ROMAN HELD ALLIE’S BODY, but her mind was a million miles away—just like it’d been since they’d finished having sex. He had no right to push her. He knew that. The agreement that had brought her here in the first place was the same one that kept him from asking anything that might link back to New York.
Except...
“What are you thinking about?”
“Hmm?” She blinked those impossibly blue eyes at him and gave herself a shake. “Sorry. I was mentally wandering.”
It was tempting to let it go. Hell, it was the right move to make. But when Roman opened his mouth, that wasn’t what came out. “Tell me.”
“It’s just boring stuff.” She shifted off him and climbed to her feet. A small petty part of him was pleased to see her legs shake a little. The sex had been...beyond words. Desperation—that was what he felt for her. He’d hoped she’d respond favorably to the note, but Roman hadn’t been sure she’d actually come to him.
He wasn’t sure of a lot of things when it came to Allie.
She scooped up her clothes but made no move to pull them on. He liked that. She was so comfortable in her body, and that confidence was just as attractive as her looks were. But all that was surface-level shit. He wanted to know her.
Roman stopped short. Knowing her wasn’t part of the bargain. It was supposed to be just sex—strictly physical with nothing else involved.
She didn’t say no emotion. She said no business. Apples and oranges.
He steadied himself and followed her into the villa. She meandered to the kitchen and pulled a bottled water from the little fridge. Allie watched him as she took a long drink. “What?”
“What?”
She frowned. “Now you’re the one mentally wandering. What’s going on in that devious brain of yours?”
He grabbed his own water and contemplated it. “I was thinking about the terms of our agreement.”
She went still. “And?”
This was the moment he could back off, change course and keep them in a safe spot. But Roman had never met a woman that both turned him on and called him on his shit the same way Allie did. He might never again. Letting her slip through his fingers without at least poking at the potential for more was a stupid move.
Roman didn’t make a habit of making stupid moves.
“And I want to know more about you.” He watched her closely, noting the tension that crept into her shoulders.
Allie set her water bottle down on the counter. “Why?”
“I haven’t connected with a woman the way I’ve connected with you. Ever. I want to know if it’s just lust that will run itself out or if it has the potential to be more.”
“Normally...” She shook her head. “There is no normal in this situation. In another world, I’d think that sounded downright nice. But this isn’t another world, this is ours—and no matter how great the sex is or how compelling the connection, there remains the fact that you want to buy my business out from underneath me.”
“Ah-ah.” Roman held up a finger. “No business talk. That was part of the agreement.”
She glared. “That was before—” Allie cut herself off and looked at the ceiling. “Damn it, you’re right.”
“Taking business out of it—”
“Roman, that’s crazy.”
“You keep throwing around that word. Maybe you’re even right.” He set his water bottle next to hers and placed his hands on either side of her hips on the counter. “But what if you’re not, Allie? Do you run into this kind of thing so often that you’re willing to pass it up?”
She frowned harder. “Your argument is compelling. Irritating, but compelling.”
He’d given her a lot to think about, but he wasn’t planning on giving her recovery time to think too much. Roman traced her collarbone. “Any siblings?”
“Only child.” Her expression closed off, as clear as if she’d lit a neon sign warning him away.
Family is off-limits. Got it. It was almost enough to confirm that Allie’s pushing so hard for the women’s shelter had something to do with her past. He set the thought aside—for now. He wanted her to tell him when she was ready. He might have the file on her history, but he decided right then that he wouldn’t read it. Better to hear from Allie whatever she wanted to share with him.
What happens when we get back to the mainland?
We’ll figure it out.
She pulled her hair off her shoulder to give him a clear path to stroke to her arm and back again. “You have siblings?”
“No. I always wanted one or two, but my parents had other priorities.”
“Like what?”
He glanced at her face, but there was only curiosity there. Roman stroked her knuckles. “They’re both from old money, and while I was growing up, their only priority was making the family even richer. My old man was a stockbroker, and my mother was a consultant like I am.”
“Was?”
