Julianna

Istepped in through my front door and dropped my keys into the bowl on the side table.

"Where the hell have you been?" a voice behind me demanded, making me jump. A tiny figure stood in my doorway, hands on hips.

"Nora." I let out a breath of relief, stepping aside to let her in. "Jesus Christ, you scared me."

I walked towards my kitchen for a glass of water. She swatted my ass as I passed her.

"Ow. What was that for?"

"That was for making me worry when you didn't come home last night."

I stiffened. "How did you know I didn't come home last night?"

She gave me a look. "Firstly, I waited up for you so long here that I fell asleep on your couch. I wanted to tell you about my date."

"Oh."

"And secondly," she waved her finger at my tight black dress, the one that I had been wearing for almost twenty-four hours, "that is a walk of shame outfit if I ever saw one."

"Nora! How do you even know what a walk of shame is? Wait…wait. I don't want to know."

She snorted. "Please, I might be old but I'm not dead."

I turned back to my glass of water, hoping to avoid all further conversation.

When I didn't answer, she swatted me again, making me hiss. "And that is for making me wait to get all the dirty details."

I rubbed my ass, glaring at her. "Remind me to get my spare keys from you."

"Don't change the subject. Who was he and how good was he in bed?" A wide toothy grin spread across her face.

I felt my cheeks heat up as the memories of the last twenty-four hours assaulted my mind.

Nora's grin grew wider. "Dear Lord, the man has made you speechless. Tell me everything. Did you meet him out somewhere?"

"Well…not exactly."

"Through a friend?"

"No."

She let out a huff. "So? Where'd you met him?"

"Um, at Mom's?"

Nora's mouth dropped open. "Are you actually telling me that you picked up a guy at the cemetery?"

I winced. "No. He asked me out."

"So, you allowed yourself to be picked up by some guy you met at a graveyard?"

"Kinda?"

"I knew it. You," she waggled her finger at me, "are a closet freak."

"What? I am not."

"Freaky deacky leather squeaky."

I laughed, mostly out of embarrassment. I was not having this conversation with a woman who was old enough to be my grandmother. "It's not like that."

"Did you make out with him at the cemetery?"

"Ew, Nora, we were at a cemetery."

"Didn't stop you from thinking about it, did it?"

I had more than thought about it. I remembered how Roman had pressed his finger to his mouth in a shushing motion, drawing my eyes to his lips. Those perfect lips, the most beautiful lips I had ever seen on a man. I had wanted to pull them against my mouth and taste them. I had wanted it with a fierceness that had taken my breath away.

"I knew it." Nora was grinning at me, her head nodding slightly. "I could see it all over your face."

I didn't bother denying it. I gulped down water, trying to quell the heat rising up my body.

"Did you sleep with him?"

I choked, spluttering water everywhere. "Nora!" I admonished, my cheeks flushing red-hot as images of the last twenty-four hours with him—his skin, his tongue, his body—washed over me.

"Oh my lolly gobble bliss bomb! You did sleep with him!" she screamed.

"Nora, shhh." I cringed as I imagined my other neighbors hearing.

"Tell. Me. Everything. Height, specs, penis size."

"I don't know his penis size!"

"Lame." She huffed out a breath of air. "Tell me everything anyway."

My stomach fluttered, forcing a grin out of me. "Okay."

We sat on my couch. I launched into a recap of what had happened with Roman, leaving out the sexy specifics despite Nora's attempts to tease them out of me. "Every second with him felt so incredible, so natural, like breathing. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced, unlike anything I even thought possible."

Nora clasped her hands together and let out a sigh, her eyes going all misty. My belly clenched tighter as I spoke about him.

I missed him.

I missed his touch, his voice, I missed laughing with him.

When I told Nora about his offer to take me to Paris, she let out a shriek. "What? Why are you still here?" Her eyes bulged. She looked like she might hit me. "You said no?"

"I couldn't have just taken off like that."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, you could have. That's an excuse because you," she glared at me, "are scared."

I tried shrugging off her words, but they had settled like tiny knives in my belly. "What was the point anyway if I did say yes? My life is here in Verona and his is in London. It'd never work out."

"When you get my age, you realize that life is short. Sometimes you don't need to know the ‘point' of it before you jump in. If it feels right, then do it. Carpe the fuck out of that diem."

I bit my lip. I wasn't scared. I was just being responsible. Right?

So why did it feel like I had done the wrong thing by not taking a chance with Roman?

My stomach sank as I realized I could never make it right. He was gone. I was never going to see him again.