Chapter 9 - ROMAN WAITED UNTIL I COULD SAY NO
Roman did not ask me out immediately.
Good.
I had been his employee for five years.
Then kidnapping victim inside a conspiracy targeting him.
Romance would have been the least healthy item on the menu.
He waited seven months.
Caleb thought this was excessive.
Mrs. Adler thought it was insufficient.
I thought it was funny.
My catering business had twelve regular corporate clients by then.
None connected to Calder.
Deliberately.
I hired two part-time employees.
Paid overtime.
Roman noticed.
Did not comment.
Also good.
Then one Friday he called.
“Dinner tomorrow?”
I smiled.
“That sounds almost normal.”
“I practiced.”
“With whom?”
“Dante.”
“Terrible source.”
“Agreed.”
He became quieter.
“Elise, would you have dinner with me?”
“Why?”
A pause.
“Because I like you.”
“And?”
“Because I have spent seven months pretending bringing Caleb to baseball games counts as seeing you socially.”
I laughed.
“It doesn't.”
“I know.”
“Seven-thirty.”
Our first date happened in Baltimore.
Restaurant I chose.
Roman did not own it.
I checked.
He pretended offense.
We talked about his mother.
Not the empire.
Not Evelyn.
His mother.
Her name was Anna.
She loved terrible old movies.
Burned toast constantly.
Sang while angry.
Roman had not spoken about those things in years because everyone around him knew only how she died.
Not how she lived.
I understood that.
My own mother had become bills, hospital memories and responsibility after her death.
Grief can reduce a whole person to the worst day.
We refused to let it.
At the end of dinner, Roman walked me toward my car.
“Can I kiss you?”
I looked at him.
“The terrifying Roman Calder asks?”
“Apparently.”
“Yes.”
He kissed me.
Slow.
Nothing exploded.
No bodyguards interrupted.
No one got kidnapped.
May you like
Excellent date.
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