Chapter 25 Rome
TWENTY-FIVE
ROME
I wake up to her singing.
Cracking my eyes open against the morning sun, I squint through the brightness, searching for my wife.
She isn’t in bed, and when I sit up, I follow the sound of her voice to the closet.
“Whisky on ice, sunset and vine,” she sings loudly. “You’ve ruined my life by not being mine.”
Stopping in the threshold, I place my hands on the door frame and watch her.
She’s sifting through her clothes hanging on her side of the closet.
I haven’t been back in here since Julianna took over the bedroom.
The last time I saw this closet, it was filled with nothing but my suits and a few casual items. One side of the closet is nothing but black and white, the other half filled with colors and sequins and feathers.
She switches to humming the song while grabbing a hanger off the rack and holding out the shirt. After a few seconds, she starts singing the words again.
“You make me so happy, it turns back to sad.”
“Does this song happen to be about me?” I tease, stepping into the closet.
Startled, she jumps, a yelp falling from her pretty mouth. She’s wearing my black T-shirt and nothing else. The bottom hem dances across her thighs, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so sexy before. Seeing her in my shirt has my stomach somersaulting and my dick instantly hard.
“I didn’t realize you were up yet.” She spins back around to face the full-length mirror on the wall.
“I haven’t heard you sing in a long time.” I grow closer to her. “I forgot how beautiful your voice is.”
Her smile fades as her eyes catch mine in the reflection. “I haven’t sang in years. Well, actually, I haven’t since the last time we were together.”
“Huh.” I rake my eyes over her as I move to stand behind her and gather her hair to brush it aside. “So, that means the song is about me.”
She rolls her eyes, then rests her head back against my chest. “It’s “Gorgeous” by Taylor Swift. It released a little after we separated, but when I heard it the first time, it reminded me of the night we snuck into the bathroom at Sola’s party.”
“Hmm,” I hum against her neck, staring at her through the mirror. “I should listen to the song or read the lyrics, then, huh?”
“Definitely listen to it,” she says, lifting her arms and draping them around my neck. Her entire body is open to me. We sway side to side as if we’re dancing to the song.
“Makes me happy knowing your nickname has held up to your reputation.”
“Yeah.” Her smile fades momentarily before she’s stepping away from me. She places the shirt back onto the rack.
Pinching the bottom of her shirt, I twist it around my fingers and tug her backward. She spins, slamming against my chest.
I plant my lips against hers, tasting the toothpaste still lingering on her mouth. How long has she been awake? I pull away, smoothing my hands over the curve of her ass and hips.
“You should have woken me up sooner so I could hear more of your singing.”
She smirks. “I wanted to let you sleep, considering you’ve been sleeping on the floor for the past two weeks.”
I frown, shrugging. “The floor hasn’t been too bad.”
She narrows her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
A tiny pin prick meets my chest, but I brush it off. Progress. We’re all about making progress right now. “Okay, fine. The floor sucked ass.”
She laughs and places her hands around the base of my neck. “See? Everything is much better when we’re honest.”
“Right.” I smile, but it disappears the more I look at my beautiful wife.
I’ve never wanted anyone other than her.
“Since we’re doing this whole getting everything out in the open and off our chests thing…” I start, knowing I just need to get this out and over with. “I have one last thing to confess. Last night, you brought this up, and I should have said something then.”
Part of me is afraid it’ll make me lose Julianna all over again, but if we truly want to forge a path for a new version of our future, I need to tell her everything. It’s the only way.
Her eyebrows pinch with worry, but I push through.
“I didn’t have sex with Macy that night.”
“What?” Her entire body deflates.
I keep my hands on her hips. “Everything else was true. I ran into her at the party, but I was so drunk and high, I didn’t have much fight to stop her. I was broken, and my mind wasn’t with my body. At least until you appeared.”
Julianna’s eyes line with tears, and I hate that I’ve put them there again, but this needs to be said.
“I saw the both of you, though, Rome,” she says quietly.
“You did, but you don’t know what happened afterward, do you?”
Her eyes roam over my face, the memory of that night obviously playing in her eyes. “I saw the two of you together then left. I couldn’t face you. Seeing you like that…”
“I know. By the time I got to Kiernan’s party I was already drunk and high, but when I ran into him, he’d offered me more.
I’d lost our daughter, and I’d seen you at the restaurant with Will.
All I wanted to do was make the pain go away.
I’d responded to your text and wandered into the hallway in my drunken stupor when Macy found me.
I was already trying to fight her off, but my body wasn’t working.
Like, my body physically struggled to function.
But then when I saw you, it was as if you somehow snapped me out of whatever zombie-like state I was in.
I immediately went after you and called your name, but you didn’t stop for me or even hear me.
The music was so loud, and by the time I reached the hallway outside Kiernan’s apartment, you were gone. ”
“But after…” A tear slips from her eye. I catch it with my thumb. “When we met here and decided to separate…”
“You’d already made your mind up about what I did with Macy, and honestly, I let you because I deserved it.
