam. She didn’t know where he was and she didn’t care. She would have to deal with it — with him — eventually, but right now she just wanted to spend time with Olivia.
Roman’s coup against his father would be successful (she didn’t want to think about the alternative, about the shadowy forces from Russia that had been assaulting his men, his holdings, while they’d been in New Orleans) and Ruby and Olivia would go back to their normal lives.
She felt the cold cutch of pain in her chest at the thought of being without Roman, of not seeing him every day, making him laugh, feeling his arms around her at night.
It was a loss for another time.
She found him on the sofa, hunched forward over his laptop, his brow drawn in concentration. He’d divested himself of the jeans he’d worn on the plane in favor of gray sweats and a long-sleeve black T-shirt, a wardrobe change that did nothing to dampen his raw sex appeal.
His dark hair was just a little bit tousled, the shadow of whiskers darkening his jawline. She knew exactly how they would feel against the tender skin of her inner thighs and her pulse quickened as desire thrummed through her body.
Jesus.
He looked up when he noticed her, then shut his computer and stood. “How is she?”
It was one of many things she loved about him: no matter what was going on in his life, his business, he always made Ruby feel like the most important thing in the world. He was present with her in a way few people had ever been, and she felt it like warm rays of sun on her face after a long cold winter.
“She’s okay,” Ruby said, still clutching the baby monitor. “Really tired.”
He opened his arms. Walking into them was second nature.
She closed her eyes and rested her head against his massive chest. Despite everything that had happened, she’d never felt so safe.
“I was doing some reading on trauma in children,” he said. “Tiredness is a symptom. So is lethargy and regression.”
She looked up at him. “You did… research? For Olivia?”
“I wanted to be ready. To do the right things,” he said as if it were obvious.
She smiled up at him.
“What?”
“It’s just… nice,” she said. “The room, the clothes and toys, doing all the things to make sure Olivia feels safe… It’s just really, really nice.”
A shadow darkened his features. “I’m not nice, Ruby.”
“You’re nice to me,” she said. “To Olivia.”
Adam had saved most of his wrath for Ruby. It had been little comfort that he’d been jovial with food servers and store clerks.
Roman treated Ruby and Olivia like they were the most precious things in the world, and because of that, she was losing her ability to be disgusted by the fact that he was a cold hard killer.
“Because I fucking love you, Ruby.” The words sounded ferocious coming from his lips, like his love was a storm that would sweep them both away. “I’d do anything for you.”
“I love you too.” The words were easy to say, to mean.
