“You’re so easy to please,” she murmurs, reaching across to brush a smear of something from my bottom lip.
The gentle touch sends heat racing through me, and for a moment I forget we’re sitting in public. There’s a rare softness in her voice that makes my heart squeeze with affection. She’strying so hard to make me happy, to give me beautiful things and perfect moments.
The effort she’s putting in should probably worry me—Eva Novak doesn’t usually go to this much trouble for anyone—but right now, I’m too grateful to question it.
That evening, after dinner at a restaurant so exclusive it doesn’t even have a sign, we walk through Rome as the ancient city transforms at night. Streetlamps cast warm pools of light across smooth stone roads, and the tourist crowds thin to leave the city to lovers and locals.
The Colosseum rises before us like a monument to both human greatness and human cruelty, its ancient arches glowing under carefully positioned spotlights. I stand there staring up at it, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that gladiators actually fought here, that thousands of people cheered for blood and death in these very stones.
“It’s incredible,” I breathe, and immediately feel stupid for such an inadequate response.
But Eva just nods, understanding. “Two thousand years of history, and it’s still standing.”
“I wish I could show this to Dane,” I say without thinking. “He loves history; it’s the only class I don’t have to threaten him to attend regularly. All of them, actually—I wish I could give them a piece of this magic.”
The words hang in the air between us, and I realize I’ve broken the spell of our perfect day. Eva’s face shifts slightly, something closing off behind her eyes.
“It’s not working, is it?” she says quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“You still miss them.” Her voice is soft, almost wistful.
I wrinkle my nose, wondering how she can sound surprised. “Well, of course I do. They’re my family.”
“Of course you do,” Eva echoes, and there’s something almost lost in the way she says it.
We stand in silence for a moment, and I hope she really does understand.
Because no matter how beautiful this is, no matter how much I care about her, part of my heart will always be three thousand miles away with four kids who need me more than they need money or protection or any of the things Eva can provide.
Eva takes my hands, her amber eyes serious in the streetlight. “I have another surprise for you, Robin.”
My pulse quickens. “What kind of surprise?”
“I need to go back to Las Vegas for business,” she says. “I might…be there for some time.”
The words hit me like lightning. Vegas. Home.Family. The possibility of gathering them together again, of hugging Maisie and helping Alicia with homework and making sure Dane isn’t skipping school makes my eyes prick with sudden tears.
“It was supposed to be a nice surprise,” Eva says, worry creeping into her voice when she sees my eyes well up.
I squeeze her hands, probably tighter than necessary. “It is. Oh, it is. When?” I ask, afraid to hope too hard.
“Tomorrow morning,” she says. “Private jet—I’ll call Leon to have it brought to Rome.”
It hits me then, looking at her face in the soft light, that thiswasn’tplanned. This whole trip to Rome, the dress, the perfect dinner—it was supposed to make me happy. But when Eva saw how much I still missed my family, she decided to take me home, even though Vegas probably represents everything complicated and dangerous in her world.
She’s doing this just to make me happy.
The realization makes my chest feel too tight, too full of emotions I don’t know how to name. “Eva?—”
“Don’t,” she says quietly. “Don’t make it more than it is. I have business in Vegas, like I said.”
But I can see the lie in her eyes, the way she’s trying to downplay the gesture. This is Eva Novak choosing my happiness over her own convenience, her own safety, her own carefully maintained distance.
“Thank you,” I whisper, and I mean it for so much more than just the trip home.
Back in our hotel room—a suite so opulent it probably costs more per night than the monthly rent I could never quite afford back in Vegas—and after another passionate encounter, I lie awake watching Eva’s sleeping face in the soft light from the city outside.
