“I love Suzanne.”
He made sure to look each of them in the eye. Alec, Harry, Drake, Rosa, Calvin. And especially Suzanne’s father, who had left his home in the Adirondacks to come back to the city that haunted him to help his daughter.
William Sullivan hadn’t been a great father. But Suzanne had helped her father see that he didn’t need to let his past mistakes define his future anymore. She’d shown Roman the very same thing.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her,” he told the group. “Nothing I wouldn’t give. No battle I wouldn’t fight.”
He hadn’t planned it, but didn’t think twice before doing what felt right, what he needed to do, what he knew she needed too. Roman kissed Suzanne. In front of everyone.
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright when he finally lifted his lips from hers. She smiled at him, a smile so full of joy and love that it turned his heart inside out.
“I feel the exact same way about Roman,” she told her family and friends as she leaned deeper into the crook of his arm. “We’ve got a lot of work to do if we’re going to figure out who’s behind the server attacks, the phone calls, and the fire. So if any of you have something to say, I’d appreciate it if you’d say it now. To both of us.”
Alec didn’t waste any time stepping into the fray, getting directly in Roman’s face. “You lying son of a bitch. You admitted you weren’t capable of changing your stripes. You promised us you would end things so that Suzanne could find someone good. Someone who could treat her the way she deserves. And now you have the nerve to stand here and tell us you lied?”
Roman couldn’t blame Alec for coming at him like this. Roman had been so mixed up at Smith and Valentina’s wedding—deeply conflicted not only about what he wanted and what he thought he was worthy of having, but who he was worthy of being as well.
“I wasn’t only lying to you guys, I was lying to myself. Lying about my feelings for Suzanne because I was scared out of my mind about them. I’m not proud of my past. There are a lot of people I’ve treated poorly.” Not only the guys he’d pummeled in the ring, but also the women whose hearts he’d stomped on without a second thought. “But your sister will never be one of them. She thinks I’m worthy of her and I’m damn well going to do everything I possibly can to prove to her—to all of you—that I am. You used to trust me, Alec. If you can ever trust me again, trust that I won’t hurt her.”
Suzanne reached out to put a hand on her brother’s arm. “I know everything,” she said softly. “I know about Roman’s childhood. I know about how he’s behaved with the women he’s dated. He hasn’t kept anything from me—and I haven’t kept anything from him. I know you’re worried that he’s going to break my heart, but can’t you see that the only thing that would truly break my heart is not being with him?”
A play of emotions crashed across Alec’s face. “Goddamn it.” He dragged Suzanne out of Roman’s arms and into his. “I thought you’d stop being such a pain in the ass once you grew up.”
“Are you kidding?” She laughed, though tears were streaming down her face. “Little sisters never stop antagonizing their big brothers.” Drawing back, she looked around at everyone else. “Does anyone else have an issue with my new boyfriend?”
Roman had spent his entire career protecting people, only to lose his heart to a woman who would never stop protecting him. Life, he was starting to realize, was funny that way. No matter how hard you tried to stay on the course you thought was the right one, sometimes it took a few wrong turns to make you realize you were finally in the place you were meant to be.
In his case, that meant falling head over heels in love with a woman so incredible that he’d never stop being awestruck that she was his.
Drake and Rosa smiled as they shook their heads. “For the record,” Drake said, “I’ve never had any real issues with the two of you being together.”
“Same here,” Harry agreed. “History matters, but as I tell my students all day long, the whole point of learning from our screw-ups is so we can do things better the next time around.” He shot Roman a serious look. “Just to be clear, that doesn’t mean I’m giving you license to screw up with my sister.”
“Of course we’re going to screw up,” Suzanne interjected. “Because we’re human.” She turned back to Roman. “But we’re also going to love each other enough to get past our mistakes with each other, aren’t we?”