Chapter 10
Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears again as he walked out of the playroom. There would be enough time after he was gone to do that.
Coming out of this contract would be harder than she thought, but she would find a way. She had grown up on a rough estate and knew how to take care of herself. Being with Roman had changed her, but if she wanted to come out of this somewhat intact, she knew she had to squash her feelings for him.
Roman dealt with facts and figures, not emotions. She had to remember that.
Blurting out that she was leaving when she had no idea how she would do it hadn’t been a good idea. First, she had to fix things for her parents before she tried anything.
With a sigh, she dragged herself off the bed and ignored the tingling when her thighs rubbed together. Hours later her body still felt the effects of his lovemaking and she was still a sticky mess even though Roman must have cleaned her after she had passed out. There was no time for a shower now, so she unhooked her silky dressing gown from the back of the door and put it on before she followed him down the stairs.
Roman was putting his coat on when he looked up to watch her come down the stairs. He showed no expression on his face as if her decision to leave hadn’t affected him at all. That was enough to cool her body right down and reaffirm her decision. If he was like this, why had he come after her at all? Why hadn’t he just let her go back to her life?
“I need my car. I didn’t put enough in the meter to leave it overnight,” she explained.
“Then it’s probably been towed,” Roman said as he straightened his coat and then walked over to the side table to pick his briefcase up. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“If you want me to stay so far from any transport links, you need to get my car back. I need to be able to get back into the city without paying too much for taxis. I’ve enrolled back into university, I can’t drop out again.”
Roman paused and looked at her.
“You’ve changed your mind?” he asked.
For now.
“Yes.”
Roman looked at her a little longer.
“Why?”
“You won. Does it matter?”
“This wasn’t about winning or losing,” Roman said as he put his case back on the side table. “We have an agreement, Evelyn, and you know how I feel about people who break their word.”
“Yes, I know. I’ll keep up my end of the agreement now, as long as you keep up yours.”
Roman still looked as if he doubted her word.
“So when I come back I’m not going to find another note?”
“No more notes from me.”
The next time she did this, he’d have a note from her lawyer.
“Were you getting bored here, Evelyn? Is that what all of this was about?” he asked. “I never asked you to stop seeing your friends or drop out of your degree.”
But he still hadn’t protested when she had done it. Nursing was a lot of work, and with the placements, she hadn’t been able to keep up. She had stupidly chosen Roman over her future, because even back then, she had thought she was something special, and Roman would be hers to keep. The joke was on her.
“It’s hard to keep friends when you can’t invite them over or talk about what you do. Your Non-Disclosure Agreement doesn’t really leave room for any social interactions,” she answered as she turned away from him to walk to the kitchen. “Please get my car for me. I’ll see you next week.”
She thought he would leave, but she was surprised to see him follow her into the kitchen. She put the coffee maker on while she waited for him to speak.
Roman never lingered around for anything. She had been sleeping with him for over a year and yet she knew nothing about him except what everyone else knew from the papers and gossip columns.
“Do you have many friends?”
“Enough,” she answered with a shrug.
“I don’t want to hold you back. Meet your friends, but just be mindful of what you disclose,” he said. “And if you give me the details for your classes, I’ll have my assistant make your arrangements.”
“Thank you, but I’m more than capable of making my own arrangements.”
If she was going to try to untangle him from her life, she wouldn’t allow him to do anything else for her. He had already taken over everything else.
“Okay, fair enough. If you want to bring one or two friends here, that’s okay, too, as long as you give me their names first.”
Her eyes widened. Roman was unbelievable.
“You want to vet my friends?”
“I want to make sure that the people you allow into my property are trustworthy. Take that how you want it,” Roman shrugged.
She shook her head as she turned back to the coffee machine. If he thought she was going to let him choose her friends, he had another thing coming. Her friends were just like her. She had no idea how she had even passed his standards, but she knew her friends would never reach that. They were in a different league altogether from what Roman was used to.
“That man you met yesterday,” Roman started. “Who is he?”
“A friend,” she shrugged.
She knew where he was going with this. Her contract stated she wasn’t supposed to have any sexual contact with anyone else.
“A friend like me, or just a friend?”
“I don’t think we’re friends,” she said, looking away from him to get a coffee mug out.
Yes, completely brazen. But she had to be firmer with him now even if he didn’t like it. She couldn’t be the naive little girl who’d worn her heart on her sleeve. Roman was a shark and could destroy her without even lifting a finger. She had to change so she could keep her sanity when she finally left.
“Answer the question, Evelyn.”
She turned back to face him.
“I didn’t break your rules, Roman. That’s all you need to concern yourself with.”
And in saying that, she got her answer. Why was she so stupid? There was a way to get out of this contract that wouldn’t result in her losing all her money and her parents being homeless. She was going to break the rules.