‘That bad, huh?’
‘It’s not good.’
‘Are you a fugitive?’
‘Stop.’
He kissed the freckles between her breasts, making her ache inside. Before her thoughts unravelled, she had to make this last point. ‘I’ll like you no matter what.’
‘You say that now. Wait until my probation officer shows up.’
‘Are you kidding?’
‘I’m kidding.’ He pulled away from her. ‘How about this? Tomorrow, we skip whatever is on the schedule, sleep in, order breakfast and talk.’
So tomorrow they would talk about their future and his past. That was a lot of ground to cover. How convenient for him that all this revelatory conversation was scheduled for the day of her departure.
‘Why delay it?’ She’d much rather have the difficult conversations now.
‘Because look at where we are, Samantha. Think of all the things we could be doing.’
He was right. They were in paradise and all she could do was obsess about the past. Had she crossed the line of healthy curiosity?
‘How about some rapid-fire questions?’ she proposed. ‘You can’t overthink your answers. Just say what comes to mind.’ He looked uncomfortable. ‘OK. What are the topics?’
‘All of them. We’ll start with dentistry. Were your teeth always that straight or did you get work done.’
‘Braces at sixteen.’
She splashed him with water. ‘See? Easy!’
Roman went quiet, as he tended to do when deep in thought. ‘I’ll answer the question you haven’t asked, but first tell me why it matters. What will my answer change between us?’
‘I want to know you,’ she said. ‘My ex and I never talked, not about anything important. I don’t want to fall into that habit again.’
‘Well, I’m not your ex.’
She reached out for him, entangling her legs with his under the water. ‘I know that, but give me something.’
‘Once I was in love. I messed it up. Does that make you want to run?’
‘I think I’m past that point,’ she admitted.
‘Same here,’ he said. ‘You’re stuck with me.’
‘Were you hurt?’ she asked. In most cases, a nasty break-up was a two-car crash.
‘Pretty bad, but I’m over it.’
Samantha had so many questions. Who was this person? How long ago was this? And just how bad was ‘bad’?
Roman had a single question that negated all others. ‘May I kiss you now?’
It was suddenly very hot in the hot tub. ‘Please.’