If I joked, I’d sound like an ass, and that didn’t suit me at all.
And if I ignored it, she’d get the wrong idea and then this deal would be a whole lot worse.
So, I gave her a look and just offered, “enough.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not just important to Marcell, Saranna, you’re important to me.”
There went the bomb I shouldn’t have dropped but couldn’t help myself.
Chapter 3
Saranna
Isat there, stunned out of my mind.
He couldn’t have surprised me anymore if he had slapped me.
In fact, I still might have been more surprised by his words than a handprint on my face.
Because for all that I knew of Roman, with his piercing gaze and broad chest and brisk manners, him ever deeming me important was not likely.
And yet, he said as if he meant it.
No, I knew he did.
But I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what that meant to me, or how to go about making this work.
Because that saying a little too late? Yeah, I was there.
Not that I didn’t want him, but I couldn’t risk a second burn.
“Stupid,” I muttered to myself. Because I was going off on a tangent that probably wasn’t even true. I was reading far too much into his words and had no right too.
I knew Roman saw me as a friend, at least sometimes, so that would be how I was important, nothing else.
It had to be nothing else. Or I knew I would be trying stuff again and I had no right. Once was my mistake, twice, and well I’m an idiot of epic proportions.
And I was not an idiot.
“You okay over there?”
I snapped my head around to look at him, capturing his gaze as he glanced at me yet again and I offered him a shrug.
“Sure.”
“Talking to yourself, Saranna, is not healthy.”
“Yeah, well, what part of my life is, huh? I mean, I negotiate deals with drug lords, cartel, mobsters, and politicians, all who would probably rather see me dead than anything else. My best friend is a mob boss, I live alone, and have more fun with plastic vibrators than actual men because they’re scared of my family.
“So, why not talk to myself? It seems of everything I listed, that might just be the wisest choice I could make.”
Before I could blink, he pulled the car to the side of the road, threw it in park, then turned to face me, resting his arm along the back of the passenger seat. I cocked my brow at him, wondering what he could possibly say now.
“You could have any man you wanted, you know? Most aren’t scared of Marcell or what he could do to them. Most are scared of you, in fact. Trust me, Saranna, you need a man who is willing to go toe to toe with you, not back down in fear.
“Until you find that man, the toys will have to do. But make no mistake, Saranna, when that man comes into your life, he will push you in ways you didn’t even know you needed. You’re far too strong and set in your own ways that a man like that will scare the crap out of you.”
