Page 53 of After The Storm

She turned to look over at him and opened her eyes. He looked so different now she had a hard time remembering that man who so often wore that stony expression she’d gotten used to.

“Yes?”

Turning to face her, he smiled and she wondered how she’d ever missed how sexy he could be. “Are you okay?”

“I’m more than okay. You?”

His smile broadened, and he nodded. “I’m more than okay too.”

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. Resting her head on his chest, she listened to the sound of his breathing, loving the way he felt so strong beneath her cheek. He kissed the top of her head, letting his lips linger for a moment before he tightened his hold around her.

And just like that, Roman returned to saying nothing, but now, Kate didn’t worry about his silence. It comforted her in some strange way and made the moment mean more to her.

***

Kate opened hereyes slowly as Roman’s arm holding her gradually registered in her brain. She and Roman had slept together and now they…well, were sleeping together in her bed. He lay next to her with his eyes closed, and she struggled to believe what they’d done.

Not that she regretted it. No way. Sex with Roman had been the best she’d had in her lifetime. A woman didn’t regret that kind of sex.

She looked over at him and knew he still slept soundly, so she eased out from under his arm and grabbed her clothes to go outside. For some reason, she felt antsy, like she wanted to move and do something. That she couldn’t frustrated her, but she didn’t dare to endanger the two of them.

At least she could get a breath of fresh air on the porch.

Quickly dressing in the hallway, she headed outside into the night. Chilly for New Orleans, she wished she had a sweater to throw over her shoulders. Maybe Roman had gotten her one when he went out to buy them new clothes.

What a man he was. That she could even think he might have been that thoughtful felt completely out of the ordinary. She’d never been with a man who could rock her world in bed and still be someone she could depend on. Most men succeeded at one or the other, but to be good at both? She wondered if she was still under a haze from the great sex they’d had.

She wanted to tell someone about him. Wasn’t it just her luck that for once she’d found a man who had everything she could possibly want and she had no one to share the news with.

Eve. That’s who she could tell. She had a bone to pick with her about telling the police about what had happened to her anyway.

Fishing her phone out of her purse, she turned it on and pressed 2 to speed dial her. After only two rings, she answered in her usual perky way.

“Talk to me.”

Kate looked around to make sure she was alone on the porch and whispered into the phone, “Eve, it’s me. Do you have a minute to talk?”

“Jesus! Kate, where the hell have you been? I’ve been over to your apartment like ten times in the past few days. I’ve been worried sick. Are you okay? What happened to you?” she asked, her voice frantic.

“I’m fine. Thanks for ratting me out to the police, though.”

She began to pace at just the mention of the cops as Eve tried to explain why she’d done exactly what she’d been told not to do. “I’m sorry, hon. I got scared. That man following us in the Quarter freaked me out, and then when you ran, I didn’t know what to do. Are you in jail?”

“No. I guess I should actually thank you because someone in the New Orleans Police Department called this group that helps women and one of their men came to the Bayou to help me.”

“One of their men? What kind of man are we talking about?” Eve asked with far too much interest in that one part of her story.

Kate didn’t exactly know how to explain Roman. Was he like a security guard for her? What exactly was he other than the man she’d fallen for and just slept with?

“His name is Roman and he’s trying to help me figure out what to do about Jonas’s murder. He found us a place to hide out for a little while so we can do some investigating.”

Eve hummed in to the phone. “Hmmm, Roman. Sounds like someone I’d like to meet. Good masculine name. Does this Roman look as hot as his name?”

“Very much so,” Kate said with a smile that made her cheeks hurt.

“Oh my God! Tell me you haven’t slept with him. Did you sleep with the man protecting you, Kate?”

Giddiness overtook her, and she walked around the side of the house away from the front door. “Shhh, don’t say that so loud. He might hear you,” she said, pressing her mouth to the phone.

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