Page 40 of Laverna

"Anytime, cara mia. Anytime," he said aloud and didn't let her go.

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Laverna was the first to let go of the embrace. She had needed to feel Romulus's solid presence and heat to calm the shaken feeling in her chest. She sat down at the table while Romulus opened the bottle of wine she had found. She knew his place would be nice, but she hadn't expected to feel like a home. Her fingers got itchy just looking at all the pretty art, weapons, statues and trinkets around her.

"Why am I suddenly glad that you don't have more pockets to hide things?" he asked, pouring out her wine.

Laverna gave him her most innocent look. "I would never steal from someone who just cooked me dinner."

"Liar," he replied fondly.

"Just think how much fun you'll have searching me before I leave."

Romulus sat across the table from her. "And do you plan on doing that tonight?"

"All depends. Do you have dessert?" Laverna said and quickly put a forkful of risotto in her mouth. She groaned. "You're good at cooking too? Fates, I hate you sometimes."

Romulus only smiled. "I'm sure I'll survive. Besides, we haven't even begun to delve into all the things I'm good at."

"I'm sure," she said with a roll of her eyes. It didn't sound like innuendo, but her brain went there anyway. It was hard not to. Casual Rom was her favorite version of him. He looked great in a suit, but Rom in sweatpants? That was what did it for her horny girl brain.

She ate more of her dinner and slowly started to feel better. She liked that he would take care of her when she asked and let her go first into a dangerous situation when the circumstances called for it.

Laverna took a sip of her wine and asked, "So you said I could ask you anything and you would be honest about it?"

"Yes," he said and put his fork into his risotto. "Do you have a question for me?"

"Probably a lot of them," she replied. She drank more wine for courage. "I'm not good at talking when things matter. I get tongue-tied and a bit dumb, and because it's you, it's even worse."

Romulus's foot ran up the side of her calf under the table. "Laverna, you can say anything to me. You have never been afraid to hurl insults or piss on my monuments, so I think you can ask me anything."

Laverna tried not to laugh. "You really are never going to get over the pissing on monuments thing, are you?"

"Not ever," he replied with a smile.

Laverna straightened up in her chair. "Okay, first question. You have been different for weeks. I thought Bellona's fight with the mafia over Rafael was what was bothering you, and then I thought it was the stress of the witches. What changed your mind about…about me?"

"Some of it was Bellona, but the main problem was that I saw you again," Romulus admitted and drank some more of his wine. "My wolf has known since we first met that you were my mate. I never wanted to believe it, so I put all of that possibility in a box and locked it up tight. I was very good at lying to myself over the decades, especially because you aren't a part of my control of the city. I used it as an excuse to stay away and avoid you as much as possible. I saw you in Elysium, and it was like a punch in the guts. I couldn't keep it locked up anymore. I was telling the truth earlier when I said I'm tired of fighting you and against what I've always known to be right."

Laverna's breath hitched. "And what's that?"

"That we were made for each other," he said simply.

"But we couldn't be more different, Rom. Look around you. This is your life. Do I look like I'm someone who belongs in designer outfits and posh get-togethers? I'm not built to be arm candy. You would realize that soon enough, and I won't change for you in that way," Laverna replied, trying to get him and his wolf to see reason.

Romulus's eyes glowed. "Stop trying to find bullshit excuses to keep me out, Laverna. I don't want arm candy. I have had centuries of fucking arm candy. I want you. As you are. Messy, complicated, argumentative, thieving menace of a woman!"

Laverna's heart was beating too fast, and she could feel the cracks getting bigger in the walls around her heart. She couldn't hold them together anymore, not when it came to him and all that he was offering her.

"I can't trust that you won't trample me as soon as you're bored, Romulus."

"So it's fear holding you back then," Romulus stated in disbelief. He opened the whiskey and had a mouthful straight from the bottle. "I can't undo the past, Laverna. I can't make you trust me when I say I won't trample you. But the same goes for you too."

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded.

"You are a fucking goddess, and I was raised in a brothel as a no-one, a farm boy with dreams of grandeur and cursed with immortality for his crimes. You don't think I know I'm beneath you? Fuck, it's one of the reasons I never dared try and tell you that you are my mate. Why the fuck would you want me? I resented it, and so I made it worse. I know I did. But it doesn't change the fact that I love you, and I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes, you are." Laverna got to her feet. "You are coming to bed with me."

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