Page 49

Roman, as usual, looked incredible in dark denim and a fitted black t-shirt that stretched over his muscled arms. His hair was mussed and he had a scowl on his face, his hands jammed into his pockets.

I slammed the door shut behind me before one of my neighbors could see him. What was he doing here? Did he forget something? Did he find out something about my attackers?

“Hello? Julianna?” a distant voice called.

Shit. Christian was still on the phone.

“I-I’m fine. Really. Thanks. I gotta go.” I hung up on him. I slid my phone and bag onto the side table. Roman still hadn’t said anything. “What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I shouldn’t be here.”

My eyes darted to the living room windows. He had drawn all the curtains. No one could see in. It was just him and me. Alone. A shiver fell across me. “No, you shouldn’t.”

“But I don’t care.”

“What?”

He just stared at me, hardly blinking. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so serious. “It’s what you do to me.”

I blinked as my brain struggled to comprehend what the hell he was saying. “What do I do to you?”

“You make me not care about anyone or anything else. It’s just you, you, you. You’re all I want. You…You make me fucking crazy.”

My stomach tightened, my head spinning at his admission. You make me crazy too, I wanted to say. I could barely breathe, let alone speak.

“I’ve tried to figure out,” he began to advance on me, his face beginning to twist, a sharpness to his voice, “what is it about you? Why you? Of all the women to make me…” he trailed off.

I backed up until I hit the door. He was in my face, crowding me. I could scream, but I was pinned frozen by his wild stare.

“Why the hell did it have to be you?”

He wanted me. He didn’t want to want me. Everything twisted inside me from my throat down to my core.

“I didn’t ask for this either,” I spat out.

“All the while I thought I was the dangerous one,” he said, his eyes never leaving me. “You had me all fooled.”

His finger gripped my chin, tilting my face up. His eyes dropped to my lips.

Kiss me.

Don’t kiss me. If you kiss me, I’m done for.

“W-What are you doing?” I whispered.

“I can’t stay away from you,” he said, sounding pained. “I tried but I can’t.” His gaze rose to pin me with a stare so intense my toes curled. “I’m done trying.”

Yes.

No.

My control. I was losing it. I was slipping.

Oh God. I am so screwed.I clung on to his words the last time he propositioned me. “You have to understand why I can’t offer you anything…more…”

I swallowed and forced myself to look away. “No, Roman. One more night between us would?—”

“I don’t want one more night,” he growled, leaning in so that his chest pressed against my swollen breasts. Dear God, he was everywhere. His scent and his heat rolling over me, his breath against my cheeks, his erection pressed against my belly, making my empty core ache. “I want all of them.”

He wants…what?

“Give me all of your nights, Julianna,” he murmured against my cheek. “Be with me.”

My head spun and my heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought he must feel it. Me. Him. Together. This felt so right. God, but it was so wrong…

“We don’t make any sense,” I whispered.

He pulled back to look at me, his eyes glistening with a tenderness I’d not seen before on him. He was standing here, naked and vulnerable before me. “Why does it have to make sense? This isn’t something you plan for. This isn’t something you schedule into your life with someone who meets a predetermined set of criteria. It just…happens.”

“It just happens,” I repeated, feeling the truth echo deep in my heart.

His fingers traced the bruise at my jaw so tenderly I almost wanted to cry. That was when I realized his fingers were shaking. “A couple of times in your life you meet someone and it just…clicks. Everything just clicks.”

“Or just once,” I said, barely a whisper.

A flash of surprise stole across his face. He nodded, barely a nod. “Or just once.”

He moved for me as I moved for him. Our mouths crashed together. We were hungry and desperate, the frustration and longing built up over the last few days, exploding from ourselves, melting our two bodies together. There was no space between us but somehow I could not get close enough.

He slammed me up against the door. He tore his mouth from mine and began to bite down my neck as he pushed my shirt up off my body. “I’ve been wanting to fuck you against a door since that day you walked into my apartment wearing that silly red dress. So brazen. So arrogant.”

“You’re the bastard who answered the door in a goddamn towel,” I hissed back at him, grabbing at his belt and undoing the zipper of his pants. I found his cock waiting for me, thick and hard as a rock. I wrapped a hand around it and he groaned, a noise that rumbled like thunder.

“You’re the one who showed up unannounced.” He palmed my swollen aching breasts and sucked at the peaks, making me groan. “I knew you wanted me even then.”

“I did not.”

“Liar.” To punish me, he bit down on my nipple hard. Pleasure mixed with pain ricocheted through me, causing me to cry out. Wetness pooled in my already damp panties.

“You are the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.”

“You are the most frustrating woman I have ever met.” His fingers found my underwear under my skirt and in one swift move, he tore them apart.

I gasped as cold air hit my bare pussy. “Fuck you. You owe me a pair of panties.” He grabbed my ass and I wrapped my legs around him. I moaned into his mouth and my fingers tangled into his hair, as his erection pressed against my aching core.

“Fuck you for making me wait for you.” He thrust into me in one swift movement, pleasure and a hint of pain shuddering through my body. He didn’t hesitate. There was no pause for me to get used to his size. He fucked me up against the door, the wood vibrating against the frame with every thrust. I felt every inch of his thick cock inside me, dragging against all my sensitive insides, lighting up my body with heat and pleasure. More, more, more, my body cried.

“Is that all you’ve got,” I said, sneering at him, taunting him, baiting him. My hands dug into his shoulders as I hung on to him.

His eyes sparkled with hunger. “You’re going to regret saying that.”

“I doubt it.”

He gripped my hips and slammed into me, hard and cruel and vicious, his fingers digging into my hips, causing tiny points of pain. I loved every violent stroke. I loved every brutal thrust.

We were soaring together, high and wild among the stars. From way up here, all the arguments against us seemed like mere power and dust. Roman and I were gods together. Immortal together. Floating among stardust. Spinning new universes with our bodies.

And when you fall back down to earth, a voice warned, what a pretty tangle of blood and limbs you will make together.

My body shook as my orgasm built. I bit into his shoulder. He cried out as I drew coppery blood. If it were at all possible, he fucked me harder in response. There were no words left. My head rolled back against the door and my vision went white as a red hot sun exploded inside me. I’m sure I screamed. He kept pumping into me over and over again, feeding my orgasm, shooting his own release into me in hot pulses.

We slid down to the floor, a sweaty tangle of limbs and raw lips.

This is worth it. He is worth it, I told myself. No matter the consequences.