Chapter 20
“Tell me what you need. What can I do to make you want to stay?”
Eve looked up at him, eyes wide. Was he saying she could ask for anything? She’d already told him she loved him and he’d laughed in her face. What else could she possibly need from him that wasn’t about how she felt?
“Anything within reason,” Roman added. “We still have to follow the rules.”
He was looking at her so intently as if he had read her mind. She looked away from his probing gaze and sighed.
“Then I guess there’s nothing you can give me. Your rules don’t give me much freedom in this arrangement.”
She looked back up at him and saw a muscle tick in his jaw. She saw something flash in his eyes that looked like anger but it was gone so quickly she wondered if she had imagined it.
“Perhaps you can start by telling me what you think is so disagreeable,” Roman said. “Disregard the fact that I put money in your account every month. Maybe we can negotiate.”
She wanted to talk about her feelings, yet he was still turning this into a business deal.
“When you brought me back you called me a whore, and I’ve been feeling like that for a while,” she answered truthfully.
“I was angry. I apologise for that, Evelyn. That was very undignified, especially considering you’ve been so discreet and have done everything I asked all these months. I won’t use those words again.”
And yet that still wouldn’t erase the fact that that was what he thought of her.
She knew what she wanted from him but she had already resigned herself to the fact that she would never get it. All she needed now was to get out before he hurt her more. Roman had tried to call and had sent messages all week but she had ignored all of them. He hadn’t asked her why. Not that she had expected him to, but all it did was give her more proof that she didn’t matter to him.
“Ask for anything, Evelyn. Regardless of what our arrangement is, I have to make sure you’re satisfied, too.”
“You weren’t thinking of that when you left me stranded here for two weeks,” she pointed out.
“Your car will be delivered tomorrow and I’ll set up an account for you at a private taxi firm that knows how to get here for you to call whenever you need to. Anything else?”
That was it? No apology again?
She looked away from him to pick at a bit of fluff on her old sweats. Why wasn’t he following his own rules? She had broken three of them already and instead of terminating her, he was negotiating. Why couldn’t he just let her go? Surely he had better things to do than try to make her stay.
“I’m just not happy here, Roman. Let me go.”
There was such a heavy silence that she had to look up at him again. Besides that brief flare of anger that she may have imagined earlier, there was no emotion on his face as usual. This was just another business deal to him.
“I’ll have the lawyers amend the contract. I’ll remove the penalties for you leaving as long as you give me sufficient notice.”
The money was the only thing he had holding over her head. If he removed that, she would be free to leave at any time and she wouldn’t have to spend all her money in a rush.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“I’m guessing you’d be giving notice before the ink even dries on the contract,” he said with a frown. “I don’t understand what’s so bad with our agreement. I provide for you and I don’t demand anything other than loyalty and discretion. And you know the same rules bind me. I belong to you, too, Evelyn.”
He belonged to her. The words made her heartbeat increase and her body start to heat up but she pushed all of that away. Those were just words to him. He belonged to her on paper, but no one owned Roman Ashfield; not the way he owned other people.
“Yes, but I’m twenty-four and my whole life revolves around a booty call on Fridays. I can’t even really go out because I have to lie to everyone I know,” she said bitterly. “This is probably the most we’ve talked since our initial meeting, so I’m stuck here in the week with no one to talk to.”
She couldn’t even accuse him of isolating her because she had done it to herself.
“I’ll include an extra day in the contract where we can sit here and talk, or watch movies, or whatever twenty-four-year olds do these days. And I’ll make it clear that you’re free to see your friends any other time.”
She couldn’t suppress the excitement this time. She knew what he was doing. He was throwing her a few bones to get the result he wanted. ‘Netflix and chill’ was by no means a real date, but it felt close enough that she couldn’t help but imagine that maybe he felt something for her, too. Wishful thinking, but her stupid heart soared anyway.
“And you’d be comfortable with that?” she asked.
She didn’t miss the hesitation, and that made her heart crash right back down. He was the one who had suggested this and yet it felt like she was begging him.
“Yes. I can do Thursdays,” Roman said finally. “I’ll come next week and bring the contract for you to sign. Now, do you think we can move forward? Because I’ve never had to negotiate with a half-naked woman before. It’s quite distracting.”
She finally remembered she only had her sweats on when Roman’s gaze lowered to her chest. She was always half-naked when she let him in on Fridays, but both of them were always naked minutes later. Her cheeks coloured when she realised she’d just had a full conversation with him without bothering to cover herself up; anyone would think she had done it on purpose to get her way.
“Sorry,” she whispered, grabbing a throw from the back of the sofa.
“Don’t,” Roman said.
She paused her movements to look back at him.
“Don’t hide from me.”
His gaze stayed on her chest a little longer before he looked into her eyes again. Her breath caught when she saw the need in them. He never spoke much but the way he made love to her, the way his body responded to hers and vice versa was like a language of its own.
“Miss Bright, do I have your consent to touch you now? Because it’s been a long week and the only thing that made it bearable was knowing I would get to fuck you all night long. Pardon my language.”
He hadn’t even made a move to come closer to her but she could feel his gaze as if he was touching her. She nodded even as she mentally kicked herself, and Roman slowly closed the gap between them.
She was straddling him seconds later, pulling at his tie and shirt when he captured her lips in his. The speed went from slow to extremely urgent very quickly as they helped each other shed their clothes. And then she was on her back on the sofa and Roman urgently thrust into her and let out a groan.
“So tight, Evelyn,” he whispered, bringing his lips back to hers.
She knew she would regret this in the morning when he left money on her nightstand and disappeared while it was still dark. But she was addicted to him. Addicted to the way he kissed her. The way he made love to her. She would never stop craving him until she stopped seeing him completely.
And she would. He had been right. The moment she signed the amended contract, she would give him her notice. So maybe she was better off enjoying him while she could because she would never find another man like him.