She nodded.
‘What just happened—’
‘Can’t happen again,’ she interjected swiftly.
He looked knowingly at her. ‘But we both know that it will. Don’t we?’
Her eyes slid from his.
‘You are the best sex I have ever had, and we already have a son together so I don’t think it would require any great sacrifices for us to work in partnership to ensure the best interests of our child. It will require a few adjustments, but we could divide our time between Spain and England, and I think exclusivity is an obvious—’
His ability to make the outrageous sound normal took Marisa’s breath away but she finally managed to speak. ‘Let me get this straight. You are offering me exclusive access to your body in exchange for letting you be part of Jamie’s life?’
‘A bit simplistic but essentially, yes. You have no family, no support network.’
‘So you want to be my family, but you also want your freedom. You want to take me to bed but you don’t want to take me on a date,’ she charged angrily.
‘You want to go on a date?’
‘Right now I want...’ Her eyes slid to the sensual line of his lips and instantly he moved in closer.
‘You can have everything you want,’ he promised throatily.
But not love, she thought sadly, not love.
‘I want to be Jamie’s dad.’
‘I know, but... What if you meet someone else who—’
‘I suggest we cross that bridge if we ever come to it.’ He arched a brow. ‘You’re not saying no, so you’re thinking about it.’
‘Family is about love, not convenience, Roman.’
‘I love Jamie.’
She swallowed. ‘I know you do,’ she admitted, standing there and letting him kiss her.
‘We could make this work, Marisa.’
The words were whispered against her mouth.
‘What do you say?’ Another drugging, persuasive kiss.
‘I don’t know... We could maybe try...?’ she murmured, unable to think straight.
The kiss swept her off her feet and they sank together back onto the cushions of the daybed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IT HAD BEEN three weeks since they had made love by the pool and so far their unconventional arrangement meant that some of his clothes hung in Marisa’s wardrobe and there were two toothbrushes in the bathroom.
Was it enough?
Not nearly but it was all she had.
Would she walk away from it? Did she even want to?
It seemed to Marisa that her life suddenly had a lot more questions than answers. There had been moments when her doubts had become so deafeningly loud that she felt as if her head were exploding, but then she saw Roman and Jamie together, a look, a laugh, a small hand enfolded in a strong one and the noise abated to a soft, bearable murmur of unease.
She glanced at her phone before she slid it back into her pocket. Roman had taken Jamie to visit the stables so that he could give the carrot he’d selected to the pony he had fallen in love with. She had expected them back some time ago, but had they already returned and she’d missed them?
If Jamie had fallen for the pony, he had fallen even harder for his father. Yesterday she had found him sitting alongside Roman in his study, cutely mirroring everything his father did. She decided to try there first before she checked out the stables.
The study was empty but, drawn to the crayon drawing on the desk that Roman had framed, she wandered in to take a closer look. As she picked it up, a smile curving her lips, she hit the corner of the desk and the open laptop wobbled and came to life.
She was about to close the lid when she saw what was on the screen and froze.
An hour later Roman was making his way along the hallway to his study when he saw Marisa coming out of it; she was still in the study when she heard Roman’s footsteps in the hallway, her face a mask of grim determination.
‘Where’s Jamie?’ she demanded.
‘Were you looking for me?’ Roman asked, looking past her through the open doorway she had just appeared through. He was still buzzing with what had just happened outside and he had an idea that he wanted to run past her. An image of the wistful look on Jamie’s face as he’d watched two of Maria’s brothers playing together appeared in his head. Would Marisa also see the logic in wanting to give Jamie a brother or sister?
Marisa said nothing, just turned and walked back into his office.
‘Did you tell Jamie I’m his father?’ he asked.
She shook her head and looked confused for a moment.
‘Well, he knows.’
She frowned. ‘No, that isn’t possible.’
‘I’m telling you, he knows—I heard one of Maria’s brothers ask him if I was his dad and Jamie said yes... The thing is he sounded so casual, like it wasn’t even a big deal.’ He gave an incredulous laugh and dragged a hand through his hair. ‘And we were worrying about when to tell him. I suppose kids hear more than you imagine, and...’ His brow furrowed as he registered the tear stains on her pale cheeks, and his concern was immediate. ‘What’s wrong? Are you all right?’
Hands on her hips, she fixed him with an ice-cold stare. ‘I said, where’s Jamie?’
Right, so something was wrong, very wrong. Roman didn’t need to be psychic to see that.
‘He’s playing with Maria’s brothers, the two youngest. He was so thrilled when they invited him to play. It’s fine—they can speak enough English to make themselves understood.’
‘I need him to come back here now.’
‘OK...’ he said slowly. ‘Maria said she’ll fetch him back in time for lunch. Marisa, you should have seen his face when he was watching them play, before they invited him to join them; he looked so wistful. I always had Rio... Do you ever think Jamie’s lonely?’
Marisa just stared at him. ‘Did you hear what I said?’
‘What’s the hurry? He’s safe and enjoying himself.’
‘We are going home!’
His eyes narrowed and without his
