Page 57 of Saved By the Billionaire

Promise me that when you leave here, you’ll look after yourself.

She groaned audibly and then let out a yelp as the door pushed open, and she with it.

“Shit, sorry!” It was Tia’s voice that sounded. “Are you okay?”

She tried to get her wits about her, to push down the hurt, like she’d done so many times in the past. She tried to remind herself that it didn’t matter, because this whole thing between them was—per their contract—meaningless.

But he’d made her feel like there was more. Not love. Not time. Not a relationship. But a true connection and care.

It was all a lie.

“I’m fine,” she said, the words over-bright even to her own ears.

“I thought I’d check on you. You’ve been asleep hours.”

“Yeah, I must have needed it.”

Tia stepped deeper into the room until she was facing Kate.

“I’ve been scolded for topping up your glass so freely,” she said, then laughed, clearly not remotely bothered by a Roman-Hayes-scolding. “You’ve really gotten under his skin.” There was curiosity in the comment. Speculation.

Kate brushed it aside. “It’s because of Grace,” she said. “I should have realised there was more going on from the beginning.”

Tia held out an arm. “Do you need help walking?”

But Kate stayed where she was. Tia wasn’t denying it, and yet, she had more questions. “How did she die?”

Tia looked towards the open door, as if seeing that Roman wasn’t nearby. He wasn’t, but Tia stayed silent.

“I’m asking because it’s pretty obvious that he’s being so protective of me as some sort of penance for losing Grace. I think I deserve to know.”

“It’s no secret,” Tia said. “You could google it. Though we did a pretty good job keeping most of the details out of the papers.”

There it was again. The effortless use of we. A team. Not a couple but in some ways, something even more powerful: a pair. Drawn together by life, for decades and decades.

“It was an overdose. Grace was an addict.”

Kate’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry.”

“Not as sorry as I am.” Tia’s throat shifted in the soft light of the bedroom. “Grace was…” she sighed heavily. “You had to meet her to understand. Where Roman is all doom and gloom, Grace was sunshine and light, radiant joy. Roman walks into a room and everyone stands to attention, because he commands it. Grace walked into a room and you felt as though everyone, everywhere, everything in the world, was going to be okay.”

Kate’s heart stretched at the description. “She sounds like an angel.”

“She was. Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t perfect. Nobody is. But her heart was so pure. She’d…made a choice to be like that, somewhere along the way. I think because Roman always protected her, always shielded her, she had the luxury to embrace goodness and warmth.”

“So he’s always been like this?”

“Yeah. You can’t really blame him.” Tia’s brows knitted together. “But I don’t want to get into trouble again by speaking out of turn,” she winked, showing she really didn’t care about getting into trouble. “Ready to face the world, sunshine?”

She frowned. There was so much more she wanted to know, but Tia was right. It wasn’t really her place to divulge Roman and Grace’s life history to Kate. Besides, she wanted to hear it from Roman. No, she wanted to watch his face as he told her, to see what he felt. She wanted to know…to know she meant something to him as herself, not just because of some guilt he carried over his sister’s death.

“Or do you need a little longer?”

“No, I’m good.” She scanned Tia’s immaculate face. “Tell me you haven’t been drinking all afternoon?”

Tia pouted. “You don’t approve?”

“No, it’s just…you seem…you’re just one of those perfect people, aren’t you?”