I deserved for you to believe I’d cheated on you because I’d already destroyed your life.
After the day we met in the library, I inserted myself into your world when we’d only known how to despise each other up until that point.
I’d already broken your heart, and I thought you would have been better off without me.
Then you could go on living your life the way it was meant to be from birth. With you hating me.”
“You should have told me the truth, Rome.” She tilts her head. “All this time, I believed…”
“I should have, and I’m so sorry.” I sigh. “I don’t know if it would have changed things if I’d have told you, but I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. I wish I hadn’t, though, because you deserve the world, Lark, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”
I cradle her face in my hands, feeling sick to my stomach, worried I’ve lost her. That this one night has been momentary. I don’t know what I would do if I lost her again.
“I don’t know if it would have changed things, either,” she says, rising up on tiptoes, bringing her face closer to mine. “But I understand, Rome, and I believe you.”
I sigh with relief so loud, it makes Julianna chuckle.
We can finally breathe.
“I’ve made mistakes.” Every honest word I tell her is another step toward healing what was left broken between us.
“So many. Too many. I don’t intend on spending the rest of my life making them.
I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you I meant those words the day we got married.
You are the love of my life, Lark, and I’m sorry I ever made you doubt it. ”
With pink cheeks and tear-filled eyes, she sniffs, her mouth curling into a smile. “Well, shit.”
“What?” I caress her cheek.
“As much as I’ve hated you over the years, I never thought I’d hear those words again. I’ve wanted you to say them for so long.”
“We’ve never been very good at communication, have we?” I tease, kissing her.
“Oh, no.” She pulls back, groaning as she buries her face with her hands.
“What?” I chuckle, pulling her hands down from her face.
She stares up at me with doe-like eyes. “We’re the miscommunication trope.”
“What’s the miscommunication trope?” I scrunch my nose.
“It’s a type of trope from books that readers notoriously hate,” she explains, gesturing with her hand.
“Selene—my best friend, and Holt’s wife—she’s a romance author.
One night, she explained to me what tropes are in romance novels, and I specifically remember her talking about the miscommunication one.
” Her eyes widen. “Because it is not a popular one.”
“What’s wrong with the miscommunication trope?” I ask, honestly intrigued.
“Readers feel the characters could have solved all their problems if they had just talked to one another. All the drama is unnecessary and frustrating. When I think about it, Romeo and Juliet is probably a prime example of miscommunication.”
I press my lips together and cradle her face in my hands.
I think about Julianna and the complexities of our marriage and everything that transpired.
“I don’t know anything about a miscommunication trope, but I agree, we weren’t the best at talking openly and honestly.
But we were eighteen years old, Lark. We fell in love and made hasty decisions against impossible odds.
Mix that with losing our daughter, it all became a firestorm we couldn’t escape. ”
She works her lips under her teeth as she thinks about what I’ve said. “You’re right.”
“I think it’s time we forgive ourselves, Lark,” I lean in and whisper against her mouth. “What do you think?”
Staring up at me with those eyes I fell in love with all those years ago, she smiles. “Way overdue, Rome.”
“Good.” I slip my hands down her back and under her ass cheeks. Lifting her, she wraps her legs around me as I carry her to our bedroom. “Now, let me make up for lost time before Marcus gets back.”
She giggles, and my heart flutters. “I love Marcus and all, but I wouldn’t be terribly upset if he wanted to stay in the city a little longer.”
We laugh, and the last time I was this deliriously happy was with Julianna, here in this room.
Her laughter subsides when she turns around and places her hands on the closet shelves in front of her.
She bends until her perfectly round ass is staring up at me.
Looking over her shoulder, she bats her pretty dark lashes and lifts the hem of my shirt to reveal her smooth, bare ass. I can see her dripping pussy from here.
“Is this how you want me?” she asks seductively, and, fuck me, it’s beautiful.
My cock hardens in my sweatpants. I step forward, smoothing my hand over her full, supple ass cheek. “You’re playing with fire.”
She bats her lashes again, her eyes turning lustful. “Am I?”
“Fuck, yes, Lark.” I slip my hand between her thighs and dip my fingers into her wetness. “And I want you. Just like this.”
She shivers under my touch, and I think I might come in my pants at the sight of her.
Crossing her arms in front of her, she grabs the bottom of my shirt and begins to lift it over her head, but I stop her.
“Leave it on.” I step out of my sweatpants and slide my cock between her ass cheeks, teasing her. “I want to fuck you while you’re wearing my shirt, surrounded by my things.”
“I thought this place was ours,” she mewls, closing her eyes as I drag my cock across her wetness between her legs.
“You’re right,” I agree, grunting and gripping her hips, parting her legs enough for me to slam into her. “This place is ours, but you’re mine and mine alone.”