A/N One More chapter for you for this weekend. Full of tender intimacy, heaviness emotion and a big reveal. My super sweet husband is one of my reviewers and accidentally gave away my reveal in his latest review so I decided to post it sooner than later in case anyone read the reviews. My fault for telling him ahead of time, I guess!
Happy reading and enjoy the extra chapter, thanks to him, LOL!
Emily felt herself starting to wake up and turned her head to the side and felt a warm solid chest against her cheek.
Mmm, Roman. She could feel his arms still tight around her and she just snuggled in deeper against him.
It was the first time in ages that she had not had any nightmares. Every night, every nap, anytime she ever tried to sleep she would always wake up panting or screaming or in some kind of fear or terror.
This was new and unfamiliar and yet felt like pure heaven to the hell that had been her reality.
Closing her eyes again she wanted to hide longer, curl up and disappear just a few more minutes in the safety of his arms around her.
Could the world just stop spinning and time stand still? She wanted to freeze and capture this feeling, this incredible sense of home she felt and had never felt before she met him.
Roman hadn't moved yet, his head nestled close to hers, his body wound around hers, even with him still wearing his thin gray v neck and jeans as she was hidden in his embrace he felt closer to her than ever. Nothing could hurt her here. Nothing and no one could find her.
She realized that even with every part of her that hurt she could not feel any pain now. All she felt was peace.
Pure perfect peace.
It reminded her of the eye of a hurricane. That the storm could be raging around it, the winds howling, the rain pelting down, the torrential downpours and floods and yet in the eye there was nothing but calmness.
Roman was her eye in the storm.
The calm in her crazy.
He saved her from the hurricane that was her own husband. But not before her husband could beat her down just like the winds and the rain of a storm would. Not before she was bruised and battered and nearly lifeless and literally handcuffed to her own damn bed.
Oh how on earth had he found her? How had he known? She had no idea anyone would hear her cries, hear her pleading with God to save her that morning. How had he known to come find her?
She had thought that was it. Hunter had left her there to die. He had never been so angry. Never kicked her so many times. Never threw things that cut at her skin so badly, or slammed her against the walls or floor or dresser, also against more glass, more mirrors, or anything to break her body more.
But she survived...and she was safe and in her hero's, her Superman's strong arms and she never wanted him to let her go.
She held tighter to him with her small hand around his stomach and could just barely feel the the bandage under his tight t shirt, reminding her of his battle wounds for her too. Her other hand was up and curled under his neck, barely under his hair and had lightly wound through a few soft strands.
She had woken up so peacefully and it was only then that she realized that as she pulled her herself up from his body under her, that she was not wearing anything above her waist. She had her shorts and the lace underwear and her padding still from the hospital but pulling herself back to consciousness she remembered begging Roman to get the horrible lingerie off her.
Hunter's favorite blood red outfit.
Emily sat up more and covered her chest with her one arm and cast a quick glance down at her hero's sleeping form. He was still breathing deeply, laying on his side, his eyes closed, hiding that unique and beautiful color from her right now.
She looked around her her, trying not to get up too much to disturb him, and pulled the blanket up over her naked breasts and saw the lingerie on the floor, in pieces just like she remembered and that Roman had torn it apart as she had cried for him to do it.
And she had thrown herself in his open arms after and held onto him so tightly and fell right to sleep. Emily had no idea she had even been that undressed at all but she had fallen asleep so fast and slept feeling so safe and trusted Roman with her life. She knew he would have done nothing to take advantage of her even in any state of undress like that.
Roman moaned softly and she turned toward him, seeing his eyes still closed but his head moving almost like he was looking for her even in sleep and she wasn't where she had been before. She saw her tank top on the bottom of the bed and reached for that to slip it on quickly and burrowed back down beside him.
His nose nuzzled in by her hair on her shoulder as she tenderly tangled her hand in his hair by his cheek, stroking it back from his face. She lifted her head and let his head fall more to the pillow behind him and studied his eyes as he still looked deep in sleep.
Emily lifted herself up on her one arm to lean over him and watched his closed eyes.
Part of her wanted so badly to kiss him again, and revel in everything that had started to heat up when they could not get enough of each other on her front porch. It had felt like liquid fire ignited once she had pulled his head to hers and drowned in that that kiss she had begged him for. She never wanted him to stop kissing her, touching her, but she knew that had been goodbye. That he had poured everything and every part of himself into that kiss and she could feel it to the depths of her soul how much it hurt him to let her go that night. But that kiss was goodbye. Today even, was that just pity or was that more? She was so confused.
