Page 40 of When We Meet Again

Still holding my hand, he spins me slowly to face him. His face is dimly lit by the lights from the shoreline, but he looks so serious, his dark hair getting soaked from the rain, sticking to his forehead. He grabs both of my hands. My heart dances at how close we are.

“I know it’s been a while, Waverly,” he pauses as light music plays in the background.

I smile. “I love this song.”

“Dance with me?” Raindrops run off his eyelashes as his big bright eyes stare into mine.

Rain starts falling harder, yet it slowly fades into the background. This moment is everything. “Yes,” I whisper.

Before we get too into it, he pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Hang on. Before we start…” He holds it up and we both smile as he takes a picture.Another bucket list item checked off thanks to him.

Once he tucks his phone away, his hands fall to my hips, and I wrap my hands around his neck. I want to feel him closer. I want to know what it’s like to be touched by him. To bekissedby him.

I close my eyes, and sway to this beautiful song with a man who has done everything to pull me out of the funk I’ve been in for the past year or so. Just when I thought I was falling apart, he took his time with me. He’s had unending patience and not fallen short. He’s made me feel again. I felt needed, wanted, enjoyed, and desired for the first time in years. I wasn’t just there as an accessory, but as an equal.

The smell of ocean water, rain, and Roman’s cologne floods my senses. It’s creating an addictive scent. I take a deep breath in and rest my head against his chest. Maybe I was truly never supposed to be with Patrick. Maybe that night at the bar when I met him, I was actually supposed to meet Roman. Age difference be damned.

“Waverly,” he uses my full name again and I look up at him. He looks flustered. And I can feel his heart beating hard; I can feel it matching pace with mine.

“Why didn’t you say goodbye?”

He pulls his brows inward and shakes his head. “What do you mean? When?”

“The night before you disappeared out of my life for over two years. Why…” I trail off, wondering why I brought it up at all.

“I wanted to. Hell, Kensi…I was in big trouble with you.” His grip is firm, still holding me against him. His gaze feels like a thousand suns heating me. Priming me for what he’s about to say. “I knew if I told youwhyI had to dip out of your life, you’d beg me to stay…and… I would have ended up kissing you. I would have ruined you…and what you had with my brother.”

We freeze.

“Kissing me,” she whispers. “How would you have ruined me? I was a big girl.”

He leans his against mine. “By loving you properly.”

“You…loved me?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t know,” he laughs out nervously. We start rocking back and forth to the music. “I couldn’t do that to you…or my brother. But fuck, Kensi, did I want to kiss you so fucking bad.” Roman allows his head to fall next to mine and I’m narrow-eyed, blinking rapidly into the stormy sky. He turns so his lips are resting near my hair. “I wanted to do so much more than kiss you.”

What if he did kiss me that night? Would I have kissed him back? That would have created quite a domino effect. But it pains me to say I think I would have been happier if he did.

Roman stands straight again, breathing deeply before his eyes bounce from mine and drop to my mouth.Do it. I give him silent approval by allowing my gaze to fall to his parted lips.

“You were right, Rome.”

“Right about what?” His voice is raspy and low. Like he knows I’m about to cross a line—and I’m pulling him with me.

“I did know that you loved me. You never said it, but I knew.”

He brings his head down so our noses rub against each other. Praying he can’t feel my heart thrumming erratically against his chest, I try to swallow, but the lump in my throat won’t allow it.

“Did you ever wonder about me? Think about me?” His lips brush against mine before he pulls back, but just a little.

I drop my head. “God, I sound terrible for saying this.”

He lifts my chin and forces me to look at him. “Say it. Please. I need to hear it.”

“There was a night when I had a bad argument with Patrick. He stormed out…didn’t come home for two or three days. I let my mind wander to what it would have been like with you. How your lips would feel on mine. How it felt to be in your arms. Or what it felt like to be loved by you. Completely and utterly destroyed by you.”

I get whipped out of my spiral as his lips brush mine once more, and it’s almost like I’d imagined it. A rumble of thunder sounds farther out to sea. I should be scared. But the fear never comes.

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