Chapter 46: Screw the Rules

I stare at him. "You're taking me on a date?"

Roman laughs. "You say that like you're surprised."

"I just... I didn't know how..." I gesture between the two of us, unsure of how to voice it without sounding insecure. "I didn't know where we stood."

His hazel eyes search mine, and there's a tenderness there that he hasn't let me see before. He reaches out and touches my cheek.

"From our very first meeting, you intrigued me," he says. "You were clearly out of your depth, but you fought quite passionately for your job. And when you claimed that you'd seduce Luca Fontaine, I saw a drive, a fire, that I couldn't let slip through my fingers." His thumb sweeps along my jaw. "As I said, for all your determination, you seemed a little lost. And I wanted to be the one who found you."

His words are quickly undoing the last of my meager defenses, and his soft caresses aren't helping.

"I... I thought you just found me entertaining," I said.

He smiles. "I did. I do." He leans closer, and his