She pulled back until she could look me in the eye. With a smirk on her face, she said two words.
“Try me.”
TWENTY-NINE
SASHA
Ibit my lower lip as I gave him my best attempt at a flirtatious smile. The thing was, I wasn’t good at it. I wasn’t used to being openly flirtatious or sexy. I didn’t know how to make a man want me.
I’d spent most of my time with Roman learning how to keep him from knowing I liked him, but the game had changed, and I wasn’t sure how to play it yet. All I knew was that I’d learn.
He didn’t seem amused by my flirting. Instead, his facial expression said he looked pissed, despite the hardness in his pants. He wrapped my hair around his fist, and he gently jerked my head back.
“If I were you, I’d be a good girl and listen. You don’t want to know what I do to bad girls.” His eyes darkened on mine.
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding. “I think I do.”
He let out a deep-sounding chuckle. “Trust me, you’re not ready for that yet.” He nipped my lower lip and released my hair, and for reasons I couldn’t understand, I stood up—hot and bothered, but following direction like he wanted.
After I removed myself from his lap, he stood. He grabbed the pot holder from the counter and opened the oven. Reaching inside, he pulled out the cookie sheet with the golden-brownturnovers. He set the hot pan on the stove top and tossed the pot holder onto the cabinet. “Want ice cream with yours?”
“Of course.”
He nodded toward the cabinet. “Get some bowls down while I get the ice cream.
Within a couple of minutes, we were sitting on the patio, each with a bowl of a freshly baked apple turnover and a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream.
“This is so good,” I said, licking the ice cream from my lip and casting a nervous glance to the edge of the balcony.
He nodded as he dug his spoon back into the pastry. “Good choice on the apple. I haven’t had apple pie in forever. And the ice cream tops it off.”
The night air was cold, but Roman lit a fire in the outdoor fireplace, and the heat was sinking into me as quickly as the turnover was melting the ice cream in my bowl.
“This was a good idea. I’m glad you thought of it,” I said.
He shrugged. “I don’t know about it being a good first date, but we did need the alone time. We really need to figure some things out.”
“What sort of things?”
He took a deep breath before wiping his lips and looking at me. “Things regarding us.”
“I’ve already told you my opinion on the matter.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know, but have you really thought it through?” He leaned forward and put his bowl on the table. Resting his elbows on his knees, he looked at me. “Have you thought about how your parents would feel?”
I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “I have thought about it, and I don’t think how they feel about it matters. This isn’t about them.”
“It is, though,” he said. “I was married to your sister. I had a child with her, and that child is their grandchild. And you’retheir child. Do you really think they’d be OK with us being together?”
“They’ll come around if they don’t like the idea. Eventually.” I put my bowl on the table.
“And in the meantime, you’ll be okay with not having them in your life?”
I frowned. “Who said anything about not having them in my life?”
“There’s a chance that they will have very strong feelings about us being together, and if worst comes to worst, they could disown you.”
“My parents would never do that.”
