"That was really sweet of her to stop by." I heard myself tell Roman as soon as Kirsten had left the hospital room. The two of them had had a somewhat tearful reunion after Roman’s incident. A part of me was glad he had people, other than myself of course, who cared so much about him.

"It was." Roman agreed. Despite himself, he let a smile fall over his lips. His features had softened considerably when talking to Kirsten. I found myself smiling fondly at him.

"What?" he asked as he looked at me weirdly, albeit considering the look on my face aimed at him.

"Nothing," I said as I took the basket of baked goods and placed it on the dresser at the other end of the room before coming back to him. "You were just really good with her, that’s all. You handled that situation really well."

I watched as Roman raised his eyebrows at me and pulled me closer. "Yeah?" he asked, and I nodded my head at him.

"Do I get a kiss for being good?" I rolled my eyes at him and lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"Is that all you ever think about?" I asked him slightly annoyed as he began pulling me closer and closer to him. I laughed when he seized my sides and let out an uncontrollable giggle.

"Of course not," Roman disagreed. "Only ninety percent of the time. Only when I’m with you."

"Well, I hope you aren’t thinking about that sort of things when you’re with anyone else."

"Hm..." He hummed, and my mouth fell open at the face he was making as he considered my words. "Well, Marcus has been looking even better lately, and that bullet wound really amps up his sex appeal."

"Roman!"

My jaw fell open, and I just stared at the man in front of me as he laughed. Shaking my head at him as I moved away slightly, I finally got a full look at him. Color had started coming back into his face a few days ago, and he finally looked like he was beginning to heal.

A loud burst of laugher erupted from the man in front of me. I watched as his eye wrinkled at the corners and then when he winced and grabbed at his stomach.

"Yeah," I said unaffectionately, "that’s what you get for making me look silly."

"I didn’t think you looked silly," He pulled me even closer as he kissed my hands. "In fact, I think jealousy looks delectable on you."

I opened my mouth to respond. Before I could, another knock came from the doorway. We both turned our heads to the nurse who had walked in. Before I could get up, Roman held onto my hands and stopped me from moving.

"I have some good news, Mr. Thaddeus." My ears perked up at the light tone of her voice. I looked at Roman for a moment before the nurse continued. "You seem to be healing rather well and at a much faster rate than we thought. At this rate, you should be able to leave within the next week."

I gasped at the nurse’s words and turned to Roman with a wide smile on my face. "That’s great news!" I turned to the nurse again. "Thank you so much for looking after Roman."

I got up from the bed and walked with her as she went to the door. "Is there anything I should know about taking care of his wound once we leave the hospital?"

The nurse only shook her head. "The doctor will explain everything to you when it’s time to have Mr. Thaddeus discharged. For now, what you can do is make sure he eats all his meals and drinks a lot more water than he is now. The health of his body is the most important thing you can take care of right now to ensure nothing goes awry with the recovery."

I nodded as I listened to her and walked out of the room with her before speaking in a low whisper, "There was one other thing. When we agreed to keep Roman here for a few extra days, the doctor had said something with regards to the psychological effects of being shot..."

"Ah." The nurse nodded along as she realized where I was going with my train of thought. "Yes, it seems everything in that regard is well and good with Mr. Thaddeus. That could be a great contribution to you, I must say."

"Me?" I asked curiously.

The nurse nodded. "Yes, for patients suffering injuries such as this, they can often become forlorn and melancholic in the recovery period. Having a good support system impacts the procedure just as much as a successful surgery does."

I thanked the nurse after some more explaining from her side and went back inside to Roman.

To my shock, a look of sadness seemed to be etched onto his face despite receiving the good news only moments prior.

"You look like a man who wants to stay in the hospital forever." I joked with him, but he only looked up and extended his hand out to me.

Tilting my head out of curiosity I walked toward him and asked if everything was alright.

He only shook his head and reassured me. "Is it wrong if I said that these past few days have been the most peaceful days I’ve had in a long time?"

I furrowed my eyebrows at his state. "Considering they were the days you spent in recovery after being shot... I’d say that is a very worrying statement for me."

Roman shook his head. "It’s just that... I’ve spent so much time with you these past few days, time I would have spent working at the office. I ate your homemade meals where I would have had takeout or leftover food from dinner I missed and it’s just... It’s been nice."

I nodded my head along with what he was saying, understanding to a point that he was burned out and needed a much-deserved break from all of this.

"Now that the whole situation with the Auction House is slowly coming to a close and... The trials are finishing up..." I listened as he continued to speak, having somewhat of an idea of what he was trying to get at.

"It just got me thinking of what I’d like to do after this situation is behind us," Roman continued. "What... What you’d like to do. You know, once you’re free of all this. The last thing I’d want to do to you is force you into a situation you aren’t comfortable being in, but..."

I turned his face to look at me as I raised my eyebrows and prompted him to finish his thought. "But what?"

Roman seemed nervous about his next words, and I waited patiently for him to respond and finish his train of thought. He had the horrible habit of going quiet when he had something rather important to discuss, and I had the bad habit of filling his silence.

But not this time. Instead I just rubbed his arms as he had wrapped them around my waist and waited for him as he gathered his thoughts and finally spoke.

He took in a deep breath. "But if it matters at all... I wouldn’t mind continuing this, whatever it is we have, for a little while... Okay, a lot while after. What I’m saying is that I don’t think I’m quite ready for a divorce."

A huge smile broke over my face as I stared at him. I was sure it might have even been glowing before I crashed my lips onto his and wrapped my arms around his neck.

When we broke apart moments later, I couldn’t help but tease him just a bit.

"I suppose that’s something I’d be inclined to agree with. After all, you’re at least one of the better marriages I see myself being coerced into entering to."

"One of?" Roman raised his eyebrow in a challenging look. "Sweet girl, I’ll be your only husband for a long, long time." He crashed his lips onto mine again in a kiss that sent warmth rushing throughout my body, and a gasp left my lips.

The declaration left a flutter of something in my stomach; it was like a beating of sorts, and I wondered if that was my heart telling me just how happy I was to finally find someone who wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with them.

Despite the moments leading up to Roman and I meeting each other again and what it had taken for us to get to this point, I was glad for it. And I wouldn’t have changed a damn thing if it meant not spending the rest of my life with this man.

Roman pulled me into a deeper kiss and I found myself smiling into it.