20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Roman
Nate told me I was crazy.
Adrian was convinced I’d lost my mind.
Ben was all for the idea.
That should have given me pause, but once I’d made the decision, it had been full steam ahead.
The idea of moving to be near Shira had seemed ludicrous when it was first suggested, but that day on the elevator, after three weeks of not seeing her and all the changes that had happened, had filled me with a great sense of loss.
I didn’t like it. I’d missed the first trimester; I’d be damned if I didn’t have front-row seats to my son continuing to grow inside his mother. I’d do anything to have that. Including eating Shira’s barely edible dinner experiments so loaded with garlic and pepper I was liable to develop an ulcer. And grossly overpaying for a house in a neighborhood I was dubious about.
I’d pulled Shira into my new place, and Ben and Nate had followed. She’d been quiet while I’d shown them what I’d planned to do with the kitchen when I gutted it. She’d chewed on her bottom lip when I’d walked them around upstairs so they could see the bedrooms. When I’d dished out the dinner I’d cooked—no garlic in sight—she’d sat on her hands and rolled her lips over her teeth.
She only spoke once Ben and Nate had disappeared into the living room with their plates and we were alone in the kitchen.
“You bought Bev and Donnie’s house?”
“I did.”
“Besides Bea, they were my favorite neighbors.”
There was no emotion or inflection in her words. If anything, she appeared shell-shocked, which wasn’t exactly surprising. To her, my actions might have seemed extreme, but they were well in line with my typical way of conducting life. I thought about my next move for as long as I needed to, then acted. After spending a month traveling across the city to take care of Shira and her damn cat, I’d decided that had been enough.
“If it’s any consolation, I looked into buying the building across the street, but it was recently bought by a tech billionaire who wouldn’t sell no matter how high I went with my offer. Bev and Donnie were much more amenable.”
I grazed my palm over her belly. It was like second nature now. She never stopped me, and I’d found I couldn’t stop myself either.
“What made them such good neighbors?” I asked affably, sensing she needed me to take it down a notch. I wasn’t a particularly gentle man, but around Shira, I seemed to attempt to match her more mellow, careful nature.
“They made me cookies and offered to babysit when Beanie arrives. They were quiet and always waved when we passed.” She lifted a shoulder. “They didn’t do anything out of this world, but they were nice and made me feel welcome.”
“No problem. I can do all those things. You’ll forget Bev and Donnie ever existed.”
Her nose crinkled. “Are you sure living next door to each other is a good idea?”
“I am. For now, there’s no place I’d rather be living than next to the mother of my son. Since you’ve decided to settle in this questionable neighborhood, this is where I’ll be.”
She swatted my arm, and I wondered if this was the first time she’d initiated contact with me. I thought it might’ve been and took it as a good sign. She was getting comfortable with me. My plan to become her best friend was well underway.
“The neighborhood is great.” Her eyes roamed over the tall ceilings and cabinets. “The house is beautiful too. I didn’t realize it was so much bigger than mine.”
It was twice the size of Shira’s and had a small yard out back—a boon for city living. I’d been in a condo for a long time. I thought I’d enjoy having the outdoor space. Plus, if my son was anything like me, he’d need it to run himself ragged. Wells boys didn’t do well confined to the indoors.
“I like it too.” I spread my fingers over her bump. “Is our boy hungry?”
“I ate dinner with Bea and Clara.”
I lowered my chin to catch her wandering gaze, asking again, “Is our boy hungry?”
She sucked in a breath then told the truth. “Yes. He always is lately.”
“Don’t be afraid to tell me if you need something. I’m always going to provide it for you.”
“I’ll try.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I still think this is crazy, you know.”
“Maybe the way I went about it was a little extreme, but I don’t see how me moving in next to you can be called crazy.”
Her head canted, a little smile playing on her mouth. “You can’t?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Now, let’s get you and the boy fed.” I grabbed our plates and nodded toward the living room. “Come on.”
Nate and Ben had turned on a basketball game and were well on their way to finishing their plates by the time we settled on the sectional. Shira was surrounded by me and my brothers, and by the increased rise and fall of her chest, it made her nervous. Ben didn’t allow her to sink into those feelings, though. He chattered away, telling her about his trip to New Zealand, and peppered her with questions too personal for people who’d only met twice.
“Are you prepared for how huge you’re going to get?” he asked.
