“I did not nose-fuck you,” she huffed. “Definitely not on my brother’s couch.”
He chuckled. “Then what do you call the thing you did with your nose? Hands on my jaw.” He shoved his hands to the belt of his tuxedo pants so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach out and touch her. Not yet.
“Why don’t you want to give us a real shot?” he asked.
Sadie balled her hands into fists. “It’s my job. Okay?” She puffed out her chest, full defense mode activated. “I can’t lose focus right now. Rome, you are someone I could totally lose focus over.”
He’d personally experienced the fire, the heat, the beauty of all that was being with Sadie. A career could never stoke that fire. Never understand all that she was.
Yet, she was serious. Totally serious.
“You used to want everything,” he said.
She’d wanted it all.
“We triedusonce Rome, it didn’t work out.” She dropped her arms from her chest, then seemed not to know what to do with them, so she crossed them again.
“Maybe the timing just wasn’t right,” he said. “Lucky for us, times change.”
Sadie did not look like she believed things could change for them.
Roman had seen the worst of humanity. He’d also seen the best. There’d been so many trips around the sun where he’d documented both. In the end, he realized there wasn’t much to a traveling life if Louise and a shutter full of memories were all he had at the end of the day.
Living in front of the camera was the new priority—making memories for himself with a life that was unforgettable.
He craved themore—the all—Sadie had been so intent on.
The elevator doors slid open and Roman stepped inside. Sadie did not.
He reached out to push the main floor button but stuck his thumb on the button to hold the doors open instead.
“You’ve always had a way of making me wish that last day had gone differently. That I’d been a different person,” he said.
Shock passed over her features. “I learned a long time ago that I can’t have everything. I chose what made the most sense. My career,” she said softly.
“You don’t trust people, do you?” he asked.
“Everyone thinks they know what’s best for me. They always have.” She sighed. “But only I know what’s best for me.”
“A job can’t be all you want, Sadie.”
“What am I supposed to say? What do you want to hear?”
What was she supposed to say? Damn, he had no idea. What were either of them supposed to say?
“It was never all I wanted. But it’s all Ihave.” Her chest heaved. “It’s all I have, okay? Maybe it’s sad. But it’s all. I. Have.”
“It’s not all you have. You just can’t see it.” He dropped his thumb from the stay-open button and pressed the one for the ground floor.
The doors started to slide closed.
“It’s all I have,” Sadie said again.
Damn, she believed that.
Really truly believed that.
They were here at the hospital with her best friend, her brother, and her new nephew, and she fucking believed all she had, all that defined her, was her career?
