FIFTEEN - JAMESON
I left Kelly and headed up to see Roman.
I figured by now, we’d both had enough time to cool off.
Only now, I had a million more things to think about, and inappropriate ideas floating around my mind that didn’t need to be there, and just enough of a confidence boost to try to do them.
Thankfully, my buzz had started wearing off on the long walk over, so by the time I reached him, logic would kick in, and all of this would be a nonissue.
I knocked on Roman’s door. I could have just walked in using my master key, but God only knew what I’d be barging in on—naked would’ve been fine by me.
Within a few seconds, the door opened. Roman was still wearing the same clothes, but his face and hands were clean.
Damn.
He looked around the hallway. “You alone?”
“Of course I’m alone. My bodyguard left me.” I pushed past him and walked into his suite.
“Come on in,” he mumbled sarcastically as he closed the door. “What do you mean I left you? You sent me away. Where’s Ivan?”
“I told him to take the rest of the day off. We have things to do.” I eyed him up and down him. “Why haven’t you showered yet?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“Me? I’m not showering with you.” I’d already seen him wet and wrapped in nothing but a towel once. That paled in comparison to the thought of him in the actual shower, dripping wet…with water…naked…shit.
“I meant I was waiting to hear back from you. I didn’t want to be in the shower, and you need me for something.”
“I guess that’s fair.” I looked around his suite.
It was still pristine, like he hadn’t been staying here for the last couple of days.
The only evidence of him being here was a huge duffle bag on the floor beside the couch and the laptop security had given him open on the kitchen bar with a half-empty beer bottle beside it.
“Find anything useful?” I asked, pointing toward his setup.
“Depends how you look at it. I’ve just been going over employees. I went as far back as six months before I left. Doesn’t seem like anyone new has been added since.”
“Well, I haven’t needed anyone. We’ve been managing everything with the team we currently have. The one my dad put together.”
He walked over to the bar, sat down, and closed the computer.
“I’ve been thinking about your proposition?” I actually hadn’t given it a second thought since he’d suggested it. I’ve been too damned busy, but now was just as good a time as any to bring it up.
“Which one?” he smirked because we both knew there was only one. “I didn’t know there was more on the table.”
“Never mind.” I shook my head. “I’ve been thinking about going back to my dad’s estate.”
“And what did you decide?”
I propped against the countertop. “I’ll let you go on one condition.”
He took a swig of his beer. “What would that be?”
“You can go, but you have to take me with you.”
“James,” he sighed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
I shrugged. “It’s that or not at all. You’re here to watch over me; this won’t be an exception. Either I go with you, or neither of us goes.”
He sat in silence, contemplating the idea, knowing there was no way for him to ever get away from me now without suspicion. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Of course. What other choice do I have?”
“Hmm. I guess none, really. But—” I paused. “—if we don’t see anything out of the ordinary, and I mean one single thing, you drop it. All of it.”
“And if we do?”
“I’ll deal with it if the time comes.” I pushed off the bar and made my way toward the door. “I’m going back to my room to do some work on my computer. If you need me, you can reach me on my cell. If you get hungry, ring the kitchen. You can text room service from the app on your phone.”
“Good to know.” His voice spoke from a very close distance. I had no idea he’d even gotten up.
I turned around, and he was standing right behind me. “Be ready by eight tonight. I’ll come get you.”
“Sounds good. You don’t think Ivan is going to pop up out of nowhere, come looking for us?”
“Doubt it. He’s supposed to update me on Chris before he leaves for the day. Speaking of”—I didn’t really want to bring this up, but—“what the fuck that was about, anyway?”
“What? He earned it.”
“Seriously? Not to that extent.” Maybe he had earned it a little, but seeing it play out live was like something out of a movie. Everything moved in real time and slow motion all at once. “You could have killed him. You didn’t have to go that hard.”
“He touched you,” he answered casually. “I already warned him once.”
I jerked my head back. “You warned him? When?”
He stared down at me but didn’t say anything. “What difference does it make?”
“I’m an adult. I’m allowed to be touched.”
He turned and walked away, swiping his beer bottle off the counter and tossing it into the trash. “Not by him. Not anymore.”
I stormed after him. “You can’t be fucking serious right now.”
“Oh, I am dead serious, and if he touches you again, neither of us is going to have to worry about him doing it a third time.”
“Roman. You can’t just kill people for putting their hand on me or my ass.”
He walked back toward me, stopping just inches away from my face. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I can and I will. Don’t fucking test me either.”
“Let me remind you, I am not your property.”
He stared me down, his chest expanding and contracting with every breath.
His eyes flicked back and forth, searching mine.
There was something there, something else he wanted to say but didn’t.
Instead, he turned and walked away, heading into his bedroom.
“Go to your suite. I’ll deal with you later. ”
“I thought you didn’t want me to be alone?” I challenged, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. “You’ll deal with me now.”
“Don’t challenge me, Jameson.”
“What the fuck is your problem?”
He spun around to face me. “You. I’m not going to stand by for one more second and watch another man put his hands on you for any reason. Not now, not ever.”
“Ever? You don’t get that kind of say in my life. You’re only here for a few more days, then I’ll be the last thing you’ll have to worry about.”
“Maybe so, but in the meantime, I do. You are my problem—not Ivan’s or Chris’s or anyone else’s around here. Got it?”
“I’m damned sure not yours either.”
“Yeah.” He lowered his voice, and his entire demeanor changed. “Guaranteed, no one else will ever care about you the way I do.”
He reached up, probably to touch me in some sort of intimate way. I had to stay strong. I swatted him away. He was irritating the shit out of me. In some sick and twisted way, I wanted to slap him and fuck him at the same time.
“Keep your hands off of me. You already crossed a line this morning when you practically shoved your tongue down my throat.”
“Hmm. You didn’t seem to have a problem with my tongue down your throat or my hands on you then.”
“Things have changed.” I was weak and already walking a very thin line with Roman.
I was one look, one touch, one breath away from reaching my breaking point with him.
If I didn’t stand strong now, I never would, and we’d end up tangled together where we stood.
I hated him—I hated that I wanted him even more.
“And if you touch me like that again, I’ll have you on your knees faster than you can snort a line of coke off a stripper’s ass. ”
He cocked an eyebrow with a casual smirk. “You have a serious attitude problem.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“You’d probably lose half of it if you spent more time on your knees.”