“No,” he said sharply. “Not the word I would have used at all. I don’t see you or Lailah as a fragile bird. But I think others might. Targeted is maybe the word I would use. You see, Lailah had an unusual upbringing. Vastly different than yours but with some of the same outcomes. She sees the world through a different set of eyes. She has yet to inherit that jaded view of the world we all seem to get, and something tells me you haven’t quite gotten there yourself.”

“And?”

“And it makes you rare. As much as I roll my eyes and mock Lailah for her sunshine-and-daisies attitude, it’s one of the reasons I love her so much.”

“And you think I’m like her? Your sister-in-law?”

“In your own way,” he clarified. “No one is quite like Lailah.”

“She sounds like someone I’d like to meet one day. But, I’ve got to ask, why are you telling me this?” I said, enjoying the conversation, especially the fact that he was once again opening up to me but I couldn’t understand why he was opening up.

What was the point?

I’d quickly learned that when it came to Roman… he always had a point.

“I overheard you speaking with Lauren Drake last week.”

I nodded, remembering our lunch. She’d kept her promise and managed to keep Roman completely out of the conversation, instead recommending restaurants and local thrift shops I might try. I would never have pegged the tall model-like beauty for a thrift-store junkie, but she’d just smiled and reminded me of how expensive New York was. We’d laughed and had a great time. It had made me rethink my initial opinion of her.

Until now.

“Yes?” I responded.

“I know I can’t tell you what to do on your own time, but consider this a friendly suggestion. Steer clear of Miss Drake. If I know anything about her type, she’s got her own agenda when it comes to you, and it’s definitely not braiding hair and bonding over clothes.”

I smiled and politely nodded as I gathered trash and leftovers from lunch.

As I exited, leaving Roman to his afternoon tasks, I sat down and looked at my schedule for the next day.

Lunch with Lauren. Noon.

I picked up the phone, intent on canceling. It would be easy to explain. Roman needed something. I had errands to run. There were a hundred excuses to cancel a lunch date.

But I didn’t.

“He wants you to go where?” Tyler roared after I’d broken the news to him.

Oh God, this was bad.

You knew it would be bad the moment you said yes.

Shut up, brain.

“He wants—needs to go check on how business is going on the West Coast. Having his assistant with him is a perfectly legitimate requirement,” I said, feeling like I was backpedaling up a creek.