Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Maddie

I wake the next morning, completely sore and so satisfied.

Roman got up several times in the night to check on the kittens but he made me stay in bed.

He must have moved to the couch at some point, because as I feel along his side of the mattress, only cold sheet meets my hand.

I lift up, swiping the hair from my eyes and turning on my back to swing my feet over the side of the bed.

Roman’s place has started to feel like home. “Lights,” I call out, the bedroom and closet lights flicker on.

My clothes now hang in the closet, but I move to his side where all his clothes are arranged in a neat line. I never thought I’d be in a closet where my stuff was on one side, a man’s on the other.

He has a ton of finely brushed dress shirts. They smell crisp and clean and feel even nicer as they brush my skin.

Reaching for one, I take if off the hanger and pull it on, doing up a few of the buttons at my waist.

Heading for the bathroom, I brush my teeth and toss my hair in a clip before I make my way out to the living room.

Roman is exactly where I thought he’d be, curled up on the couch. He’s still asleep.

But at some point, not only did Thomasina decide to curl into the hollow of his knees, between his legs and the back of the couch, she’s brought all her kittens there too. Apparently, she got the memo.

Roman is our protector.

I have another moment where I wish I could see this picture more clearly, see Thomasina’s expression.

I can hear her gentle purrs. “I’m going to have to put them back in the whelping box, Thomasina,” I whisper. “Roman might crush one of your babies on accident.”

Thomasina doesn’t acknowledge I spoke. Likely ignoring me because she doesn’t want to hear what I have to say. Stubborn cat. I softly laugh.

Roman’s words from yesterday replay in my thoughts. He told me that he loves me. But also that he wanted me to teach him to love…

I sit down on the floor, my cheek resting on his knee. I think of all the ways he cared for me. He doesn’t need me to teach him anything. And I can’t let him give up his own career to help me care for homeless animals.

I heard his story about his mother. I’ve listened to what he’s said about Mason. Roman tends to divert his own needs for the people around him.

I will not be one of those people. We’ll forge a future together.

Not able to help myself, I reach out and touch the back of his hand, running my fingers along his skin.

He starts under my touch, breathing in deep.

“Maddie?”

“I’m here.”

“Miss me in bed?”

“Terribly.” I stand up, running my hand gently up Roman’s leg and then along Thomasina’s body.

I can see the mass of kittens but not their individual outlines. Carefully, I feel for their edges.

“Maddie,” Roman growls out, sounding predatory.

I stand up straight, cocking my head. “What’s wrong?”

“You look fantastic in that shirt,” he rumbles, his hand sliding up the back of my leg and under the hem to cup my ass cheek.

“Do I?” I bite my lips as I run my hand down his arm, loving the feel of his skin under my fingertips.

He sits up, parting the fabric to place a kiss on my belly. “Sexy as hell.”

I’m already heating. “Roman,” I give a gasping giggle. “We should put the babies back first.”

“Your wish is my command.” Gently, he lifts the babies, placing them into the whelping box. Thomasina follows and then Roman stands, pulling my body close.

A thrill of pleasure moves through me. His body on mine never fails to erase my thoughts, so that all I do is feel. But Roman and I have some talking to do.

“We ought to take a shower,” he murmurs his lips against the shell of my ear.

“That’s a wonderful idea. But I also think we need to talk about last night. When you said you wanted to help me realize my dreams…”

He pulls his head back, holding my face in his hands. “I did.”

“I appreciate your words so much.”

“Maddie, I’ve got all the money in the world. I can build you an amazing sanctuary. Hire staff.”

I squeeze his forearms. “Roman, that’s so wonderful. But I think…” I nip at my lip. “There are some things I need to do on my own first.”

“Your own?” I hear the worry in his voice. “Maddie, are you ending things with me?”

As if… “That’s hilarious. No. I’m not ending anything. Do women usually break up with a man while wearing his clothes?”

“No,” he chuckles, his fingers brushing down to the curve of my breast. “And it would be especially cruel with the amount of cleavage you’re displaying.”

My hand comes to his as I warm all over. “What I meant is that I need to finish my degree. While we continue to have sex. That seems completely appropriate—” His lips on mine cut me off.

When he finally lifts his head, he rumbles close to my ear. “That is a plan I can support.”

That’s good.

Because it’s time I started to learn to walk in this world. Make reasonable decisions and live my life the way most people do. And as much as I’d like to have Roman there to catch me when I fall, I do need to learn to be up on my own two feet.

Later.

Because the moment I think it, he’s picking me up in his arms.

He carries me into the shower. I’m well aware that him carting me around everywhere is the opposite of walking on my own but like I said, I’m still in love with Roman. I just don’t want him to give me a bunch of things I haven’t earned.

