Page 30 of Romi

My mind whirled with ideas, and I knew that I wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon, so I grabbed a mocha coffee from my coffee machine, glad that I had my own in my room. I inhaled the chocolatey smell with relish as the warmth of the velvety smooth liquid flowing down my throat rejuvenated me while I pondered the situation.

As lunchtime approached, my stomach growled loudly alerting me to the fact that I hadn’t eaten since the day before and I reluctantly dragged my tired body down the stairs to the dining room.

It was empty when I arrived, but Gracie entered a moment later looking a bit lost.

“Hi,” I said, beckoning for her to sit next to me. I was glad she was there as I needed a distraction from all of my thoughts of Romi. I still hadn’t quite worked out the best way to deal with him yet and I needed a break from it. Chatting to Gracie would be the perfect solution.

“Do you like your room?” I asked her.

“It’s lovely, thank you. And very kind of you all to look after me here. I hope it isn’t too much trouble?”

“Nonsense, it’s no trouble at all.” I beamed at her. She was lovely.

“Anyhow, you are only in trouble because of us, and you saved my brother’s life so that makes you practically family in our eyes.”

I smirked. “Besides, Ash is totally enamoured with you and so you may actually be family soon anyway!”

She looked shocked at that, but I was sure I was right. He had been totally obsessed with her since their kiss. Add to that the fact that she had saved his life and fought beside him, which I knew he would find a complete turn-on, and I doubted he would want to let her go. Not easily anyway.

It hadn’t escaped my notice how she had ogled him at the Glitz event and how she had been unable to take her eyes off him this morning either. So, I was sure that one thing would lead to another, and Gracie would soon become a permanent fixture around here. They seemed perfect for each other, and I had to admit that I intended to encourage their relationship for my own selfish reasons too. If Ash was in love, he might be more receptive to my feelings for Romi. Or so I hoped.

The door opened and Ash walked in.

He greeted me with a kiss on the cheek before doing the same to Gracie, then as she turned towards him, he stole a kiss from her lips. Yep, he certainly did have it bad.

“Nice nap?” he asked, and I bit back a smile as she nodded and blushed.

“Me too,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, before taking a seat next to her. He moved it closer so that their legs were touching and grinned widely at her making her flush even redder.

Oh, she had it bad too. Great! My insides did a little happy dance as I watched their interaction.

It was cute but I couldn’t stop a pang of jealousy. I wondered if Romi would ever show his feelings for me as openly as Ash was showing his for Gracie. Of course, Romi would have to admit to them first. I sighed feeling frustrated.

At that moment, as if just thinking about him had conjured him up, Romi strode into the room with Miki and Marko. I gulped hard as I took in the sight of him. He looked as tired as I did. I hoped the reason for that was because he felt bad about his refusal to talk to me earlier. It would serve him right and if that was truly the reason for the dark circles under his eyes, then it meant he was just as deeply affected by things as I was.

My heart leapt in joy when he looked at me and I caught the desperate longing in his gaze before he quickly turned away. Hell yeah! I tried to catch his eye again, but he deliberately avoided me. Nevertheless, my confidence was bolstered again. Romi might be pretending otherwise but he wanted me. I covered my mouth to hide my smirk. I could definitely work with that.

The aroma of Nonna’s delicious food made my stomach growl again and I filled my plate. It seemed my appetite had returned with my confidence, and I ate with relish.

Romi looked uptight but as I snuck glances at him I noticed that after a few bites of Nonna’s wonderful cooking, he too seemed to relax. I smiled at Nonna. Her cooking always had a way of making us feel better. We always tried to eat together as a family as often as possible. Especially on the days when Nonna was working, because when she was working, she was cooking. Nobody wanted to miss that. She was the best cook. Her food was always amazing, and she made the most delicious desserts.

As lunch came to an end, my brothers headed off to the C to deal with the man Miki had taken there this morning. The one that hurt Ash and Gracie before being knocked unconscious. I wouldn’t want to be him. I didn’t like violence, but I understood the necessity for it sometimes and since he had attacked my brother, he deserved whatever was coming to him.

Initially elated to discover that Romi was remaining here to ensure our safety, I couldn’t help but be disappointed when he told us women that he would be in a meeting all afternoon with a couple of our security staff before scurrying out the room.

Unable to do anything more than look longingly after him as he left, I waited a few minutes then reluctantly made my excuses and trudged back upstairs.

Pouring in lots of my favourite bubble bath I ran the water until it was almost at the top of the tub, and the cloud of bubbles threatened to spill over the edge. The aroma of my favourite citrusy scent made me immediately feel more relaxed and I sunk into its inviting depths with relief, exhaling in pleasure as the warm water soothed my tired body.

Leaning back against the little bath pillow, I decided that a nice soak, and an afternoon of pampering was just what I needed to lift my mood and restore my va va voom because with what I had planned for later, I was going to need it.

I smiled and bit my lip as I began to scheme. So, Romi didn’t want to talk, well, I didn’t plan on talking anymore either. Look out, Romi, I’m coming to get you!

Tonight, I was taking action.

A few hours later, fully pampered and feeling rejuvenated, I opened the door just as Gracie knocked and we headed down to dinner together.

It was just her, me, Romi and Nonna this time as the others hadn’t returned from the C yet. I hadn’t expected them to be back, they were usually gone for hours, sometimes even days when they were dealing with someone there. I should probably feel sympathy for the poor bastards who had the misfortune to end up there but frankly I didn’t. Only enemies ended up at the C and if they were an enemy of my family, well they had to be dealt with and that was that. The life we were born into could be brutal and I had learned to accept that years ago.