If you told me a month ago that I would be on the fourteenth floor of the Cecil Hotel, eating ice cream and watching cartoons on a guy's bed, I would've thought you were crazy. But here I am, doing exactly that.
I stab my spoon into my pint of ice cream as Dungeons & Dragons play on the small TV screen in the corner of the dark room. Richard has already demolished his ice cream and is now tucking into a bag of peanut M&M's. I hardly see him eat, but when it comes to sugar, this man is an animal.
When the commercials begin to run, I turn to face him and smile. "This is not at all what I imagined you spending your Friday nights would be like."
Richard jerks his head and cocks an eyebrow at me. "What did you imagine I'd be doing?"
"I don't know, Mr. Tough Guy." I tease, "Not sat watching cartoons and eating buckets of candy."
Richard shrugs and winks then pops another M&M into his mouth. "What can I say, I'm a man of many surprises."
"Oh, that you are." I laugh and take the bag out of his hands so I can slide onto his lap. "I like it though," I say as I dip my head toward his. "It keeps me on my toes."
"Good." His large hands find my waist and he grins. "Can't have you getting bored of me, can we?"
"I don't think I'll ever get bored of you, Richard. This is one of the best Friday nights I've had in a long time."
"You mean that?" Richard smiles, looking up at me with fascination.
I hold his face in my hands and nod. "I mean that."
I hold his gaze with unwavering confidence, wanting him to feel the honesty in my words. Because I do mean it. Just being in his presence feels as though a weight has been removed from my chest and I'm breathing for the first time in years.
He reaches up and brushes his thumb over my lips while he regards me with a serene look. It may be the lack of sleep, or that my mind is just playing tricks on me, but there's something about the way he's looking at me right now that feels like he might have just fallen in love.
I feather my lips across his cheek until they come to rest against his mouth. I pull back, but just far enough that we're able to look at each other.
"Fuck, Robin." He whispers my name with an ache in his voice. "What have you done to me?"
Richard draws in a large inhale and closes his eyes, then grabs me and flips me over until I'm pinned against the mattress and he's hovering over me.
He dips his head and kisses me, infusing my mouth with the taste of him. Richard raises my hands above my head and interlocks our fingers, pushing them into the bed. His lips claim mine and there's so much feeling in it, it's as if he's kissing me the same way he looks at me. Full of passion.
When he pulls back, I'm in awe. I can't take how beautiful he looks right now. Free of anger, of worry, free of pain. Even in this dark room, I can see a fire in his eye that I've never seen before. And it's so fucking breathtaking.
But it doesn't last long. Three loud thuds on the hotel room door shake the entire room. And with each of those thuds, all that anger and pain returns. All the color immediately washes from his face and he looks back at me with worry in his eyes.
"Shit." Richard utters, rolling off of me as the pounding at the door continues. "Robin, go lock yourself in the bathroom." He pulls open the top drawer of his nightstand and retrieves his gun.
I stare at him, wide-eyed. "Why?"
A series of even louder thuds hammer on the door. "Rick, open the fuck up!" A male voice yells from the opposite side.
