"You've eaten here before I take it?" He asks noticing my excitement.
"All the time. Best five dollar lunch in the area."
"What the hell can you get for five dollars?"
"Don't be such a snob rich boy. You're about to have the best turkey burger and fries EVER." I smile. "My treat. Since I'm rich now too."
I fan a little of my money in his face when I notice an incoming text on my phone.
Roman chuckles and pauses before he asks his next question.
"Who's that moneybags?"
"It's Owen."
Roman's face turns icy.
"What the fuck does he want?"
"For me and my crazy ass cousin to never come around there again or he'll call the police."
"Is that right."
I laugh. "Well you've got to admit. You were kind of over the top with him."
"I was fixing a very fucked up situation. He was trying to keep your money and you were allowing him to speak to you like a piece of shit."
I gasp in mock shock. "Tell me how you really feel."
"I really feel like you have horrible taste in landlords and definitely in men."
"I guess so. My last boyfriend was apparently a druggie, and I think I came pretty damn close to making out with my cousin in front of our entire family." I chortle a little at my attempt at a joke.
Roman is stock still.
I'm guessing he doesn't think my joke was that funny.
"So what else is on the agenda for today?" I ask hoping to steer the conversation in another direction.
"I need to make a stop, then we're going home to change, and then out to The Lotus."
"The Lotus? Why would we go there?"
"I'm running it now."
"You're running it! I thought you were a business consultant."
"I am. I consult employees on how to run their clubs among other things."
I shake my head no. "I don't want to go back to that nightmare on Elm Street."
"Nothing will happen to you as long as I'm there." He says confidently.
"And who pays you to run this club? No offense, but it doesn't look like your type of crowd."
"No offense taken, but it's not your crowd either, and the owner pays me."
I roll my eyes at his inferred insult.
"And who's the owner?"
"A silent investor. Any more questions about my business Inspector Clouseau?"
"Nope." I cut my sloppy turkey burger into quarters and then pop a french fry into my mouth and chew. "Pass the ketchup."
"I don't know how you keep your girlish figure."
"Not used to eating with girls who eat real food I take it?"
"Are you used to it? Your girlfriend doesn't look like she eats much."
"Sloan?" Of course he paid attention to Sloan's body. Every man does. Pervert.
"Yeah her. I noticed her scrawny little ass on the floor of the club that night."
"So it was Sloan you were looking at when you found us?" I try to ask nonchalantly as I dip a fry in my small pool of ketchup.
Roman takes a large bite of his burger. Chewing it while silently observing me. He licks a bit of juice from the corner of his mouth, swallows, then smiles.
"I noticed only you the moment you entered the club Duchess."
Our eyes lock.
"What do you mean? You saw me before the pepper spray?"
"Yep." He says simply.
I'm not sure what to say in response to this bit of new information. I don't know if I should say anything. We're supposed to be having friendly conversations. Distant cousins getting to know each other. I'm pretty sure that's what Juliette and Joseph had in mind by forcing Roman to babysit me, but I feel like almost every exchange between us is laced in subtle sexual subtext. I don't know. Maybe it's all in my head.
"So tell me about the stop you need to make today. Is it for your job?"
"Pretty much."
"About the club?"
"No this is a different job. I have a client that's being blackballed by MTV. She wants to present at the awards show, but they're freezing her out."
"Wow, that sounds so interesting. So what can you do about it?"
"Well, it's my job to convince the powers that be to change their minds about her."
"Who is it Roman? Tell me!"
"Absolutely not." He smiles and tweaks my nose. "You wouldn't want me to lose my job now would you?"
"I thought MTV was in New York?"
"The person I need to speak with is here for a few days."
"And you're going to let me tag along?" I ask excitedly.
"Not inside Duchess. You'll sit in the car like a good girl and wait for me." He gives me one of those signature panty-dropping smirks of his, and honestly I think my crotch is on fire ... in a good way.