by Sienna Blake
“No, I don’t know what you mean, that’s why I asked,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Romy and I are childhood sweethearts.”
I opened the file in front of me, pretending to find the information I was looking for. I didn’t need to. I knew the details of Roman’s file by heart. Every piece of information I came across about Roman had been studied, analyzed and carefully stored away. “I understand he’s been in Europe for…the last eight years. If you were so close, why didn’t you go with him?” I knew I sounded bitchy. I couldn’t help it.
“Romy,” she fluttered her hands about her, “is like a wild stallion. I knew he needed a few years to go and do whatever he needed to do. At the end of the day, he will always come back to me. He loves me.”
Her words stabbed me in the heart. Was it true? Did Roman love her? Had I just been a whatever he needed to do?
“We’re you with him on Saturday the eleventh? Last Saturday.”
“I was with him all night,” she smirked at me.
She was lying. I knew she was lying. Roman had been with me. But I couldn’t contradict her without ruining myself. I studied her face. Did she know she was sitting across from the woman Roman was actually with that night? “Why don’t you take us through your evening with Mr. Tyrell. Start with what time you met and where.”
“We met about ten thirty p.m. at Club Luxe…” She proceeded to outline Roman’s night with me, starting with leaving Club Luxe and going to his hotel room, how we stayed in the next day, ordered room service, ending with our goodbye around seven p.m. Sunday night. As she spoke the blood drained from my limbs. She knew exactly what Roman and I had been doing. Which meant that Roman told her about our night together, details about our night together.
All I could do was stare at her, even after she finished talking, my mind going at a million miles per hour. Roman had told her everything about our time together. They must be close. Did she know she was talking about Roman and me? Was she mocking me?
Had I just been a fling? A substitute for her? Had he been fucking me and thinking of her that night? My heart burned as all these questions piled one on top of the other.
Espinoza cleared his throat. I could see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye. He was waiting for my next question. I couldn’t get anything coherent to come out of my mouth.
“Ms. le Monde,” Espo said.
“Please,” she said, sending Espinoza a sticky smile, “call me Rosaline.”
“Okay, Rosaline. Do you remember what you were wearing that night?”
“An LBD. Chanel.”
“LBD?”
“Little black dress.”
“Right.” Espinoza paused as he wrote a small note on his notepad.
“How do we know you’re telling the truth about your relationship with Romy?” I spat out before I could stop myself.
Rosaline stared at me, the smirk on her face never faltering. “Romy has a small birthmark on his lower left hip, shaped like Italy.” Her grin widened. “Have fun checking it out. It’s as close as you’ll ever get.”
His birthmark. I forced myself to take a deep breath and leaned back in my chair. She knew about his birthmark. How many other women knew about his birthmark? Why did I think I had been special?
“We’ll, um, check that out,” said Espinoza. “That’s all, Ms. le Monde.”
Rosaline sent me one more smug look before she let Espinoza escort her out. I was left alone in the interrogation room with my thoughts.
I felt violated. She had known every detail about my time with Roman. He had told her everything. Had it not been sacred to him? Had they laid in bed together and discussed me? Did Rosaline know that the woman Roman had been with was me?
I was totally wrecked by the time I left the station that evening. My stomach was empty and in knots. I hadn’t been hungry all day. I had driven my car into work today and had remembered that I had driven it in. I found myself searching the parking lot shadows. I chastised myself. I didn’t want to see Roman Tyrell again. I didn’t want an explanation from him. I just wanted to get enough evidence on him to put him away. Then to forget about him and his stupid beautiful face and his stupid beautiful body.
I closed my apartment door behind me, dropping my keys and bag automatically on the side table. Before I could reach for the light, I saw the shadow moving in front of me. Someone was in my apartment.
28
____________
Julianna
My training kicked in. I slammed my back up against the front door and grabbed for my gun, my veins flooding with adrenaline.
A firm hand on my forearm stopped me. “Relax, Jules.” I heard Roman’s voice. A strange sense of relief washed over me.
It took me a second for my mind to catch up. Roman Tyrell had broken into my apartment. I should not be feeling relief. In the dim moonlight streaming in through my living room windows, I could see his wide frame taking up almost my entire vision. Where he was touching me, felt like it was burning.
I found my voice. “Let go of me.”
“Only if you promise not to shoot me,” he said, his tone light.
“I’m not promising anything.” I could smell his familiar masculine cologne of wood and citrus. I hated that I wanted to press my nose into his chest and fist my hands into his shirt. He was a criminal for God sakes.
He chuckled softly into the dark, the noise sending shivers down my spine. “I guess I’ll have to take a chance that I’ll survive you.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
He let go of me but he didn’t step back, leaving me no room to breathe. I was suddenly all too aware that I was standing alone in the dark with Roman Tyrell. My nerve ends felt electrified, as if we were two live wires that would spark if we got any closer. I couldn’t be in the dark with him. It was too intimate. Too intense.
