People sat inches away from him for hours.
Of course he knew how to make someone comfortable.
Of course he was gentle.
Of course he asked questions.
Of course he looked people in the eyes.
The kiss... My chest tightened. The kiss. Okay, maybe not everyone got kissed. But maybe... Maybe he kissed women all the time?
I hated the thought instantly.
Rome was twenty-nine. Tattooed. Confident. Owned his own business. The man looked like he’d been carved by a woman with unrealistic expectations.
Women probably threw themselves at him. He probably had stories. Probably had women in and out of his life constantly.
The thought made my stomach hurt, which was ridiculous, because I had kissed him too.
I was women. Sort of. I groaned and pressed my hands to my face.
This was exactly why I had told myself I wasn’t going to date after the divorce. It was exhausting. One kiss and suddenly I was creating entire imaginary histories.
I dropped my hands. No. I wasn’t doing that. Rome hadn’t promised me anything. I hadn’t promised him anything. We were adults and it was one kiss.
One really good kiss.
I groaned again because now I was rating the kiss. This was going terribly.
I left the bathroom and headed for my bedroom.
The house was quiet. Comfortably quiet.
For months after the divorce, the silence had felt sharp.
Now it felt peaceful.
I liked my life. I liked my routines. I liked sleeping diagonally across the bed. I liked not wondering where someone was or why they hadn’t texted. I liked not shrinking myself to fit inside somebody else’s expectations.
I wasn’t giving that up.
Not for Rome.
Not for anyone.
I sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at my wrist again.
The tattoo really was perfect. Of course it was, Rome had done it. The man had confidence bordering on arrogance when it came to his work.
And the annoying part? He’d earned it.
I smiled. Just a little.
I immediately dropped my hand. Jesus, get it together. It wasn’t like we’d made out against the wall.
It had been simple.
Almost like he was asking a question and waiting for me to answer.
