I nodded. “I… yeah… yeah, I have.”
That made him smile, and his shoulders sagged in relief. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, thank the Mother.”
“I thought I was just developing a tiny crush on you.”
“Tiny, huh?”
I snorted. “Fine. A massive one. Like bigger than you could possibly imagine.” His smile grew at that. “But… really? Viramores?”
He nodded. “I was worried you weren’t feeling it, although they say the pull doesn’t show up until everyone’s ready—”
“Everyone?” My eyes widened. “It’s just you and me, though, right?” Scales, I didn’t think I could handle another person—or multiple other people—in a relationship with us. I had enough trouble learning to trust Roman over the years. I couldn’t imagine doing that again with another person. More power to the poly peeps, honestly, but I seriously wanted Roman to myself.
His smile gentled. “Yes. Just the two of us. I was only saying it that way because it’s sometimes more than two people.” He shrugged.
I waved that off with a shoulder shrug since he still had hold of my hands. “Anyway, isn’t it weird that we didn’t notice this before? I mean, I’ve been here with you for years.”
“I don’t think you—or either of us, really—were ready yet. You, um, had a lot to deal with when you were first here, so…”
I nodded, glancing off to the side. He was right, of course. Escaping from a cult, relearning everything through a different lens—a sane one instead of the insanity I’d been taught growing up—and then recovering from the trauma they’d put me through, the trauma my own mother had caused, had been a lot to handle. There was no way I would’ve been able to deal with a relationship on top of that.
Shaking myself away from those thoughts, I met Roman’s eyes with a furrowed brow. “Um, so my dad locked you up because…?”
“Because I told him you’re my viramore, and he freaked out.”
I sighed and let my head fall back. “Oh my Mother, he is so fucking ridiculous.”
“He’s protective because he loves you.”
I lifted a brow, looking at him. “Locking his best friend up for being my viramore is absolutely ridiculous. Although, it’s totally on brand for him. I thought for sure that he’d murder you if he found out I had a crush on you.”
He snorted. “Fair assumption. I thought he’d murder me when I told him we’re viramores.”
I sighed. “He should be happy for us.”
“True. But he kept… he kept saying he wasn’t going to let me take you away from him, so… I think that maybe he’s… well… you were taken from him when you were a baby, so…”
With a frown, I nodded at him in understanding, but then I shook my head. “Wait. Why would he think you’re taking me from him? We both literally live in the towerwithmy dad. If—when, I guess—we decide to move in together, we’ll just be moving condos, not… leaving. Right?”
He smiled, and something about him seemed lighter than it had a few minutes ago. “My apartment’s bigger, so you should move in there.”
“Fine, whatever. You know what I mean.”
“Does that mean you’ll move in with me?”
I gave him a look. “Seriously? You haven’t even kissed me yet, and you want me to move in—mmm.”
A muffled groan came out of me as Roman pressed his lips to mine for the first time. Those butterflies in my belly started flying around at a reckless speed, and tingles sparked all over my body, dancing along my skin, flying through my veins. Warmth gathered in my chest, and it kept building and building the longer we stayed connected.
He wasn’t even using his tongue, and my body was lighting up like I was a firework.
And then my dragon practically jumped to its feet and growled out,“Mine!”in my head.
Holy shit. Roman was right.