I reached out to the side and flicked on the closest light switch. It turned on the living room light, which fell partly into the entryway through the kitchen. Now his handsome features were bathed in light and shadows. Dear God, he was beautiful. And too close. Much too close.
I sank back against the door and realized too late that I had cornered myself. “What are you doing in my apartment?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
He stared at me with those intense eyes of midnight fire. “We need to talk.”
No, we needed to stay as far away from each other as possible. I swallowed. “How do you even know where I live?”
His perfect lips twitched. “I’m a Tyrell. I have…resources.”
Don’t forget that this man is a Tyrell. He is dangerous. I should be terrified that he’d found out where I lived and broke into my apartment. For some reason, I wasn’t.
I thought back to my lock. I hadn’t noticed any pick marks. I couldn’t imagine Roman Tyrell bothering to pick a lock. He’d more likely kick the door down. “How did you get in? This is a secure building.”
He frowned. “You should get an alarm system. You never know who might be lying in wait for you in your apartment. It’s not safe.”
I snorted. “This coming from you. You never answered me; how did you get in?”
“You left your bedroom window unlocked.”
I blinked at him. “You scaled my building?”
He shrugged. “There’s a fire escape out there. It wasn’t hard to jump from the fire escape to your window.”
I ran my mind over the structure of the side of the building, of the fire escape and my window. I gasped. “You idiot. You could’ve been killed.”
“So you do care about me,” he said, his voice softened.
I glared at him. “I don’t care about you. I care about how the hell I would explain the body of Roman Tyrell splattered all over my sidewalk. Never mind the paperwork.”
He grabbed his chest as if I shot him through the heart. “Ouch. You really know how to wound a guy.”
“What the fuck happened at the interview?” I hissed at
him. “Was that your idea of a joke?”
“I was as surprised as you were.”
“How could you possibly expect me to believe you didn’t know who I was?”
“How could I? I haven’t been in this damn country for the last eight years. I take it meeting you wasn’t some kind of police organized shakedown.”
“No. Just a crazy coincidence.”
“Fate.”
I snorted. “I don’t believe in fate.”
“How do you explain us?”
Us. Memories slammed through me. His naked body, hard and unyielding, his hands searing into my skin as he gave to me as much as he took.
I shoved these images away. I would not allow myself to lose my head around him. I could not.
My body betrayed me. My nipples were painful pebbles against the material of my shirt. I was sure my cheeks were flushed and my pupils dilated. All of these things I hoped he couldn’t see.
“There is no us,” I hissed at him.
“Don’t tell me you don’t feel—”
“I feel nothing.”
“You’re lying,” he said, his dark eyes probing my face. “Don’t tell me that if I pressed you up against your door and kissed you right now, you could push me away.”
I sucked in a breath as my panties flooded with wet heat. “You…you wouldn’t.”
His gaze burned into me and aggression rolled off him. He inched forward, his muscles tensing as if he was fighting to hold back from making good on his threat.
My own body tensed as my mind warred with my body. I wanted him. Even though I knew who he was, my body begged for his touch. I hungered for him to slam me against this door and to do his worst.
He might have killed someone, Julianna! a voice inside me screamed.
I had known from the minute I’d met him there was something dangerous about him. But he wasn’t a killer. Right?
“Did you do it?” I blurted out.
“Do what?”
“Kidnap Vinnie. Torture him.”
“I already told you, no.”
“Off the record.” I swallowed, hard. “I need to know… Did you?”
He didn’t so much as flinch. “I never touched him,” he said, his voice flat.
I didn’t think he was lying but there was something off about his response. “Tell me you didn’t press a gun to his temple and pull the trigger.”
His eyes narrowed. “Like I said, I never touched him.”
Why did I want to believe him?
“Julianna,” he said, his voice rolling around my name as if he was caressing it. “I’m not—”
“You lied to me. You told me your name was Roman Lettiere.”
His shoulders fell. “Lettiere was my mother’s maiden name. I always felt more like a Lettiere than a Tyrell.”
“You still lied to me. Why should I believe anything you say?” I wasn’t ready to believe him. Even though, deep down I wanted to.
“Because you know me, Jules.” He grabbed my arm, his grip so tight that it bordered on painful. “Look past the last name I was given.”
I yanked against him but he wouldn’t release me. “Let go of me.”
“You know me.”
I scowled at him. “You’re a prime suspect in my active murder investigation. As far as anyone else is concerned, I don’t know you.”
“You didn’t tell them about us?” The word us came out like a breathy whisper and the word slithered down my spine, unleashing a series of unwanted images through my mind: his hands on my hips, his mouth claiming mine, his beautiful cock sliding into my aching core. My clit throbbed.
I swallowed and tried to wrestle control back from my mutinous body. “No. I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Good.” He let out a huge breath. He was relieved.
“Don’t worry, I don’t want to be associated with you either,” I snapped, a stab of hurt embedding in my stomach. “My career is not worth ruining for you.”
