Ugh.I don’t want to think aboutmyRome with her.
“You loved her.” I feel sick to my stomach.
But Rome drops the loofah and immediately tugs me into his arms, holding me close.
“I thought I did a long, long time ago. But now that I have you, and I know what it feels like to be so fucking in love that the thought of not having you with me paralyzes me and makes me want to rage all at the same time, I’d say that she was just someone who used to be important to me.”
He kisses my forehead. My cheek. My lips.
“Seriously, don’t be jealous of her.”
“Okay, keep talking.” I offer him a small smile, and he picks up the loofah and continues washing me.
“She’d been employed here from the day I opened. Shortly after, I found her fucking someone else. I shot him in the head, and I never touched her again.”
I blink up at him in surprise. “But you let her stay.”
“She was good at her job. And I found that I didn’t really care what she did. You need to understand, youbring out feelings and emotions in me that I thought were long dead. You have since the second I saw you.”
He brushes his thumb over my lower lip and then gets to work gently washing my hair. He takes the handheld showerhead off the wall to do it since it’s not comfortable for me to lean my head back too far.
“Loveland found that being a Domme was what she wanted. She adopted the name Loveland, and that’s who she was after that. She managed the playroom, and until recently, I didn’t have any complaints with her.”
“Until me.”
He doesn’t look me in the eyes, but he does sigh.
“She was jealous, plain and simple. I don’t do relationships. I don’t fuck around with staff or members. That’s not to say I was a monk, but Rapture wasn’t my playground. It was a safe place for people who wanted to explore sex and a great way to launder a fuck ton of money.”
I grin at him, and now he grins back at me.
“But then I saw you, and I wasso fucking madat how she spoke to you that first night. I made her chase you down and bring you back.”
How have we never talked about this before?
“And whenever she had something shitty to say, I put her in her place. She started dropping the ball as well, and I don’t tolerate that. I fired her, kicked her out of her apartment, and washed my hands of her.”
“But she was bitter, felt scorned, and pissy. I wonder how she knew to go to work formy father?How did she connect those dots?”
“That’s something I don’t know.” He finishes with my hair and grabs me two towels. After wrapping my wet hair in one, he pats me dry with the other before quickly brushing it over himself. Then he helps me dress in some comfortable clothes, putting my sling back on. It’s amazing how much that helps with the pressure on the joint.
But I’m so freakingtired.
“We’ll get the rest of those answers.” He helps me with the sling, then pulls me into him, gently holding me in the best hug ever. “Now, how will you be the most comfortable, baby? In the bed? On the couch?”
“Nothing’s going to be great for a little while,” I admit, wincing as I think about how crappy finding a comfortable position will be. “Maybe the couch?”
“Can I please carry you?”
I smile and kiss his chest. “Of course, you can.”
He lifts me carefully and takes me downstairs straight to the couch, where he sits with me like we did that day when I was so sick with my period.
“Come here, my love.”
He cradles me against him and peppers kisses on my head, my face.
“How is this?”
