Page 88 of Forbidden Games

So she didn’t.

15

Roman smoothed Allie’s hair back from her face. “You’ll have to getmoving if you’re going to make your flight.”

She swatted at his hand without opening her eyes. “Screw it. I’m not going back to New York. I’ll just stay here until they kick me out.”

He felt the same way, though it wasn’t the island that had Roman wishing he could make this moment last forever. He wasn’t ready to let this thing with her go. It was a truth he’d been working toward for some time, but this morning, knowing that they were going to board their respective flights back to New York and go back to their normal lives... The stakes were suddenly sky-high. “Come out with me tonight.”

“What?” She finally opened a single eye. “What are you talking about?”

“Tonight. After we’re both settled. I want to take you on a date.” He didn’t exactly form it as a question, but Roman knew all too well how fragile the limb he stood on was. They’d spoken about changing the rules, but he’d just thrown every single one of them out. Roman stroked his hand down her arm and laced his fingers with hers. “I’m not ready for this to be over.”

“Roman, we talked about this. Our lives don’t match up outside of this island. Our worlds are too different—our worldviewsare too different. We wouldn’t last the week before something happened that ruined us for good.” She shifted to look down at their joined hands. “And that’s not even getting into the whole ‘your investor’s trying to buy my gym out from underneath me’ thing.”

She was determined to see the worst in that situation, and he hadn’t had the chance to convince her otherwise because every time it came up, suddenly they were having sex. Roman knew damn well that Allie was trying to keep them both distracted, and he couldn’t exactly be pissed at the side effect, but he wanted totalkto the infuriating woman. “Have dinner with me. We’ll talk about all the shit we’ve been avoiding up until now. If at that point you’re sure you don’t want me to facilitate someone investing in the gym, then I won’t.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.” It wouldn’t be just like anything. His client was interested in the gym and she had a clear vision over what she wanted for its future—a vision Roman shared. It wouldn’t be easy to find a replacement, but he’d make it work.IfAllie actually talked to him. “What do you say?”

Still, she hesitated. He could practically see her weighing her desire not to go to that dinner against the chance to get him to back off once and for all. Finally, Allie nodded. “I can’t do tonight, but tomorrow I’m free.”

“Tomorrow it is.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “As much as I want to seal this with a kiss, if I start kissing you, we won’t stop until lunch and you have a plane to catch.” He bit back the impulse to tell her to stay—that they really could just live on the island indefinitely and leave their lives behind. That peace wouldn’t last. No matter how effectively they’d checked out of reality for the week, given enough time, real life would come creeping into their time here. Hell, it already had. Allie had done her best to avoid it, but Roman was a realist—they needed to get their shit out in the open so they could deal with it.

They had no chance of a future without that.

Before he could reconsider kissing Allie, she was out of the bed and pulling her clothes on. “I’d better go. If left to her own devices, Becka will pack my stuff and her version of packing is to shove everything in and wrestle with the bags until the zipper is in danger of breaking. Better for both me and my luggage if I do it myself.”

“Give me your number.”

Again, the slightest of hesitations. She grabbed a piece of stationery from the nightstand and scrawled her number on it. “See you tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. In New York.

No matter how much he wanted to pretend otherwise, it was a big fucking deal to bring their budding relationship home. Roman managed a smile. “Have a safe flight.”

“You, too.” And then she was gone.

He listened to her footsteps leading out of the villa, and only after they’d faded did he climb out of bed and throw on a pair of shorts. His flight was in a couple hours—the early one off the island—so he wouldn’t have a chance to see Allie again beforehand.

It took fifteen minutes to pack everything he’d brought and comb every room twice to ensure he didn’t miss anything. He took extra time to shred up the information he’d gotten about Allie. He didn’t need it. She’d given him everything when she spoke about why she’d started the gym. He knew what pressure points to push to incite the reaction he wanted...but he couldn’t do it.

She wasn’t just a stubborn business owner who needed a little pressure to do things his way. This wasAllie. For her, he’d bypass the manipulations and shady dealings for plain old honesty.

Roman grabbed his bags and made his way to the lodge. It was time to get this show on the road, and he had a shit ton of work to do on the trip. All the pieces had to be in place before he saw Allie again.

The stakes were too high for it to be any other way.

Allie couldn’t wrap her mind around being back in New York. It was more than the weather, more than the sheer amount of people. It was almost like her life didn’t quite fit the same way it used to, as if it was a sweater with a tag she’d never noticed before but that itched every time she moved. To distract herself, she taught an early-morning spin class and spent the rest of the day holed up in her office going over bills and the budget for next month.

It was a shitty distraction. Nothing lined up. They’d taken their usual summer months hit in attendance to the classes, which meant less income. She was already in the red, but both the gym and the shelter were rapidly reaching the point of no return. Allie would have to start laying off her girls soon—like next week—and the thought made her sick to her stomach. The only other option was to turn away some of the women in the shelter, which wasn’t an option at all. It was like having to choose between two of her children and she didn’t even know where to begin.

She set it aside to work on later. She couldn’t call Becka, because Becka would quit on the spot. She wouldn’t worry too much about finding another job—Becka was the type of woman to jump out of a plane and figure out how a parachute worked on the way down. It was part of her charm, but Allie couldn’t ask her to make that decision.

No, who she really wanted to call was Roman. They’d spoken briefly last night—mostly to arrange a time and place for their date today—but it was nowhere near enough after having him within arm’s reach for a full week. She wanted to be wrapped up in him and have him tell her that it’d all be okay and that they’d figure it out together.

Weak. I shouldn’t have to lean on a man for strength. I should be strong enough to stand on my own.

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