Page 47 of Along Came Amor
“Come inside. Let me show you how much of a treasure you are.”
“Don’t say things like that,” she mumbled, but she let him take her hand and lead her back into the suite.
“Why not?”
Her cheeks were red, and he didn’t think it was only from the cold. “I’ll start to believe you.”
“Ah. Can’t have that, can we?”
His light tone masked simmering anger. The underlying pain in Ava’s words as she recounted the memory had unleashed a torrent of fury inside him toward the man who’d broken her heart and made her think she wasn’t perfect exactly as she was.
He hoped Hector never had a good night’s sleep for the rest of his life.
When the balcony door shut behind them, Roman tugged Ava in for a kiss. Her lips were cool, but her tongue was hot as it tangled with his.
“I mean it, Ava,” he whispered against her mouth as he pushed his jacket off her shoulders. “You’re a treasure.”
She jolted when his cold hands skimmed under her sweater, then she melted against him. “Convince me.”
And for the rest of the night, Roman did everything in his power to do just that.
Chapter 13
The next morning, when Ava went to text Damaris that she was still alive, her phone battery was almost dead.
“Oh shoot,” she said. “I forgot my charger.”
“You can use mine.” Roman pointed at the cord on the nightstand. “It’s right there.”
“Thanks. The damn thing barely holds a charge anymore.”
“You need a new phone?”
Ava tapped out a quick message to Damaris. “I’ll buy one soon. They’re so expensive these days.”
“I’ll get you one,” he said, not even looking up from his tablet.
Ava stilled. She turned and took in Roman, sitting comfortably at the dining table in the robe provided by the hotel. A robe she wouldn’t have even thought to touch, because her mom had always told her there were fees for using anything but the soap and towels.
Except now, she was wearing the accompanying robe. Because Roman owned this hotel. Because part of their arrangement was that he’d take care of everything when they were together.
And now, because she’d made an offhand complaint about her battery, he’d said he’d get her a new phone.
This had to stop.
“Roman,” she said in a quiet voice. “You don’t have to buy me anything.”
“It’s nothing,” he said, and she sucked in a breath, because for him, it probably was. He hadn’t said, “I’ll buy you one,” he’d said, “I’ll get you one.” He probably had extras sitting around his house.
House? Did he live in a house? Or did he live in an apartment? She knew he lived near Central Park, but other than that, she didn’t know where, or what kind of home. Hell, he probably owned multiple homes!
The thought was a wake-up call. What was she doing? This wasn’t her life. It wasn’t anywhere close. She was a middle-school teacher who barely managed to pay her rent and student loans every month. She had no business sitting here in a plush hotel robe, luxuriating over an extravagant breakfast spread in a penthouse suite.
And she still couldn’t believe she’d told Roman about the night Hector had left her. What on earth had possessed her to do that? Sure, Roman was a good listener, but she barely knew him.
Let me show you how much of a treasure you are.
His response had made her feel warm and mushy inside. And true to his word, the way he’d made love to her all night—she couldn’t think of it as just fucking or screwing, it had been too soft and reverent for that—had indeed made her feel treasured.
