Chapter 63
Roman unlocked the door and then opened it for Evelyn to walk in first. She hesitated on the threshold. He could see it written all over her face how much she didn’t want to be here. This was the same place she had left in the middle of the night after spending a whole weekend hiding away from him in fear.
He should have thought of that. Maybe this place held more bad memories than good. They could drive to his apartment instead if she really wanted to.
“Do you want to go to my apartment in the city?”
It would be too noisy and busy, and they wouldn’t be able to go outside. But if she wanted to he would have to do it. It would just add a few more extra steps to the plan, the one he had already almost obliterated by telling that girl to reveal Evelyn’s name.
“No, here is fine,” she answered.
And then she stepped into the house.
He followed behind her, still watching the reactions on her face. She wrapped her arms around herself as she looked around. Nothing had changed here except the fact that he had permanently moved in when she had left him.
Phillip walked in and put their bags just inside the door.
“Call me if you need me,” he nodded to him before he walked out again.
He closed the door behind Phillip and locked it. The sound echoed in the quiet hallway and reminded him of their last night here. Did she hear it? He turned his head to look at her and found her gaze on his fingers on the lock. He unlocked it quickly and then picked the bags up from the floor.
“I’ll just take these things up,” he said.
Evelyn didn’t follow him. His footsteps slowed when he reached her playroom door but he walked past without opening it. His phone rang as it had done several times already that day. His father had seen the gossip and wanted to know if it was true. He was sure it was Esther who wanted to know if it was true. Her bad news had conveniently come after the first round of stories had gone out so he wasn’t entirely convinced her miscarriage scare wasn’t a ploy.
He put all the bags in the master bedroom dressing room before he took his phone out of his pocket.
“Dad,” he answered.
“Is she the one who made you a miserable sod for months?” his father asked immediately.
“Dad, we agreed. I stay out of your shit, you stay out of mine.”
After his reaction to the pregnancy news, that had been his father’s suggestion. It was very fair, but it had still brought up a lot of old childhood feelings in him. He had stopped interfering with his father’s decisions long ago, after wife number three or four, he chose to just let him be. But now he had to be civil to Esther or not bother visiting anymore.
“You’ve finally got a girl and I can’t have an opinion?” Charles asked.
If he somehow pulled things off then Evelyn would meet Charles sooner or later. But now he didn’t want to hear what his father thought. He didn’t want his father to point out any similarities to his ex-wives and girlfriends because he didn’t want to fall back into his old habits.
Falling in love was terrifying enough without having someone put those thoughts back in his head about how twisted it could all get. How she could crush his heart again without any effort.
“I don’t want your opinion, dad,” he admitted.
“Will you at least bring her over for dinner or something? Let me meet her.”
Over his dead body.
“Sure. But I have to go now_”
“You’re not going to ask how Esther is doing?” his father asked quietly.
He sighed and walked over to the chair.
“How’s Esther doing?” he asked as he sat down.
“She’s better. I think it’s the stress of it all that’s too much for her,” his father said. “I really wish you two would get along. Esther tries but you always push her back. You two are the most important people in my life, it shouldn’t be like this. Come and see her.”
“Dad_”
“I know what you think of her and our relationship, but it works for us,” Charles said. “Bring your girlfriend and we’ll have a quiet dinner.”
“I’ll think about it.”
The bedroom door opened. Evelyn walked in and was about to walk back out when she saw he was on the phone but he gestured for her to come in.
“Dad, I’ll call you later,” he said as he stood up.
“Is everything okay?” Evelyn asked.
“Yes,” he answered as he walked towards her.
He wanted to pull her into his arms as he had been doing since they woke up but she was still a little closed off.
“Are you going to see them?”
“Yes, but not today.” Not for a while if he could help it. “Let’s settle in first, make sure your parents move in okay.”
Evelyn nodded and put her arms around herself again. This time he couldn’t help himself. He closed the distance between them and pulled him into his arms. Though she didn’t resist him, he could feel that she was holding herself back from him.
“Do you want us to use a different bedroom?”
Not that it would matter. He had fucked her in every inch of the house. They had made memories everywhere, and those memories had kept him up like ghosts when he had moved in. But it was in this room where they had their final arguments. It was in this room where she had told him that she never wanted him to touch her again. This room where she had smashed his heart to pieces that he still couldn’t put together again.
So it was this room he wanted to make love to her again, to chase away those demons. But if it was too much for her, they could use any of the others. He was willing to do anything to make her comfortable here again because this would be her home. If she had him back.
“We’re sharing a room?” Evelyn asked, pulling away from him.
He couldn’t tell by looking into her eyes if that was something she wanted. Maybe she wanted her space from him even after spending last night together. Maybe he was moving too fast for her. He knew he hadn’t yet earned her trust but their time in this house, away from all this shit outside, was going to give him the chance he needed to fix it.
“I would love to share a bed with you, Evelyn. I want nothing more than to see your face every morning when I wake up. I want to make you breakfast in bed, shower with you, and hear you laugh. I want your face to be the last thing I see before I sleep. I want everything,” he admitted. “But only if you want that, too.”
And then he saw it. That spark in her eyes that she had never been able to hide before.
“What do you say, Evelyn? Can I have the honour of sharing your bed?” he asked.
Evelyn bit her bottom lip. The way he wanted to bite it. But he kept his mind out of the gutter and waited for her answer. It was the next step in her seduction. Because at the end of it all, she would be his wife.
“Yes.”