“You don’t need me. You want me.” She didn’t mind that distinction. The reason she hated to see this affair end was because she didn’t want to lose that feeling. Being wanted was the most wonderful thing she’d ever known. “You could find replacements for both those roles,” she suggested saucily, though there was an undercurrent of truth, at least to her. Could he detect it?
His gaze darkened as he unclasped her gown and parted it. “I don’t want replacements. I want you.”
He slipped his hands into her garment and clasped her bare flesh, his fingers curling into her as he lowered his head and kissed her. This wasn’t a gentle seduction, but a claiming—Roman was asserting his passion, and Ellis eagerly accepted every thrust of his tongue and brush of his lips.
She unfastened his dressing gown and pushed her hands up his chest, her palms mapping this now-familiar terrain. Cresting his shoulders, she pushed the garment down, and he shrugged out of it, letting it drop to the floor. They did the same with her gown.
Roman cupped her backside as he plundered her mouth. Ellis curled her hands around his neck, and he lifted her leg, guiding it around his hip, opening her so she could press intimately against his sex. She sprung gently on her feet, and he understood, picking her up as she launched against him and wrapped her legs around him.
He held her easily, clasping her to him and moaning softly as she rotated her hips. Turning, he backed her against the bed and eased her back, crawling over her as they pivoted and straightened across the mattress. It was as if they’d executed this dance countless times. Their bodies were simply becoming attuned to one another. Ellis reveled in their connection and compatibility, the sheer simplicity of how well they fit.
At least physically and mentally. She would not think of the ways in which they were ill-matched. Not yet.
Roman dropped savage kisses along her neck as he licked and nipped at her flesh. Ellis kept him captive within the circle of her legs and twined her fingers in his hair, guiding him lower to her breast. He did not need encouragement, for he quickly found her nipple, pulling on her as she whimpered and prompting her sex to quiver with need.
His mouth replaced his hand, covering and sucking her flesh. She arched up from the bed, desperate for more. Her legs went slack as she focused on the sensations building within her. He took advantage, moving his hand down between them and stroking her sex.
Ellis let her legs fall from him as she opened to his touch, greedy for the thrust of his finger. He toyed with her clitoris, stoking her desire to a fever pitch. Then he thrust his fingers into her, satisfying her craving for completion.
He drove relentlessly as he kissed and suckled her breasts. “Come for me, Ellis. Come hard.”
She did not need any urging. Her climax slammed into her with a violent bliss. She cried out, over and over, her body turning limp as a wilted flower.
But he did not allow her any recovery. He turned her to her side and bent her upper leg as he straddled the lower one. Gripping her backside, he drove into her, his cock filling her in the last spasms of her orgasm.
Pleasure sparked anew at the delicious friction of their bodies gliding together. He moved with deep precision, stroking her exactly where she wanted, where she felt the most sensation. Ecstasy built with each thrust until Ellis was on the brink once more. She came harder than the first time, her muscles clenching around him as she pressed her clitoris against his leg.
She felt his hips twitch and vaguely worried that he wasn’t going to pull away from her. But he did, which was both a relief and a tragedy as she missed him inside her. She reached for his cock, stroking his flesh as his orgasm claimed him.
“My God, Ellis.” He leaned over her and kissed her, gentler than before but still with a searing intensity that made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world.
Smiling, she closed her eyes as he left the bed. She heard him cleaning up, then he came back and tidied her too. He was a very generous and conscientious lover, not like the others she’d known before. But she’d been much younger, and so had they.
Roman pulled the coverlet back, and they slid into the bedclothes together. Ellis lay on her back, and Roman faced her on his side. He stretched his arm over and gave her breast a gentle squeeze.
“Again?” she asked with a light chuckle.
“Certainly, but after some sleep.” He nuzzled her neck and kissed her. “You exhaust me. In the best way.”
He curled his arm around her possessively, and Ellis exhaled softly with deep contentment. Very quickly, Roman’s breathing evened, and she could tell he was asleep.
Slumber did not come quickly for Ellis. She stared at the ceiling for some time, basking in the bliss of these moments and also dreading that they would come to an end in the not-too-distant future.
Tomorrow, her life was going to change yet again when she met her father. Soon, she would need to choose her path—and today had shown her that it wouldn’t include Roman.
Should she leave now before losing herself completely? Or should she stay and cling, even temporarily, to the only true happiness she’d ever known?
Ellis was glad to see Jo again. She missed her friends, especially Min, but right now she was anxious about meeting Rowland Harker. Not meeting him since they’d already been introduced, but not as father and daughter. She and Jo had not discussed how they would tell him about having another daughter.
Turning her head toward Jo on the seat beside her, Ellis took a deep breath to calm her anxiety. “Are you going to come inside with me to break this shocking news to him?”
“Of course.” Jo gave her an encouraging smile. “I wouldn’t send you alone to do that. We sisters must band together. We didn’t talk about how we planned to tell him about you, and perhaps we should have. I did think about bringing Sheff along. I hope you know he’s a strong ally to us both. He misses you too.”
“And I miss him,” Ellis said warmly. “Does he know what you’re doing today?”
Jo hesitated, then cocked her head. “Yes. We don’t keep secrets. Anymore,” she added wryly.
Ellis laughed but quickly sobered. “Sometimes it’s hard to reveal the complete truth, at least not right away. I find I’ve had to sit with these revelations about my parents. It isn’t that I’m trying to keep a secret—well, perhaps it is since I can’t say I’m thrilled at sharing the identity of my mother and my illegitimacy is the least of my embarrassment—I’m just not ready to talk about it too much.” Or at all.
