When I see her, I feel the warm sensation ofhome.
‘Roman?’
I swallow and stick out my hand.
‘I’m your neighbour, Roman. Unemployed former douchebag.’ I lift the plate slightly. ‘I made you some cookies.’
She stares at the cookies. Then at me.
‘What are you doing?’
My throat bobs, and I feel like a twat, standing there with one hand out and the other holding the plate. ‘I’m introducing myself, like I should have the first time I saw you. Starting again the way I would have if I hadn’t had my head so far up my own ass.’
Her brows lift as she leans against the door frame and surveys my face.
‘I do very much like cookies,’ she says, reaching out and shaking my hand.
‘I’m Maggie, former failed contract killer and knitter of wonky socks.’
Her phrasing makes me freeze. ‘Former as in you’re now a successful contract killer?’
‘Would that be a problem?’ she asks.
I consider it. Will I still want to be with her if she follows in her family’s footsteps? My head says no, but my heart doesn’t give a fuck what my brain thinks. He had his turn at controlling the situation, and look where that got me.
‘I’ll run the bath for you when you come home bloody. I don’t care, Maggie.’
The little inhale she does sends my stomach into orbit.
‘Former as in I’m out. Just a regular old PA for a boring office job.’
Relief hits me so hard I laugh.
‘Do you think we can really start over? Even though I kidnapped you?’
I grin. ‘You can kidnap me anytime, Princess. I’ll bring the zip ties myself.’
Her smile lights my soul, and then she’s close enough that I can see the shitty overhead lights glittering in her eyes.
She slips her arms around my neck, knocking a cookie to the floor. ‘How about you kidnap me next time?’
Good god, the way she can slay me with one filthy sentence.
I put the cookies down on the dresser inside her door and backed her against the wall, taking her jaw in my hand.
‘It’s been torture being next door to you,’ I murmur. ‘Knowing you’re right here and not being able to talk to you.’
She searches my face. ‘You’re sure about this? You know who I am. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.’
‘Maggie. I’m all in. No matter what happens, I want to make this work. Even if it means moving to Scotland and becoming your very enthusiastic, if slightly terrified, sidekick.’
Her eyes widen. ‘We don’t need to move to Scotland. I finally stood up to my dad. I’m off the hook.’
‘Oh, thank god.’
I can’t wait a moment longer. Tilting her chin, our mouths meet in a flurry of emotion. Maggie melts into me in a tangle of curls and the sweetest of moans. I slide my hands into her hair, losing myself in her.
‘Princess,’ I whisper. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’
