He could have sat across from her and kept his distance. Instead he chose to join her, trapping her between himself and the wall.
She greeted him with an obviously fake pout. “You don’t play fair.”
“Did I say I would?” He recognized the verbal sparring as a means of avoiding anything serious. He wondered how long it would last.
Charlotte shook her head. She couldn’t focus on Roman now. Instead she looked past him to the family of four. The two blond-haired boys had trouble gleaming in their eyes as one brother lifted a crispy noodle, held it between his thumb and forefinger. He narrowed his gaze, getting ready to flick it. His brother whispered something in his ear and when he shifted for a different angle, Charlotte figured he was egging him on. Their parents, engaged in serious conversation, seemed not to notice.
“He wouldn’t,” Roman leaned back and whispered.
“I wouldn’t bet the ranch.” She used the old cliché. “Actually, in your case, I wouldn’t bet the suitcase.”
“Ouch.”
She ignored him, watching the kids instead. “Ready, aim, fire,” she whispered in time to the boy’s actions.
As if on cue, the kid sent the hard noodle, which had broken in two, soaring into the air before it took a less-than-graceful plop into the goldfish-strewn water.
“Can a fish die from being hit with a fried wonton?” she asked.
“What about swallowing a fried wonton? If he were my kid, I’d grab him by the collar and dunk him headfirst. After I silently applauded his aim.”
“Spoken like a man who’s seen his share of trouble as a kid.”
He shot her the incredible smile that melted her insides and made her want to crawl into his lap and never leave. Dangerous thought. She bit down on the inside of her cheek.
“I can relate to him. My brothers and I caused plenty of trouble when we were young.”
She turned toward him and leaned forward in her seat, resting her chin on her hands. “Such as?” She needed to get lost in happy times. Other people’s happy times.
“Let’s see.” He paused in thought. “I’ve got one. There was the time Mom attended back-to-school night and left Chase to watch me and Rick.”
“Chase ruled like a dictator?”
“When he was awake, yes. But that night he fell asleep.” Laugh lines touched the corners of his eyes as he recalled the memory.
“Please don’t tell me you tied him up.”
“Hell, no!” He sounded offended. “Give us some credit for imagination. Let’s just say Mom’s makeup case offered a wealth of possibilities.”
She felt her eyes opening wide. “He didn’t wake up?”
“The only benefit to having Chase as a pseudo-dad was that he slept like a dead one. We made him look mighty purty,” Roman said with a deliberate southern drawl. “His date thought so too.”
Charlotte let out a whoop of laughter. “No kidding?”
Roman shook his head. “He was eighteen, dating a college freshman, and she’d offered to meet him at our house so they could leave as soon as Mom got home. Doorbell rang, we woke him to answer it …”
Charlotte didn’t hear the rest; she was laughing too hard, tears running down her face at the absurdity. “Oh, I wish I could have seen that.”
He leaned closer. “I have pictures.”
She wiped at her eyes with a linen napkin. “I have to see.”
“Marry me and I’ll show you.”
Charlotte blinked and sat up straighter in her seat. The boys were joking nearby, the scent of egg rolls drifted toward her, and Roman was proposing marriage? She had to have heard wrong. Had to. “What?”
He grabbed for her hand, holding it close and tight within his strong, heated grasp. “I said, marry me.” His eyes grew wide and he seemed stunned he’d spoken the words, but he obviously wasn’t too stunned to repeat them.
She was floored. “You don’t … I can’t … you can’t mean that,” she managed to sputter. Her heart beat frantically in her chest and she had trouble catching her breath. Two surprises in one day. First her father, now this. She reached for the water, but her hands shook so badly she had to put the glass down before she dropped it.
He raised the glass and held it to her lips. She took a long, cold sip, then licked the droplets off her mouth. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “I didn’t mean to blurt it out that way, but I did mean every word.”
She wondered when the room would stop spinning. “Roman, you can’t possibly want to get married.”
“Why not?”
She wished he’d look away, anything to break the connection, because those mesmerizing blue eyes were begging her to say yes, and to hell with the hows and whys. But her father’s timely return had shown her exactly why she couldn’t follow her heart. “Because …” She shut her eyes and attempted to formulate the best answer. The one that made the most rational sense. The one that explained their differences.
“I love you.”
Her eyelids fluttered open wide. “You can’t …”
He leaned forward, one arm propped over the back of the booth, and he shut her up with a kiss. A warm, heart-melting kiss. “You need to stop using that word—can’t,” he murmured, his mouth still lingering over hers. Then he locked his lips with hers again and swept his tongue deep inside, consuming her, until a low growl rose in her throat.
“Hey, Ma, look! They’re French kissing.”
“Eew, tongues and all. Can they do that in public?”
Charlotte and Roman broke apart. The heat from an embarrassed blush rose to her cheeks. She shook her head and laughed. “This from the kid who was using fish for target practice.”
“I asked you a question,” Roman said, all too serious.
“And you have to know my answer.” Her heart beat painfully in her chest. “I …” She licked her damp lips. “You’ve seen my parents, you know my mom’s life. How can you ask me to repeat it?” She hung her head, wishing with everything in her she could sustain the righteous anger she’d summoned at the baseball game, even if she had transferred her feelings from her father to Roman.
“I’m not asking you to relive their lives.” He held her face in his hands. Gently. Reverently.
The lump returned to her throat. “Are you planning on living in Yorkshire Falls?” She already knew the answer and prepared herself accordingly.
He shook his head. “But”—his fingers tightened around her face—“I’m looking into possibilities. I don’t want to lose you and I’m willing to work out a compromise. All I’m asking you to do is keep an open mind. Give me time to work out something we’ll both be comfortable with.”
She swallowed hard, unable to believe what she was hearing, unsure if she could trust in the intangible and not get hurt. Then again, she’d be hurt losing him any way things played out. She wanted more time with him before the inevitable happened.
If the inevitable happened. She shoved all thoughts of her parents from her mind. She’d have to deal with them soon enough. Roman had used the word compromise, which meant he was taking her needs into consideration. Unexpected adrenaline flowed through her system. “You said you loved me?”