Page 65 of Teaching Roman

“I’m happy you’ve come,” she said to me as I hovered next to Roman. As soon as she said it, she began speaking Spanish again too quickly for my minimal knowledge of the language. Roman nodded, a grin breaking over his face as she spoke my name, one of the few words I caught. Reaching out he tugged me down beside him and I sat on the edge of the bed, balancing carefully so I wouldn’t fall off or disturb her. Everything about this moment was awkward and uncomfortable and painful, except that I was next to him and that meant that no matter what, it was going to be okay.

When we reachedthe hotel that night, exhaustion had set in, making us equal turns somber and inappropriately giddy. This time Cassie had snagged us a reasonable room in the main hotel that we’d stayed at in December. Ducking into the bathroom I took the opportunity to comb my hair, which was a tangled mess from the flight, and brush my teeth. Despite the travel and emotional roller coaster I’d endured today, I was wide awake. My body was nearly numb from weariness, but my brain was on full alert. I wasn’t certain if I was waiting for the other shoe to drop or if I was simply overwhelmed by everything that had transpired in a matter of hours.

When Roman took over the bathroom, I stepped onto the balcony for fresh air. Our room might be average, but the view wasn’t. I couldn’t step onto the sandy beach from up here, but the salty scent of ocean water perfumed the air. The smell reminded me of splashing with Roman in the water. We’d made love in that ocean, holding back promises we knew we couldn’t make. I was ready to make them now.

The door slid open behind me, and then he was there, the warmth of his presence augmenting the calm I found in our ocean view.

“How are you?” I asked in a soft voice.

“I’ve never felt so happy and broken-hearted at the same time,” he admitted. “Tell me something funny, so I don’t feel this horrible pressure anymore.”

“The nurse thought I was your wife,” I said, laughing as I leaned against him on the balcony.

The breeze caught my hair and blew it against my face, but Roman brushed it back and nuzzled into my neck.

“That’s because I told them you were my wife,” he whispered. “They weren’t going to let you into her room if you weren’t related.”

My pulse sped up, my mind blanked as my heart pounded in my chest.

“It’s funny,” he continued, brushing his mouth over my bare skin and stopping at my ear. “The lie slipped out so smoothly that I almost believed it myself, and then as I sat with Aba and spoke with her about you, it hit me. Saying you were my wife wasn’t a lie at all. It was a wish.”

The confession hung between us, but it didn’t weigh down the air or make it hard for me to breathe. It simply sent a pang trembling through my chest. By the time Roman took me by the shoulders and turned me to face him, tears pooled in my eyes. When he cupped my chin softly and brought my gaze to his, they spilled past my lashes. I understood what he meant about the wish. I wasn’t sure when it had happened, but our relationship had evolved, morphed into something more than either of us had expected. I’d tried to fight it when I thought it might hurt him. Now that there was nothing standing in our way, I don’t know why I ever thought I could. This was forever. I’d felt it when Cassie told me about Aba, and at the airport, and at the hospital. I felt it now.

“Marry me.” It wasn’t a question or a command when he said it. It was fact. Truth. The answer we’d both been searching for, but had been too obstinate to see.

My lips opened to give him the answer he didn’t need to hear, but he placed a finger over them before I could speak.

“I know what you’re going to say, Jessica Stone, because I know. I know,” he said. “So I have a request. Marry me tomorrow. Don’t make me wait another day for you, mi bella. I know I’m not perfect. I know there are a million logical reasons to wait, and I don’t give a damn about any of them. Be my partner—to have and to hold.”

I could barely speak through my tears, but I managed a small smile. “From this day forward?”

“For better or worse,” he promised me.

“Until death do us part?” I asked in a whisper, my eyes never leaving his.

“Not even then.” His lips sealed over mine, and the world melted away, leaving only him and me, promises on our tongues and stars over our heads.