Set in Stone

Chapter 7

Well, that happened, Grace thought. Having just woken up, she was lying there looking at the back of Roman Reigns' head. He was quietly snoring, sound asleep. If her own thumping head was anything to judge by, he had a hangover waiting for him when he woke.

A headache and a bit of nausea were the least of Grace's concerns. One drink, that was what she had offered to entice him into the house. What made her feel bad was that she hadn't at any point wanted it to be one drink. She had continued lying to herself, saying she wasn't going to look at Roman in a romantic way, that it wasn't right to do so when he was still getting over a divorce.

The simple fact was that after spending the evening with him at the ball game, she had craved him; craved the feeling of his huge hands on her body; craved the feeling of his tongue in her mouth; graved a thorough fucking the likes of which she hadn't had in a long time. And boy had Roman delivered all of that, after one had turned into two, and drinks had turned into bottles of wine.

Stupid bitch, Grace raged at herself. How had she not been able to control herself better than that? Now there was a real possibility that when Roman woke up, he would regret what had happened, and their friendship would not be the same, if it survived at all.

If there was anything in her favour, it was the fact that Roman had definitely seemed like he was into her. It felt like more than a drunken fool around. The lovemaking had been passionate, maybe even a little frantic. Had he been lusting after her the way she had been after him?

Moving carefully, Grace got out of the bed and walked groggily into her en-suite bathroom. There was a temptation to try and be sick, but she decided to resist. Sitting on the toilet to relieve herself, her head continued to pound. She angrily asked herself why she hadn't just given him a peck on the cheek and let him go home when they had gotten to her place? It was too late for that now though.

When Grace walked out of the bathroom, she found Roman waking up, turning over in the bed to face her direction. The sound of her flushing the toilet and washing her hands had probably woken him.

"Hey," Roman croaked, his throat apparently dry. He cleared it and tried again, with better results. "Hey. That was quite a night."

It was a huge relief to Grace. He wasn't mad. He wasn't jumping out of the bed, wanting to flee as quickly as possible in regret.

"Yeah, how about those Rays?" she joked softly, referring to the baseball game they had been to.

"Six to two, not as big a win as I got last night."

Oh my, Grace thought. His tone told her that he wanted more. It was further emphasised when he pushed the cover on her side of the bed back, welcoming her in with him.

"Are you sure this is the right thing?" she had to ask.

"Yes," he said with certainty. "I understand why you're asking. You're worried that this is me doing something I'll end up thinking was stupid because I'm trying to deal with my divorce. That's not what this is. You blow my mind, Grace. That smile could kill me dead, I swear. And I've never connected with someone so fast as I have with you, never. I've felt such a connection with you since we met, and I know you feel the same. Last night was incredible, and I'm not hungover enough to forget how right it felt."

"Neither am I," Grace replied, getting back into bed. "I was trying to deny my feelings for you..."

"Now you don't have to," he cut in. "It's fast, but it doesn't feel fast, not at all. I'm totally into whatever this is, or might be, between us."

Grace gently put a hand on his cheek. "I know what I'd like it to be. I don't want to do friends with benefits."

"I wasn't thinking of friends with benefits," he assured her.