LAUREN'S POV

I picked up my lipstick and ran it carefully across my lips, watching the shade glide smoothly in the reflection of the mirror. The faint light from the bedside lamp cast a warm glow over the room, highlighting the small details — the velvet headboard behind me, the curtains swaying slightly from the morning breeze slipping through a crack in the window.

“Are you sure you don’t need bodyguards to follow you? Or better still, I could come with you myself,” Roman said from ...