Page 53 of Old Flame

When she opened her eyes, there was a flash of fierceness that I recognized.

“You were all I had. You were my world. I was young and thought you loved me the way I did you. That makes this”—she wagged her finger between the two of us—“weird. Awkward. I don’t know. I mean, I saw your naked girlfriend walk out of your bedroom this morning, and I also got a glimpse of you completely naked.”

Fucking hell. The telltale sign of her pink cheeks told me she was embarrassed that she’d confessed that.

“She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t do relationships.”

Salem let out a short, hard laugh. “Guess you found out young that you’re not good at them.”

The hurt in her eyes wasn’t what I’d expected. Was what had happened between us back then still painful for her? She’d been married. She’d moved on. Fallen in love again. I was the one who hadn’t loved another woman.

“Or my first love ended up being my only one.” The words came out before I could stop them.

Dammit, her husband was dead. I couldn’t keep letting the idea of him cause me to snap.

She smiled, but it didn’t meet her eyes as she shook her head. “You didn’t love me, Rome.”

I could see by her expression that she believed that. She fucking believed it.

I stalked over to her, and she stiffened, shifting back slightly while staring up at me with uncertainty. I leaned down andgrabbed her chin between my thumb and forefinger. Anger, disbelief, and a world of other shit made me act without thinking.

“My head was fucked up back then. I was dealing with shit you didn’t know about, and, yeah, I made a mistake. I made several goddamn mistakes. But in eighteen years, there hasn’t been one time I’ve fucked a female and not closed my eyes and seen your face.”

I let go of her chin and watched as an array of emotions reflected in her eyes. That was something I shouldn’t have said.

I didn’t think I could handle hearing her response right now. I started for the door, getting away from her before she had me spewing more shit that should be left unsaid.

“When did you get the tattoo over your heart?” Her words were hesitant.

I stopped and gripped the door handle tightly, but didn’t look at her. “Who told you about that?” I demanded.

“I’m not telling you.”

My molars began to ache; I was clenching my teeth so fucking hard. Some fucker needed to stay out of my shit.

“Then I’m not answering you,” I replied before firmly closing the door behind me.

22

Salem

I’d faked being asleep when Pepper came back to the room last night. I hadn’t wanted to talk. Not with the things Rome had said to me running on hyperdrive over and over in my head.

When I opened my eyes this morning, she was in the bathroom with the door closed. I could hear the shower running and knew I had some time before having to interact with her or anyone.

This entire situation was insane. My boss was dead. I had no idea about Marlana or what she was doing with the gallery. Was she even safe? Being brought here and facing Rome again had taken center stage in my thoughts. I kept waiting for someone to tell me what was happening next so that I could plan what it was I would do when I was free of this place. I wasn’t staying in Miami. That much I knew.

I’d try a small Southern town in Georgia or Tennessee maybe. The kind of place where things like this did not happen. Where you sat on the front porch and drank sweet tea in the afternoons. It hadn’t been appealing before, but after everything that had happened, I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.

“In eighteen years, there hasn’t been one time I’ve fucked a female and not closed my eyes and seen your face.”

UGH! I dropped my head into my hands.

I had been trying not to think about those words. Yet they replayed on a loop in my head. Taunting me. My heart speedingup and my stomach fluttering like I was seventeen again and he was my world. But I wasn’t seventeen, and he wasn’t my world. I was thirty-seven, and he was the guy who had once shattered my world.

He’d said those words to mess with my head, and he’d succeeded.

The bathroom door swung open, and Pepper stood there with a towel wrapped around her body while she used another to dry her hair. I’d not even realized the water had shut off.

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