Nate threw a napkin at him, and Shira flushed a violent red.
I squeezed her knee. “There’s no need to answer him.”
“Ignore him like we all do,” Nate added.
“I don’t think I am,” Shira replied quietly. “I don’t do the best with unexpected attention, and I’ve already had several old ladies ask me when I’m due. By the end, with me being so short and Roman being a giant, I can only imagine my bump will have its own gravitational pull. I might have to stay inside so no one looks at me.”
“Did you hear that, Ben? She doesn’t like a lot of attention,” Nate intoned. “Take a hint.”
Ben patted his chest. “That doesn’t include me, right? We’re basically family now.”
Shira’s cheeks were almost glowing, and it was…striking. Sweet. If she didn’t like attention, she’d need to stop being so adorable.
“You’re fine,” she replied. “I expect it from you, so I’m prepared.”
Ben elbowed Nate. “See? I’m fine. Shira and I are already friends.”
Nate leaned around Ben, leveling Shira with a soft look. “You can ignore him. He doesn’t mind.”
“Thanks, Nate.” She offered him a small, timid smile. “I guess I have to get used to you guys since Roman says you’ll be around a lot once Beanie’s here.”
Nate chuckled. “We’re around a lot in general. Don’t know if it’s healthy or not, but that’s us. Before this big move, Rome and Ben lived together, and I was next door. It’s going to take some adjusting now that he’s on this side of town.”
“We might move too,” Ben added. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did, nor would I object.
I raised a brow. “You’re not living with me.”
“What about your other brother…Adrian?” she asked.
“Adrian’s job keeps him busy at night. He’s harder to track down,” Nate said.
“Oh? What does he do?”
“He owns a club,” I told her, leaving out the minor detail of which club. I didn’t want her to feel embarrassed about my brother’s connection to where we met.
Leave it to Ben to blow it by snickering. “A club? Be specific, man. Sooner or later, Shira’s going to find out Adrian owns a sex club.”
Her body went solid beside mine, but she kept her reaction off her face. “Oh. Okay. I guess a place like that wouldn’t exactly be a brunch spot. Working nights makes sense.”
That made my brothers laugh, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn’t tell how she was feeling, but she was smart enough to connect the dots and figure out MHC was Adrian’s club. If she was bothered, she didn’t show it as she tucked into her dinner, scrunching her nose at the game she watched with Nate and Ben.
When her plate was empty, I took it to the kitchen. She tried to claim it was time for her to go home, but all three of us insisted she stay. So, she settled beneath the fuzzy blanket Nate had draped over her, and before long, her eyes fluttered closed, and she fell asleep.
Hard to believe it was possible with Ben shouting at the TV and Nate leaping to his feet then slamming back down when his guy missed a shot, but her face remained placid, and her breathing was slow and steady. Again, I was hit with a deep sense of satisfaction. Shira felt secure enough to fall asleep next to me and my brothers. There wasn’t much more I could have asked for.
“Is she asleep?” Nate whispered.
“She is.” I swept hair off her forehead. “Growing a kid is tiring work.”
When Shira still hadn’t stirred a little while later, Nate looked from her to me, his brow furrowed in thought.
“How could you have gotten her so wrong?” he asked.
I knew exactly what he meant. How could I have spent any time around this woman and thought badly of her? I believed everything I’d heard about her, and what I hadn’t heard, I’d formed assumptions based on observations. I’d been wrong. Deeply, undeniably wrong.
“I’m an idiot.”
Ben nodded enthusiastically. “Glad you said it.”
“She’s closed off and shy. When I met her, I misread her as icy and arrogant.”
Ben chuffed. “Because you believed the bullshit Frannie said about her.”
I couldn’t deny it. “That and the letters.” I rubbed the space between my brows and exhaled. “She wrote them. It wasn’t Frank at all. Every time I sent him a letter, it was Shira writing back to me.”
It took a lot to catch Nate off guard, but he jerked like he’d been shocked with electricity.
“What the fuck?” he hissed. “That’s…interesting. How do you feel about that?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Much less attached to GoldMed, for one. Frank Goldman instantly went from something like a mentor to a lecherous creep for going after her when she was nineteen years old.”
Ben flipped his hand over, his palm up. “To be fair, he was always that. You just looked past it because of your daddy issues.”
