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“What about you?”

“I need you. Are you just going to let me and Mary Beth leave without you?”

Turin grabbed the can of beer and threw it at him. Rome ducked, easily

evading the can, and grasped his brother"s shoulders. Turin fought him, hitting him

in the chest, the arms, even the face, as Rome pulled him close.

“You don"t need me. You never needed me. You left me, you bastard,” Turin

sobbed in his arms.

Rome closed his eyes, held his brother close, and allowed all he had been

holding back free. Silent tears slid down his cheeks. “I always needed you. I never

stopped needing you.”

“I still won"t go.”

Rome hugged his brother a little tighter. “I know.” Rome understood that his

brother had to learn the hard way there was no changing their father. The man was

poison to all around him.

Rome had learned the same lesson when he was a little older than Turin. The

difference was Rome would be there when Turin needed someone to turn to. “Turin,

I know more than you"ll understand.”

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Chapter Eleven

Sela had only taken two steps into the baking aisle when she decided she

didn"t really need vanilla extract all that badly. Rome"s surprise would just have to

wait.

“Sela? Sela Newton?”

She turned back around and plastered a smile on her face. She hated going

down memory lane. For reasons she couldn"t and wouldn"t name, it always made

her feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately, since she didn"t come home often, she always

ran into someone who hadn"t seen her in years, so she ended up doing it at least

once every visit.

Jason Robards was tall, dark, and fine as hell, but more appealing was his

suave personality. When they were younger the man could talk a girl out of her

panties. “I thought that was you,” Jason said and jogged up to meet her. He walked

around her cart and threw his arms around her.

“I almost didn"t recognize you. Girl, you look great,” he said with a wide, white

smile.

She grinned back at him. “You"re looking pretty good yourself. It"s been a long

time, Jason.”

“Flattery, flattery.” He chuckled and stepped back. “Damn, girl, let me get a

look at you.” He looked her up and down. “Great doesn"t do you justice, Sela. You

sure did grow up nice.”

“Uh-huh. Flattery, flattery,” she replied, throwing his own response right back

at him. He laughed.

“I heard you were in town.”

“Let me guess. My mom told your mom, right?” she asked as she reached for

the vanilla extract.

”You know those two can"t keep a secret.”

“What are you doing in town?” He had gone to the prep school in the county

over, so she knew he wasn"t in town for the reunion.

He flashed her a bright, pearly white smile as she dropped the black pepper

into the cart. “I figured a short flight from DC wasn"t too much work, especially

when I would be rewarded with seeing your beautiful face.”

Surprised, Sela stared at him, thinking she had misheard him. Their mothers

had tried to set them up together over the years. Was he really interested in her?

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“Christ, relax, girl. I"m just joking. I came to see friends who were coming

down for the reunion. Though I have to admit seeing your fine self is the icing on

the cake.”

”That was not nice.” She emphasized her statement by smacking his arm.

“It was a joke. I guess you got that British humor now, living there all these

years. Can"t handle the American stuff, huh?”

“Maybe,” she said with a wry grin.

“Anyway, don"t want to hold you up. We should get together since we"re both in

town. Dinner?”

“I…uh…well…” Sela felt her face heat up as she stammered her way to a

rejection.

Jason stood back on his heels and folded his brawny arms across his chest. “So

it"s true, huh? You and Rome are together.”

“What?” she choked out. She knew the small-town gossip mill moved quickly,

but darn, it had only been a few days since she first went to Rome"s suite.

“Rome and I are not together. We"re not even friends anymore.” It was the

truth. They weren"t together. They were sleeping together. Big difference. And she

and Rome certainly weren"t friends.

“Then you won"t mind meeting me for dinner.”

It was just dinner. The man was smart, attractive, and they got along fairly

well—at least they did when they were younger. Still… “Jason, I appreciate the

offer, but—”

He nodded sagely. “I understand.” The look in his brown eyes told her he didn"t

in fact understand. He thought she was turning him down because she was sleeping

with Rome. Except for Rome she couldn"t think of a reason to say no. It was only

dinner with a childhood friend.

“Look, Sela, I"m not asking you out. Just want to get together for old times"

sake. It"s been so long since I"ve seen you, and I can"t exactly take a trip across the

pond to meet for lunch,” he said with a laughing grin.

She couldn"t help but smile back. “True.”

He pulled out his wallet and took out a card. He fished a pen from his pocket.

Sela watched as he wrote something on the back of the card. “That"s my cell phone.

Just consider my offer. The ball is in your court, Sela. No pressure, but I would like

to say it was nice seeing you again. It would be nicer to see you over lunch or

dinner.”

She smiled. There was no helping it. Robards was a charmer. Unfortunately,

she wasn"t interested in him. Still… “Thank you, Jason. I"ll call you to set

something up.” She paused. “It might just be a quick lunch,” she said, wanting it to

be clear that any meeting would be platonic.

He nodded his head in agreement. “Lunch is fine, just as long as you bring

your fine self.” She laughed as she placed the card into her purse. When she looked

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up he was still standing in front of her. Her heart pounded as the awkwardness of

their situation ebbed and flowed between their bodies. He reached out and caressed

her face lightly. “I really do hope you call, Sela. It would be nice to see you again,

even if it"s for coffee.”