He shrugged. “They retired a couple years back. I haven’t seen them since, but they bought a boat and have been traveling the world. It’s large enough to house a small army, because my parents never do anything halfway. They’ll come around again when they get tired of the travel, but I don’t expect them to stay. They’re nothing if not restless. Always have been.” He loved his parents, in a way, but it was a distant sort of feeling that meant talking to them once every few months and the occasional Christmas card if they stayed in one place long enough to receive it. He had friends who’d grown up with loud families filled to the brim with messy love that manifested in jokes and hugs and the occasional heated fight. There was no room for that in the deep stillness of the Bassani household. “Even when I was little, they traveled regularly. They’d be gone for weeks at a time.”
“That must have been hard to deal with as a kid.” She looped her arms around his neck, bringing them chest to chest. “I don’t know anyone with perfect parents—mine included—but at least most of them were there. The absent figures must have sucked.”
“I thought it was a grand old time when I was in high school. Parties every weekend and girls staying over most days of the week.” He tried to give the comment lightly, but it came out bittersweet.
Allie saw it. She smiled and ran her finger along the shell of his ear. “You turned out all right—except for the whole business thing that we aren’t talking about.”
He laughed. “Except for that—which is my life.”
“Seriously? You don’t have anything else going on but work?”
He squeezed her hips. “Do you?”
She opened her mouth but seemed to reconsider. “That’s a fair point. I could argue that my business is more honorable, but...I’m not in the mood to argue.”
Roman liked this side of her, playful and almost coy. He turned them so he could lean against the counter with her in his arms. “What, pray tell, are you in the mood for?”
“I’m so very glad you asked.” She kissed his throat, his shoulder, his pectoral muscle, sliding to her knees in front of him.
The wood floor would be hell on her knees, but she gave him a look from beneath her lashes that stilled the words in his chest. Allie knew exactly what she was doing, and she wasn’t about to let him drive the show this time. The sight of her stroking his cock with an exploratory hand had him in danger of swaying. It was only the promise of her wetting her lips that kept him pinned in place.
“Your cock is ridiculous.” She gave him another stroke. “There isn’t another word. Just ridiculous.”
He tried to laugh, but the sound came out strangled. “Thanks?”
“You’re welcome, but seriously, with you packing this around, it’s no wonder you’re an arrogant ass.” She flicked her tongue along the underside. “You’ve gone down on me like a dozen times in the last few days and I haven’t had you in my mouth even once.”
“Show me.”
She gave him a saucy smile and then his cock was between her lips. Allie sucked him down, down, down, until he bumped the back of her throat. Roman gripped the counter, using every ounce of self-control he had to keep from moving other than to brace his legs a little wider.
She took the move as an invitation and cradled his balls with one hand while she kept sucking him. Just when he thought he couldn’t take another second of it, she released him. But Allie wasn’t done. She gripped him around the base of his cock with her free hand and licked him like he was her favorite flavor of lollipop. That evil, wonderful tongue of hers damn near made his eyes roll back in his head. “Fuck, Allie.”
“We’re about to.”
* * *
Allie barely got the words out before Roman was on her. He paused long enough to pull a condom out of a candy bowl she hadn’t noticed before and then he was between her thighs, his cock sliding home. He cradled her head with one of his big hands, saving her from knocking herself silly against the hardwood floor with the strength of his thrusts.
It was...brutal. There was no other word to describe the way he moved over her—in her.
She loved every single second of it.
She was the reason he’d lost control.
Allie clung to him, rising in time with his strokes. “I should give you head more often.”
“Every single goddamn day.” He kissed her, which was just as well because she didn’t have a response to that. Every day sounded a whole lot like time after they left West Island. Allie couldn’t promise him that. He knew she couldn’t promise him that.
She kissed him back with everything she had. Their limited time only made the whole thing hotter—or that was what Allie told herself as Roman rolled them. She slammed down onto him without missing a beat, leaning back to brace herself on his big thighs. The man was a monster in the best way possible. The wood floor bit into her knees, but the faint pain only spiked her pleasure higher. She bent down and kissed him without throwing off their rhythm. Yesyesyesyesyes.
“After this. Bed.”
“Yes.”
