Page 142 of Along Came Amor
Ava wriggled in her seat and concocted an elaborate fantasy about dragging him offstage to fuck in the bathroom.
Suddenly, the guys streamed into the audience.
“Now that Jasmine’s made her choice,” Taylor said into the mic, “we’ve got a slew of romantic fantasies come to life just waiting to shower you with... attention!”
Ava’s heart galloped as she saw Roman and Gabe rounding the corner of the stage to head straight for her row. Gabe immediately grabbed Michelle’s chair, lifting himself up with just the strength of his massive arms, and began grinding on her.
But Roman...
Ava’s eyes went wide. Roman was reaching forher.
The breath backed up in her throat even as her skin called out for him.
Yes, her dream was coming true!
But wait, no—what was he doing? No one was supposed to know they were together.
Fuck it. She was going to enjoy the hell out of this.
These thoughts passed through her mind in an instant, her body swaying toward him as he came closer.
But he passed her and instead came to a stop...
In front of hermother.
What the fuck?
Roman took Patricia’s hands and lifted them to his chest. Ava’s mom giggled—giggled, for fuck’s sake—as Roman straddled her lap.
Ava stared, uncomprehending. If it had been awkward to watch her cousin receiving a lap dance, it was even weirder to watchher own boyfriendgive one to hermom.
Not just her boyfriend. Hersecretboyfriend.
She was thirty-three years old with a secret boyfriend. What was shedoing?
Roman had done the right thing. Hadn’t he? She was relieved he hadn’t chosen her. It would have been too obvious, and she would’ve had to answer too many uncomfortable questions about it later.
But fuck, did he have to choose her mom instead? Jesus.
Objectively, Ava could admit that Roman’s lap dance was fairly tame. A few undulations with lots of space between hisbody and her mom’s, before he drew her to her feet for some easy salsa moves. Patricia was grinning ear to ear by the time Roman kissed her hand and returned to the stage. Suddenly, Ava was no longer upset—Roman had made her mom feel special, and if she hadn’t already loved him, she would have fallen for him hard and fast right then.
Ava watched the rest of the dance—which involved all the men shucking their pants to reveal tiny briefs patterned like the Puerto Rican flag—and had to admit that in addition to feeling relieved, she was also disappointed. Not only because Roman hadn’t chosen her, but because a very small, immature part of her wished he’d taken the choice out of her hands.
It wasn’t fair of her, and she would have been angry if he’d done that, but this secret was getting harder to hold on to, and it would’ve made everything so much easier if she could just... let it go.
Two more days.
After that, she’d figure out how to tell Jasmine, at least. And then her mom. From there, well, she’d play it by ear.
For now, Roman was still hers. Only hers.
Even if her heart begged her to come clean and claim him in front of everyone.
Chapter 43
Dancing on stage with a group of male strippers had never been on Roman’s bucket list, but now that it was over, it ranked as one of the top five most fun and empowering things he’d ever done in his life.
Making time for rehearsals had involved twisting himself into a pretzel, and there had been moments where he’d felt positively ancient compared to the other guys, but learning the moves and choreography had invigorated him. The experience reminded him of acting opposite Ashton back when they were young, and it had also brought him closer to Gabe, whom Roman now considered a friend. Not only that, it had given him a taste of the freedom and spontaneity he had so far only attributed to his liaisons with Ava.