The other part of her was already so overwhelmed with everything that was going on and knew she should not dare make anything more complicated that it already was. Roman was already risking SO much just to have gotten her safe and away from the only home she had ever known. She didn't need to add to his confusion of everything. He had made his feelings very clear too after finding out she was married that he wanted nothing to do with that and was not getting in the middle.
He was rescuing her from her abuser now and how could she expect more? Why should she think he would want more. Would he even want her at all if he knew how truly broken and messed up she really was?
Her heart was such a mess. Emily pursed her lips and stared down at the sleeping man that was so calm, so peaceful and still had his arms mostly around her, his palms wide around her sides even in sleep to make sure she stayed safe with him.
Calm, peaceful, safe. That was what she saw when she looked at him.
Indescribably safe.
She moved her hand to gently tuck a long strand of his hair back from where it was currently tickling his cheek. His nose was wrinkling ever so slightly before she moved it aside. Emily let her palm follow its path to continue to stroke down the soft strands of his hair till his shoulder and when she looked back up to his face she was met with lazy half open gray eyes twinkling in the dim light of the afternoon sun shining down.
Those eyes, were so unique in their color and seemed to sparkle even more in the light falling down over the bed in its warm glow. Her hand she realized was still tangled in the strands of his hair and she could not seem to look away.
Emily's heart pounded and as loud as she could hear it in her ears she wondered if he could hear it too. Her hand trailed down his chest once it passed the ends of his hair and Roman lifted his own hand from her side to tangle his fingers with hers and pulled her hand now twined with his to his lips.
But instead of the soft kisses she was expecting, she saw him sit up in the bed more and look down more intensely studying her hand and lifted their hands closer to his face.
Emily now too saw what he saw and that there was blood on her knuckles, dried blood, but still blood all the same. She started shaking her head that it didn't matter. But Roman put a finger gently to her lips and moved off the bed beside her.
"I'll be right back, k? Just lay back," he assured her. She nodded and smiled trusting him and watched him go to the bathroom and she heard the sound of running water and he was back almost right away. He placed a bowl and cloth down on the night stand and then knelt by the edge of the bed and ran his fingers lightly down her bare legs. "Did you need to use the bathroom or change your pad or anything? I brought extra if you need more?" He motioned to the bag on the floor and Emily followed his gaze and nodded.
"Yeah that would be great. Could you help me just to get there. I can manage otherwise." Emily reached for him and he was already bending to let her put her arms around his neck. He scooped up the bag in one hand yet too and carefully carried her across the room and set her down outside the bathroom.
She was done in a few minutes and ready to be carried back to the bed and already felt better having gone to the bathroom and gotten cleaned up from the aftermath of the stillbirth and washed most of the dried blood off her legs and some off her hands too. She wasn't bleeding much anymore but still some.
Roman carried her back to the bed and laid her down in the middle and then sat back on one knee and rang out the cloth beside the table. He dipped the cloth in and scrubbed it over her hands gently and rubbed at the dried blood on each finger, bringing her hands to his lips right away when he was done and kissed the knuckles that were now cleaned of the dried blood. He brought both her hands to his mouth, his eyes locked on hers and licked and kissed each finger and smiled when he dropped her hands back to their lap.
"K Baby girl, now you need to try to hold still so I can get this dried blood off your face and then see if anything is more broken or damaged. We will be able to see better what the damage is once I get you cleaned up.
Emily nodded but before he even started she had already gripped his wrist tight as he moved to lightly brush the cloth along her cheek. She had no idea how much it would hurt and was already cringing in fear of more pain of the cuts on her face.
Roman saw that right away and dropped the cloth to his lap and lifted her chin gently, seeking her eyes on his. "Hey beautiful," he whispered. "Talk to me. How do we make this easier? Tell me please?" he begged.
Emily didn't want to burst into tears right there under his tender gaze but she already felt the tears at the edge of her lashes. He was being so gentle, so soft and so slow. There was nothing he could have possibly done better.
"It's not you, I promise it's not." Her voice was weak and shaky and her eyes fell closed the instant she felt his fingers stroke down her hair by her cheek. Emily leaned her head into his warm palm and again wanted to just freeze time and bottle this moment. Maybe if she concentrated enough she could draw his strength right from his hand so it flooded her and it didn't hurt for him to get the blood off her. She was so scared everything would hurt more.
