Right. So he should have gone in the other room to change.
Or maybe not.
What was going on? He wasn’t sure.
She held the clothes against her chest like a shield. Her confidence was clearly shaken. Still, she stepped forward and laid her palm against his bare chest. “Rome—”
He dropped the shirt to the floor, running his fingertip along the bridge of Sadie’s nose. She purred and turned so her cheek was in his palm.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.” He stroked at her temple.
“Now you’re just trying to get in my pants.” She pressed her lips against the flesh near his thumb.
A chuckle slipped from his lips. “Legit, Iamtrying to get in your pants.”
“Nice, Rome,” she said it like she was going to back away. When the moment came for her to step back—when the moment came for him to release his hold on her—she didn’t move. Instead, she stepped closer to him, letting the clothes she’d been holding in her arms fall to the ground next to his shirts.
His body flamed as she went about tracing his pecs with the pads of her fingertips, using the slightest pressure from her fingernails as she trailed over his nipples.
It was his turn to suck in a breath.
“The fact that I want in your pants has nothing to do with the beauty of who you are.” He swallowed, the trail of her gaze settling on his throat.
“You should probably stop talking and do the pants thing,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow. She was serious?
He stepped closer, threading a hand through her hair. She’d worn her hair down that night. Thank fuck she’d worn it down. He loved her hair. Loved running his hand through the strands.
“Sadie, you’re perfection,” he whispered.
He dropped his mouth to press a kiss to her lips. He did this lightly, not wanting to spook her with the intensity of what he felt.
Her pert mouth parted. The tongue he knew to be oh so very pink touched the tip of his.
Pulse thrumming in his temples, he deepened the kiss—tongue in her mouth, hands in her hair…everything he could pour into her in a kiss.
God, he’d missed her. He’d known it on a visceral level, but experiencing all that was Sadie again? It was like he hadn’t had a sip of water in a century, and with the smallest tap of her lips against his, she managed to quench the thirst he’d tried to forget.
With his thigh between her legs, he shuffled her backward against the wall. Sadie made a small mewing sound of pleasure that made him so hard he thought he’d burst right out of his fly. “I need to tell you some things.”
“Don’t talk, Rome. Just let it be what it’s going to be.” She pressed against him.
He wanted that, but he also had some very specific requirements for what they would be.
Sadie melted into his kiss.
Yeah, he grunted. It happened. He grunted because he was apparently part caveman and the woman he wanted to claim was currently thrusting her tongue against his.
“Rome,” she whispered against his mouth.
“Sadie,” he said in reply.
And then, for the first time in a decade, Sadie Howard opened herself to him. He felt the shift inside her, even if it was just her mouth. Even if it was just for now. Even if it was something she wasn’t certain she wanted to give him long-term. He’d take it. Take the now. Take the promise of a certain future. Take the hope of forever.
And he took it.
His erection pressed against her belly, their tongues melded against each other, and the years fell away. Mouth to mouth, chest to chest. His breaths came quicker and his pulse beat unevenly—rough and in time with the small sounds she made in the back of her throat.
