The two of them tangled in her bed—Sadie and Roman. Those names went perfectly together. He’d taken her hand sitting on the tailgate of Eli’s truck while they talked. They’d had an amazing weekend. After a tumble in the hotel sheets, he’d visited with his family for goodbyes, and then met her at her place. They hadn’t left.
Today was the Mondayest Monday that ever Mondayed. This morning, his breath came in small puffs against her forehead. Ever since night one, they’d been doing a heck of a lot more than just holding hands.
Sadie had never had a fling before.
And today her fling was leaving.
That was the deal. She’d known it going in. It wasn’t a surprise. Not a shock. Their time had been leading right there to that moment—the moment when he would maybe ask if she might be willing to do the long-distance thing.
She was.
Maybe he’d ask if she might be willing to come visit him on base.
She was.
Maybe he’d suggest they could actually turn this thing between them into something.
God, she wanted nothing more.
But he had to ask. She couldn’t ask. Couldn’t put herself out there. By the end of the first night, she’d been all in with him. She’d laid out every bite on a trail of breadcrumbs that led to forever. He had to be the one to start the path.
“You’re too quiet,” he mumbled, rolling her onto her back. “Are you thinking about escaping to the closet again?”
She chuckled and spread her legs to cradle him there—his thickness still semi-hard from their last round.
“It worries me when you don’t talk,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because when a woman with a brain as brilliant as yours doesn’t talk, it means she’s thinking. I’ve discovered that often doesn’t work out well for me.”
She gave a little right-hook nudge to his shoulder. “Hey.”
“I have a sister, a mother, and a babushka. Quiet scares the hell out of me.”
Sadie grinned, but her smile fell as quickly as it came. “What do you want me to say?”
Neither of them had officially broached the subject of what came next. Life had been easier before she’d hid out in the closet organizing condoms and socks.
Since the closet incident, she’d hinted more than a few times about the future. He hadn’t responded to her hints.
That meant that what came next was that she would go to law school and live her life, and he’d be deployed to wherever it was the government would send him and live his life.
Her throat clogged at how life would go on without her Roman. Her heart seemed to shrink at the idea that he’d go on without his Sadie.
“Never heard you go this long without an opinion.” He nuzzled the curve of her neck with the tip of his nose.
Fingertips tangled in his short, clipped blond hair, she raised his face to hers. “You’re saying I like to argue?”
“I’m saying you’re going to be a force in the courtroom.” The way his voice made her nerve endings fire…the guy could probably rock a session of long-distance phone sex.
He rubbed the tip of his nose along the line of hers. She smiled. The nose thing was their thing. She’d never done that with a guy before.
“Don’t nose-fuck me when you’re making me angry,” she muttered.
“Is that what this is?” Roman asked, continuing.
Sadie laughed.
