Julianna

Ijolted awake when a floorboard creaked, grabbing for my gun that I'd slid under my pillow after Mercutio had left.

"It's just me." Roman's voice made my whole body sag with relief.

I spotted his huge frame silhouetted against my open bedroom window. An overwhelming sense of safety fell over me like a blanket.

"What the hell are you doing leaving your bedroom window unlocked?"

"I hoped you'd come…" I trailed off. My sleepiness was making me too honest.

He stiffened. "What if it hadn't been me, huh? What if they sent someone else to finish what they failed earlier tonight?"

I sat up in bed. The sheet dropped off my torso, revealing the red silk nightie I'd slipped on earlier. I thought I heard Roman's breath hitch. I felt his eyes roaming over me and I flushed. The nightie had been an unwanted birthday gift from Nora. I'd never worn it before tonight. I was glad I did. I pulled the weapon I was still clutching into view. "I have a gun."

There was a pause. Roman let out a soft snort as he shook his head. "Unbelievable."

I moved the gun to the bedside table. Suddenly my hands were too empty, so I gripped the edges of my sheet, my fingers playing with the hem. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to make sure you were okay. I wasn't going to come in. Then I found your window unlocked."

There was an awkward pause. There was so much I wanted to say, to ask, but all of it seemed…inappropriate. My unasked questions hung in the air like pale moths.

"I should?—"

"I'm sorry," I blurted out at the same time.

"What for?" he asked.

"For ever judging you incorrectly."

He let out a curt laugh. "You didn't get it all wrong. I'm still a bastard."

I gave him a small smile. "Not where it counts."

Roman's stance softened and his chin dropped. At that moment, he seemed almost…shy. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"For looking closer than anyone ever has."

Our eyes met. The air snapped with tension. All at once I felt like I might suddenly take flight, my chest and stomach both fluttering like frantic doves. And yet, I felt like I was drowning, a liquid heat rushing up to swallow me whole.

"Sleep, Julianna," he said, his voice croaking on my name. He turned, his wide frame blocking my view of the open window. My stomach lurched. No, please, don't go.

"Wait!"

He paused.

I cleared my throat. My heart was thudding around in my throat, making it hard to find my voice. I wiped my clammy palms on the sheet. What the hell was I doing? What was I asking?

"Will you stay? Here. With me."

He didn't move. I wasn't sure he was breathing. Or was that just me?

"I don't want to be alone tonight," I admitted.

In the dim he nodded, once. He moved quietly, almost hesitantly towards me, every inch he closed between us seemed to pressurize. The bed dipped when he sat beside me. I sucked in a breath as my head spun. You just let Roman Tyrell into your bed. You practically begged him to stay. Have you lost your damn mind?

He rolled me so I was lying facing away from him. Then tucked himself around me, the front of his strong thighs pressing against the backs of mine, one arm slung over my waist. Dear God. I've missed him.

Before I knew what I had done, I'd turned around to face him like a sunflower reaching for the sun, half-mad with the need to be closer to him. I could have cried when the front of my body melded against his. He stiffened against me, let out a muttered curse. But he didn't push me away. There we lay, our bodies pressed against each other.

I shouldn't have turned around.

I shouldn't have asked him to stay.

I shouldn't have left my window open for him.

"Roman," I whispered against his shoulder as I drowned in the nearness of him. "What happens next?"

I lifted my head to look up at him. His eyes were furrowed with pain, his beautiful lips pressed thin as he gazed at me. "Sleep," he managed to croak out.

There was nothing left. Only unanswered questions.

What if…

If only…

The answers were ones that we didn't want to face. At least not right now.

I closed my eyes. In the complete darkness behind my eyelids, I gained the courage to press further into him. His body burned hotter than anyone I've ever met. It seared me to my bones and yet the heat was like a balm to my aching soul. I inhaled his scent of cedar and man, letting it fill my lungs.

I was in the arms of a man who basically admitted to stalking me, a man who threatened to cut someone to pieces with a knife, a man whose presence beside me put me in grave danger from his family, and yet I felt safe.

Safer than I'd felt in a long time.