Page 113 of Along Came Amor
Ronnie:Hi A! Can you babysit Friday night? 7pm. Thanks!
Michelle:Don’t you dare babysit for Ronnie. She never pays you!
“Pretty handy that you already have your travel size bottles with you,” Roman said, breaking into her thoughts before she’d managed to catch up on all the texts she’d missed.
“What?” Ava glanced over and saw he was done with his call.
“All your hair stuff,” he said. “You can leave it at my place.”
She blinked, not following. “What do you mean?”
“When we get home,” he said, throwing around the word like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Feel free to put things anywhere in the bedroom and bathroom.”
Home. He was talking abouthishome, about making space for her there.
Ava’s heart rate sped up. This was going way too fast. Even as one small part of her thrilled at the idea—she had loved sharing a room with him—most of her was terrified.
She had a flash of moving into the “guest room” at her father’s new house, because even though she’d spent every weekend with him, she’d never had her own room. Not even when she lived there full time at the end of high school to help with Willow.
“Don’t your mother and sister live with you?” she asked,trying to bring him back down to earth with the reminder that they didn’t exist in a bubble like they had in Puerto Rico.
He sent her an indulgent smile. “I’m forty-one, not fourteen. You can be there. I don’t need to sneak you in.”
Ava thought about Michelle, who had been sneaking Gabe in and out of Titi Val and Uncle Dom’s house the year before.And they got caught.
“Still, we should keep this quiet for now,” she said. “We shouldn’t tell anyone else yet.”
His smile dimmed, and his eyes cut away from hers for a second. “About that...”
Her pulse thumped even harder. “Yes?”
“Um, Ashton knows.”
Ava stopped breathing. “He knows what?”
Roman gave an apologetic shrug. “I had already told him about you, and then at the engagement party... Long story short, he figured it out.”
Ava covered her face. “Oh my god.”
This was her nightmare. Already, this whole thing was unraveling. How the hell had her simple fling become so damnedcomplicated? Because if Ashton knew, it was only a matter of time until Jasmine did. And if Jasmine found out before Ava could tell her herself...
It would be Michelle and Gabe all over again, and Jas would befurious.
Fuck. She had to tell her primas. But when?
“Don’t you have a friend who knows about us?” Roman asked.
“One.” She held up a finger. “I haveonefriend who knows about you, and that was only in the event you turned out tobe a serial killer. She has no connection to my family.Unlike Ashton.”
Roman’s lips quirked.
“Do not laugh,” she growled.
“Sorry.” He coughed, probably to hide a chuckle. “Aren’t you glad I’m not a serial killer?”
“This isn’t funny!”
“You’re right. It’s not.” He schooled his features into a mock frown.
