And I hate this—Ihatethat even though I’m always so sure, somehow around Roman I end up vulnerable.
“I’m…what, exactly?” he says. The words are casual, calm, his mouth hooked into a little smile. He leans against the bannister of the stairs like he’s got all the time in the world, like this is just another conversation. We might be talking about when I’ll be back next, or what my plans are for the kitchen cabinets.
But we’re not talking about any of those things, and my heart is beating faster, and my fingers are buzzing in a weird way.
What ishappeningright now? How did we get here, exactly?
I flex my hands and clear my throat. “You don’t date, do you?”
He gives a casual twitch of his shoulders and tucks his hands in his pockets. “I could date someone. If I wanted.”
I look more closely at him, trying to picture it. On one hand, I can imagine exactly what dating Roman would look like. There’s something about him that’s undeniably appealing. But I tilt my head as my curiosity overcomes my discomfort.
Would he knock on the door with a bouquet of flowers in one hand, Rubik’s cube in the other? Would he take me to a nice restaurant and kick his feet up on the table?
Quiet falls between us once more, and the atmosphere grows thick as I stare at him. “You’re only twenty-five.” I raise my brows, still thinking, and the words escape without my permission. “Could you even be the kind of man I’d need you to be?”
Roman’s expression is calm, but he gives a slow, sure nod.
I hum, a sound laced with skepticism as my eyes fall to his lips.
They’re nice lips. Perfect, in fact…
“And could you kiss me like I expect a man to kiss me?” I say.
A flash of amusement jumps in his eyes. When he speaks, his voice is calm but utterly and supremely confident, not boastful but assured. “I could, yes,” he says, and for reasons I cannot explain, shivers run down my spine.
Roman drifts closer, his eyes dropping to my lips. “I might be younger than you,” he says quietly, “but there are some things a man knows how to do, Aurora.”
I think my heart has come dislodged in my chest. For a brief moment I held the upper hand in this conversation, and now it’s gone. My pulse is a rattling, shaky rhythm, my insides untied like shoestrings.
“So…what?” I try for a breezy laugh, but the sound is weak. “What are you trying to say?”
He takes another step closer, until I’m pressed fully against the front door. “I’m asking you out.” There’s a brief pause, and then he goes on. “I think I like you.”
I need to see a doctor. There’s something wrong with my heart. It’s going to escape from my chest at these words, and incredibly, bizarrely, the feeling isn’t altogether unpleasant.
And yet…
“Don’t.” The word is hoarse as it slips from my lips.
Roman blinks, and for the first time, his brows twitch in surprise. “What?”
My throat is thickening, my heart sinking. “Don’t like me.”
The flash of surprise vanishes as his face goes blank, so quickly the sight is almost disconcerting. Then, as though I imagined the whole thing, he grins and shakes head.
“All right,” he says. “I won’t.”
He tucks one hand in pocket and reaches past me with the other, grabbing the keys from the hook by the door. He twirls them around one finger and says, “Well, I need to run some errands. Don’t worry about locking up when you’re done.”
“I—wait.” Something strangely painful is blooming in my chest, and it hurts to swallow. I know exactly why, but I push forward. “Is this—are we going to be awkward about this?”
For the love, Aurora, I tell myself.Get it together and stop stuttering.
Roman gives an easy shrug accompanied by a smile that’s just as easy. Regardless, his eyes reveal nothing—a strange sight, actually. I never realized how expressive his gaze is, but now that there’s nothing there, I can’t help but notice.
“Of course not,” he says. “I’m never awkward.” He winks at me and nudges my shoulder so that I shift sideways away from the door. “See you later,” he says.
