The sadness melted into happiness, a contented smile on his lips. “And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

I blushed. “Have your parents ever been nice to you?”

He shook his head and tipped his chin to stare at the ceiling, fighting the difficult memories, I was sure. I reached up and took his hand in mine. It always worked when he did it to me. He rolled his head to the side and cast a broken grin my way.

“Were you ever happy?”

Shaking his head, he whispered, “No.”

“Are you now?”

“Completely. I finally know what it is to love and to be loved. But I’m scared as all hell that it’ll end. My folks won’t give up that easy.”

“I’m staying with you.”

“Do you swear that to me?”

“I swear. I love you. I’m yours.”

Romeo brought my hand to his mouth and kissed every digit.

“So what now? Football? Greatness? World domination?”

He shrugged. “I guess so.”

“What do you want, Romeo? What do you desire most from life?”

“You.”

“No really, baby, what do you want? It’s there for you to take.”

He sighed, lowering his gaze. “Just you, baby. You feel like home to me.”

I crawled on his waist, tucking my head against his neck. “You have me. All of me, for as long as you want.”

“Really? I’ve got you forever? ‘Cause I pretty much just cut myself off from the only family I have.”

“Romeo, you’re my family. You’re it. You and my crazy friends are my entire reason for being. How can you not know that?”

“‘Cause I can’t believe it’s true.”

“It’s you and me, Romeo.”

Tensing, he asked, “But what’ll happen when I get drafted? What if you go to a college across the country? Or even outside the States? You never talk about your future with me and I worry about it all the damn time. Now I have you, I can’t imagine lettin’ you go.”

I kissed his lips, running my tongue through the small gap to meet his. “We’ll figure it out as we go.”

Truth was, I hadn’t thought that far ahead myself.

Rome’s hips lifted, his hardness towing languorously between my legs. “Mmm… Okay, we’ll make things work no matter what.”

“Romeo.”

“You’re stayin’ with me in here tonight, in front of the fire.”

“What is this place anyway?”

“The old slave house.”

My eyes widened. “The what???”

He huffed out a laugh. “Relax, baby. It’s been refurbished since then, or at least cleaned up some. I stayed out here a lot when things got bad back home. My parents never came by. It’s kinda my real home in a way.”

Romeo’s hips rocked harder and my stomach muscles tightened. “Then yes, I’ll stay the night.” I pressed his arms flat onto the couch. “Can I lead? Just this once?”

He shook his head slowly, controlling Romeo coming back out to play. “No. But nice try, Shakespeare.”

Suddenly I was rolled over, Romeo’s heavy weight pressing down on my naked body, causing me to yelp. With a playful bite on my ear, I was braced on my knees. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll take care of you.”

19

Three months later…

“So we leave for Oxford on the Friday and you have the option to stay for either one week or two. We present on the Tuesday and then we need to edit, draft, and finish all that fun stuff before we submit it for publishing, if it’s approved—fingers crossed!

“I’ll be in the UK a few weeks, but you have your studies here and…” A huge grin lit up Suzy’s crinkly face. “You have your young gentleman friend to get back to. His sporting good luck charm, I hear?”

I blushed and dipped my head. “Yeah, I’ll probably be there only a week if that’s okay? The Tide is set to make the SEC Championship in a few weeks’ time, and if they win, there’s the BCS in… in…”

I shot off my chair and ran to the waste basket and vomited in gut-wrenching heaves. Suzy came behind me, rubbing my back in soft circular motions. I took her offered tissue and wiped my mouth, rolling onto my backside and pressing my hand to my head. “Ugh, I feel rough.”

Suzy eyed me worriedly. “Are you coming down with something? You seem to have been off for the last couple of weeks.”

“I think so. I’ve been vomiting for the past few days. It must be a stomach bug or something I’ve eaten. I thought the chicken I ate a couple of days ago tasted funny. It’s probably that.”

“You work too hard, Molly. You’re burning yourself out. Take the rest of the day to sleep and feel better. Yes? Come back fighting fit and we’ll tie up the loose strands of this sodding paper tomorrow.”

“I’m not going to argue with that. Thank you.”

Suzy helped me stand and I instantly felt queasy again, swaying on my feet.

“Is there anyone I can call? Your roommates? Perhaps your young man?”

I shook my head and leaned on her desk for support. “No, I’ll—” A wave of nausea crashed through my stomach again and I practically dived on the floor and gripped the rubbish bin just in time.

“Dear me, Molly,” Suzy said with her hand on her chest.

I reached into my pocket retrieved my phone, holding it out without lifting my head from the bin. “Can you call Cass? I know she has classes near this building. She’ll come and get me.”

“Absolutely. I’m worried about you. You look very pale.”

I took an exaggerated breath through my nose and leaned back against the cold wall for support, closing my eyes.

Bloody great.

“Woo, girl. You look like Grouch from Sesame Street.” I cracked open my closed eyes. “Eww, I take that back. You just look like shit!”

I forced a smile. “Hey, Cass.”

She bent down, scooping me in her arms, and set me on my feet. “You still feelin’ sick?”

I frowned. “It just keeps coming in waves. I say we get home now before it comes back.”

“On it, girl. My truck’s out front.”

Cass called ahead and Lexi and Ally were in my room when I arrived, equipped with Advil, Alka-Seltzer, Pepto-Bismol, and hot and cold towels. I couldn’t help but giggle at their efforts.