Page 19 of When In Rome
I slide out from under his arms and try to put the island in between us. Why can’t I go with him? Because, it would be crazy and scary and…a little too real. “I…don’t…”
“Okay, let me put it a different way. I need you to go with me so pack a bag and get ready.”
The one thing he could do to possibly have me digging my heels in deeper is demand it. I cock a brow at him and stiffen my back…and my resolve. Maybe I have let him run the show for a little too long. Maybe I should have put my foot down and told him I wasn’t going to stay with him even if I was pretending to be his girlfriend. Maybe…I should take his little trip as an opportunity to leave.
“Absolutely not! I will not go with you to…,” I search for the right word, another content? Country? City? Did he ever say where he was going?
“To Italy.”
What?
“You were saying how you won’t go to Italy with me and was about to give me a bullshit excuse.”
Chapter Seventeen
Roman
Her eyes are wide, and she looks a little pale but she’s not given one inch. In fact, I can tell you the moment she decided to fight me. That little chin went up and her eyes lit with sparks.
“It’s not bullshit. It would be crazy to go to…Europe with someone I don’t even know.”
“You live with me!”
Her mouth opens and closes several times like she is trying to find the answer that will make me go away. “That’s different.”
“How is that different? How is you staying in my home, sleeping in my bed, any different from you coming with me and staying with me in Italy?”
“Because it just is! Here I can…I have my sister…I…”
“You can run here, and it’s harder to do that if you are an ocean away and in a place you don’t know anything about. That’s the real reason, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”
“You…you know what? Go to hell! I don’t have to give you a reason for anything I do. You aren’t my father. You aren’t even my real boyfriend. You’re just…,”
I feel the reins holding my temper starting to loosen. “Don’t do it.”
Her chin rises, “You’re just some guy who fakes everything you say or do.”
I close my eyes, take a deep breath…and then make a dash for her. She takes off running for the staircase but I’m coming too fast for her to reach them in time. She senses as much and changes her direction, so she is running around the couch and heading for the backstairs. I launch myself over the damned piece of furniture and barely reach her in time.
Her foot is on the first step when I wrap my arms around her waist. She tries to wiggle out of my arms but my hold on her is too strong. If she wants to go upstairs, we’ll go upstairs. I have her all the way to my bedroom before she’s loosened my grip and starts to slip out of my arms. By the time her feet hit the floor, she’s free… and I have a whole armful of dress.
She immediately realizes what has happened, gasping and grabbing her breasts to keep them covered.
“You weren’t wearing a bra?”
“It was made with one… you know what, never mind. That is not the problem here.”
“What is the problem, Sunshine? Is it that you’re scared? Is that the problem?”
“Fuck you! I’m not afraid! Just because I don’t want to go with you doesn’t mean I’m afraid or that I’m trying to run; asshole.”
“Maybe…or maybe not. Maybe you’re just trying to be braver than you actually are and you are really scared shitless just like everybody else in the world.”
I can almost hear her grinding her teeth at my words. “You’re so clueless. You spend all your time working because you’re scared too.”
“I’m not working now.”
“No, you’re leaving. Like you leave your sister and your home and…”