Page 114 of With Wine Comes War

She started laughing and said, “Like one nighters?"

I put my head into my hands and muffled out, “Oh my God, how embarrassing. I thought I was over humiliating myself.” She reached over and grabbed my hands off my face.

“Alex, we all have a past. If you have open, honest communication with people and they’re fine with the relationship, however short or long it may have been, then there’s nothing to worry about. Who are you afraid to upset in there?”

My face fell. It’s not like anything happened in those relationships but I went on a lot of dates. The only one I took further than a date besides Roman was the one who started all the sordid rumors, leaving me with a lot of trust issues.

“My dad.” I could feel the tears prickling my eyes as I said the words, but I blinked them away and tried to concentrate on her response.

“Ahh. That can be a little nerve racking. Is he the type that would be bothered by it?” she inquired, while still holding my hands.

“Most definitely. He couldn’t have any kind of personal conversations with me growing up and I’m daddy’s little girl.” She released my hands and just oozed sympathy at that point.Maybe I should just convince him it’s better off if he doesn’t come. Yeah right, he’ll never not be there for me.I wrestled with the thoughts.

“You should give him a heads up,” she said.

I slumped onto the sofa. “I talked to my brother and let him know what they were planning to do. He told me not to worry if dad had to leave in the middle of it.” The more pain I see in my father’s eyes the more I will inflict on Tanner. Maybe having my dad in there won’t be so bad after all.

She nodded. “It sounds like your brother’s going to be taking care of your dad. I think you should just concentrate on what you’re going to be doing in there and that’s being truthful.” I thought about what I was going to be doing in there— being truthful and vicious.

“As always, Dr. King, you’ve helped me get over a hurdle. I wish this wasn’t happening and I’m sorry for whatever you hear in there that affects you.”

“Alex don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I’m there if you need me after as well.”

I said, “Thank you.” I popped up from my seat and practically ran out of there.

My ride back to the penthouse seemed to take forever. I changed for the gym and tried to decide what I wanted for dinner while I was working out. By the time I was finished I was starving because I forgot to eat lunch. I went all through the fridge and the pantry and couldn’t decide on anything, so I decided to order Chinese food. But what the heck would Roman want? I realized I had no idea what he likes to eat.All this time together and we really haven’t gotten to know each other. We’ve just been dealing with so much outside interference.

My nerves are getting the best of me now. Maybe I should do something to calm down a bit, like do a shot or have a drink or something. No, that’s a bad idea with court in the morning. I need to be on my game. I’ll order food and then go take a nice hot relaxing soak in the tub. I slipped into the warm bubble bath. I added some lavender oil and lit a candle. I put my earbuds in and listened to calming meditation music. The water was soothing. It was just what I needed. I got out and put on some sweats then ordered the food.

I texted with Roman about ordering Chinese then punched the code in for the delivery guy to come up.

Oh lord, I may have over ordered.

I stood there looking at all the food and thought, who the heck was going to eat all this? I jumped when the elevator doors opened.

“Do you think I ordered too much food?” Of course he does. That was a dumb question.

“You must’ve been starving when you ordered this,” Roman said when he came back out of the bedroom wearing his sweats. He rested his chin on my shoulder.

“You have no idea. I forgot to eat lunch and worked out and everything. I was just trying to keep my mind occupied.” I was starting to feel the exhaustion in my body now, however.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve managed to keep most of it out of my head today. Had a lot of meetings and talked to Harrison about getting with his investors about your non-profit.” I squealed with delight.

“Oh my God. Are you serious?” He nodded then caught me when I hurled myself into his arms.

“Have you eaten yet?” He was trying to get me back on track. He knew I was distracted.

I shook my head. “No.” I was so nervous but I’m also starving so it’s good to have the voice of reason here with me.

“Then let’s eat!” He grabbed some plates, kissing my cheek as we plated up the food.

***

ROMAN

I didn’t think I would have to remind her to eat. She must really be distracted by the hearing. We had fun sampling everything she ordered and talking about mundane stuff.

“What if you hear something in there you don’t like or aren’t comfortable with?” She reached out placing her hands on my cheeks, eyeing me skeptically. Honestly, I’m not going to be comfortable with anything that’s said in there, but not a lot I can do about that.

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