Page 143 of Along Came Amor
Roman hadn’t felt this alive in ages.
Getting to do it all in front of Ava had been the icing on the stripper cake. The way she’d looked at him, her eyes shining with a mixture of admiration, arousal, and something he didn’t dare name, had made him feel ten feet tall. Every rescheduled meeting and the nights he’d spent babying his lower back had been worth it.
She’d looked absolutely gorgeous in that sparkly green dressthat showed off her long legs and curves, with her curls falling in seductive little spirals around her beautiful face. He’d wanted to pull her up on stage and kiss that dark, sexy lipstick right off her lush mouth. Limiting himself to a few winks and heated glances had used every ounce of his restraint, and he didn’t know how he was going to get through the rest of this wedding pretending he wasn’t completely captivated by her.
Not only that, he was bursting at the seams to tell her what else he’d been working on. But it wasn’t the kind of thing one said via text or even video call. He had to get her alone. Somehow.
After giving Ava’s mom a lap dance—he’d recognized her from photos—and finishing the group number, Roman went backstage with Ashton and Gabe. Three actual members of The Adonis Experience replaced them, and the show continued.
“Good work, viejos,” Gabe said, shooting a grin at Roman and Ashton as they trooped into the dressing room. “Didn’t think you old guys would be able to keep up.”
Ashton threw a towel at him, the one he’d just used to mop the sweat from his face. “You’re talking to two professional actors. We weren’t the ones whining about being embarrassed.”
“And that was before you knew their mothers would be there,” Roman teased.
“Why didn’t Michelle warn us?” Ashton groaned.
“Because she’s a chaos demon.” Gabe passed them cartons of water from the dressing room’s mini fridge.
Ashton pulled a change of clothes out of his locker. “I’m never going to be able to look my mother-in-law in the face again.”
Roman counted his blessings that his own mom and sister weren’t arriving until the next day.
“Speaking of mothers,” Gabe said, turning to Roman. “I thought for sure you were going to dance for Ava. Did you know that was her mom you were grinding on?”
“Yes, and I barely touched her.”
“But why not just dance with Ava?”
Roman’s jaw tightened as he retrieved his stuff from his own locker. “Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to.” He’dreally fucking wanted to. “But I didn’t want to upset her.”
“She still wants to keep the relationship a secret?” Gabe asked, and Roman nodded.
Ashton had fallen unusually quiet, so Roman added, “Don’t worry, I’m going to remind her tonight to tell Jasmine before the wedding.”
“Mm-hmm.” Ashton didn’t look at him. “You’d better.”
They cleaned up and changed, then went to meet the rest of the bachelor party guests in the resort’s night club. The plan was for Michelle to bring everyone to join them when the show was over.
Roman was sipping a rum and Coke while chatting with Ashton’s father, Ignacio, when the bachelorette contingent arrived. The volume skyrocketed as the boisterous group filed in, led by Jasmine’s grandmother and aunts. Roman automatically looked for Ava. She wasn’t difficult to spot, since she towered above all her relatives and most of Jasmine’s friends. Their eyes met, and he had the surreal experience of everything else falling away. He was dimly aware of Ignacio talking to him, of the Bad Bunny song playing overhead, of the press of the crowd and the lingering sweetness of cola on his tongue. But the only real, true thing for him in that instant was Ava.
He loved her with his entire heart. And he was so fucking tired of hiding it.
Excusing himself from Ignacio, Roman drifted toward her. She saw him, and her eyes took on a knowing expression. She parted from the crowd and tilted her head toward the hallway that led to the restrooms. When he nodded, she made her way back.
Roman waited a few seconds, then followed her. There were several individual stalls and a communal sink area. The row of hanging Edison bulbs cast a low, warm light over the space, and despite the grunge industrial décor, everything was clean. They locked themselves in the largest stall and were on each other in seconds.
“That was so fucking hot.” Her words were muffled against his lips.
Roman licked into her mouth. “You liked it?”
A throaty sigh. “Ilovedit.”
“All for you, mi vida.” And then he kissed her soundly, soaking in the feel of her body, warm against his, and the taste of rosé on her tongue.
Two weeks was too long to be away from this woman. Hell, twodayswas too long.
Never again, he vowed. His plans had been set in motion, and once all was said and done, he wouldn’t be separated from her for that long ever again.
