Love of their lives?
“Bailey, being with you is dangerous. We’ve been too fucking scared to even look in your direction because we don’t know how to hide what we feel for you, not anymore. Believe me, we’ve tried. If the Elders ever found out, they’d take you from us. We’ve seen it happen before. Keith wouldn’t hesitate to make an example of you, stepdaughter or not. He’d do it to remind us that I am a blood legacy, and one day, I’m to take over this entire shit show.I have a role to play,” he chokes out the last part as he shifts, sitting upright in my bed. His body turns, resting his feet on the floor. His dark hair is disheveled from running his fingers through it, and his face is heavy with a vulnerability I’ve never seen on him before. My gaze drops to theknife and mask in his hands, and everything about his confession starts to make sense.
They would have done anything to be with me, if only for one night. So, they became a bunch of nobodies in masks to avoid being noticed. They chose themselves for the first time, just to get me close. But still, they just fucking left me there. Why would they do something like that? Is it because they killed Harley, and they were worried about me ratting them out? Nobody gives a fuck about Harley.Move on.
“Not being with you is torture. We’ve been living in fucking agony, Bailey.I’m in agony.”Roman’s eyes meet mine, and I can see the war he’s fighting swirling within their blue depths. The betrayal I had felt just moments ago has dissipated, and even though part of me still wants to fight him on it, he gave me his truth. I understand now. All I ever wanted was an explanation, and yeah, I get why he couldn’t tell me, but ever since they walked away from me, I’ve been in agony too. I understand, because deep down we still know each other. Better than anyone else ever could, which is why it hurt so much when they walked away from me three years ago.
“Please say something,” he breathes, his weary eyes almost the color of violet as he stares up at me. There’s nothing but regret, pain, and longing woven into his troubled expression, and all I want to do is replace thatwith the love that I’ve secretly carried since the moment we met.
I push off the wall and take a slow step forward, and then another, until I’m standing right before his parted knees, my eyes not once leaving his. His lips part slightly, and his eyes widen, searching my face forsomething…answers maybe?
“You hurt me,” I say, and his face falls.
“I know. I’m sorry, Bailey. I’m so fucking sorry for all of it. I was selfish. We all were.”
“You were trying to keep me safe?” I question, though I already know that he’s telling the truth.
“Yes. I will fucking die before anyone ever lays a hand on you, Harlequin.” His eyes almost bug out of his head the moment his nickname for me escapes his lips, and it only confirms what I already knew.
“Why do you call me that? Was it my costume?” I say blankly, and I can tell that he’s freaking out on the inside. He clears his throat, and a pink shade of embarrassment flames his cheeks. I didn’t think I’d ever live to see the day that Roman Graystone got embarrassed, but here I am, and I’m not mad about it.
“No. It wasn’t because of your hot as fuck costume.” A beat passes between us, and when I don’t say anything, he gives in on a sigh. “I call you that because on the outside, you’re a kaleidoscope of colors that cover me, and anyone else who stands in your orbit.” He pauses, biting his lowerlip like he’s unsure whether or not he should admit these things to me. “But inside, you’re just like us. Me. Cole. Jace. You wear a mask of your own, playing roles for others to keep them satisfied, all while starving for something it seems that no one else can give,” he almost whispers the words, as his eyes drop to my thighs, barely covered by the edge of my towel. “You crave something dark…” he says, gently trailing a finger along the material.
I can feel his touch everywhere, and nowhere at the same time, and all I want to do is beg him to claim me. Right here, right fucking now. “...something dangerous, depraved even, and baby, I’m fucking addicted,” he continues, before gripping the back of my thigh with his free hand, pulling me closer to him.
I stare into his hooded eyes, his gaze heavy and dark with hunger, and a wave of heat settles between my legs from the way he’s looking at me right now. I hold onto my towel for dear fucking life, completely at a loss for words. “I was yours from the very first moment we met, and I am yours now. Cole and Jace are everything to me, but there has always been something missing. They feel it too, and when we finally had you, for those fleeting hours, you begged so beautifully to come undone. That’s the moment I knew, the moment we all knew that we were done for.” A heavy knot coils behind my ribs, tightening with every word he breathes, like my heart already knows what’s coming but doesn’t care anymore.
“Fuck it,” he rasps, as he tosses the knife aside and grips the back of my other thigh. The tension lingering between us finally snaps, and before I can think, we’re colliding.
Roman lifts me at the same time that I launch into him, wrapping my legs around his body, not caring about my towel now swimming at his feet. My fingers tangle in his hair as his possessive grip on me tightens, and our mouths crash together in a frantic kiss.
His tongue dances with mine, parting my lips and stealing the air from my lungs. I grind into him harder at the same time he pulls my hips against his rock-hard cock, and I feel like I'm fucking floating.
“Tell me you want me,” he chokes out.
“I want you,” I say between jagged breaths, my will disintegrating with each grind of my aching pussy against him.
“You're so fucking perfect,” he says, his voice hoarse and thick with need as his hands glide up my body, and in one swift movement, he spins me around until my back is flat against the bed, and he's hovering like a dark, broken angel above me. His hair has fallen in his face, and I hold back my smile. I’ve dreamed of this moment more times than I’ll ever admit out loud.
“God, it’s a shame I’m going to hell, because I don’t think one lifetime will ever be enough with you, Harlequin,” he murmurs. He lowers to kiss a trail alongmy neck, and his warm breath sends a wave of goosebumps across my skin.
“I'd rot in hell with you,” I whisper before his hand slides down my body, settling in the place I need him the most. His fingers glide through my wet pussy, and I writhe like I’m starving for it beneath his touch.
“You’re so fuckin’ wet for me, baby,” he says, his deep voice as smooth as velvet, before driving two fingers deep inside me. His mouth finds mine as he starts to finger fuck me, twisting his wrist to find my sweet spot. He leans back, looming over me, watching me unravel beneath him. A loud moan tumbles from my lips, and it must confirm something with Roman, because he lets go of whatever was holding him back, and pumps in and out of me harder, faster, until my vision blurs and the only thing I see are stars.
“Your pretty pussy gonna soak my fingers, baby?" Roman growls, working me into a frenzy as he seeks my mouth for another kiss. He gently presses a thumb to my sensitive clit, and that’s all it fucking takes.
“Ohhh…m-my. Ro! Baby, I’m fucking coming!”
“That’s it, Bailey. Come for me,” he groans against my lips, and electric heat ripples through me as I catapult over the edge, coming like I never have before from nothing more than his fingers. This man is part of me. He always has been, and now that I have him, I don’t ever want him to let me go.
I kiss him back with the same level of possessionand hunger, wanting more and more of him with each slow pump of his fingers. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of him.
He removes his fingers from my dripping pussy, and moves, leaving a trail of soft kisses down my naked body. “You are a fucking vision, Bailey Asher,” he whispers, his warm breath only setting me ablaze. He traces his tongue over my bare mound, teasing me in all the places he knows I don’t want him on purpose. I must have an annoyed look on my face, because he chuckles lightly.
“I have dreamed of you. Dreamed of tasting this pretty cunt. Making you mine in every way,” he says, positioning his face in line with my center, and guiding my legs with his hands to rest on either side of his shoulders.
I lose all train of thought when he buries his face into me, and my soul almost leaves my fucking body when his tongue darts out and licks my throbbing clit.
