Chapter 80: A gesture of affection

Roman’s pov

I wasn’t that keen or observant to somethings, that was Kai’s domain, but even I could tell that the look on Vivi’s face was pure shock. Her mouth was slightly agape, her brown eyes wide as they darted from the construction crews to me and back again.

Did she really not notice? I had the crew here since Friday morning last week. After she had so stubbornly refused my offer of a new apartment, I had to do something about the crazy rat hole she was living in for my sanity.

I figured she would have mentioned the noise, the commotion, the men in hard hats swarming her building. I thought she knew it was me, that she was just being... well, she was just being Vivi.

Stubborn and proud, but it seemed she really had no idea the construction crew was even around at all.

"Oh," she breathed, a small, squeaky sound. A deep blush crept up her neck, staining her cheeks a pretty pink.

"I... I must have been so busy rushing this morning. I didn’t see them."

"They’ve been here since Friday."

Her blush deepened. "Oh." Her eyes darted back to the grimy walls of the building that was being scrubbed by men on ladders.

"You didn’t notice them over the weekend?" I pressed, a knot of curiosity tightening in my gut.

She gave me an adorable, sheepish smile, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. "I wasn’t home for the weekend."

And just like that, the storm began to brew inside me.

Where was she over the weekend? With some man? An image of Tyler mooning over her flashed in my mind, and the memory was irritating, a persistent itch I couldn’t scratch.

I would never have fucked her in the conference room along with Kai without having some actual conversation with her first, easing her in.

But seeing Tyler flirt with her, and even make her laugh, and the fact that she lectured me on my behaviour with him only drove me insane. Vivi was fucking beautiful.

Any man would want her. How many men wanted her? How many ached for her as I did? How many actually got to bloody have her?

It drove me nuts. I wanted to take her right there in that room, imagining Tyler was sitting there and showing him that she was ours alone. Christ, I needed to calm down; she’s allowed to have a life outside us.

"Really?" I could hardly hold back the bite in my voice.

"Yeah, I uh... traveled."

"To see your ex-husband?" I spat bitterly, unable to help myself. Her brown irises widened.

"Where did that come from?"

"Just wondering," I replied, reaching for her hand. "You rarely talk about him."

"He’s in the past; why would I talk about him?" She grunted, and that pleased me immensely.

I knew we didn’t have a claim on her. We hadn’t defined anything. But I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. She belonged with us. With me. The thought of her with someone else was intolerable.

I had to clamp a lid on the monstrously strong feelings roaring inside me, the possessive, primal urge to lock her away and keep her for me like a greedy bastard. I was afraid I would scare her off.

A smile tugged at my lips then, relieved that she hadn’t gone to see that bastard, whoever he was.

"Since you wouldn’t accept my offer of an apartment and I can’t stop being worried sick every time I remember where you’re living... I decided I would do something about it and make it more habitable."

She stared at me, her shining brown eyes filled with awe. "What? You... you didn’t have to do that," she rushed out, her voice trembling slightly. "The owner will just jack up the rent for everyone living there!"

"I have no intention of doing that. I just need you safe, Vivi."

Her eyes widened, the brown almost swallowed by her pupils. "You... you bought the entire building? Are you kidding? It has like the worst investment profile on the block."

How on earth did she know that?

"Ro, the location is declining, the structural integrity is very questionable, you would lose money on property like this, then... why are you smiling? It’s not funny!"

My smile only widened. "You’re marvelous, you know that, Vivi?"

Even now, she wasn’t thinking about herself, about her own safety being secured. She was worried about me making a bad financial decision.

She was so fucking smart, so incredibly good; how could I not want to keep her? My brothers and I had been with several women over the years, and while they were pretty good fucks, they were also more concerned about what they could get from us.

Tatianna gets all the vacations she ever wanted, to everywhere in the world, whenever she wants.

Yet Ivy had refused me getting her apartment and was currently mad I bought her building.

Adorable.

"Even if you were to make money on it, the ROI would take like what, decades before you could-"

Overwhelmed, I couldn’t stop myself. I leaned in, capturing her lips in a hungry, demanding kiss, effectively shutting her up. I needed to taste her, to feel her, to silence the beautiful, brilliant, maddening lecture on real estate that she was giving, sending blood rushing straight to my cock.

Blindly, my fingers fumbled with her seatbelt, clicking it open before I pulled her infinitely closer, across the console and onto my lap. She melted against me, soft and willing in my arms, and like a starving man, I drank from her lips, hungrier, messier.

I pulled away, both of us panting hard, our breath fogging up the windows of the Maserati while her face wore my favorite look. The blissful look of pleasure heated her cheeks while her swollen lips parted.

"It’s not a financial decision," I rasped, my forehead resting against hers.

"More like an emotional one. I can sleep better at night knowing you live in a safer building, Vivi. A building that’s not about to collapse. And no decision, not a single one I make where you are concerned, is ever bad or poor. Anything to keep you safe."

She was floored and speechless. I couldn’t resist. I teased her, my lips tracing the line of her jaw.

"See? All taken care of." I kissed her again, a slow, deep, exploring kiss that I never wanted to end. I could do this all evening, just kiss her in the front seat of my car, feel her soft, supple body writhe against mine, her ass cradling my cock.

"Thanks, Ro," She whispered as she pulled away, her breath coming in soft little gasps. "I... I have to go,"

My entire body cried out in protest as she scrambled off my lap clumsily. She stepped out of the car, onto the sidewalk, and I didn’t drive off. I waited, watching her stand there for a moment, looking awkward and lost, before she turned and disappeared into the building.

I put the car in drive, but instead of pulling away, I drove slowly around the block, towards the side of the building, pulled over, and called the contractor over. "Stanley, how’s it going? Any issues with the-"

My words died mid-sentence. Through my mirror, reflecting the entrance of the building behind me, Ivy walked back out, hailed a cab, climbed in before it sped off.

My brows snapped together. Where was she going? I hadn’t even been gone five minutes.

"Stanley, we’ll talk later." I turned the ignition and the engine roared to life. I was going to follow that cab.