“You done?” The roughness of his drawling voice skated over her skin.
“No.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth.
She opened it to start telling him where he could stick his rude questions. She had to get everything she wanted to say out before—
He took a step toward her.
“And another thing! You can’t just try to intimidate me because you’re so big and muscled and—”
Another step.
Before she realized she’d retreated, her back hit the closed door.
“You done now?” His voice pitched a beat lower, causing her insides to clutch in ways she’d never felt before.
“Not even remotely,” she bit off.
Anger sparked through the heat in his eyes.
“Yes, you fucking are.”
Shock wiped every syllable from her lips as he curled his hand around the side of her neck and crushed his mouth over hers.
The kiss hit like a door kicked open.
No warning, no soft test. No polite question whether he should take what he wanted from her.
Rome kissed her like every ounce of control he’d been dragging around since the moment they met finally snapped.
She gasped at the weight of him caging her against the door, hating the sound and loving it at the same time.
She pulled her flattened palms off the door and fisted his shirt, aware of how hot his skin was beneath, and how the solid muscle made her knees want to buckle.
He angled his head and plundered her mouth until her body turned into a puddle of molten lava.
All the confusion, hurt and anger from the day before morphed into one bright, terrifying point.
Want.
She wanted him.
The realization should send her running, but she only pulled him closer until his body trapped her more firmly to the door.
Rome made a low sound, stretching his fingers along her throat, the tips barely skimming her racing pulse as he took the kiss deeper. He caught her waist with his other hand, fingers splaying wide as if he needed to hold on to her as badly as she needed to hold on to him.
The thought stunned her almost as much as the commanding strokes of his tongue over hers.
Rome didn’t seem like a man who needed anything.
Especially not her.
He tore away first, only moving far enough away to drag in a rough breath. His forehead nearly touched hers, and he didn’t move his fingers from her throbbing pulse point.
She stared up at him, mouth tingling and her heart punching against her ribs.
For once…she had no idea what to say.
