Page 114 of Finders Reapers

“I don’t know.” He admitted.

“I can’t tell you that it doesn’t matter and that your mom won’t care because I don’t know,” I pushed my hair behind my ears. “But, Rome, you’ve been gone from your mother’s life for so many years. I don’t think you should let Sasha make you do anything you don’t want to do, just because she knows something that you’re afraid of everyone else finding out.”

“In Russia, men do not like other men that way,” Rome replied.

“But you’ve lived in the states, for what? At least thirty years?” I shrugged.

Rome blinked and exhaled deeply. “Valentina. You have only been dead a short time, but I feel that I have to tell you this. Being dead is not like being alive. The dead are stuck as who they were when they died. We do not change, and we do not grow. We are stagnant and leashed by our contracts and our connection to our Grim.”

I had no idea where he was going with this.

“I died when it was shameful to like a man, but it was easy to hide it when I liked women as well. Until I fell in love with Dimka.” Rome brushed his hand down his face. “I cannot take the shame away.”

“Okay,” I nodded.

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” I brushed my hands down my thighs as I prepared to stand when a flush of anger stopped me from doing so. “Actually, it’s not okay,” I snapped, sitting back down. “You felt shame because Sasha reminded you every day of that shame, and she threatened you. You don’t need to feel shame. You shouldn’t feel shame, and even if you want to fuck men, you should do it!” I finished my rant on a shriek.

Before I could say another word, Rome pushed himself forward and took my mouth with his.

The kiss was hard, desperate as if he couldn’t face another moment without his lips on mine.

I melted into it as my back arched and my chest pressed against his. He was warm, and the contrast between my softness and the hard muscles of his pectorals sent a thrill through me, slamming me into the moment.

I waskissingRome.

I could lie and say that I hadn’t thought about what Rome’s bee-stung lips would feel like, ever since he had picked me up from the side of the road in a mustang, but I wasn’t a liar. Not usually.

I reached up to put my hands on his shoulders, but Rome twisted us and captured my wrists as he pulled me into his body so that we were lying side by side on the floor. Pressed so tightly that not a sheet of paper could fit between us.

I was very conscious of my skirt, which had ridden up. The cool tile of the kitchen was a stark shock against my left buttock through my lacy underwear. Rome was more focused on kissing me, his hands circling my wrists like shackles as his knee parted my legs and settled between my thighs.

One part of me screamed to slow down, to talk about everything, and to let Rome work out whatever was going through his head—but my lady parts were selfish, and Rome’s kisses muddled my thoughts.

Something inside of me bloomed, a deepknowingthat ran bone-deep. It felt like coming home.

The same way I had felt with Fletcher and Jamal.

The Grim bond.

Rome let go of my wrist, and his calloused hand skimmed the bare skin of my thigh. Leaving goose flesh in his wake.

I rocked forward at the sensation and inadvertently rubbed my core against his denim-clad knee. Whimpering when the friction rocked through me and made my toes curl and my nipples hard.

Rome’s hand continued to travel. The kiss broke for a moment as we breathed, heaving breaths as if we had been running a marathon.

Our eyes met, and his lips twitched into a crooked and dangerous smile as his fingers reached the curve of my ass, and his hand slipped under the lace to grip my butt.

“I’m going to touch you.” He stated plainly, decisively.

“Youaretouching me,” I said with a laugh.

“Am I?” Rome replied lazily as his hand continued to travel the seam of my underwear before it reached my front.

My lips rounded into an O. The facial expression was playful as my brow arched in a dare. I inhaled sharply as he shifted, and his fingers skimmed between my legs, making me shiver and squirm.

I wanted him to touch me. I needed it.