Amali POV

It had been quite a while since I had been so damn happy. Somehow it was a completely new feeling. I couldn't help but smile whenever I thought about this special man.

And then I thought about how quickly he had brought the sunshine back into my life. I hadn't even thought that was possible many months ago. But as it turned out, Roman was able to keep that promise.

I was standing in front of the mirror wall, stretching to warm up, when my eyes fell on him. Once again, he had that little smirk on his face. I watched as Roman slowly moved towards me. And I smiled too.

When he stood behind me, his arm wrapped around me so that he could pull me a little closer to him. As I was only wearing a sports bra and yoga pants, his warm hand came to rest on my bare stomach. The spot immediately started to tingle. I looked at him through the mirror. And the next moment, his lips were already on my neck. Hot and demanding, he nibbled on the little spot just below my ear.

It took all my willpower not to moan as I tilted my head to the side and placed my hand on his at the same time. Of course, Roman didn't miss the fact that my breathing was getting faster.

"How are you, baby girl?" he whispered in my ear as the index finger of his other hand slowly slid over the scar on my shoulder.

"Oh, I think you know how I feel right now..." I managed to gasp out with difficulty.

"Can I ask you something?" he wanted to know.

His lips were still moving on my skin. I had the feeling he was doing it on purpose to distract me a little.

"Anything..." I whispered and closed my eyes for a moment.

"You know we're doing this for a few weeks now and I wanted to ask if you'd come to my place this weekend..." he breathed, his voice low and seductive.

I had to swallow to concentrate. It took me a few seconds before I could answer him.

"I'd love to... Wait a minute... I thought you had the kids this weekend..." I replied.

"That's right..." he said without stopping kissing me for a moment.

"That means... Well, you want to... Are you sure?" I asked weakly.

"Yes... I want you to meet my children. I think it's the perfect time." he chuckled softly, clearly amused.

"As long as you're sure... Then I'm ready for it, Ro..." I whispered.

"Thank you..." he replied.

Then, completely unexpectedly, he whirled me around and dipped me down the next moment. Taken by surprise, I looked up at him right before he kissed me.

But our kiss didn't last long. We soon heard excited snickering from the door of the gym.

Roman pulled me upright again and cleared his throat as my face turned dark red.

"You just can't give anyone privacy, can you?" Roman asked the twins, who could barely stand on their feet with laughter.

"Dude, this is a public space. Maybe you guys should take... whatever this is supposed to be... to your room." Jimmy laughed.

"You know, Ro... That's not the worst idea" I mumbled to him as I slowly ran my hand over his backside as a bit of payback.

"Is that so? Well in that case..." he replied and grabbed me without hesitation.

I squeaked in surprise as he simply threw me onto his shoulder and marched off.

"See you later gentlemen..." I said on the way out.

*****

The next day I stood in Roman's house and waited for him to come back with the children. I thought I wouldn't have time to get nervous, but I was wrong. I was nervous as hell. It was important that I made a good impression and that the little ones liked me. Otherwise, it would probably be a bad sign for our relationship.

His children were the most important thing Roman had in his life. If they didn't accept me... then I didn't know if we even had a real chance.

"Amali? We're here." I heard Roman call out.

I slowly followed his voice. I took another deep breath and sent a prayer to the heavens. Now it counted.

"Okay everyone... This is Amali. She's Daddy's friend. Amali, this is Joelle, Waylon and Kingsley." he announced proudly.

"That's her? Oh, she's so pretty! And you should call her your girlfriend, Dad. Hi! I'm Jojo!" the cute girl said to me and that alone put some of my nervousness to rest.

"Hi Jojo! Hi Waylon and hi Kingsley! It's so nice to meet you. Your dad and I thought we'd make pizza for dinner. Would you like to help me?" I replied.

"Oh yes! Let's go! I want lots of cheese!" Kingsley then said.

"No, I want lots of cheese," his brother replied.

"Guys, there's enough for everyone. Go and wash your hands." Roman laughed.

"Are you okay?" he wanted to know from me as soon as the children were out of earshot.

He put his arm around me and gave me a kiss on the head. You could hear in his voice that he was nervous too.

"Yeah, I... I mean, we'll make it work." I replied and stretched to give him a real kiss quickly.