“Anything else new with you?” Christopher asked after he finished chewing his food.
“Not really. My life is pretty boring.”
“I knew that,” he said with a laugh.
I didn’t unleash an insult back because I knew I missed it when he teased me. Now that he’d confessed he was lonely in this enormous city, I understood just how much our relationship meant to him. It reminded me that I needed to spend more time with him, to make an effort to remain as close as we’d always been. After everything we’d endured, we couldn’t drift apart.
We’d been through too much together.
8
Calloway
The moment she was back in the house and in my line of sight, I felt better. Hank probably wouldn’t make another appearance because he was a coward. He’d targeted Rome because she was a petite woman, but now that a man like me came with the package, he was powerless to do anything.
I should relax.
But I couldn’t do that until she was returned to me in the same condition as when she left.
My arms circled her waist, and I kissed her the second she walked inside, not caring if Christopher looked at us or not. She might be his sister, but she was my woman. I took care of her and adored her, so I could kiss her whenever the fuck I wanted.
When I turned to Christopher, he was staring at a painting on my wall, obviously finding something to look at us besides our affection. “Have a good time?” I shook his hand just as I did when he arrived at the house.
“Eh.” He shrugged. “She was a little annoying, but she’s been worse.” He smiled, telling me he was kidding. “So, I’d say it went pretty well.”
“Christopher got promoted at work.” Rome stood off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a long-sleeve gray sweater that fit snugly over her gorgeous tits. Her brown hair was in spirals as it trailed down her chest, framing her beautiful face. Her green eyes were more vibrant when she did her makeup in a special way. She was gorgeous, and I wasn’t sure how Christopher didn’t find her attractive. They weren’t blood relatives, and they didn’t meet until they were teenagers. But it didn’t seem like Christopher looked at her in that regard at all.
“Congrats, man.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “Good for you.”
“Thanks,” Christopher answered. “And no, I’m not sleeping with my boss…unlike some people.” He shot Rome a look full of accusation.
“I was sleeping with him before he was my boss,” Rome countered. “Doesn’t count.”
“But that’s how you got the job, right?” Christopher argued.
I could tell these two were already back to normal. “Want me to call you a cab?”
“Nah.” Christopher fist-bumped me before he headed to the door. “I like to walk. More opportunities to spot a beautiful woman.” He winked then walked out.
I locked the door behind him as soon as he was gone. When I turned back to Rome, she was standing in the same place, her arms still crossed over her chest. Without even trying, she looked stunning in that sweater and jeans. Something about her natural qualities made her the sexiest woman in the world, with or without clothes. “Have a good time?”
“Yes.”
I took a few steps toward her and closed the gap between us. She’d only been gone for a few hours, but that somehow felt like an eternity. I’d worked out in my private gym with music blaring through my headphones, but somehow the distraction wasn’t strong enough to make me stop thinking about her.
“What did you do while I was gone?”
“Worked out.”
“Ooh…I thought your arms looked nice.” Her hand snaked up my arm to my bicep, where she gave the muscle a gentle squeeze.
I wanted to do the same to her tits. “Did he miss you like you assumed?”
“Actually, yes. He told me something interesting…”
I waited for her to answer on her own, refusing to fish for knowledge.
“He said he wants to make his own family. He feels lonely.”
“Lonely?” Christopher always struck me as the kind of man who preferred to be alone, like a lone wolf.
“Yeah. Seeing me with you has made him realize I’m not going to be around forever, at least in the way I was before. It’s made him feel a little isolated. So now he wants to find a wife and have some kids. You know, start his own family.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Christopher didn’t strike me as the emotional or sentimental type. But I did have a mother and a brother in my life. I had Ruin, among other things. But when I met Rome, I knew I had to have her, and not because I was lonely. In fact, I never understood I was lonely until she walked through the door. “Didn’t realize he was so attached to you.”