“Fuck off,” I said without any venom. He wasn’t wrong. I’d gone to therapy for my insatiable need to make my dead father proud and still ended up in this position. Obviously, I had more work to do, but I’d taken the first step of removing my head out of my own ass. Hopefully, it would remain that way.
“For what it’s worth, I’d say she’s forgiven you.” Nate nodded toward the peacefully sleeping Shira. “I like her. Quite a lot, actually. She doesn’t strike me as conniving or opportunistic. I’d say she’s pretty down to earth.”
“I agree, and I like her too.” I brushed my fingers over her forehead again. “She’ll be a really good mom.”
Ben waggled his brows. “Sure, sure, but do you like her? I’m getting vibes…”
“She’s the mother of my child,” I stated.
“Leave it,” Nate snapped. “Not everything’s a joke.”
Ben raised his hands. “All right, I’ll drop it. I was just saying what we were all thinking.”
Shira woke later in the evening, soon after my brothers left. Her eyes sprung open, and she sucked in a breath, her head whipping left and right.
“Have a nice nap, Goldie?”
Her wide eyes landed on me, still seated beside her. “I fell asleep?”
“You did. Looked like you needed that nap.”
“I guess I did.” She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Nate and Ben are gone?”
“Just left. Ben’s never been quiet a day in his life. Him slamming the door on his way out was probably what woke you.”
“He managed to be quiet enough for me to nap for over an hour.”
“Miracles happen once in a blue moon.”
Straightening, she arched her back, her waves cascading along the curve of her spine like a waterfall. I tried not to be captivated, but it was impossible. It was just as well she usually wore her hair tied up when she went out. The general public didn’t deserve to see her this way.
Not that I did, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Shira, I need to assure you Adrian doesn’t know about room ten. But even if he did, he’d keep it to himself. Discretion is of utmost importance in his line of work.”
Her soft mouth opened then closed. Finally, after moments of what looked like indecision, she whispered, “Okay.”
“I thought it would be better to keep it between us. If it were just me, I’d tell my brothers all about that night, but I’d rather them not know that about you. I assumed you would prefer that too.”
She nodded. “Thank you. I still can’t believe that night happened.” She smoothed her hand over her belly. “If not for this, I might think I dreamed it.”
“I take it that was your first time at MHC?”
She snorted softly. “Oh, yes. Bea told me about the app. I don’t know why I downloaded it, but once I did, I was curious, so I looked at profiles.”
“And that intrigued you?”
“You know me, Roman. Going to a bar to be picked up is out of the question. I wanted…an experience—to feel good about myself and not be alone for one night. Then I talked to Wim—to you —well, I still didn’t think I’d go through with our plan. Then I was there, and it happened, and…well, what about you?”
“Curiosity on my part too.”
Her brow arched. “I would think, since your brother owns the club, you have sated your curiosity quite a bit.”
“You’d think that, but that was my first time doing something like that as well. I went through a breakup a few months back, and I’m not one for picking women up in bars. Ade told me about his new app, and I skimmed through it just to see who was on there. When I came across a shy woman who wanted to be used, I was too intrigued to pass that up.”
Her shudder was subtle, but I didn’t miss it. Nor did I miss her pink tongue darting out to wet her lips. “Have you been back many times since?”
“I haven’t even thought about it.”
She pushed out a humorless laugh. “The first time was so bad you didn’t want to try it again?”
“Shira,” I leaned closer, capturing her gaze, “I think you know there was nothing bad about what happened that night. Not between you and me, and not what came from it.”
My hand was already on her belly, where it perpetually rested these days, and I moved it in slow circles.
“Was it bad for you?” I asked though I knew the answer. Her cries of pleasure would be emblazoned on my brain until the end of time, which was troublesome considering we were supposed to be friends and co-parents. Anything more would be complicated.
“No, Rome. It wasn’t bad at all.” She rubbed her lips together. “If I did that again, I’d—”
I went still. “If you did it again?”
“Obviously not now. But one day, a year or two from now, I might want to again. I don’t know.”
“What did you like about it?”
“I didn’t have to ask for what I wanted. That’s one of my downfalls in regular life. And in that setting? Well…I just can’t. I liked that you gave me what I needed.”
I bit back a groan, curling my fingers into my palms to stop myself from pressing against my half-hard dick.
