“Yes, sir.”

What am I doing? I should just stay away from her. This is a mistake.

“Winston, actually, I changed my mind.”

“No problem, sir. Where to?”

“Let’s turn around and head up to Mandalay Bay. I’m sure there’s a UFC fight I could catch.”

“Sounds good, sir.”

The car flipped a U-turn at the next light and Roman could swear he almost felt physically ill the further away from Jessica they traveled even though it was hardly any distance.

Christ! I can’t. I can’t do it.

“Winston, uh, actually, I’ve changed my mind. The apartment complex, please.”

Winston eyed him the rearview this time, his salt-and-pepper eyebrow giving Roman an appraising look.

“No problem, sir.”

When they arrived at Jessica’s, Roman practically ran to her apartment. He wasn’t even sure if he kept to human speed standards, but he really couldn’t be bothered.

Jessica opened the door, somehow looking both surprised and happy to see him. The bridge of her nose wrinkled up in the most adorable way, her mouth contorting into an odd smirk? Grimace? Smile? Whatever, Roman didn’t care as long as she was looking at him.

“Gran, I’m sorry, I’ll have to call you back. Roman is here.” She moved aside and gestured for him to come through the door. “Yes, I know,” she eyed him. “Yes, I promise. I love you too. Bye-bye.”

“Hello,” Roman said, “my apologies for interrupting your call.”

“Yes, well, I guess you could have called or texted first. Oh wait, you don’t have my number do you? Sort of easy to forget when one is dismissed.”

Roman put his hand to his heart in a fake “you wound me” gesture and buckled on his knees a little bit to animate the pose—although, her words and tone really did feel like a sting; he was hoping they could laugh it off. In all honesty, Roman wasn’t sure what to do here. He’d never had any trouble with females, quite the opposite in fact. It was easy to flirt, banter, and fuck when you couldn’t care less about seeing someone again or having a future. With Jessica, he was out of his element. But his little performance did change her grimace to more of a smile, so he was feeling more confident.

“You’re right.” This seemed like the best start he could think of. “I should have asked for your information. I wanted to. I just… I wasn’t expecting…”

“Go on.”

“I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Well, glad we have that cleared up.” Jessica crossed her arms. “Is there something you wanted, Roman?” She was not going to make this easy, and Roman loved that even more.

“I wasn’t expecting to meet someone like you, ever, Jessica. I’ve been around for a… a long time and been with many fem—er, women,” he moved closer to her, resting his hands on her shoulders. “You’re different from any person I’ve ever met. I wasn’t expecting to find my ma—to find someone who makes me feel as you do.”

Jessica uncrossed her arms and put them around Roman’s neck, pulling him down for a kiss which he deepened, slipping his tongue through to caress hers. She moaned slightly and Roman’s instincts were demanding he rip her clothes off and take her right where they stood, but the little part of his brain that still had blood in it thought maybe not yet.

Roman pulled away and was incredibly satisfied with himself at the look of irritation across Jessica’s face from ending the kiss. I’ve still got it, he self-congratulated.

“Jessica, I’d like to ask you something.”

“Anything,” she responded but then looked a bit vexed with herself which made Roman’s ego sore.

“Could I please have your phone number?”

Jessica pulled away and gave him a playful punch in the arm.

“Has anyone ever told you that you can be a bit of dick?” Jessica teased.

“More times that I can count,” he replied, and they both laughed.

“Are you free right now? Could I take you somewhere? Are you hungry? It feels like you’re hungry.” Jessica gave him a confused look. “I mean, it feels like you must be hungry after a long day.” Roman tried to recover. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen when Jessica realized what was going on between them. His expert guess after knowing her for a short time was that she was going to be pissed, more so that he didn’t tell her, and he wasn’t ready to move back into the dog house just yet.

“Yeah, now that you mention it,” again, confusion in her face and voice, “I am hungry. I got off and started a long-overdue conversation with my gran that I guess you sort of rescued me from. No need to be smug about it.” She winked at him.

“There’s actually somewhere I’d love to take you that I think you’d really enjoy.” She looked at her clothes and Roman added, “It’s very casual; what you’re wearing is perfect.” Then he really took a look at her: royal blue booty shorts with white piping and a long-sleeve, white, cotton shirt that he could almost see her nipples through which were hardening under his gaze. Roman was quickly revisiting his first instincts.

“Right,” she said. “I doubt it. I’ll be quick.”

CHAPTER 6

“We just need to stop by Muse to grab something, and then we’ll be on our way,” Roman said as Winston pulled into the temporary loading zone and hopped out.

“Where are we going?” Jessica asked, and Roman could not only feel her excitement but also hear it in her voice.

“It’s a surprise, but it’s a little bit of a drive.”

Winston returned with what looked like a to-go bag mixed with a picnic basket and handed it to Roman from the front seat before raising the separator screen. Jessica’s eyebrows perked up in surprise.

“Yes, it’s a little bit of a drive, so I had the hotel add some extras to our package here.” Roman pulled out some fancy looking crackers, various slices and spreads of cheese, cured meats, random dried fruits, and nuts all arranged within a covered tray. He followed that with a bottle of wine which he poured into a couple of travel tumblers with lids.

“They’re not fancy, but they’ll do the trick,” he said, raising his glass to cheers with Jessica.

“This is perfect,” she replied, all smiles to Roman’s greatest delight.

For about an hour and a half, they drove through the desert as the sun fully set, continuing through the pastel spectrum, and ending in an overwhelming blanket of darkness punctuated with stars.

They arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned building but turned out to be more of an observation deck atop a stone base. There was an iron gate that blocked the stairway, but Roman had a key and let them through carrying some provisions while Jessica carried the picnic bag.

“This is incredible.” Jessica had stopped in her tracks when they came through the trap door of the deck.

“I thought you might like this.” Roman was beyond elated with himself.

“I love this! Before my parents… well… when I was a little girl, my dad would set up his telescope in the backyard and have me try to guess what shapes I could see in the universe. My mom,” Jessica swallowed and cleared her throat a little bit, “my mom, she would tell me stories about the stars and what they mean to us. My gran too.”

Roman reached for her hand and pulled her in close to wrap his arm around her as they looked up, giving Jessica a moment to collect her feelings.

“My grandmother was actually quite skilled in astrology as well. I remember her telling me a long time ago as she sat with me one night under the sky that I would feel lost and alone for decades… for what seemed like decades, I mean. She said those feelings would persist for so long that I would give up on ever feeling differently, that I would inevitably become just like my father.” Roman couldn’t believe he was sharing this but also felt oddly compelled.