Page 61 of Inside Out
“Play is the highest form of research.”
~Albert Einstein
“Delayed gratification is the highest form of foreplay.”
~Julius Shepherd
Rome expected me to return his sentiment right away but instead, I said, “Good. Now eat your pizza.” His light blue eyes held mine, searching. I saw a flicker of uncertainty, but then he blinked, and it was gone. Rome took a bite of his pizza while I chewed over the brief reaction I saw on his face. Did he worry he spoke too soon? Did he think I wasn’t as invested in our relationship or my feelings weren’t as strong as his? If so, he was very wrong. I would give him as many positive reinforcement lessons as it took for him to realize I was exactly where I wanted to be.
“I’m all yours too, Rome.”
He stopped eating and narrowed his eyes at me before he slowly resumed chewing. When he finished, he took a sip of the apple juice I’d brought him. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”
I chuckled. “No. Why would you say that?”
“You know how clumsy I get when I’m around you. For Christ’s sake, I can barely walk and talk at the same time when you look at me. I forget to breathe sometimes when we’re in the same room.” His voice was deep and gravelly, his face was flushed with want, and joy radiated from his crystalline eyes. “Yet, you make a declaration like that while I’m chewing? It’s a miracle you’re not having to perform the Heimlich right now.”
“It would give me an excuse for some mouth-to-mouth action,” I quipped.
“Yeah, I’d suggest we give it a try when we’re alone, but so far we’re batting zero.”
“I think we have the kissing thing down to an art,” I countered. I’d never heard my voice sound so rough and raw. Who knew banter could be considered foreplay?
Rome leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I meant the other stuff. You know, me tripping over the table and falling on you.”
I leaned forward and lowered my tone to match his. The last thing we needed was someone overhearing us. “You landed right where I wanted you. And besides, you’re not clumsy.”
“What am I then?”
“Eager, and it’s a huge turn-on.”
“Really?” Rome sounded completely dumfounded by the notion. “How can you find that remotely sexy?”
“You might not know this, but I’ve had plenty of time to observe you without you knowing it. You move gracefully, speak eloquently and with sharp intelligence, and conduct your business with a level of professionalism I find incredibly sexy.”
“You do?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. So sexy.”
“Then how in the world can you find my stumbling and stuttering sexy too?”
I reached across the desk and covered his hand with mine. “Because onlyIaffect you that way. With everyone else, there’s a cool aloofness about you even when your smile and tone of voice is warm. You’re friendly but unattainable because they don’t reach you on an elemental level.Ibreak through those barriers and rattle your cage. And I like it. What you find ridiculous and awkward, I find alluring and real. I don’t want a smooth operator. I don’t want to be handled. Well, I do, but you know what I mean.” Rome’s wry smile said he wished he couldhandleme right then. My dick was hardening and lengthening in my pants, and I needed to pull myself together. His office wasn’t the right place for this conversation, but I couldn’t let him spend another second doubting that I wanted him. I started to pull my hand from his, but he rotated his wrist and recaptured it.
Rome lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my wrist, letting his lips linger there so he could feel the way my pulse raced for him. I couldn’t look away from the hungriness I saw in his eyes. If anyone popped their head in the office, they might think he looked like a vampire about to pierce my veins with his fangs. I saw only a wolfish man who wanted to devour and ravish me. My ass pucker tensed, wanting to be filled.
Priscilla’s ringing phone snapped us out of our lusty fog. Rome placed one last quick kiss on my wrist and released my hand.
“So, anyway, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” I asked, needing to talk about anything that wasn’t sexy or could be twisted into something sexy.
“We usually go to Ashley and Ben’s for dinner, but they’re going skiing in Vale that weekend. Mom and Dad decided they would go to the nursing home and spend the day with Aunt Astrid and her friends. They invited me to join them, of course.”
“Would you like to spend the day with my family?”
Rome looked surprised by my invitation at first, but then he blessed me with the prettiest smile I had ever seen on another person. “Really? You don’t think they would mind?”
“My mom has been ‘silver fox’ this and ‘silver fox’ that since I first mentioned you. Marcus is dying to meet the guy who’s turned me ‘sappy.’ Camilla and Manny may not realize it yet, but they can’t wait to meet you too.”
“You talked about me to your mom?”