sort of trick or manipulation? Was he using her to get to her father again?
“You should have told us both to go to hell,” he said, sounding genuinely mad. And he was right, she should have, so why hadn’t she? Why had she...
Her thoughts came to a screeching halt.
Wait a minute. Roman had been the one to suggest the bargain in the first place. Was that not disrespectful, as well? Who was he to judge her father? Or her.
Her temper flared and her blood simmered in her veins. “Could you be more of a hypocrite? Are you forgetting that you started it? You put me in the hot seat.”
“I did,” he admitted, looking unapologetic. “And it was wrong. Absolutely. But I honestly didn’t think he would do it. I thought he would throw me out on my ass. I would have if it was my daughter.”
Ouch, another direct hit. Damn him. And he was right. If she were ever to have a child, she could not even imagine putting him or her in such a compromising position. “So why didn’t you just walk away? You didn’t want to help him in the first place so I’m sure it would have given you a lot of satisfaction to leave him hanging.”
“It would,” he agreed. “But it gives me more satisfaction to know that I talked to you, and you listened. That was all I wanted.”
“Why?” she said, then immediately regretted the question. Maybe she didn’t want to know why. Because the look in his eyes...
It was the one he always got right before he kissed her. And they were standing so close that if he wanted to, he would barely have to lean forward...
“On second thought I don’t want to know,” she said, taking a small step back, hoping he wouldn’t notice. But of course he did.
His eyes sparked with mischief. “Are you afraid you might like what I have to say? Or are you just afraid of me in general?”
Pretty much all of the above. She didn’t even want to go there, but as he stepped a little closer, invading her personal space, her feet felt glued to the floor.
“I have no reason to be afraid of you,” she said, cursing the slight wobble in her voice.
“I came here at your father’s request for one reason, and one reason only,” he told her, leaning in just a little, and she braced herself for what she already knew was coming. “Because I thought I might see you.”
Damn, that was what she was afraid of.
His wry grin said he was having too much fun torturing her. And it was torture to be so close to him and not be able to put her hands on him. How had this happened when a few minutes ago she hated him? Well, maybe not hated. That was a very strong word. And for all their troubles, sexual attraction had never been one of them. Not even at the end.
Obviously, not even now.
The first year they’d known each other their relationship had been deeply rooted in the “just friends” category. And he truly had been her best friend. However, that had never doused the fires of a heart-melting crush. But he’d never shown an interest in her physically, so she had been convinced she wasn’t his type. Until one night after a horror-movie marathon, as they were hugging goodbye at his apartment door. She had pushed up on her toes to kiss Roman’s cheek, and he had leaned forwrad in that exact second to kiss hers. She had tilted one way, and he the opposite, and somehow their lips had collided.
And oh. My. God.
The kiss had gone from zero to sixty in an instant. Roman had groaned and tangled his fingers in her hair, pulled her close. Then they couldn’t stop kissing, and before she knew what was happening she was off her feet. He carried her to his bedroom, where they ripped at each other’s clothes, falling into a tangle on the unmade bed. The sex was even better than she had imagined it would be. And boy, had she imagined it a lot. He had more than exceeded her expectations.
They’d made love half the night, and fallen asleep in each other’s arms. She’d been sure the next morning the disappointment would come. He would blame it on the bottle of wine they had shared, and ask her if they could go back to just being friends. And she’d known it would break her heart, and seeing him with another woman would destroy her, but she couldn’t imagine losing his friendship.
But he had told her he loved her instead. That he had always loved her, and wanted her, and she’d nearly wept with relief. After that they’d been inseparable. She’d loved him with all of her heart.
Then he had betrayed her.
Those warm fuzzy memories from their past turned to ice in her veins. Was he here not really to explain, but to turn her against her own father? His weapon this time wasn’t lies and accusations. This time it was truth. And the truth did hurt. A lot.
But why should she trust anything he said to her?
Something in Roman’s expression changed. “Did someone open a window? It just got chilly in here.”
“I see what you’re doing,” she said, backing away from him. “You’re trying to turn me against my father.”
A shadow passed across his face and the temperature dropped another ten degrees. “Is that really what you think?”
She had offended him. Well, tough. “You’ve tried it before.”
“As someone who lost both of his parents at a very young age, I would never intentionally put a wedge between a parent and a child.”
“You told me my father was working with the mob! How did you think I would feel?”
“I said that I suspected he was. And I only told you that to keep you safe. And you didn’t believe me anyway.”
“And I was right. There were no mob ties, were there?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“And I wasn’t laundering money for him, either. Or destroying evidence. Was I?”
That made him wince a little. “No, you weren’t.”
“After all this time I still can’t believe you would accuse me of that,” she said. “I thought you knew me better.”
“I didn’t accuse. I asked.”
“You suspected, and that was just as bad. The idea that you believed I might be capable—” Emotion rushed up to block her airway, making it impossible to finish her sentence. It was taking all her strength to hold back the sob that was working its way up.
She would not cry. He wasn’t worth it.
She thought she’d put all of these feelings to rest, but here she was raw and bleeding again.
She was not going to cry.
“I made a mistake,” he said, “and not a day has gone by since then that I haven’t regretted it.”
He
