16. Roman
There was something about the way Isabel looked up at me, cheeks flushed, weaving a spell over me with those parted lips and big eyes still glinting with want.
“If that was two minutes it was a lot,” she said. “And if you don’t want me to hold you to the full five minutes you’d better put your shirt back on.”
And then she had to smile, that smile she kept for occasions like this when all my defenses had been stripped bare.
I raked her into my arms, hissing through my teeth. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me? I don’t get a minute of rest from thinking about you, thinking of being inside you, tasting you, dancing with you, walking around with you in the foyer of the Belmont Hotel, or just holding your hand.”
Her head tilted, eyes challenging me. “And you think I get a rest from thinking about you? I wake up thinking you’re right there with me. It’s excruciating.”
Not that I expected an bit of sympathy from her for my own plight, but she was ruthless. Her hands scrambled into my pants, her breath faltering as she felt me getting hard again under her touch.
And then I had to kiss her. It wasn’t so much a kiss as it was me claiming her as mine. “You should just stay here tonight, Isabel” I whispered into her mouth. “I want to go to sleep with you, I want to wake up with you.”
I thought Isabel would be very receptive to the idea. It was something we both wanted. Desperately. Who were we to ignore this spectacle of our lives being thrown together time and time again?
Of course, never underestimate my honey badger’s pride and her unique perspective.
Her hands slipped out of my pants, she wormed herself from my grasp and took a step away, ending up with her back against the wall. “Say that again?” Not that she didn’t know exactly what I’d just suggested.
I grabbed my sweatshirt from the oak table and pulled it on. “You should stay here tonight, at Belmont Manor,” I said as casually as I could manage with another erection eagerly anticipating more of Isabel. “My place in the south wing is completely private from the rest of the house.”
Her mouth fell open. “Okay, you know that’s not going to happen, right?” she said gently. “There are people here I know. One of whom is my boss. Emily can’t know about any of this.”
“Emily is not your boss. Technically speaking that would be me.”
She was mortified. “Oh God, oh God, no, no, no.”
I figured now was probably also not the best time to tell Isabel that Emily already knew. “Isabel, that was supposed to comfort you.”
But Isabel was far from being comforted. “Listen to me, Roman. The staff here are my friends. The last thing I need is for anyone to find out that I’m getting cozy with the boss. Please tell me you understand that.”
The nuances of social norms here escaped me. “Isabel, you realize this won’t stay a secret forever, even in a house this size.”
“I don’t think you get it,” she pleaded. “There’s a huge difference between sweeping Cassandra into the south wing and dragging me in there. I work here. There’s no getting away from the fact that I’m still the help.”
A sliver of impatience crawled into the equation. I never had to compromise, and I always got what I wanted. Until now, when I was faced with the one person who proved harder to convince than my toughest adversaries.
Once again Isabel wasn’t going to swoon over my romantic overture of her crawling into my bed at Belmont Manor. All I had left at this point was to methodically demolish her qualms.
“You’re right, there is a huge difference,” I said. “Cassie has never been in the south wing, nor has she ever been to this estate.”
I saw the smallest of delicious shivers tremble through her. Not that she was entirely convinced yet. “Or any of your ex-girlfriends for that matter, Roman. I’m pretty sure none of them were the help.”
My fingers cupped her chin and I lifted her face to mine. “Isabel, I’m going to say this once. And hopefully for the final time. There are no ex-girlfriends, and there never have been ex-girlfriends. There were women in my social circle whose company I enjoyed now and again, more so in my twenties, but it was never in this house, never in the penthouse, and never overnight. You‘re the only woman I want in the south wing and the only woman I want to wake up with in the morning. It’s pretty simple.”
And it was really simple, for me at least. I just wanted to disappear into my south wing apartment with Isabel and not emerge for a week. Perhaps a month. Preferably forever.
But Isabel wasn’t done. “How do you think Cassandra is going to feel about all of this? The woman is head over heels in love with you.”
I was a whisper away from total confusion. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. There is nothing going on between Cassie and me. What we had was casual, nothing more.”
Isabel contemplated me with a troubled frown. “Please tell me you’re not serious.”
“I am serious. And I certainly don’t know why we’re talking about her.”
“Oh, Roman. That woman would walk barefoot over broken glass for you.”
It was a concept I couldn’t wrap my head around. Was I that detached, never to have noticed that Cassie had more than casual feelings for me? “Well, that’s all news to me,” I said. “And if it’s true, I’m sure she understands it won’t ever be reciprocated.”
“Sure,” Isabel said, her tone riddled with sarcasm. “Because people in love are rational and totally in harmony with the cold hard facts.”
“Say it’s true. What exactly would you like me to do about it?”
“Call the poor woman. Tell her you enjoyed her company and that you wish her all the happiness in the world. But at the very least gently let her know that it might be a waste of time waiting for you, so she can move on.”
“Fine, I’ll think about it,” I said patiently, ignoring Isabel’s imploring expression. “But let’s get back to what’s really important here. Which is us. Bringing me to the one very crucial question. How exactly do you think we’ll get to know each other by only meeting in the library at odd times, or having the occasional lunch with Emily?”
“What happened to going for a drink or dinner and a movie?” she asked. “You know, like a date. Not to sound old-fashioned or even just normal, if you want to call any of this normal.”
Guilt washed over me. Expecting Isabel to enter this unfamiliar world with zero preparation for what awaited her in this kind of life was not exactly fair. I had to start laying the groundwork as gently as possible. “We can do that, Isabel. It sounds like a wonderful idea. As long as you realize it won’t just be the two of us. Someone will always be there, watching us.”
Curiosity bloomed in her eyes. “Please explain what you mean. That sounds a little ominous.”
