“Come on, Charlotte. Could it be I saved you a trip?” He heard the hope in his voice, but didn’t care. If laying his heart out for her to trample was the solution to getting her back, he’d do it.
“Damn you, Roman.” She reached for a crocheted pillow on her dresser and tossed it at him hard, whacking him on the head. “You’re too arrogant for your own good.”
“But not for yours, I hope? Forgive me, Charlotte.”
She swallowed and tapped her foot on the floor, making him wait. “You are arrogant,” she muttered, but a grin tugged at her lips, one she couldn’t hide, no matter how angry she was, no matter how hard she obviously tried.
“It’s one of my more charming qualities. Now quit stalling and put me out of my misery.”
That got to her, and she lifted an eyebrow in wonder. She was obviously surprised he’d been unhappy. That stunned him. How could she not know he was only half a man without her by his side? “Tell me where you planned to go.”
She shook her head. “Oh, no. You first. Where did you disappear to, and better yet, why are you back?”
“Come sit next to me and I’ll tell you.”
“You’re inviting me to sit on my own bed with you, the uninvited guest. What’s wrong with this picture?”
He glanced around, his gaze settling on the large oval mirror across the room. The reflective glass gave him a perfect view of himself lying in her bed. He shrugged. “Not a thing, as far as I can see.”
With a groan, she stalked across the room and settled herself beside him, a melting bowl of ice cream her only physical barrier. “Now talk.”
“Only if you promise to feed me later.”
“Roman—”
“I’m not stalling. I’m serious, I haven’t eaten in hours. I flew in and came straight here to see you.” With a slight detour to the baseball game that they’d get to once she opened up to him about her new relationship with her father. “So if you like what you hear, you have to promise to feed me.”
“Next thing I know, you’ll be asking me to feed you by hand.”
“By mouth would work just as well,” he teased.
Her lips tugged upward in a hesitant smile.
At least he could still affect her, he thought. “I’ve been in Washington, D.C.”
“Fair enough,” she murmured and placed the bowl on the nightstand. “I promise to feed you.”
“Good. Remember I told you about a job offer in D.C.?” His next thought was interrupted by loud banging on Charlotte’s door. The steady ringing of her buzzer followed.
She jumped up from the bed. “It’s Rick. I asked him to come over so I could find out—” She stopped herself before she could finish.
“Find out what, Charlotte?” But he already knew. Just as he thought. She’d been looking for him.
“Nothing you need to worry about.” She blushed, but before he could respond, Rick pounded on the door once more. “I need to see Rick about something else, too. You’ll find it interesting, I promise.”
More interesting than them? Roman doubted it. “Okay, let the pain in the ass in.”
He rose from the comfortable bed and followed Charlotte into the living area, greeting his brother with a practiced glare.
“I didn’t know he was back.” Rick gestured to Roman. “Welcome home … oh, shit.”
“Not the greeting I was expecting.”
“You two aren’t going to believe this.” Rick shook his head. “Hell, I don’t believe this.”
“Well, before you launch into any story, I’ve got something to tell you,” Charlotte said.
Roman shook his head. “You’ve both got me curious.” Rick exhaled hard.
“Okay, then, ladies first.”
“Right.” She wrung her hands before her in a gesture so un-Charlotte-like, Roman grew concerned.
“No,” she said, changing her mind. “Wrong. You go first.”
Rick shrugged. “I got home planning to come straight here, but we got some calls at the station. Several in fact. It seems the panty thief struck again.”
“What?” Roman and Charlotte said at once.
“In reverse, actually. The panties were returned.”
Roman started to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Nope. Every last one of them was left either inside the house or on the front porch. Even though we never officially considered Roman a suspect, I’d planned on telling Charlotte that the ladies around town were going to have to give up their notion of Roman as a panty thief.” Rick ran a hand through his hair.
“Why? Did you catch the guy?” Charlotte asked warily.
“No, dammit.”
Was it Roman’s imagination, or did she just heave a giant sigh of relief?
“But with Roman out of town, they’d have to give up their fantasies regarding my baby brother,” Rick continued.
“What’s the matter? Jealous they weren’t flashing their undies at you?” Roman grinned.
“Funny.” Rick shook his head. “But it’s just occurred to me here that with you back in town, looks like you’re going to have to live with the stigma.” He chuckled at the thought.
To Roman’s complete astonishment, Charlotte came up beside him and slipped her warm, soft hand in his. She stood by his side as she looked at Rick and said, “No, he won’t.”
“You know something about this, don’t you?” Roman asked.
“I might.” She squeezed his hand tighter. Although he didn’t need her looking out for him, he liked this protective side of her. Especially since they hadn’t come close to straightening things out between them, yet she was defending him anyway.
“Come on, Charlotte. You can’t withhold information from me,” Rick said.
“Oh, I don’t know, Rick. I never said I knew anything.” She glanced up at Roman, her eyes wide and imploring. “Did anyone see you tonight? Anyone know you’re back other than us?”
He shook his head. “Despite the small-town bit, I really don’t think anyone noticed me.” He’d kept to himself intentionally, though he didn’t think Rick would appreciate him pointing that out.
“Rick, if I did know something, I wouldn’t tell you unless you promised me two things. One is to never use the information I give you and the second is to
