He slips smoothly from my grasp, standing straight again. Roman turns his eyes to the fire once more, watching it for a fewlong beats. Then he clears his throat and speaks. “I do not need your pity.”
“Good. Because that’s not what this is.” I step back just a bit, giving him some space. “You’re not broken for being afraid. You’re human.”
Roman turns and opens his mouth. I know what he’s going to say before he says it.I’m not afraid.But the words don’t come. Instead, he closes his mouth, forming a hard line with his lips.
He searches my face. “You came back.”
“Yes.”
He cups my face gently, reverently, like he’s relearning something precious. “Perhaps you should not have.”
“But I did.”
For a long moment, he just studies me. Then he leans in and kisses me, slowly, carefully. Not in the hungry way he’s kissed me before. This is different.
I kiss him back, my hands sliding into his hair, my heart aching from how deeply I missed his presence and his touch.
For tonight, at least, the world stays outside.
CHAPTER 34
AMALIE
“Ithought you were staying with your brother tonight.”
I nod, my throat tight. “I guess I just couldn’t stay away.”
He smiles at me, his hand cradling the side of my face. Something about the feeling of his big, rough hand against my cheek makes me want to close my eyes, to press myself against it. I do just that. My eyes close, and I savor this strange blend of feelings Roman inspires in me—lust, fear, safety, and something else.
Is it love?
I don’t have much time for the thought to linger in my head before Roman seals my mouth with a kiss. It starts out gently, probing, as if he’s testing to make sure I’m real. Then it changes. His hand moves to the back of my neck, his fingers weaving through my hair, tilting my head exactly where he wants it.
The gentleness fades and is replaced by an intensity that kicks up my heartbeat. I open my mouth and his tongue finds mine, his taste flooding my senses. Roman growls, his hands moving tomy hips. He walks me backward slowly until my shoulders press against the wall next to the fireplace.
The heat from the flames licks at my side, but his heat is more intense. He takes his mouth from mine and travels down my throat, open-mouthed kisses against my skin like he’s branding me. His teeth graze the curve where my neck ends and my shoulder begins and I gasp.
He presses his body against mine. He’s already rock-hard, his erection pressing against my belly. His hands move to the fabric of my sweater. He pulls it up and over my head in one smooth motion, tossing it over his shoulder. My bra is next, unhooked with the sort of impatience that makes it clear he wants what’s underneath.
The room is warm from the fire, but the passion is enough to make my nipples harden.
“How did I almost lose you?” he says, his gaze sweeping over my body like he’s memorizing it. “Losethis.”
I blush like I always do when he talks about my body so reverently.
He effortlessly scoops me off my feet and carries me to the wide leather sofa opposite the fireplace. He sets me down on the arm and steps between my legs. With focused intensity he has me stripped in no time. I’m bare under the firelight, every curve illuminated by the flickering flames.
He drops to his knees. His mouth goes to my inner thigh first, scraping it lightly with his teeth, then soothing it with his tongue. He moves higher, and I slip my hands into his hair as he spreads me wider, shoulders forcing my legs apart. The first lick drives me wild, as it always does. It’s long and slow, like he’sstarving and the only thing that can satisfy him is me. I moan, lifting my hips. He pins me down with one arm.
“I could taste you every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it,” he says before laying another flurry of kisses against my inner thigh.
Roman’s tongue circles my clit, slow at first, then faster, relentless. Two fingers slide inside, curling just right to hit thespot. He knows my body so well, knows just how to tease me, how to take me to the edge, and just how to make me come—but only when he’s good and ready to let me.
His fingers thrust deep, mouth sucking hard, the sounds blending with the crackle of the fireplace. Pleasure coils so fast it takes me by surprise. I’m soon close to climaxing, my body trembling.
Roman feels it too. He slows, pulling back just enough to deny. I whimper. He moves up, his cock pressing against my hip as he leans in for a slow, deep kiss.
“Not yet,” he says against my lips. “You’ll come when I’m inside you.”
