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batting for the other team too!”
    “Uh, no. I"m straight,” he said, more than just a little uncomfortable. Then he
    noticed the look on her face. She was playing with him. He shook his head as he
    tried to hold in his laughter. He"d forgotten just how twisted Jana"s sense of humor
    was. Some things never changed.
    She tilted her head in the direction of the gym he just left. “Hungry?”
    He didn"t want any food, but he was suddenly starving for conversation. “Yes.”
    Jana was only the second person that night who hadn"t asked him about his career,
    the parties, or the endless parade of women he was reportedly dating. His interest
    in what she"d done in the last ten years was piqued after less than five minutes of
    talking to her.
    That was more than Rome could say for most of his classmates.
    “I didn"t expect to see you here,” she murmured as she reached for one of the
    plates stacked at the end of the long table.
    He took the plate from her. “I wasn"t expecting to come.”
    She eyed the dish he held. Rome smiled. “Just tell me what you want.”
    She glanced down at his hands. “You always were the gentleman. So tell me
    why some woman hasn"t snapped you up—or are you still keeping to that timeline?”
    He sighed as he thought back to the promise he made himself when he was all
    of twelve. A pledge that Rome wasn"t getting married until he was sure he"d found
    the love of his life. He also placed an age limit. Rome wouldn"t even allow himself to
    be engaged until he was twenty-five. He told Jana both things senior year when she
    started alluding to the fact that they could get married after graduation.

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    9

    “I guess I never really found the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life
    with,” he lied. He"d found the woman he wanted to make his entirely. He just hadn"t
    figured out how to capture her.
    The truth was that Rome was determined to stick to his third and final
    stipulation. He"d done everything in his power to make sure he was nothing like his
    bastard father. He"d succeeded.
    When he left Brushwood, he headed straight for New York City. Rome got a
    job as a janitor at one of Manhattan"s premier investment banks. It paid well
    enough to support him and his art. Every night, he cleaned until his muscles ached,
    but each morning he came home to his true passion. Painting. After three years of
    working his ass off, he got a break. One of his paintings caught the attention of a
    highly respected art collector. She became his patron. The elderly woman made sure
    to tell everyone she knew in the art community about his talent. Within six months,
    Rome had sold every one of the paintings he"d created while struggling in the slums
    of New York.
    He had the prestige. He had the cash. He even had the fame.
    The only thing he needed was the right woman to share his life with.
    Jana searched his face for several seconds before giving him a slow,
    understanding smile. She glanced behind him. “I"m so glad I found you. I was ready
    to leave but had to come check when someone mentioned you were actually here.”
    She grinned. “I also heard you were here with Sela. Is that right?”
    “We danced together.” Rome forced himself not to tense at her seemingly
    innocent question. If Jana put one and one together, she might come up with the
    conclusion that he was courting Sela.
    Which he was.
    But he wanted to do things on his own terms. At his own pace. And the one
    thing he remembered about living in Brushwood was that it was a small town with
    small-town ways.
    Before you woke, the whole town knew where you slept.
    He wasn"t quite ready to declare his intentions.
    She grinned at him. “I"m glad to see you guys are still friends. I take it both of
    you patched things up after that summer.”
    Rome gave her a smile he didn"t feel. “I wouldn"t say we"re still friends.”
    The air around them thickened until awkwardness seemed to thrive between
    them. Just when Rome opened his