He’s not sorry. In fact, he’s clearly deeply impressed with himself.
“You did that Longhorn thing with your hand, Roman! You know, when you told me you went to UT Austin! Did you really have to sell the bitthathard?”
Roman winces. “Yeah, in retrospect, that was too much.”
“Way too much.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Why was it so important for me not to know the truth about you?”
“Would we be sitting here now if I’d told you my true profession from day one?”
I consider that. But there’s only one honest answer. “No, I’d have been too freaked out to talk to you the way I did.”
“Bingo.”
I shift in my lounge chair. “But still, you’ve told me a shit ton of lies this week, Roman, and as you can imagine, I’m particularly sensitive to being told lies of any kind at the moment.”
He instantly looks remorseful. “I’m sorry, Iris. The last thing I wanted to do was throw salt on your wounds. All I wanted to do was make you feel good and help you forget your broken heart for a while.” He looks and sounds sincere. So much so, I can’t help patting his arm reassuringly.
“It’s okay. But can you please stop telling me lies from now on, now that I know the truth about you?” We’ve only got three days left together, after all. It shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Roman takes my hand and kisses the top of it. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I exhale. “Thank you.” Now that I’m past the initial shock, it occurs to me it doesn’t matter all that much to me that my vacation fling kept his football stardom a secret while also treating me to the best dates and sex of my life. If all Roman’s gotten in return for all he’s done for me this week was some no-strings sex and the chance to escape the pressures of his fame for a while, that seems like a reasonable exchange. Would I want to date Roman in real life, now that I know he’sthisgood at lying? Hell no. But I’ll happily continue having a fling in paradise with him for the remainder of my time on the island.
“Now that I’ve promised full honesty, I should confess something else to you,” Roman says. “I’d already seen the video, when you showed it to me.”
I bat his shoulder again, making him chuckle. “No wonder you reacted so calmly to it. You’d already had your freak-out in private.”
“I didn’t freak out the first time, either. The way I reacted in your presence was the same way I reacted when Cameron sent it to me.”
“Which was when?”
“A few minutes before I came back to the bungalow from my run and you showed me the video yourself.”
“Why not tell me you’d already seen it?”
“Because to do that, I would have had to admit I’d sneaked a snapshot of your license for a background check. That was simple due diligence, by the way. I never sincerely doubted you.” He twists his mouth. “I should also confess: The morning you showed me the video, I actually came back from my run earlier than it seemed. While you were talking on the phone talking with your friends, I hid near the door and eavesdropped for a while before making my presence known.”
“Roman!” I cover my face with my hands, remembering all the racy things I said about Roman to my friends. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be. I loved everything you said.” He pulls gently on my hands, making me lower them. “Everything you said made me want to invite you to stay with me for the week, even more.” With a soft smile, he leans in and kisses me, and my body reacts like it always does, even though my mind is still racing. If I’d known about Roman’s superstardom when I walked in on him in that shower, I never would have had the courage to stick around and talk to him, let alone flirt with him. So, in that sense, I’m grateful Roman didn’t scare me off by revealing his true professionbefore today. On the other hand, however, did he really have to lie so freaking much—and so freakingwell—to a woman who’s recently been shredded by endless lies?
“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Roman says, like he’s read my mind. “I know what your ex put you through.”
I exhale. “There’s no comparison between what he did and what you did.” It’s the truth. “Like I said, I get why you concocted a fake persona. I’m sure it’s been relaxing for you to be a gym owner-slash-personal trainer for a while.”
“More than you could possibly know.” He pauses. “But I didn’t concoct a fake persona. I know I told you some lies to keep my life back home a secret, but I’ve been myself with you in every way that counts.”
I don’t see how that’s possible, but I also don’t see the point in arguing about it. Not when he’s given me the best week of my life when I needed it most—a perfect sweet escape—and I’ve always known our time together would be short.
“You’ve been a godsend to me this week, Iris,” Roman says, his dark eyes pleading for forgiveness. “I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and spending time with you has made me forget all about it.”