Roman palmed the back of her head and pressed a hand to the small of her back, effectively caging her. He thrust up, fucking her from below while she was helpless to do anything but take it. Allie took his mouth even as he took her pussy, the pleasure so intense there was no holding out. She came with a cry that he ate down, her legs shaking from the strength of her orgasm. He followed her over the edge with a curse, his rough grip at odds with the sheer pleasure written across his face.
They lay there for several long moments before he shifted her to the side. She gave a small cry of surprise as he climbed to his feet, lifting her into his arms in the process. “What are you doing?”
“We might not be too old to fuck on wood floors, but it’s hell on the back.” He shifted her and pressed a soft kiss to each of her knees. “And on you.”
“Totally worth it.”
“Without a doubt.” He chuckled. “We’ll call the bed a nice change of pace.”
But he wasn’t going to the bed. He turned left inside the bedroom and walked through the doorway leading into the bathroom. It was similar to the two in her villa, but the coloring was all soft grays and a bright blue that reminded her of the ocean surrounding the island. The tiled walk-in shower was large enough to fit ten people, with two sunflower showerheads and a bench that made her think filthy thoughts despite the exhaustion that broke over her in a wave.
Allie lay her head against his shoulder. “I should get back.”
“I don’t think so.” He set her on the bench. “It’s late, and it’s dark, and I promise to let you get some sleep tonight if you stay.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Some sleep?”
Roman turned on the water and shot her a look. “You can’t honestly expect me to have you in my bed and keep my hands to myself.”
“God forbid.” She stood and ducked under the closest showerhead. The water was the perfect temperature, and Allie let herself just be for a few seconds. She could hear Roman washing himself, and as tempting as it was to watch, her thoughts kept her feet rooted in place. He wants to know me.
The thought shouldn’t scare the shit out of her. Roman was gorgeous and successful and... It would never work. Irreconcilable differences about summed them up. Those differences might not matter while they were on West Island, but they would be glaringly obvious when they got back to New York. He was a rich...whatever the hell he was...and she was having to rob Peter to pay Paul and make ends meet. They lived in two different worlds.
They always had.
He’d grown up rich with distant parents. Her heart ached a little for the boy he must have been. So alone. In that, at least, there was a thread of similar experiences. The main difference was that Allie would have given anything for her parents to be gone and leave her alone. Well, her father at least. She shuddered.
“It’s okay.” His arms slid around her from behind. She tensed, waiting for him to ask what was wrong, but Roman just turned her to face him and held her closer. Comforting her without prying.
Even though she knew better, Allie clung to him. She wasn’t weak for wanting to lean on someone for just a few seconds. It’s so hard being strong all the time. I don’t know if I can take it. I’m about to fail, and when I do, I’m going to take so many women down with me. Words pressed against the inside of her lips, all her worries and fears that she never gave voice to bubbling up inside her. She clamped her mouth shut and buried her face against his shoulder.
No matter how good the sex, or how wonderful he seemed to be, she couldn’t afford to forget what Roman’s ultimate goal was—the gym and shelter. He might have shelved his ambition temporarily, but that was all it was. Temporary. Spilling her fears would just give him ammunition later.
What if he could actually help?
He can’t. No one can.
Worse, his version of help might be to sell the damn thing out from underneath her. It wasn’t as easy as that, but once she started missing bills, it opened a door she couldn’t close. If she didn’t figure something out, and fast, she wouldn’t have any choice at all in the matter. I need a plan...a better plan than just pushing forward and hoping for the best.
“It will be okay,” he murmured and stroked a hand down her back. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay, Allie.”
She wished she could believe him.
Allie took a breath, and then another. Self-pity wasn’t her MO. She was the fighter, the one who took people under her wing. She stepped back, and Roman let her go. To hide her embarrassment, she ducked under the spray again. By the time she cleared the water from her eyes, Roman had turned off his showerhead and was drying himself off with an oversize fluffy white towel. He returned with a second one, and she stepped into it after turning off the water.
Roman kissed her forehead. “Come to bed with me, Allie.”
Despite the turmoil in her head, there was only one answer. “Yes.”