Page 95 of Along Came Amor
Chapter 28
For the next few hours, Roman did everything in his power to make up for how he’d treated Ava the day before. Instead of rushing around the resort, he and Ava sat with Belinda in her office and reviewed everything, along with Ava’s notes from Jasmine. Belinda was impressed by Ava’s thorough planning and said her job would be a lot easier if all her clients had such a clear vision of what they wanted.
“Jasmine is lucky to have you as her maid of honor,” Belinda said before they left for the florist. “This is above and beyond.”
Ava blushed and thanked her, but Roman felt a trickle of unease he couldn’t quite decipher.
On the short drive from the resort to the florist’s shop in Old San Juan, Ava received calls and texts from no fewer than four family members wanting a piece of her. After the last one, where she reminded someone named Ronnie that she was in Puerto Rico and could not, therefore, babysit that night, Roman took a chance.
“How about we turn our phones off for the rest of the trip?” he suggested. “It’s the only way we’re going to be able to focus.”
She gave him a look of surprise. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“Camille can handle whatever comes up.” The thought ofbeing incommunicado should have terrified him more than it did. “Come on. I’ll do it if you will.”
After a glance at her phone screen—which had just lit up with another text from Olympia—Ava nodded. “All right.”
Ava turned her phone off and stuffed it in her bag. Roman shot Camille a text letting her know what he was doing.
Roman:You’re in charge.
Camille:Excellent.
She added the purple devil horns emoji and Roman couldn’t help smiling.
The floral designer, Manu—chosen by Ava, after copious amounts of research—was tall and slender, with russet brown skin, intelligent dark eyes, and black hair cut short and choppy. Manu met them at an event planner showroom with a reception area Roman could only describe as ostentatious, with geometric chrome and black leather furniture, furry throw pillows that looked like they wanted to shed on his pants, and too many animal horns. The walls that didn’t display enormous photos of Latin women with flowers in their hair were lined with vases of every size, shape, and material. Roman had his misgivings about this place, but Manu wore a simple dove gray silk top and straight black slacks, and they didn’t seem to be responsible for the office décor. Besides, Belinda had confirmed that Manu knew their stuff when it came to modern floral arrangements.
Manu led them to a larger back room that held an assorted selection of chairs and tables. They assembled around a high-top table with three different bar stools pulled up to it. This time, Roman let Ava take the lead. Ava asked lots of questionsand listened carefully to the answers, and she seemed to have a firm grasp of florist lingo. They discussed line and shape, negative space, and filler. Ava had extensive mood boards, which seemed to delight Manu, who showed a variety of options and even sketched directly on their tablet. When Ava showed Manu pictures of the centerpieces she’d created for her grandmother’s eightieth birthday and the arrangement she’d made for her aunt’s retirement party, the designer praised Ava’s eye for form and texture.
Roman’s unease deepened.
“Can I see your planner?” he asked. Ava handed him the binder absent-mindedly while continuing to deliberate over how large was too large when it came to bridal bouquets.
Roman flipped through the pages, taking note of Ava’s precise, sloping cursive, as well as some sections that were written in a looping brush script.
He recognized that script, and not just because he’d looked through her planner on the plane.
While Manu was off selecting vases, Roman returned to Ava’s side.
“Did you hand-letter the addresses on the envelopes for the wedding invitations?” he asked.
She glanced up from a catalog open to photos of monstera leaves. “Hmm? Oh, yes. I did.”
“Did Jasmine pay you for it?”
Ava’s eyes widened in indignation. “Of course not. She’s family.”
With his mouth set in a grim line, Roman handed back the planner and paced through the aisles formed by mismatched furniture.
It was becoming increasingly clear to him that this trip wasyet another way Ava’s family took her for granted. It wasn’t just painting chairs and playing therapist for her stepmother, cooking and cleaning for her grandmother, checking her sister’s homework, or babysitting for her cousins. Her commitment to being maid of honor and making this wedding “perfect,” as she’d said the day before, was just another way she was failing to have anything resembling healthy boundaries with her loved ones. Yes, Ava had offered to be here in Jasmine’s stead, but as Belinda had observed, this was above and beyond.
Except he couldn’t bring that to her attention without betraying his own role as best man. Besides, he could just imagine how Ava would respond. And between his behavior yesterday and her emotional withdrawal after their impromptu shower interlude, he had pushed her enough for now.
God, that shower. He’d been trying not to think about it because whenever he recalled the way she’d reached out to him and said, “Come here,” he got hard all over again. Being inside her,cominginside her, with nothing between them, had been the purest form of ecstasy he’d experienced in all his forty-one years. Despite the way she’d pulled back afterward, her actions revealed a level of trust that humbled him. She’d probably scared herself shitless, and he’d have to tread carefully to keep her from retreating further. It was his turn to reciprocate.
Ashton had said that Roman needed to show Ava who he really was instead of throwing his money around. She’d seen four of his hotel properties already. She’d been to his home. There was something else he could show her while they were here on the island, and while he wanted it to be a surprise, he’d learned his lesson about keeping things hidden from her.
As they climbed into the SUV parked at the curb, Ava sent him an apprehensive look.
