Page 67 of Hate On

“You really think your dad will go for it?”

Julianna pursed her lips and considered his question. After a moment, she shrugged. “I think there’s a good chance he will. He wants what Templeton has to offer, and…well, lately, I get the feeling that he doesn’t have the same…” She cocked her head and studied him. “What did you call it? Antipathy? Yes. I don’t think he has the same antipathy for your family that yours has mine.”

“First, it’s myfatherwho has the antipathy,” Roman said, moving to the bed to catch her behind the neck. He held her still as he lowered his head to kiss her.

She made a smallhmmmagainst his lips as he lingered, making him think she was savoring his taste. It drove him a little crazy. As he straightened, he stroked his thumb over the full curve of her lower lip, staring into dark, warm eyes. “Man, you drive me crazy,” he muttered.

“Same goes for me.” She closed her mouth around his thumb.

Roman pulled away. “None of that. We’re having a serious conversation here.”

He paced back over to the window, a safe distance away, and turned back to face her. “What makes you so certain Templeton will give you and me a shot when he wouldn’t listen to either offer our parents put before him? They can come up with more ready cash than we can.”

“I know.” She stretched sinuously, artlessly.

Roman felt his mouth go dry, even though he knew there was nothing practiced about the move. Forcing his gaze back to hers, he waited for her to continue.

“We’ve got an ace in the hole. Moira. She wants this and she wants it bad. And she seems to think he’s got a soft spot for our families. The two of us working together with her? If she’s right, that’s going to appeal to him.”

“But he needs the capital—” He stopped talking when Julianna grinned at him. “Or does he?”

“He couldusethe capital, but Moira says she knows how much he needs…and it’s not as much as he’s letting on. He is definitely more likely to listen to us than entertain an offer from some mega-name corporation.”

“All right.” Roman nodded, moving back to the bed. He sat down and curled his fingers around her exposed ankle, stroking his finger up and down. “If you think we’ve got a chance, let’s go for it. We’ll talk to our parents. Give them a shot. And if they don’t want it? We’ll do it ourselves.”

Julianna held out her hand and he moved closer, lying down with his head on her thigh. In a quiet voice, she asked, “Did you ever suspect any of this? About your dad and my mom?”

“No.” Roman shook his head. “It all makes sense, though.” He closed his eyes as she slid her fingers into his hair. “Maybe a miracle will happen. Maybe he’ll see the senselessness of all of this and decide it’s time to let it go.”

“Maybe,” Julianna said, her voice soft. “If ever there was a time to let it go, it’s now.”

“Yeah.” He lay there, enjoying the feel of her hand in his hair as he brooded over his father.

He wasn’t expecting any sort of miracle, but Julianna was right.

If ever there was a time to let go, it was now.

It would be almost poetic, should it happen now.

A woman had started this feud. It stood to reason that it would take a woman to end it, even if it was decades later.

24

Roman

“We should consider addinga few personal touches,” Julianna said lightly as they walked through the doors of the hotel boardroom where they’d first met months earlier. “We’re here so often, it’s starting to feel like home. But all these neutral colors…they just don’t work for me.”

Roman laughed and reached over to catch her hand, giving it a light squeeze. That light touch managed to settle some of the nerves he felt and he wished he could just keep on touching her. It might make this meeting go a little more smoothly.

But, he thought, considering who had yet to show, then again, maybe not.

“Do we wish each other luck here or good luck to us both or what?” he asked, striving to keep the same light tone she’d used.

“Good luck to us both. This is forus,” she reminded him. Then she rose onto her toes and brushed a kiss against his lips.

She broke away only seconds before her father came into the room. He glanced from her to Roman, a graying brow going up. He came over to her and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “I tried calling to see if you needed a lift, but I couldn’t reach you.”

“I already had plans,” she said, smiling at him.