She looked back up and met his hauntingly beautiful gray eyes and saw a single tear slip down his cheek too.
God, how could someone be so soft and so precious with her and so absolutely breathtaking every time she looked at him?
The mirror image of the harshness and violence she was used to , compared to THIS amazing man in front of her was purely captivating. Everything felt so foreign so like a dream, she was in that she didn't dare to believe was real.
Roman nodded and sniffled back what looked like more tears that wanted to fall. "I know beautiful. I know." He smiled wide, despite the teary sadness on his face. " And you know what? I am going to keep calling you Beautiful till you believe me Baby girl. Believe that. If you believe anything, hold onto that. Can you do that for me?"
His head bent slightly almost like he was wary in being so take charge with her but she met his eyes and nodded slowly, a tiny smile creeping on the corners of her lips.
She wanted to believe him. She didn't feel beautiful at all. But she also didn't see what he saw either, so she decided to trust in that and not her own reflection and her view of it.
Emily picked up the cloth from his lap and lifted it back up to her face. "I trust you, believe that," she smiled bravely, parroting his words and nodding and he smiled back grinning. Taking the cloth from her fingers, she bit her lip but stayed silent and let him slowly wipe it across her cheek.
He dipped it back in the bowl and rung it out before wiping it along her skin more and this time the cloth felt warmer from the fresh water. The warmth helped and otherwise Emily had looked for something else to hold onto and found the edge of his shirt and gripped it tight between her fingers as he moved the cloth more on her face and across her forehead.
Roman was silent and looked super focused as he careful cleaned her skin of the dried blood. He scooted closer on the bed, one leg folded under him and the other hanging down the side and that way she saw she could cling to him as much or as little as she needed as he worked.
Her eyes lifted back up to his and she felt literal jolts of intensity in his gaze back at her. He wiped the cloth along her hair line and by her ears and on both sides of her neck and she tilted her head up and to the side each time to move more to give him room to wash any skin that was still bloody.
He dipped the cloth back in the water again and washed all down her throat. There she cried out more and he jumped back slightly from her reaction, realizing it was from the worse bruises around her neck.
"I'm sorry," Emily blurted out without even really thinking. She was so used to apologizing about anything and everything she did wrong in her husband's eyes.
Roman looked sadly back at her and shook his head, his dark hair falling like a curtain of silk around his shoulders. "You have nothing to be sorry for beautiful. Nothing." He gently cupped her chin and met her eyes. "Don't you ever think that again okay?" She nodded and wound her own hands around his wrists.
Emily could see his obvious repulsion of her bruises as he dropped his hands from her face. His voice was low, barely a whisper, when he spoke next. "Those are his hands...his hand prints around your throat aren't they?" She could see him flinch like a child before she even spoke, like he knew the truth but still didn't want to hear it.
She grabbed his hands in hers and lifted them up to her lips, and lightly kissed his knuckles, her eyes locked to his. Deep chocolate met stormy sad gray as she saw more tears in them.
She was trying to tell him without any words and words were not even needed to convey her intimate message to him. It was okay. She knew these hands, his hands...would never do that.
She trusted these hands.
Nodding slightly Emily knew he was still waiting for her to answer him. She could see his jaw tighten fast, but he didn't say anything at least not yet. His eyes dropped from hers and he started washing the blood off her shoulders and then her arms, one by one. He looked like he had lots to say but kept it in and she didn't know if she should ask more.
He moved the cloth up her arm and across her shoulder and she used her other hand to drop the lace strap of her tank top down her arm so he could clean along her collarbone.
Roman wiped away the dried blood there only to expose a pretty deep cut along the top of her shoulder. Emily whimpered as the cloth passed it, taking the blood in the fibers away but leaving such damaged skin behind.
She was already reaching out for him, to hold onto him more when she felt the pain. Almost like it was a natural reaction for her to reach for him instantly to soothe her. She wasn't sure if that made her weak or simply just human right then. But she really didn't care.
The next moment she saw his eyes has zeroed in on the cut and she saw him drop his head still lower by her side. Without a moments warning he took her breath away by pressing his lips to the damaged skin on her shoulder, his eyes falling closed. Emily was awe struck by the tenderness she was witnessing. She reached up with her hand to clutch at his neck, under his hair as she scrambled to not lose her balance just sitting there beside him.