“I don’t set foot outside this house without a security detail. They go where I go.”
“But they weren’t at the bookshop.”
“They were there. They get paid a lot of money to be discreet. To stay invisible.”
Unease crawled over her and found a way to seep into her gaze. “You mean to tell me these people saw everything that went down between us at the Belmont Hotel?”
Suddenly this became a very delicate situation. It was going to take some skill to introduce Isabel to my very complex and guarded world outside the borders of this estate. “No, not everything. Of course not. But they knew where I was at all times, and they were always close by. That said, the Belmont Hotel, being extremely secure, gives me some freedom to roam.”
I gave her time to absorb this, to realize that nothing about entering my world would ever be ordinary. Belmont Manor was where I was safe. Out in her world, my safety was always at risk. A different shudder skimmed through her, one of trepidation. And the flush on her cheeks changed to a lighter shade of pale.
“Please tell me you’re not in danger, Roman.”
“Not that I know of. But the reality is there are bad people out there, and being in my position does have its hazards, real and imagined. So far mostly imagined.”
Isabel’s usually sultry voice was laden with fear. “So basically going out on a normal date with me would put you at risk?”
“It sounds very dramatic when you put it like that but, yes, going out on a normal date will take some careful planning. Not that I mind; don’t think that for a second. There will just not be a whole lot of spontaneity about it.”
And if those green eyes didn’t fill with unbridled panic and tears. For once in my life I felt this tremendous warmth spread through me because someone cared about my safety for me, and not because I was the man about to be at the helm of all these billions.
I pulled Isabel to me, all desire put on hold. “This is not to scare you,” I told her. “I just want you to understand what you’re taking on here. This is the life I’m stuck with, and nothing about that can change for me, even if I want it to.”
All I could do was kiss away her tears before they had a chance to fall. I was astonished at how Isabel could strip me of all this immense power, leaving a man pleading as if his life depended on her decision to accept this insanity.
She brushed a gentle finger over my temple. “Do you remember in the penthouse, telling me I was the lucky one, going back to my world? I thought you were being ridiculous. I understand now.”
“The thing is that the burden will be entirely on you to adapt to all of this, and to accept it as a way of life.”
“Is that the complication?” she asked, almost hopefully. “Because it shouldn’t be.”
I sighed. If only. “No, that’s not the complication. As I said before, I’m working on it and it will be fine. I’ll figure it out.”
Never could Isabel have anticipated that kissing a stranger in a bookshop would lead to such life-changing decisions. And this was only the beginning. I didn’t even want to think about the decisions that lay ahead. All I could hope for was that her honey badger resilience would step up and take the reins.
Her fingers trailed along my jaw where the telltale signs of my anticipation no doubt showed. A smile blossomed on those lovely lips, and the throaty voice was revived. “Last I heard we were still figuring out where all this was going, Roman.”
How did I tell Isabel I had nothing left to figure out, that my mind was made up for me the moment I glanced up from my reading as she wafted into the bookshop? And how little resistance I had against what was eventually going to happen.
It just took me a while to realize there might be a way to be with her. The rest depended on her.
“I have already figured out where I want this to go,” I said with such brazen certainty, leaving no doubt that I meant every word. “You decide the rest. The how and when are up to you. If it was up to me, you’d move into the south wing and never leave. But I’ll respect whatever pace you want to set for this.”
My hand closed around the nape of her neck, my thumb expertly finding the hollow in her throat where her pulse trembled furiously against my skin. “As long as we’re clear on one thing…” I whispered, my thumb lazily traveling up to her mouth and grazing her bottom lip.
“And what is that?” she asked, her gaze now unapologetically lost in mine, her lips already parted as my head dipped toward hers.
“You’re mine,” I growled softly before wrapping her in my arms, my mouth finding hers, my tongue gently demanding entrance.
It might have been the small moans leaking from her throat that gave me the first clue that she was extremely willing to pick up where we’d left off a few minutes before. Or maybe it was her hands burrowing underneath my shirt, and then fervently migrating south again.
Somewhere deep inside me, I found a scrap of willpower and gave it life. This burning kiss had to end before I abandoned the empire for the rest of the day.
I gently retracted myself. Her whimper turned into a cry of shock, a fiery look flashing in her eyes. “I guess I’ll just have to take care of this myself later then,” she threatened, watching me to see if her words had any effect.
Her charming neediness crept into my veins, and I had to curb a smile. “Take care of what, my sweet?”
“The thing you don’t want to take care of,” she said tersely, the flush in her cheeks back.
“Well it won’t be the same now, will it?” I said. “Although just the idea of those delicate fingers between your lovely thighs, definitely gives me enough to fantasize about once I’m left unattended and with you miles away and out of reach.”
The most cunning smile favored her lips. Her gaze dipped to my groin and lazily traveled up to my eyes again. “Fine. But it won’t be the same now, will it?”
I laughed and cupped her face. “I have a meeting, and since I’ve neglected some of my duties for the past how many days, for reasons you are well aware of, it’s important I catch up. And not to overstate the benefit of you one day staying in the south wing, let me just add that you’ll always have direct access to my office. So you’ll never have to “take care of things” yourself. Unless of course, I can be there to watch.”
She squirmed and I widened the gap between us for no other reason than to save what was left of my crumbling resistance.
“None of what you just said helps my current state by the way,” she said. “If you had your phone handy I’d give you my number and we could video chat later tonight.”
My interest bloomed. “Oh?”
“But I guess next time, mon coeur,” she murmured.
I gave her a final kiss on the lips. “Not to worry, I already have your number.”
“Of course you do. I think you had it two seconds after I told you about getting fired.”
I strode to the door, laughing “I did. Expect a call tonight. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, my sweet.