Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“You followed me last night.”
His gaze holds mine for a moment. “No. You were quick, Kitten, but I found you.”
“And interrupted my night.”
He lifts a dark brow, and I will my cheeks not to pinken.
“That I’m not sorry for, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.” He leans back, swirling what’s left of his coffee. “So don’t get any ideas later.”
A huff leaves me, and I shake my head, but for some reason, a slight smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “You are absolutely ridiculous, you know that?”
I look at him out of the corner of my eye, and my god, the smirk!
“I don’t see any whipped cream on that,” I say quietly.
His eyes come up to mine, tenderness falling over him, creating an ache in my chest.
“Never could quite bring myself to add it anymore,” he admits.
That tiny detail into his life shouldn’t make me grin, but it does, and I drop my head back to look at the sky. “Damn it, Roman. I’m so angry with you.” Angry with myself. “I used to sit around and make up conversations in my head, planning out exactly what I wanted to say to you, but now… I don’t even know where to start. I’m just… so tired of hating you. It’s exhausting.”
“What if we didn’t say a whole lot this weekend?”
Surprised by his suggestion, I glance at him as if to say ‘go on.’
“What if we simply exist while we’re here? What if…” He pauses, sliding to the edge of the seat. “You’re my date to dinner tonight, and not for appearances, but because you want to be.” When I don’t immediately deny him, he continues, “What if you allow me the pleasure of sharing a bottle of wine with you later?”
“I won’t allow you in my bed again tonight.”
“If you remember right,” he teases, cocking his head. “You didn’t quite want me in your bed last night.”
A laugh bubbles out of me before I realize it’s coming, and my lips squash to one side in a small smile. “Five years, and not much has changed.”
“The way I feel about you has never changed, Kitten, so if the Rileys were to ask me how dedicated and in love I am with this place, as well as the woman who made it happen, there would be no lies leaving my lips.”
Moisture builds in my eyes, my throat running dry.
“Be my fiancée this weekend, Noel.”
I swallow, my heart and brain on completely different pages. “And after it?”
“You get to decide.”
“Decide what exactly?”
There’s an innate strength to his face, a sheen of sureness brightening his gaze. “If you want to keep me.”
“And if I don’t, will you leave again?” I don’t know why I ask this. I’m not sure I’d believe his answer either way, but I have a feeling I know which one he’ll give.
Roman simply shakes his head, grabbing both our mugs as he bends beside me.
He presses a single, lasting kiss to my temple, and I close my eyes, willing myself not to get caught up in the man who said he loved me but left me, knowing I never untethered myself from him in the first place.
I should demand a conversation. I should have done that years ago, but I’ve never been brave enough to have it. I didn’t want to know why he picked up and left instead of staying and fighting for what he claimed he wanted, even if that meant fighting me. After a while, I found a way to stop worrying about it and did what I needed to do.
I busted my ass, worked fifteen to twenty hours a day sometimes, to the point of exhaustion, and it paid off big time. How I could manage a relationship during that, I don’t know, but I didn’t allow myself time to wallow or wonder.
The truth is, I don’t know if I’d change a thing if it wasn’t guaranteed I’d land right here, right now.
Roman returns quickly, handing me my freshly made cappuccino and another latte for himself.
He moves his chair beside mine and gazes out at the ski lift ahead, so I do the same.
A moment later, a low, satisfied sigh leaves him, and I feel it in my soul.
I blink back the tears I don’t quite understand and don’t comment on the solid squirt of whipped cream spun high out of his cup.
My muscles seem to ease on their own accord, the heat of his body warming mine.
But, in the back of my mind, a nagging little voice warns me that it’s a mistake to allow this, so why does it feel like making him leave would be a bigger one?
CHAPTER 6
Roman
I’m out the door before I’ve got my left sleeve rolled up, so I use the reflection in the elevator to make sure they’re even. Just as the doors open on the bottom floor, the one across from mine does as well, and Noel steps out, her hair slicked back and pulled up into a high ponytail, thick, sleek straight hair still reaching her midback.