The intimacy of the one act felt like it held such depth, such meaning and she wanted him to heal all of her. Body and soul.
Roman slowly opened his eyes and sat back up to look back at her. He looked almost shy if that was even possible. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do..." he mumbled softly.
She nodded back at him. Gripping the back of his neck, where her hand was still resting lightly. "You have nothing to be sorry for either here Roman. Just like you told me," she assured me and smiled. "Everything you are doing is helping, really."
He smiled at that nodding back. "I would love nothing more than to kiss around all your cuts and bruises but I don't think you are ready for all that."
Emily thought about that and looked down at her body too, taking in the damage she could see on her thighs and legs, and belly and she knew her chest was sore too and her back and just everywhere. He was right , she wasn't ready for him to kiss her everywhere. God that sounded so good, and yet so scary.
Slowly she nodded in agreement to him, dropping her hands back to her lap.
"But one more spot I do want to help heal..." he whispered, " and before she barely processed his words he had smoothed a lock of hair back from her cheek and she cringed at the sting of a cut clearly along her face. Roman cupped her cheek and pulled her face closer, taking her breath away again with the motion and she closed her eyes at the feel of his lips on the skin of her cheek, right on her hair line.
Instantly she reached for him and her small hands clung to his sides. Somehow in the moment she had snuck them under his shirt this time and the warmth of his skin against her finger tips felt amazing.
Emily felt her body just sink into him, even after the kiss to her cheek and she lay there holding him tight and he let her head fall to his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her.
She heard him groan out loud, her ear to his chest, hearing the rumblings louder that way.
"God Em, I just want to keep holding you..." he breathed quietly.
She nodded against him and felt his hair tickle her face. "Me too," she whispered.
They lay there like that for awhile and she felt him lean back more into the pillows and pull her with him. Her small hands were still clutched around his sides under his shirt but he didn't seem to mind. There was nothing but silence around them but it felt comfortable.
Emily closed her eyes and just laid back. She knew that he wanted to clean her up more and examine her wounds yet too but for now it seemed like they both needed this.
Roman sat up fast suddenly a couple minutes later to the sound of dull buzzing and she opened her eyes to see him pull the phone out from his jeans and study it intently. She watched his reaction to what looked to be a text and saw him swear under his breath.
"What is it?" she asked innocently. She had a pretty good idea, but she really didn't want to know at all.
Roman held it up to her. "I was hoping he wouldn't ask anything or check on you till they at least got to New York but I guess that was wishful thinking."
Emily squeezed the hand not holding the phone and squinted to see the message. "Hey man, she good? You know the drill."
Roman looked back at her and it was very clear he didn't know what was expected. "The drill?" he repeated. "Meaning this happens so regularly its that easy to know what he expects next? There's a fucking drill?!" He looked furious and sad all at once. He got up and started pacing and looked like he wanted to throw the phone at the wall.
Emily didn't know what to say that would calm him down. Anything she said would make things worse. She damn well knew that. This was not good.
She stood up too and struggled on her feet toward him despite her body hurting. He saw quickly that she was wavering and moved to catch her and brought her back to the bed.
"Hey, take it easy. You aren't that strong yet," he cautioned.
Emily nodded in agreement but was glad she at least distracted him from his anger at the situation even for a few minutes. " I know. I was just trying to help you," she replied. He looked puzzled. "I was trying to calm YOU down."
Roman smiled at that. "I appreciate that beautiful. I do. But what would help more would be knowing what he means so I can answer this damn message so he doesn't get suspicious."
She knew what he wanted. What the first part of the drill was. But he wouldn't like it one bit. "Just proof Roman. He just wants picture proof that I'm alive and good that's all."
He straightened up and looked around. "Well you aren't at home and you sure as hell aren't in his fucking favorite outfit so won't he be able to tell?"
Emily pointed to the blanket on the floor that she had long tossed there and as for the lingerie...oh god that she had no idea. Would he expect her to be wearing that? The blanket too was the only other thing she brought from that horrible place. Roman saw where she was pointing and looked like he understood.
"Oh so if we just have the blanket close enough then that might be enough to fool him? What about the damn outfit?" Roman was reaching down past her to scoop it up and laid it over the motel bed. But he looked like he would rather rip the lingerie in more pieces that do anything else with it.
Emily was already struggling to know how to say the next thing she knew she needed to tell him. The picture...her husband wanted was always the same...
