“Roman…” she whispered, her breath hot, needy, desperate.
My fingers dug into her hips, urging her to keep moving, to keep torturing us both.
Her hands clutched my shirt, pushing it off my shoulders as her kisses turned frantic, wet, unrestrained, her tongue twining with mine, her teeth grazing my lower lip before she sucked it into her mouth, making me see stars.
The carriage jolted, sending her crashing into me, her breasts crushed against my chest, her bare core grinding against my cock so hard I nearly lost control.
“Oh, God, Roman!” she moaned into my mouth, her fingers yanking my hair, making my cock pulse with unbearable need.
I thrust against her, dragging her over my length, gritting my teeth at the sheer wet heat of her, my body screaming for more, for everything.
I was seconds away from tearing open my breeches, lifting her hips, and sliding her down onto my cock, stretching her, filling her, making her scream my name as I claimed hercompletely?—
And then?—
A vision slammed into me like a tidal wave, ripping me from the haze of lust.
I saw us somewhere else, some other time. We were in a dark cave, our bodies slick with sweat. Her legs were tangled around me, and her fingers traced the scars on my chest. Her hair hung wild around her, and her eyes were heavy with exhaustion and sated bliss.
I could hear the echo of her breathless moans, could feel the way she clung to me in the aftermath of pleasure.
I froze, every muscle in my body locking up.
“Roman!” Olivia gasped. Her lips were kiss-bruised, her pupils blown wide with desire. “What is it?”
“I… I don’t exactly know.”
The vision dissolved, leaving me shaken.
And then I saw Montego watching us; his expression was clear intrigue, maybe even amusement.
With a frustrated growl, I lifted Olivia off my lap, my cock still aching, my body screaming for release.
“Pardon us, Count Montego, for our unchecked ardor,” I said, my voice still rough with the remnants of desire. My body still burned for Olivia. A rosy flush painted her cheeks, betraying the fire that still simmered beneath her skin.
“Yes, please forgive us,” Olivia added, her voice softer, more delicate. “We were terrified that Roman could be lost in the fire. Our love… our desperation to hold onto each other was too much to contain.”
She wrung her hands together, the nervous gesture contrasting with the passionate frenzy we’d shared moments before.
Montego merely chuckled, waving a dismissive hand. “No need to apologize.” A wistful smile tugged at his lined face, and his gaze turned distant, lost in the embers of a memory long past. “I, too, knew youthful love once. My fingertips still recall the softness of her skin… my lips remember her kiss, her taste. The passion of our connection was undeniable.”
I studied him, sensing sorrow beneath his words. “What happened to her?”
Montego merely shook his head, silently turning back to his news sheet.
Olivia and I exchanged a glance—a silent understanding passing between us.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Olivia said at last, reaching out to him.
Montego hesitated only briefly before clasping her hands in his. His eyes moistened, grief flickering in their depths. “Thank you, my dear,” hemurmured. “My beautiful wife passed away long ago, yet a part of me has never let her go.”
Olivia’s grip on his hands tightened as if willing her strength into him before pulling away, settling back against me.
She took a deep breath, then spoke quietly, but with a pain that felt like an open wound.
“I lost my unborn child a few months ago.”
The air in the carriage grew still.
