“Do you need a hug, Sav?” she asked, her eyes softening as she shot me a sideways glance.
I nodded, the simple gesture feeling like a lifeline.
She enveloped me in her arms, and I surrendered to the moment, allowing myself to feel all the emotions that had been bottled up inside.
“Damn, you reek of sex and your man,” she teased, pulling away with a dramatic cough. “How hard did you guys go?”
My cheeks flamed crimson as I stood up abruptly, “Shut up.”
She made a zipping motion across her lips, a playful smirk dancing on her face. “I didn’t say anything.”
I dragged my bare feet across the cool floor, my heels in hand, making my way toward our bedroom while Lizzie squealed again, throwing the blanket over her head in mock embarrassment.
Shaking my head with a smile, I pushed the door open, stepping into the room where Roman sat at the desk, his phone in one hand while the other typed furiously on the keyboard.
The atmosphere shifted, and I felt a strange sensation wash over me as I entered the same space as him. I dropped my shoes and turned my back to him, suddenly feeling vulnerable.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked gently, his voice cutting through the tension.
“No,” I replied firmly.
“Savannah,” he said, his tone laced with concern.
“I said no, Roman,” I reiterated, my voice stronger than I felt.
He sighed, the sound heavy with resignation. He dropped his phone and closed his laptop, standing up as if preparing for a confrontation.
I could feel his eyes on me, the weight of his gaze pressing down like a physical force. He stood there, rooted behind me, as if battling the urge to pull me into his embrace once more.
I took off the ruined dress, standing bare before him, no longer caring if he was watching. What was the point of hiding anymore?
I walked over to the dresser, picked up a shirt that wasn’t mine, and tugged it over my head. It smelled like him, a comforting scent that wrapped around me like a warm blanket. Everything in this room seemed to carry his essence.
“I shouldn’t have let it happen,” I whispered, the admission slipping out before I could stop it.
Roman remained silent, his eyes still locked on me.
The words tumbled from my lips, unbidden and raw. Not because I truly believed them, but because it was easier than confessing the truth-that a part of me still craved him, still longed for his touch.
“It was a mistake,” I murmured, the weight of my own words settling heavily in the air.
In an instant, he crossed the room, his long strides closing the distance between us. He grasped my hand firmly before I could retreat again. “Stop,” he commanded, his voice low and urgent.
“I can’t stop,” I replied, the truth clawing its way to the surface.
He stepped closer, invading my space, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why do you keep running from what’s right in front of you?”
“There’s nothing in front of me, Roman,” I uttered, my voice taut, barely above a whisper.
His brow knitted in confusion. “Then why does it feel like I did something wrong?”
I leaned heavily against the dresser, my knuckles turning a ghostly white as I gripped the edge. “You didn’t. You did exactly what I asked you to do,” I assured him, though my heart was racing, and doubt lingered like a shadow in the back of my mind.
He let out a long, slow breath. “Then what is it, Sav? Why won’t you look at me? Why do you keep dodging me like I’m contagious? You’re ignoring me.”
The weight of his words pressed down on me, and I turned away, wrapping my arms around myself as if they could somehow hold my scattered thoughts together. “Because best friends don’t see each other naked in that way,” I replied, my voice trembling with the enormity of what had just happened between us.
Roman blinked, a mixture of surprise and concern etched on his face. “Sav…”
“Best friends,” I interrupted, my heart pounding in my throat, “don’t bend each other over in the backseat of a car and have the kind of sex that haunts you for days. The kind that we just had. That’s not friendship. That’s something else. And we… we broke it. We’re screwed, Roman.”
He stood there, unflinching, his expression oddly calm. If anything, there was a hint of relief in his eyes, as if a weight had been lifted.
“We’re not kids anymore, Sav,” he said, his tone steady and unyielding. “This isn’t high school. We don’t get to freak out over feelings and pretend things didn’t happen. We had sex. Amazing sex. And I’m not about to fall apart over that. You shouldn’t either. We’re adults, for fuck’s sake. Don’t expect me to get all weird around you because we fucked. That’s never going to happen.”
I blinked, momentarily stunned by his unwavering confidence. How could he be so composed when I felt like I was losing my grip?
He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a more intimate level. “You’re my best friend. Seeing you naked and bouncing on my dick isn’t going to destroy that. Not unless you let it. I’m not ashamed of what we did-and I’m sure as hell not going to apologize for it. Not now, not ever. We’re too old for this, Sav.”
The silence that enveloped us felt heavy, laden with unspoken words and unresolved tension, like a loaded gun just waiting to go off.
My voice emerged, smaller than I intended. “So what now?”
Roman’s gaze was unwavering, piercing through the uncertainty like a beacon. “Now we stop pretending this one night changed everything… when maybe it just revealed what was already there.”
I shot him a wary glance. “Which is?”
“Don’t you see how perfectly we fit? How we matched each other? Tell me you felt that, Sav. We don’t just understand each other as best friends. Our bodies do.”
My jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Are you out of your mind, Roman? Can you listen to yourself?”
He shrugged nonchalantly, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “I’m being honest.”
“You don’t get to act like this,” I snapped, my frustration bubbling over. “You don’t get to touch me like that, make me feel-whatever that was-and then act like we didn’t just do what we weren’t supposed to do.”
He raised his eyes to meet mine slowly, as if he were gauging my heartbeat. “You’re the one acting like it didn’t happen. I’m right here, Sav. I haven’t moved.”
I swallowed hard, my throat dry and tight. “You’re still my best friend. And I’m still yours. That doesn’t change. And we shouldn’t… do that again.”
His gaze remained locked onto mine, unwavering. “You’re mine. And I never pretended I wasn’t yours.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.