Page 30 of Rebound
“It was like pulling teeth.” I can hear the cheekiness behind his words.
“What can I get you, hon?” The woman behind the counter asks.
I step up, ordering one of everything. It’s a lot of baked goods and they will have to go with us to family dinner tomorrow night. Roman is already pulling out his wallet and paying foreverything before I can get my card out. He also grabs the bag, and I lead us back out onto the street.
“Thank you, but you didn’t have to pay.”
“You deserve to enjoy your victory.”
I am enjoying my victory because it took us eight months to get here. At the same time, it’s not like this can go anywhere. Roman is my brother’s teammate and the one thing you never do is date your teammates' siblings. If something goes wrong, it will fuck up the whole team dynamic.
“If you want to be left alone, you shouldn’t have shown up to my date with Be?—”
“I don’t need to hear his name again,” Roman cuts me off. “You’re not going on that second date, are you?”
I shrug. “I haven’t decided yet. He does have a lot of things going for him, and he did ask for a second chance.”
Roman’s eyes flare, his jaw flexing as he grinds his teeth.
“Come on, Blossom, you don’t want to go on a second date with him,” Roman says, his voice deceptively soft. He steps closer until we’re toe to toe. “He doesn’t make your heart beat faster or make your skin flush. He doesn’t make you question whether it’s a good idea to be with him.”
My heart races inside my chest. “Again, you met him for two seconds. You don’t know what happened between us before you showed up.”
His eyes darken. “Tell me he didn’t touch you.”
“Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t.”
“Lavinia,” he growls.
I smile up at him sweetly, reaching out to take the brown bag which holds my baked goods.
“You really need to work on controlling your anger.” The pedestrian signal light is green, and I’m crossing the street, Roman like a looming shadow behind me. When we’re on thesidewalk, he comes to walk next to me on the side of the main road.
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?” Roman demands. “All I am asking is that you don’t date anyone. How’s that unreasonable?”
I can’t stop myself from laughing. “You expect me to stay single and alone while you figure out your shit and that doesn’t seem unreasonable to you?”
“What’s there to figure out? I want you.”
My heart flutters like a caged bird, but I keep a tight hold on the door of it’s cage. “Is that why you haven’t spoken a word to me in eight months?”
“We talk every day,” he defends.
“We text every day, there’s a difference.”
“I don’t see a difference,” Roman says.
“That’s because you’re a man. You don’t have what it takes to examine a situation from every angle.”
Hence why I needed all the baked goods because if Jules and I are going to stay up half the night examining this situation, we’re going to need sustenance.
“So, you’re punishing me?”
I look up at him and find him already staring at me. There’s something about the weight of his eyes on me that causes me to feel like gravity is a myth. “If it feels like a punishment, maybe you need to ask yourself why.”
“Let me at least order us a ride back to your apartment,” he says.
“No, you’re a strange man, I don’t want you to know where I live.”
