Free Pain Lived, Love Found 2 by Thalia Lake

body.
    He then gave me a sweet, lingering peck on my cheek as his hand gently caressed my waist. I inhaled a sharp breath at the feel of his lips on my skin. His lips were so soft and held so much promise... My God, what am I talking about? This is all an act. We are both acting. I smiled up at him as sweetly as I could and looked him in the eyes.
    “Of course. Whatever you want...sweetheart.” I replied, softly.
    He was not the only one who can put on an act. I just hated how much I was attracted to him when I didn’t want to be. I put my hand in his and laced our fingers. Roman stared at me for a moment; his beautiful brown eyes searched mine before he smiled down at me and led me further into the party.
    As I scanned the room, I immediately noticed that most of the ladies wore black or some other dark color. It made me happy that I didn’t wear black. I still believed that Roman needed to stand out, and tonight he would. We were approached almost immediately by an older couple.
    “Roman Mancini! I’m glad you could make it,” the older gentleman happily beamed. He had to be in his late seventies. He was medium height and frail looking. His wife looked very refined. Okay, I’ll be honest - she looked like money. Her white hair was perfectly coiffed, her designer gown was probably a one of a kind and undoubtedly, cost thousands of dollars, and the huge gemstones that adorned her skinny, wrinkled fingers had to cost millions—each. I expected her to be a complete snob, but she was quite the opposite.
    “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, it’s wonderful to see you both again. Thank you for inviting me; I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” Roman said, as he gave me a quick pointed look. He then shook Mr. Smith’s hand and kissed the back of his wife’s hand, causing her to blush.
    The meaning behind Roman’s pointed look finally registered with me. These are the Smiths!
    “This is my date, Miss Sarah Paris.” Roman continued.
    I smiled as I shook both of their hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
    “Oh, nonsense, I’m David.”
    “And I’m Maggie,” Mrs. Smith chimed in smiling. “Your gown is exquisite, and that color is absolutely beautiful! Who made it, dear?” she asked, as she gently led me away from the two men so they could talk business.
    I glanced over my shoulder and looked at Roman as we walked off. He gave me a crooked smile and winked at me which caused me to smile back in return. God he looked good as he stood there, tall, handsome and so sexy.
    For the rest of the night, Roman never let me get too far away from him. If I wasn’t by his side with his hand or arm around my waist, he kept me within his line of vision at all times. If I strayed too far away from him he excused himself from his conversation and pretended like he was checking on me when really he wanted me to come with him to where he was. This bugged the hell out of me, and I made him aware of it.
    “Sweetheart, you don’t have to keep watching me and dragging me back so I can be near you. I can handle myself,” I replied through clenched teeth. I then forced a smile as he led me back to the part of the room from which he came.
    “Oh, darling, but you’re wrong. There are several reasons why I prefer to keep a close eye on you. This place is full of backstabbing sharks who would love to pounce on you to get any information they feel they can use against me.”
    “But I don’t know anything about you other than what you’ve told me,” I whispered.
    “It doesn’t matter. Whatever information they can get out of you, they will use it to their advantage.”
    Instead of stopping, Roman guided me to a secluded hallway. He then checked all the corners and doorways before we continued our discussion.
    “Secondly,” he continued. “I see how the men are looking at you. You keep straying from me they are going to think you’re single or that our relationship isn’t strong and think they have a