I want to learn to be brave and strong. Like he is…

And I’m not taking his future for mine. That’s never been my version of love.

He turns on the shower, setting me lightly on my feet, his mouth finding mine.

The kiss is so sexual but also slow, easy. The chemistry is there, but the rush is gone this morning.

His hands trail up and down my body, building a hum as our skin slides together from all the water.

Finally, Roman presses me against the shower wall, and wraps one of my legs around his hips as he eases inside me. Then, he fucks the breath out of me with deep, even thrusts, until I beg him to fuck me harder. Faster. But he never speeds it up and when I cum, somehow, it’s even better.

By the time we’re done, I’m ready for a nap. Instead, we head into the closet to dress.

I run my hand along my clothes, feeling the different fabrics.

“I’ve got more work to do,” Roman says from his side. “Mason made the public announcement for the final stages of the project, even giving a completion date to the press. The casinos have exploded with traffic.”

I turn toward him reaching for his arm and drawing closer so that I can brush a kiss on his shoulder. “Any word on the Vendetti cousin, Luke, or Kate?”

“No,” he lets out a frustrated breath. “But. The Andrianis, those are the Italians who are more reasonable, are signing a deal with Mason today. In other words, if the rest of the Italians want to make money, benefit from the tunnel, they have to turn their businesses over to the Andrianis. It should make the rest of the Italians fall in line. And it should send a message to Luke and Kate that’s it’s safe to come home. Hopefully.”

I can hear his worry about Luke. But everything else he said about the business...

It’s calculating. Strong. But also…he’s shaping events into the form he needs them. Manipulating the circumstances to his advantage.

My hand slips from his arm, and I step to the side, brushing against the clothes hanging on his side of the closet. I touch them to help me think, letting the fabric slide through my fingers.

But my ponderings are short-circuited when, in the pocket of his jacket, I feel something small but firm.

Almost like a…

I reach into the pocket, my fingers wrapping around the case of my phone.

I’d know it anywhere.

My case is distinctive. I picked it for that reason. It helps me differentiate it when several are sitting on a table.

I pull it from his pocket, clutching it against my chest in both hands.

Has Roman had my phone this whole time?

Why?

Why would he have my phone and not give it to me?

My breath catches.

Roman must hear it. He pivots, his bare feet brushing the carpet. “Maddie?” But then his breath draws in on a quick inhale.

“Why is my phone in the pocket of your jacket?”

There is the slightest pause, it crackles in the air. “The police found it in the back of Vigo’s car.”

I cock my head. “What?”

“Jack brought it yesterday.”

I feel the tension. It’s the same tension that filled the air when I met Alex.

And I just know…he’s lying. He lied then and he’s lying now. I can hear the change in his voice. Subtle. I didn’t recognize it at first but now… “If the police found it, why isn’t it in an evidence locker? Why don’t they want to talk to me?”

“Maddie.” It’s a plea.

I start to shake. He had my phone this whole time. He cut me off from the world, my only access through him.

Tears fill my eyes. “You did this. You kept it from me.”

“Maddie,” he says again. “It’s not like that. Look. I…”

I spin around. I’m only wearing a bra and underwear, I don’t even know where I’m going but I sprint out of the closet, banging my shoulder on the door frame.

Roman catches up to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. I scream, trying to tug away. “Sweetheart,” he pleads. “Don’t run. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

I feel the tears streaming down my face. “Tell me the truth. Where was my phone? Why did you take it?”

“I wanted to search for Kate’s last known location.”

I blink back my tears. Because that is a really logical explanation, but it also means that Roman did, in fact, lie to me. What else has he lied about? “Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“You were so scared that first night,” he tries to pull me close, but I resist, my hands coming to his chest to keep some distance.

It’s not that he’s wrong. I might have been too scared to hand it over. But also… how can I trust him now? “You lied to me.”

“I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry.” He does pull me close then, and I let him, though I’m still burning with the agony of betrayal. “I won’t make excuses, but we were frantic to find Luke and?—”

I blink back my surprise. We? “Mason wanted the phone, didn’t he?” Suddenly the fight with his brother in the parking garage makes sense. “That day Mason hit you. Were you and Mason arguing about me?”

Roman is silent. I appreciate that he isn’t offloading blame to his brother. But I need to know who to trust.

The silence is so thick, it threatens to break. “Roman please tell me the truth. I have to know if I can trust you.”

But before he can answer, my other phone rings, the burner phone that Roman gave me, and Lucia’s distinct ring fills the room.

I need my friend so much.

I pull back from Roman and he only holds me for a second before he lets me go.

Crossing to the bedside table, I pick up the phone. “Lucia?”

Can she hear how wrong my voice sounds?

“Maddie,” she cries into the line. “I’m going to need you to sit down.”

“What is it?” I cry. What else could possibly be going wrong?