He turned and strode down the hall. She watched him, riveted to her spot,

wondering where the Jason she had known went, and who was the man who had

touched her so tenderly.

The most distressing thing of all was the fact that she couldn"t help wondering

how she would have reacted if Rome had touched her that way, asked her out as

Jason had.

She was considering going out with Jason, but she knew if Rome asked now,

she would say yes without a second thought.

That fact scared her.

Feelings could not get in the way. She needed to stay as emotionally

unattached as possible. Her vacation was less than two weeks long, and she lived

abroad. She couldn"t allow herself to think about Rome as anything more than a

friend with benefits.

She just had to keep reminding herself of that.

A date with another man would do just that.

Rome was out of town, Nick and Rosa were tied at the hip, and her mother and

Sasha were keeping their distance in order to give her and Rome all the opportunity

they needed to work things out, or so Sasha said. Sela was in the mood for good food

and even better conversation. Jason could provide that.

Still, she would have preferred eating with Rome, if only for the glorious

orgasm that came afterward.

* * *

Sela"s heart lurched and her stomach dropped when she saw Jason turn onto

Steeple Road, Brushwood"s main street. As the car inched down the road, her heart

rate increased until it felt as though her heart was getting ready to burst out of her

chest when he pulled in front of Rosie"s Diner. She turned to him. “Wouldn"t you

prefer to go somewhere else?”

He smiled at her. “It may not be fancy, but Rosie"s food is all well done.”

She could feel bile rising. She forced it down with effort. She wasn"t worried

about Rosie"s food. She was concerned about its patrons. From what she

remembered, no matter when you went, Rosie"s was filled with people. Any one of

those people might notice her and her date.

And tell Rome.

“Come on, Jason,” she said before giving him her sweetest smile. “There"s a

new restaurant in Little Bristol I wanted to check out.”

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He turned to her, saddened. “Why didn"t you tell me that, sweetheart? I could

have made reservations.”

Sela saw her chance. “I"m sure we don"t need reservations. It"s small but highly

respected. I"m sure you would love it.”

He glanced back at Rosie"s. “Would you be mad if I told you I"m kind of in the

mood for Rosie"s? It"s been so long since I had a burger. Plus, I was honestly hoping

to keep things fun and simple tonight.”

“Really?” she tried again.

“Yeah, really.” He reached for her hand. She chose that moment to grab her

purse.

“Fine,” she muttered and opened her door. He got out of the car and walked

over to her.

“We can always go on our next date.”

She grinned up at him. There wasn"t going to be a next date. Thanks to her

20/20 hindsight, Sela knew it was a mistake to go out with Jason.

* * *

elevator to come. It seemed to take forever to her frazzled mind. Or maybe it felt

like an eternity to her because she literally counted every moment until the elevator

arrived. Initially she thought counting would calm her down. Now she knew she

was wrong.

But only after it was too late and the damage had been done.

Seems to be the theme of the day!

She went on a date with a former classmate Jason Robards. It really wasn"t a

date, more of a get-together, but she knew one the gossipmongers got through with

the tale, she would be engaged and pregnant. She"d spent a good portion of the

night second-guessing herself. She fully intended to keep things between her and

Rome uncomplicated. The problem was her feelings. They were as complicated as

one got. Though she had denied it, she wanted something more from Rome, and she

feared she"d just messed up any opportunity for that.

When she stepped onto the elevator, a heavy ball settled in her stomach and

gnawed at her emotions. She jabbed the button that would take her Rome"s suite.

As the lift glided to his floor, she thought about what she was going to tell him, the

explanation she hoped to give him so that he wouldn"t be angry about her date.

She knew long before the evening began that the date was a bad idea, but she

hadn"t been totally sure of how to get out of it, and then there was the fact that a

little part of her wanted to prove that Rome had no control over her.

Ironically, the only thing she had proved was just how much he meant to her.

She couldn"t lose him. Not when it had taken her so long to make it to this point.

They"d messed up when they were younger. Now that she was older, she understood

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that neither of them had really been to blame. They were too young, too foolish to

talk things through, not let pride get in the way.

Fucking things up now was an entirely different thing.

She wasn"t sure how he"d snaked his way into her heart, but he was such a

part of her, she couldn"t envision not having him in her life. She understood Rome

enough to know that sex was just sex, but when it came to dating, he was only

interested in an exclusive relationship. A relationship she wanted.

“Damn,” she cursed savagely just as the elevator opened its silver doors. She

stepped out and into the hall, running through her latest draft of what she was

going to tell Rome. If she did this well enough, she might actually avoid a fight. She

didn"t believe for one moment that Rome wouldn"t find out about her date. There

was bound to be someone in Brushwood willing to gossip about her and Robards

getting together.

She licked her lips and knocked on his suite door. She was on a mission to

contain the fire.

Sela was unaware how long she stood in front of his door. She only knew he

was suddenly in front of her, staring down at her with cool green eyes. Her stomach

plummeted. Someone had told him. She"d hoped he wouldn"t find out so quickly, but

it was a wild wish.

“Come in,” he murmured and stepped away from the door, giving her a wide

berth to enter the suite, almost as though he couldn"t stand to be anywhere near

her.

“I wasn"t expecting to see you tonight.”