She reached for him, pulling his face back to her as she heard the phone buzz again. Roman scooped it back up and showed it to her. He was getting impatient and wanted the pic now and was already starting to ask what the problem was.
Roman looked worried. Emily grabbed his hand. "Tell him you already sent it and you just have had crappy service lately and it might take a couple minutes. He'll buy that. I know the guy, the cop so I know Hunter would believe that. He often pays his bills late and gets services reduced or cut off."
She saw him nod slowly and quickly type that and receive a fast thumbs up to the message back from Hunter. Roman turned back to her. "Okay Em, what kind of picture is he wanting?"
Emily dropped her eyes from his and hung her head. This was the part she was afraid of. He saw her fear in an instant and lifted her face back gently to lock her eyes with his. She already felt tears start to slip down her cheeks.
"Em, talk to me, " Roman whispered. "What is he wanting? We don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
She swallowed a sob, shook her head and stood up fast turning away from him and leaning on the wall. Anything to get away from his soft caring gray eyes that just melted her with their warmth.
She couldn't do this to him.
"That's just it...we do! If you don't want him to get suspicious and send more cops to look for me and find me missing and arrest you for kidnapping and God knows what else, we do!"
Roman stood up too and came up behind her, his arms winding around her waist, pulling her in against him and rested his chin against her shoulder, nuzzling her neck. She could imagine he was more confused than ever now from her reply and her reaction and she could tell he just wanted to make everything go away. But nothing was that simple.
She felt him kiss her throat before he spoke softly against her skin. "Please just tell me...I can tell its terrifying you to just think about it."
Emily turned and buried her head against his chest, her own hands tight around him. "He wants my fear, Roman. He got the guy guarding me to flick on the light fast and grab me by the throat and be over me in the bed and that's the image he wants..." She started sobbing more and clutching at his shirt and curling herself against his neck. "I can't... ask you to do that."
Roman looked so shocked and pulled her head back from his body and cupped her face. "Then baby, lets just get you out of here. Run away. Far away. I don't care if we have to run forever, if that means he will never hurt you again. I don't care if I have cops after me..."
Emily shook her head sadly. "I can't leave him."
Roman nodded, already massively disagreeing with her and she interrupted him fast. "No Roman I can't! Please just listen!"
He was quiet then and he sat back on the bed, pulling her back down with him. She swallowed a deep breath and sniffled back more tears. "I can't leave him. He has my child!"
Emily saw the emotional whiplash all over his face at her words now too and she reached up to wind her arms around his neck and pull him close. She pulled his head to hers and spoke softly, still trying not to cry more as the tears slipped down her cheeks.
"I was pregnant before I met him and he took her, Roman. And he uses her to make me stay. I can't leave him. He's the only one who knows where she is. He lets me see her once in awhile when I'm good but otherwise she gets moved around a lot and I never know where. I can't go till I find out where she is."
She saw him take a deep breath, his eyes still locked to hers and brimming with tears of his own. But he stayed quiet, letting her share. "And I had found her when I was running when I bumped into you. Last night, at the store. I was on the way to her when he found out and sent some of his goons after me, when you thought I was mugged, so he's moved her by now to who knows where...so I can't afford to just run away like I want to Roman. I need to stay with him till I can find her!"
The whole story just poured out of her in a flood as she lay in his arms and could not stop crying. He held her so tight and had kissed her head over and over after as she cried and she had gasped for breath it hurt just to breath but felt so good to finally tell someone.
The phone buzzed again just as it looked like Roman was going to say something to her whole story and she heard him curse loudly.
"Oh God, I am so sorry...I literally cannot imagine..." he started saying before she saw him clench his jaw and turn to glare at the phone.
"I want to kill him Em! I do! Not give him some fear porn of you he can fucking jerk off to!" Roman hissed out. "He doesn't deserve anything but a shallow grave and a...
She grabbed his face and pulled it back down to hers again. She didn't think she could handle anything intimate right now but everything they were sharing already felt so freaking deep. Her fingers tugged on the hair at the sides of his head, pulling him closer and crashed her lips hard on his.
His fury melted into a raw groan as she felt his one hand drop the phone and pull her in closer, his palm wrapped around the back of her neck. She could feel the anger, the passion in his kiss, and took it in, braving the fire she knew he had against her husband and getting him to channel it just for the moment towards her.
