All I've Never Wanted(106)

I shook my head. “Roman. I don’t want to play any more mind games with you, ok? You have no reason to want me as your girlfriend or to make me jealous, so just—just stop with all this. The flowers, the chocolate, I don’t want any more gifts.”

I thought I heard him murmur something that sounded suspiciously like “Too late,” but it was in such a low voice I couldn’t be sure.

Roman ran a hand through his hair as he stared hard at me. “I'm not playing mind games. I wish—" He stopped, then sighed. "Can I ask you something? That night in Hawaii, in our suite. Was it all just ‘practice’ for you, or did you feel something?”

I felt myself turn white. No. There was no way. He couldn’t know. A strange buzzing sound filled my ears while my stomach clenched uncomfortably. It was all I could do to not slam the door in his face and run up the stairs to lock myself in the safety of my room.

Yeah, that wouldn’t be suspicious at all.

“N-no,” I stuttered, nearly choking on the words. I am such a bad liar.

Roman’s eyebrows drew together, and his eyes darkened so much they were almost black. “No?”

I shook my head frantically, but my hands were trembling, and I was sure he noticed.

“No.” This time sounded more confident than before.

“That’s a shame,” he murmured, as he took a step towards me.

I automatically stepped back, not liking the look on his face. There was fierce determination there, but also something else. Roman he grabbed my wrists and held me still as he closed the distance between us until—well, until there was no distance between us.


“What are you doing?” I squeaked, panicking. My wrists burned under his touch, and I could feel the impending heart attack looming ever closer on the horizon. “My—my parents are here, you know.”

“I don’t care.” Roman’s jaw was tense, and his whole body seemed to be emitting a strange sizzling heat that enveloped me like a blanket. He was so close...“You don’t seem to understand what I’m trying to tell you, so I’m just going to have to show you.”

Show me? What was that supposed to mean?

I didn’t have a chance to ask, because at that moment, Roman crashed his lips down on mine, causing my knees to buckle and strange colored lights to explode behind my eyes.

And that was when I knew my life would never be the same again.

CHAPTER 24

I stood there, frozen, while the colored lights which I soon recognized to be fireworks continued to explode in the background, and my knees continued to tremble like they had suddenly turned into Jell-O or something.

Holy crap. I’ve imagined what it would be like to kiss Roman so many times that it felt surreal for it to be actually happening.

Of course, this was about a million times better than my imagination.

Roman seemed to have taken my not moving away as encouragement, because he deepened the kiss, causing my heart to splutter and my knees to give out.

I yelped in alarm, breaking away and grabbing his arms just before I collapsed in a heap on the ground.

“Whoa.” He grasped my wrists and hauled me back into a standing position. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, humiliated. I stared at him. “What was that?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

Roman stared at me in disbelief. “You still have to ask?”

I swallowed. “I just—I don’t understand.” Even though I did. I just couldn’t believe it.

He sighed, looking pained. “Fine. Maya, I’m just going to be straight-up honest with you, ok? I—“ He hesitated, then continued. “I like you. Like like you. Even though you don’t like me back.” He swallowed. “But you could, right? If you just give me a chance. I’ll make it all up to you, I promise. I really will.”

“I need to sit down,” I said faintly, sinking down on the armrest of a nearby sofa while he stared nervously at me.

It was all starting to sink in. Roman Fiori liked me. Me. Maya Lindberg, the girl who, up until two months ago, most Valescans didn’t even know existed. I actually believed he was telling the truth now. I mean, he is not the type of person who would humble himself like that just for a joke.

Still, it was hard for me to wrap my head around it. After I caught my father cheating, I’d all but given up on love in real life. The whole rich boy falling for poor girl cliché? That only happened in books and movies, but here it was, happening to me.

“Maya?” Roman’s eyes searched my face. “Can you say something, please? Even if it’s ‘I hate you.’ I just need to know.”

And as I sat there, staring at him, taking in the tousled dark hair that was always a bit messy, the violet eyes whose intensity could set a room—or a girl—on fire, and the lean, sculpted face that usually wore an arrogant or disdainful expression but which seemed so vulnerable now, I knew what I had to do.

Still in a bit of a daze, I slowly walked over to where he was standing, and I could see the nervousness increase on his face. At the same time, there was a spark of hope in his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my own nerves. Are you sure this is what you want to do? a voice whispered in my head.

One look at Roman’s face gave me my answer.

Yes.

And then I slapped him. Not a hard slap, mind you, but it was still, you know, a slap. Plus, the room was so silent the sound actually reverberated.