And, oh. She laid her head back down on his beating heart. What a man he was.
“You awake?” Roman threaded his fingers into her hair, easing her head back so they could look at each other.
“Mmm. Kinda. That’s Pickles, by the way,” she added, leaning her head in the general direction of the crate. “I don’t snore.”
He chuckled and adjusted her whole body as if he wanted her even closer. “I had a dream,” he said softly. “You were in it.”
“I was? What happened?”
“We adopted…”
“Another dog?” she guessed.
“Kids. Four of them.”
She sat up a bit. “Wow. That’s quite the dream. Four?”
“I want to adopt,” he said, finger combing her hair as he pinned her with whiskey eyes. “But in the dream, you did, too. It was cool.”
“It sounds…daunting.”
“But my parents were there. In fact, we were in their house and I was really happy.”
“Maybe I’ll go there someday,” she said, unsure how to react.
“I hope so. Because you know what? My parents would like you as much as I do. Which…” He added some pressure to his touch. “Is a lot.”
The admission made her whole body light and weak and…lost.
As if sensing that, he tucked some hair behind her ear, letting his thumb stroke her cheek. “You know why?” he asked.
“I can’t imagine,” she cracked.
“Because you’re real, Lacey. You’re the first person in a long time who makes me feel…normal. You don’t care about the fact that I’m an NFL player or what car I drive or how many followers I have. You didn’t even fangirl when we met.”
She smiled. “I didn’t know who you were. No offense, of course.”
He held his hands up. “Please. None taken. To everyone else, I’m ‘Roman Matteo, Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver.’ But to you…” He trailed off.
“To me, you’re Tessa’s son. And believe me, that’s the best thing you could be.”
His gaze sharpened as he focused on her. “Is that why you like me?”
That and a million other reasons she opted to keep to herself. In fact, she had to bite her tongue—literally—to keep from saying all the things rolling around her head and heart.
That she was falling for him. That she didn’t want this to end. That she was terrified of what would happen when the truth came out.
But instead she whispered, “I just like you. Do I need a reason?”
“No, but you need…this.” He leaned down and kissed her, long enough for Lacey to forget everything but how good it felt. But she heard her phone vibrating on the table and knew she had to answer the call.
Very slowly, smiling at his grunt of frustration, she slipped out from under his arm. “Just a sec.”
But her heart jolted when she saw the screen.
Tessa.
“Speak of the…angel,” she whispered, swiping the phone screen to answer. “Hey, Tess.”
