Page 144 of Romeo

Jasper couldn’t promise me how he’d react to something he didn’t know. He couldn’t promise nothing would change once I told him. All he could do was show me that I was allowed to reach the truth in my own time.

Maybe that was what I’d needed all along.

Me: Thank you.

Jasper: Always, Cher.

I let the phone rest beside me and curled onto my side. Always was another word I could ruin if I examined it too closely; so for once, I didn’t.

I thought about Sunday mornings instead. About coffee and pancakes if he won the argument, waffles when I did. It was such an ordinary picture.

Maybe that was why it frightened me.

My life had taught me how to survive upheaval. I knew how to lose people, start over, make impossible decisions, and keep moving because there wasn’t another option.

I had no idea what to do with ordinary.

Or with a man who seemed to be offering it to me.

Jasper was choosing me because he wanted to. Not because a judge put my name on a piece of paper. Not because I was family and loving me had become part of the job. Not because anyone had asked him to rescue me.

He could walk away.

So far, he kept coming closer.

I pulled the blanket higher and closed my eyes.

I wasn’t ready to tell him about Charlie tonight.

But for the first time, the secret didn’t feel like a wall I intended to keep between us.

It felt like a door.

One Jasper had already promised he wouldn’t force his way through.

He’d wait on the other side until I was ready.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Romeo

Thursday afternoon, and the clubhouse common room was half-empty, with most of the brothers either working or out on runs. I sat at one of the tables near the back with a beer I’d barely touched while Jack leaned against the bar, scrolling through his phone.

“You’re distracted,” he said without looking up.

“I’m always distracted.”

“Not like this.” He put his phone down and crossed his arms. “You’ve checked your phone six times in the last ten minutes.”

I glanced at the phone beside my beer. “Counting now, are we?”

His smirk widened. “Whoever she is, she’s got you wrapped around her finger, doesn’t she?”

I took a drink instead of answering and Jack laughed.

Months ago, I probably would’ve denied it just to keep the bastard from enjoying himself. Now there wasn’t much point. Half the club had noticed something was different even if most of them still didn’t know who was responsible.

“Your charm has limits, Romeo.”