He offered me a small smile as I opened my condo door, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I sighed in relief when I closed the door, and it was just the two of us.
Just the two of us and no one else at all.
The perfect way to end a hectic and kind of horrible day.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Oakley
My new favorite part of the day was nighttime. Not because I liked sleeping that much, but because I’d managed to get Roman to watch TV with me and sleep on my couch with me every night for the last seven nights in a row.
We didn’t do anything except snuggle, but it was perfect.
Even Rome’s complaining didn’t bother me. In fact, every time he complained about things the archeologist got wrong on ParaHist, I was amused and more entertained than I would’ve been if I’d watched it alone.
Apparently, Roman was so damn old he remembered more than half the things the show’s crew dug up. It was ridiculous, and even though he acted like he hated it, I was pretty sure he enjoyed telling the television how wrong they were. And he definitely enjoyed pausing the show so he could tell me the artifact’s true history.
Last night, he’d given me a fifteen-minute-long lecture on thecorrecthistory of some ifrit vase the crew had found. His arms flailed as he passionately told me how wrong the TV guys were, and I’d sat there, staring at him in amusement. It was kind of adorable.
I loved it.
Spending this time with him had been amazing.
On the other hand, I was pissed off because my dad still wouldn’t let Roman and me back into the trafficking case.
The two of us had snuck in to talk to the surviving victims from the auction house, but other than that—which my dad didn’t even know about—we’d been completely cut off.
So I wasn’t really talking to him.
And neither was Roman.
So much for Dad wanting us home.
“You’re going to go argue our case again?” I asked Roman as we ate lunch together in my condo.
He nodded. “Yeah. I need to talk to Garrick anyway, so I figured I’d bring it up again.”
I sighed. “He’s not going to change his mind.”
“I know, but I’m hoping if we keep pestering him, he’ll let us back in… eventually.”
I snorted. “Yeah, eventually.”
“What are you doing today?”
“I’m gonna go out with Keryth and the girls. Zell and Sara need some new clothes because they’re growing so much, so I thought I’d tag along since I can’t work.”
“And Anton is picking you up from here, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, he’s coming, so you can pass me off to him, alright?”
Since Roman was supposed to be my bodyguard for the foreseeable future, he had to set up another guard to take over for him while he spoke to my dad. We’d gone through this before. It wasn’t reasonable for him to literally spend twenty-four seven with me at all times, so he and Dad had set up a few people to take his place when Rome couldn’t be with me. There were very few people my dad trusted to guard me, and luckily, Keryth’s viramore was one of them. I loved Anton, so at least it wouldn’t be annoying to have him tag along. Still made me want to roll my eyes, though.
He nodded. “Good. It’ll be nice to hang out with all of them. I know they all miss you.”
“I miss them too.” I stared at him for a moment. “But I need to stop these traffickers.”
“I know. I feel the same.” He stared at me for a moment. “We’re gonna meet back up for dinner tonight, right?”