He frowned. “I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about… If my father found out that you and I…” His mouth snapped shut. What was he about to say? “You’re better off not telling anyone about us.”
Us? That word was like a taunt. There is no us, I wanted to yell. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” I demanded, pent up betrayal finally surfacing. “Why did you lie to me and tell me your last name was Lettiere?”
“I didn’t want you to look at me the way you’re looking at me now.”
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like I’m a criminal. Like someone to avoid.” He sounded almost sad. “Some girls… it turns them on. They like the danger of being with a Tyrell. I knew you weren’t like that.”
Wasn’t I? Being here with him right now was pretty damn dangerous but I was still, for some screwed up reason, turned the hell on.
He stepped closer. “Don’t tell me you would have come with me if you knew I was a Tyrell.”
“Of course I wouldn’t have gone with you. Do you think I like being in this position? Having to lie to my partner, to my superiors, to my father?”
“No, I don’t suppose you do,” he said, his voice turning hard.
“It was a mistake,” I blurted out. “It shouldn’t have happened.”
“A mistake,” he said, his voice laced with anger. “Yes, I suppose it was.”
“You also shouldn’t have lied about not having a girlfriend.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Rosaline came to the station today to corroborate your alibi, or should I say, to lie for you. She seemed to think differently about your relationship.”
Something dark crossed his face. “Rosaline has this idea of us that doesn’t match reality.”
“And yet you still called on her when you needed help,” I spat out. “Did you tell her it was me?”
“Of course not.”
“I questioned her. She knew everything we did when we were together. You told her everything.”
“Are you mad because she lied,” he spoke in a low voice, “or are you angry because I shared what was ours with her?”
My heart stabbed. “I’m angry that you put me in this position. I know that a witness is lying to me but I can do nothing about it.”
He pursed his lips, then a look of amusement lightened his face. “You’re jealous.”
I stiffened. “I am not.”
He leaned his hands on either side of me, trapping me against the door. His nose brushed alongside my neck. “I can smell it rolling off you.”
I gulped at the air, trying to get enough breath into my lungs. My mind was short-circuiting with him so close.
“Why are you jealous, Jules? Tell me.”
I had to make him stop. I could feel my willpower wavering as his heat rolled off him. Any second now I’d give in and lift my mouth to his lips, now running along my cheekbone, causing shivers to cascade through my body.
I shoved him back and he stepped out of my space. “Leave. Now.”
“I’m not done talking.”
“I am.” I snatched my gun from my hip holster and raised it to point at him. “Get out.”
He raised his hands in surrender, his face smoothing out into that mask I’d first seen in the interrogation room. He took a step towards me. I sidestepped around giving him the space he needed, keeping my gun trained on him. I didn’t trust myself without it.
He opened the door and paused in the doorway, turning to face me once more. “Thank you,” he said, his voice hard as steel.
“What for?”
He stared at the barrel of my gun, then up at me. “For reminding me which side I’m on.”
His words were like bullets in my chest. Before I could speak, he was gone.
29
____________
Roman
I pulled my collar up, keeping my face turned away from the security camera I knew was mounted over the lobby door, as I exited Julianna’s building. I eased down a side street an
d slunk into the shadows, becoming one with the night.
She had pulled a gun on me. She had pointed the black barrel at my heart and fear flashed across her beautiful face as she yelled at me to “get out”.
She was scared of me.
A surge of rage went through me. I lashed out, kicking a garbage can, causing it to fly across the alley and smash against the slimy brick wall. It exploded, the trash contained within spilling out all over the ground. The stench of rotting fruit reached my nose. I stood, chest heaving, staring at the destruction before me. The destruction I had caused.
Look at me. She was right to be scared. I was a Tyrell, a blackened heart, a thing to be feared. A destroyer of everything he touched. Why did I ever think I could be anything different?
Because she had made me feel like I could be different. Because when she had gazed up at me, her honeyed hair spread across the pillow, her soft body naked and open, she gave me a reason to be different.
Knowing who I was had chased that look away. She was lost to me. The man I could have been was lost to me too.
A door banged open farther up the alleyway, fluorescent light spilling out from the fast food joint. A short fat man stepped out yelling obscenities at me for kicking over his garbage can. I turned towards him and watched fear flash in his eyes. He retreated without another word and slammed the door shut behind him, the lock clicking.
I stood alone in the dark once more.
I had done my duty. I had warned Julianna. I was sure she wouldn’t tell anyone about the night we’d spent together. Now I just had to keep away from her.
30
____________
Julianna
“Thank you.” Roman stared at the barrel of the gun I pointed at him, then up at me. “For reminding me which side I’m on.”
I didn’t put him on the other side. He did. He did by… by…
By having the wrong surname.
The knot in my stomach grew. I kicked off my bed sheets. Damn you, Roman Tyrell. Another sleepless night thinking about you. It was too damn hot. I felt like I had a fever.