CHAPTER TWENTY
DEX
Rome is still shakingwith barely restrained rage as he takes my hand and tugs me through the crowd. I can’t tell who he’s angry with. Obviously, the vendor. Maybe the security guard?
Maybe me?
He says absolutely nothing until we’re in the parking lot, and before I can think to lift my hands and ask, he shoves me against the car door and kisses the breath out of my lungs.
When he rips himself away and takes several steps back, I feel dazed and a little dizzy. My tongue darts out to lick my lips, and the only reason I’m even aware I’m doing that is Rome’s eyes track the motion.
‘Are you okay?’ I finally manage to ask.
He gives his head an almost violent shake, and then he laughs. The sound is high and tight—half-hysterical. He passes a single hand down his face with a chest-deep groan I’m not even sure he’s making on purpose.
He breathes out, then locks eyes with me again. It’s thesame intensity that he had the first night when he climbed into the Uber with me and followed me home.
Oh god, is he going to do the same thing here? In this parking lot? He’s worth risking a lot of things, but I’m not sure an indecent exposure and public sex charge is one of them. Though with the way he stalks forward, like a fucking starving tiger, I rethink that.
Whatever he wants to do might totally be worth it.
‘You keep doing everything right!’ his hands finally say—they’re flying in front of me, full of accusation.
I stare, then lift my fist. ‘I’m…sorry?’
He huffs and slaps my hand away. ‘No!’
I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say.
He meets my gaze. ‘I keep waiting for you to get it wrong, but you keep getting it right!’ This time, I don’t answer. I wait. ‘You never ask me to voice. You’re patient with me. You don’t get angry when I point out your mistakes.’
Are these meant to be character flaws? I don’t understand his anger.
‘You saved me by not trying to save me.’
I frown. ‘I don’t understand.’
His scoff carries across the parking lot. ‘Of course you don’t.’
He lifts a hand, closes the distance between us, and for a second, I think he’s going to take me by the throat, which I seriously wouldn’t mind, but instead, he cards his fingers through my hair, shoving a collection of locks off my forehead.
His fingers trail over my cheek, my jawline, gently coasting over my Adam’s apple, where they stop. ‘Say my name.’
‘Rome.’ His name sign was one Robbie showed me. AnRin a wavy pattern by his temple. Something to do with his hair.
He shakes his head, then taps one finger on my throat. ‘Say.’
Oh.
I swallow heavily. I’ve tried not to use my voice with him at all, and this feels…almost wrong. “Rome.” TheRcatches in the back of my throat, theMstuttering on my lips. The whole sound rumbles against my throat, and he presses his fingers harder against it, right where my pulse is hammering.
His eyes are all pupil.
He glances behind him, then lets out another long, heavy breath. ‘Home.’
‘Yours or mine?’ I ask. Unless he wants us to go to separate ones. I’ll comply, but I’ll be fucking shattered.
He waits a beat, then signs, ‘Mine. I don’t want to risk getting interrupted by a cat chewing on my ankles.’
