“I’d let him.”
“Aubrey would be by your side the entire time, fixing your hair and helping you into a pair of extravagant heels.”
“She’d be my maid of honour,” I confirm, growing lost in the picture he’s painting.
His lips ghost across my knuckle. “Where? A church or somewhere else?”
“A field. With wildflowers. Someplace private and with a view of the water. I want to smell the ocean air on my wedding day.”
“With a photographer who has a hard time taking the camera off of you because of how fucking gorgeous you’d look.”
My breath hitches. “Roman.”
“I see it, too.”
“What does that mean?”
He traces a circle around my finger where a ring might one day sit. “That I can see a future with you. One that doesn’t include sneaking around because I can’t spend another day not telling Evie about you and what you mean to me. I want to meet your family and be right there beside you if things turn sour again, not just come pick you up after. I want to kissyou whenever you say something you know will annoy me, regardless of where we are. And if me saying all of this doesn’t scare you off, then, yeah, Brielle, I’ll want to make you my wife. When you’re ready.”
“I’m not afraid. Nothing about you scares me. Even if maybe this is the one thing that should because all of this is still new. There’s so much we haven’t uncovered about each other yet.”
“We’ll get there. I promise you that. All I need you to do is say that you’re confident that this is what you want. I can’t do half-ass here, not with you. Not after all this time of refusing to let anybody in. If you’re in, you’re in, Brielle.”
“I’m in,” I declare, sounding just as confident as I feel. And certain. “I’m so fucking in with you.”
I blink away the burn in my eyes and kiss him, knowing that I’ve just given him the last piece of my heart.
Even at the risk of him learning about the role I play online before I can find the courage to do it myself and breaking me in half.
“I’m mildly freaking out.”
“She already loves you,” Roman says in an obvious attempt to soothe me.
“Yes, but that was before I started dating her uncle. I’m pretty sure all of this goes against Girl Code.” I gnaw on my lip for a moment. “What if she thinks I only started hanging out with her to get close to you?”
“We’ve talked about this, baby. You’ll tell her the truth, and she’ll believe you. Evie’s a few years younger than you, but shehas the emotional intelligence of someone four times her age. If you’re honest with her, she’ll believe you.”
I rub my palms together between my knees. Sitting on the couch shoulder to shoulder like this right now makes it feel like we’re two naughty schoolchildren waiting for their parents to get home and punish them for skipping school. I’m not sure the reality is any easier for me to prepare for.
If I called Aubrey, I have no doubt she’d give me advice. Hell, she’d spend the next few minutes coaching me with what to say and what to avoid, but that would mean leaving Roman’s side. And after what happened earlier and the conversation that’s still on repeat in my mind, I can’t bear the thought of being away from him, even for a few minutes.
The meal we cooked for the three of us is nearly done now, and the scent of homemade lasagne drifts through Roman’s house, reminding me that I actually helped in the kitchen. It’s the first time I’ve done something other than watch and listen to him cook for me, and I already want to do it again.
“Are you sure that she still likes lasagne? Or is it something she liked ages ago but grew out of and didn’t have the courage to tell you?”
“Brielle,” he says, tone firm despite the lingering gentleness. “I’m positive. Everything will go just fine.”
“And if it doesn’t? If she tells us that she forbids this?”
“She won’t.”
I sit straighter and scoot to the edge of the couch, body facing him. “But what if she did? Then what?”
“If the roles were reversed and we were about to tell Wes, what would you say to that question?”
“My brother is not the same as Evie. If he was mad about it, I’d apologize and tell him that we’re both old enough to make our own decisions. You’re his boss, but I don’t plan on gettinginvolved in your career. That’s that. But this is your niece we’re talking about. It isn’t as simple.”
“No, it’s not. But neither of us has done anything wrong. And if she’s upset, then we’ll accept that and deal with it, but it won’t change how I feel about you. I told you I was sure, Brielle. I meant that.”