Roman's kisses felt so gentle and yet so rough if that was even possible. She could tell he didn't want to hurt her at all but that same time she could feel every bit of his frustration and anger that she literally swallowed in kissing him in that moment. He pulled her down, beside him and leaned over her before pausing a second for them to both gasp in a breath and plunge in again, his weight mostly on his elbow so as not to put too much on her.
The damn phone buzzed again and Roman pulled back from her lips. But this time he looked calmer, more focused. Like it had centered him in some way. He held up the phone again. "He's still asking?" he motioned to the screen. "What should I do?"
Emily was still barely thinking clearly from the kiss even when she herself was the one that initiated it. Roman was already practically straddling her...could they just create the picture quickly and get it over with?
She reached on the floor beside her for the torn apart lingerie and pulled it up onto the bed beside her. Roman was watching her, his eyes going from hers to that dreaded garment and she nodded sadly trying to hold back tears. She slowly motioned with her finger for him to come closer and she slipped her legs under his on the bed.
He already knew what she was doing and she saw him bite his lip and mouthing 'No baby' to her but she stared him down, already half sitting up to pull her tank top down her body. His eyes closed and she watched him leaned over her on his knees as she pulled the ripped apart lingerie over her breasts and held it as closed as it could be and laid back down.
Roman's eyes opened then and she saw those beautiful gray eyes so dark, like storm clouds swirling that would empty of torrential rain in a hurricane. She hated what this was doing to him, but she did it anyway.
Emily gently reached for his left hand and guided it to her throat...
He pulled it back instantly and was rapidly shaking his head again. She nodded more insistently. "It's okay Roman. Let's just get it over with and then we can forget about it, at least for now. Please..."
She saw him biting his lip again and still looking so unsure of everything about this insanity. "No, baby. I won't ever hurt you. I can't..."
Emily pulled his hand back to her throat and thank goodness he left it there and she was able to use the phone herself, still holding the lingerie together the best she could with her other hand, knowing the push up bra would more than show off her ample chest that way. Her damn husband didn't need to know she wasn't cuffed either. "You won't. I promise."
He leaned up on his knees over her but she could feel he didn't put any pressure on her at all. He didn't need to look and she saw his eyes tightly shut and tears just running down his cheeks as she tried to look scared and took the picture.
Roman pulled his hand back instantly when she was done.
She saw the fear in her eyes in the picture staring back at her and prayed that was good enough. Emily hit send and it was over. She saw an instant reply from the bastard holding her life hostage and multiple hearts sent. She could have gagged it made her so sick that she made him happy.
She looked up at the beautiful man leaning over her in the bed, her own blood streaking his shirt, knife wound on him from fighting to save her and wiping the tears from his eyes from what she had made him do to protect her and her daughter.
Night and day, she thought again comparing Hunter to Roman.
She threw the phone off the bed, pulled the ripped lingerie out from under her again watching Roman avert his eyes completely and slipped the tank top back up from her waist and on her arms and pulled at the bed spread from their house again to get it as far away from them as she could.
It was like she was throwing away everything she could from her past right then to only embrace her future, everything but her daughter. That was the one thing she needed from the past. The only thing.
"Come back to me," she called him. Then she opened her arms and gathered the man in her embrace, her Superman and now she had a chance to comfort him too, knowing he would never hurt her and she had hurt him by asking him to do that. "I'm so sorry Roman," she mumbled against him. "I should never have asked too.."
But he cut her off with a finger to her lips. "No beautiful, I am sorry. God I am so sorry for everything you have been through. So sorry for your daughter, for not knowing you sooner, for so much...
Roman wrapped his arms tight around her and she clung to him too and closed her eyes. This moment again felt so perfect. So safe and she didn't want to ever lose that feeling.
"What's her name?" she heard him say quietly.
No one had ever asked about her. No one even knew about her.
"Livey. Well Olivia. but I call her Livey, and she's 3. She blonde and such bright eyes and so happy every time I see her and gives the warmest hugs and snuggles in my arms and I never want to leave her ever." Emily whispered, again finding warm skin under his shirt to stroke under her finger tips.
Roman nuzzled his nose in her hair. "Mmm, Liv and Hope. I love it beautiful. If that doesn't make you want to survive I don't know what will.."
Emily grinned a mile wide, against his chest. It made her all kinds of warm inside that he even remembered her stillborn baby's name and honored that.
She looked up and found his smoky eyes looking back at her. "Mmm, I could not agree more."