Eternal Flame (Mature 18+)

Chapter 44

The next day on the drive to the studio, Roman was somberly quiet. Kristen kept looking over at him to make sure he was okay but of course his face gave nothing away. If the man ever entered a Poker Face Challenge he'd win hands, down. She was dying to talk to him and ask how he felt about seeing Diego, but she knew better. Kristen knew he wasn't thrilled about seeing his longtime friend and she couldn't blame him. She wasn't altogether thrilled about seeing Diego either, especially after the silly way she'd called him and poured her heart out to him and Roman had come to the door acting like some insane stalker boyfriend.

She knew she looked like a tease. She felt like she was getting between the two of them and it made her feel horrible. She felt the uncomfortable tension between them was all her fault. Matter of fact, she knew it was. She should've played her cards better; waited to see if anything would develop between her and Roman before just agreeing to date Diego, before kissing him, before going out to lunch with him in Boston Common that day, before she called him while she was in Roman's garage with her skirt up around her waist, before all of it.

She held in a sigh and sadly looked out the window. She recalled eavesdropping on a conversation Roman had with Diego that morning before heading to the studio. Well, if you wanted to call it a conversation. Roman had Diego on speaker-phone while he shaped up his beard in the master bathroom and Kristen had hid in the bedroom, eavesdropping by the door.

"Yeah," Diego had brusquely answered the call.

Roman paused and cleared his throat before continuing. "What's up man?"

Diego paused and cleared his own throat, louder than Roman. "What's up?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No."

Kristen had discreetly peaked around the wall to see Roman standing in front of the mirror in only his boxer/briefs, scowling as he carefully ran his electric razor over his face. He turned his eyes skyward and sat the clippers down on the counter with a bang. "So, yeah, I just wanted to let you know Kristen will be with me at the studio today."

Another pause. "Okay."

"Cool."

"Yep."

Roman hung up and that was that. Kristen inwardly cringed when Roman muttered aloud, "Asshole." He picked up his clippers and began shaving again, still mumbling under his breath.

She'd immediately pushed away from the door and shame-walked to the kitchen. Today was not going to be good.

In the Hummer, she hugged her arms and glanced over at Roman again. He was looking at her, his face serious. Caught, he crookedly smiled at her and skimmed his thumb across her knee, where his hand lay. She sweetly smiled back at him and covered her hand with his. She kissed his cheek and laid her head on his shoulder. He rubbed his head against hers and kissed the top of her head before tenderly patting her knee and putting his hand back on the wheel.

She felt the wall without even looking at him. She tensed. When his phone rang, she moved away from him and looked back out the window. She didn't have to guess who was calling him. The phone hadn't stopped ringing since their lunch the previous afternoon. Same as before. She would wait a while then call him again. And again. And again.

After it had rang through their lovemaking that morning, Roman casually mentioned changing his number. Kristen suggested he just block her. Roman said he had done that three other times. Carmen always changed her number and called back with a new one. Kristen secretly wondered if Roman got off on his ex-fiance running after him, especially since he'd moved on to someone else. Most men had egos the size of Texas and she was sure Roman was no different.