ROMAN: Fury of Her King (Kings of the Blood Book 2) by Julia Mills Page B

and sodas, and the same
damned image that had been on her paychecks from the age of sixteen until
eighteen when she graduated from Muleshoe High School and went away to college.
    Looking even closer, she saw the reflection of the Grand Opening
banner in the huge plate glass windows that surrounded the restaurant and knew
from the pictures on the wall of the diner she’d slung burgers at that it had
opened in Nineteen Eighty-Two, just a few months after her birth. Coincidence?
    “Sure, if I believed in coincidences,” she shoved her bangs out of
her eyes. “But I don’t, and especially not with everything else I’ve seen in
the last twenty-four or so hours.”
    Lost in thought, Cyn screamed when a knock at the door echoed
through the tiny bathroom. “What?”
    “Cynthia?” His voice was just as warm and inviting as it had
always been. Maybe a touch less confident, but still able to make her all warm
and tingly at just the sound of her name.
    Embracing her anger and shaking off the effect Roman had on her,
Cyn spat, “What do you want?”
    “Just to talk.”
    “So talk. I can hear you just fine from there.”
    A sigh followed by the sound of what she was sure was his forehead
hitting the door three times, he pleaded, “Please open the door. I promise I can
explain.”
    Looking at the door knob then the pictures in her hands, she shook
her head then remembered he couldn’t see her and yelled, “Nope. No way. Say
whatever you have to say from right there and then go away.” Wrapping her arms
around herself to calm the shaking that had begun at just the sound of his
voice, she added, “Adele is on her way. I want to go home… alone .”
    Silence was the only answer Cyn received but she knew he wasn’t
done. Could feel it in her bones. Knew that Roman Marinos did not give up
without a fight. Had been down this road with him a few times before. Yeah,
this was different but in so many ways the same song, fiftieth verse. He had
been caught in a web of lies and secrets and was trying to figure a way out.
Well, she wasn’t buying it and if he wanted a fight then he could just bring it
on. She’d had a hell of a night and needed a shower. It was not the time for
debates or discussion. She needed a bottle of wine, a soak in a tub and three,
maybe four days of sleep.
    Walking to the door, Cyn leaned her head against the scarred wood
and just listened to the beat of Roman’s heart. She had no idea how or why she
could hear it over all the background noise but nonetheless, there it was,
strong and powerful and in sync with hers. It wasn’t fair, but then again life
never was, and it wouldn’t do any good to sit around whining. Time to take
action.
    Taking a step back, she raised her arm to beat on the door and
tell Roman to go away just as she heard a familiar squeal. “Where the hell is
she? Where is my Cyndi?”
    The shrill tone of Adele’s voice, coupled with the tap of her
heels on the linoleum and the use of the name only her grandpa and her best
friend were allowed to use, brought a smile to Cyn’s face. If there was one
person in the world she could count on, it would always her girl, Addie.
    True to form, Adele came in and took complete control. Through the
door, Cyn listened as the short, sassy, redhead ordered, “Mr. Marinos, I’m
gonna need you to back away from that door and let me through. Cyn needs me and
not you or your goon squad are going to stop me from getting in there.”
    “But…I…All I want…”
    “I don’t care what you want. All that matters is giving Cyn what
she needs and after the night and day she’s had, I would say you are most
definitely not what the doctor ordered. Now, move away from that door or I will
have to move you myself.”
    Cyn could only imagine the look on Roman’s face as Adele gave
orders and demanded they be obeyed. She nearly burst out laughing when one of
the men who’d spoken to her before Marinos arrived chuckled. “Roman, my man, I
would move out of the