“I liked giving you that.” I kept my voice as steady as possible, which wasn’t all that steady.
Tossing the blanket on her lap aside, she scooted forward. “I should go home. Mary’s probably angry at me for being gone so long.”
If it had been up to me, we would have continued our conversation, but Shira was clearly done and pushing her further was out of the question. I needed her to feel at ease with me—talking about the out-of-this-world anonymous sex we had wasn’t going to get her there.
“Don’t tell her I’m the cause of your absence. She hates me enough as it is.”
Shira offered me a smile so soft, it could have been made of velvet. I’d noticed the slight overlap of her two front teeth, but this was the first time I’d wanted her to keep smiling so I could study it.
When we’d first met—and I was being an uncharitable bastard—I’d been surprised Frank hadn’t paid to have her teeth fixed. Now, I was eternally grateful he hadn’t seen this slight imperfection as something that needed fixing. Her smile, when she brought it out, was sweet and real.
Standing, I offered Shira a hand. She slipped her palm against mine, and I tugged her to her feet. Underestimating my strength and how light she was, I pulled too hard, resulting in her colliding with me. Her small belly hit my hip, and on instinct, my arm snaked around her, keeping her there.
“Oh!” Her hands flew to my upper abdomen, steadying herself. “You sent me flying.”
I chuckled, my fingers spreading on her lower back. “I did. Sorry about that. Glad I was able to catch you.”
Her mouth opened to reply, but instead of words, she expelled a gasp. “Whoa, I think—” Heading tipping back, her wide eyes landed on mine. “I just felt him move. It’s like a little butterfly in my stomach. You sent him flying too.”
“You feel him?” I stepped back, both hands cupping her belly. “Right now?”
“I do. The flutters are right below my belly button. It’s like he’s swimming laps back and forth.” Her hand slid between mine as we both stared at her middle in wonder. “I can’t feel it like this.”
“No. He’s still too small. The app says it’ll probably be a few more weeks before we can feel him from the outside.” Keeping one hand on her abdomen, I grazed my knuckles along her smooth cheek. “I’m so damn glad I was with you for this.”
She raised her eyes to mine, giving me that uneven smile of hers in full beam. “Me too. Even though you can’t feel him yet, I’m glad we shared this.”
Because it seemed right, and my elated head was in the clouds, I dipped down and covered her mouth with mine. My hand dropped from her cheek to her nape, pulling her into me. She whimpered beneath my lips, then softened, parting slightly to slot our mouths together.
I took us there but no further.
“So damn glad,” I murmured against her lips. Then I slid my fingers into the sides of her hair and touched my lips to her forehead. “You’re doing incredible, Goldie. Just incredible.”
Her “thanks” was little more than a whisper. Then she slipped away from me, making a beeline to my door. I followed, stopping right behind her. With her hand on the knob, she turned, giving me her profile.
“Kit and I are going to be working longer hours over the next week to get everything ready for the auction, so I won’t be around as much.”
My stomach tightened. “Don’t work too hard. Neither of you should.”
Her lips tilted a little. “I won’t. Between you and Elliot, I don’t think either of us could get away with overworking ourselves.”
“That’s right.” I touched her shoulder, ignoring the small jolt that went through her. “If you need help, let me know.”
“Okay.” Her gaze swept over mine but didn’t linger. “Thanks for dinner. Welcome to the neighborhood.”
She twisted the knob, but before she could leave, I bent over her, used my fingertip to tilt her head back, and kissed her softly.
“Goodnight, Shira.”
“Goodnight, Roman.”
She dashed over to her house, and I watched until she disappeared inside.
I’d flustered her, but the god’s honest truth was I was right there with her. I couldn’t say kissing Shira hadn’t ever crossed my mind, not when she was as sweet as she was and how astonishingly sexy it was seeing her slowly bloom with my baby, but choosing to follow through hadn’t been planned. Instinct had led my lips to hers—a reaction to sharing something wonderful and happy.
At least the first kiss could be explained that way.
The second? Not so much. That was for me, to test whether her lips had really tasted as good as I’d thought.
I should have been kicking myself. I always avoided unnecessary complications, and kissing Shira certainly added complications to the web we’d already tangled ourselves in.
Instead, I found myself grinning as I closed the door. I may have been the one to kiss her first, but there was no question Shira Goldman hadn’t hesitated to kiss me back.