CHAPTER 11

GIGI STARED, TRANSFIXED BY THE quiet war in Roman’s eyes. They swirled with his inner turmoil, like whiskey in a highball. Someone hurt him—if she had to guess, it was someone who treated sex as cavalierly as she often did. Why hadn’t she known that?

Alarm bells flared to life in her heart. Her conscience—a fickle bitch she’d forgotten still resided inside her—whispered that she should end this before she broke them both.

Then he caressed her cheeks, his rough skin contrasting the softness of his touch. “I’m all yours, beautiful.”

Fuck—the things it did to her heart when Roman called her that. For others she’d been princess, baby, or even dirty girl. No man before him had ever called her beautiful. She’d never needed to hear it, not until he’d said that one word. Now she craved it like a drug.

Roman saw her—saw past all the barriers she’d flung up around her heart. Would he still trust her so much if he knew what she’d done before him? He’d only seen a small glimpse. For the first time she wished Roman could have been the only one—wished she hadn’t needed to fill that empty void inside herself with hollow physical experiences.

It may be selfish, but here she could pretend the past hadn’t happened. She would lay herself truly bare in a way she’d never given anyone else—fear and control be damned. After all, he was doing the same for her.

Claiming her mouth in a deep kiss that was equal parts gentle and intense, he continued caressing her face before threading his fingers in her hair as she dragged his jeans and boxers down his legs. She took his hard length in her hand and stroked his hot flesh slowly. When he released her from their kiss, his eyes flashed with lust as she stared into them, pumping his cock. She licked her lips seductively. His breath caught. With her free hand, she toyed with the trail of hair that lead to her prize. His breath caught as her nails grazed the taut muscles of his stomach.

Fisting the sheets with one hand, he leaned back, creating more space for her as she knelt between his knees. She circled the head of his cock with her tongue. When he hissed with pleasure, she flicked the flat of her tongue against the V on the underside of the head, working the sensitive spot.

“Holy shit.” Roman’s hips bucked once and then held perfectly still, his muscles straining under her touch.

Gigi licked the underside of him root to tip, slow and sure. His answering groan and the way his grip tightened in her hair spurred her on.

This man had cared for her. Taken her to bed when she was pliant and weak. He could have done anything to her while she was that drunk. She probably would have agreed to it. But he hadn’t taken advantage of her. No. He’d rewarded the trust she hadn’t known she was giving him and left her safely dressed in her bed. He’d given her medicine and made her breakfast. He’d taken nothing from her—only given her what she needed. Now she’d take good care of him.

Gigi took the tip of him in her mouth and eased down, building inch by delicious inch. He was too large to take all of him down her throat but damn if she didn’t want to at least try. He didn’t push her for more, didn’t force himself down. He let her take as much as she wanted. When she couldn’t take another inch she curled her fingers around the base of him, pumping her mouth up and down. In answer, he fucked her mouth. Each stroke down came faster than the last. His hips twitched under her, as his restraint failed—and god that made her hot.

“Beautiful—” his voice broke on a groan as she sucked him as far down as she could take him. “Gigi, I won’t last much longer if you keep doing this.”

She looked up at him through her lashes and stroked down with her mouth again.

With a warning growl, he pulled her off him. He gripped her by the arms and tossed her on the bed beside him. Her whole body shuddered in delight and a giggle bubbled up from her lips.

“What’s so funny?” He crawled up her body as he spoke, prowling like a jungle cat.

She started to answer but gasped instead when he pressed his naked body against her still clothed one, rocking against the ache in her covered pussy. She took a deep steadying breath and he stilled over her.

“I like it when you lose control a little. I like that it was because of me,” Gigi said at last, her voice a husky whisper.

His answering grin—like the cat that got the cream or was about to—made her heart stutter. “I’d like to see you lose a little of that poise, sweetness.” He rolled them and pulled her up so that she was in a sitting position across his lap. “I think it’s time I found your pink. It’s been suspiciously absent.”

Roman’s lips found her neck, first a soft kiss and then a nibble. She drew in a sharp breath and he soothed away the delicious sting with the stroke of his tongue. A surge of pleasure rocketed through her in response, making her squirm as her panties flooded with the evidence of just how hot he was making her. His deft fingers found the pull of her zipper at the back of her dress and dragged it down. The metallic rasp and her panting breath seemed to echo in her tiny apartment bedroom.

“I never thought much of pink.” Kissing her bare collarbone, he slid the shoulder of her dress down, exposing the rosy pastel lace of her bra. “But since I’ve met you it’s become my favorite color.”

He nudged the other shoulder strap down and her dress slipped across her heated skin to pool at her waist. “Is this just for me?” He palmed her aching breast through the fabric.

Gigi nodded, her words catching in her throat. When she did finally push them out, they were little more than a breathy whisper. “Yes—I’m burning all the rest.”

Lifting her breast from the cup, Roman bent his head. First, swirling his tongue around the beaded nipple and then drawing it between his lips. He nipped her and soothed her. The repeat of his actions from her neck and shoulder on her bared breast sent a warning pulse through her pussy. If he kept this tease up, she would come before he even touched her there.

“Roman—please.” It wasn’t the first time this week he’d played with her and drawn that breathy whine from her lips.

He growled his approval around her nipple before releasing it with a soft pop. “Be patient. You’ll get what you need.”

Instead of touching her where she wanted it most, he continued where he’d last touched. This time lifting her other breast free and teasing that nipple in the exact same agonizing way. It felt so goddamned good and so goddamned infuriating at the same time. Her pussy was weeping in frustration and pleasure.

He pulled back, freeing her breast. “Do you have any more pink for me to find?” His hand slid up her thigh as he asked, caressing the edge of her sopping wet lace panties.

He was so close to where she needed him. Just a little bit more. His hand stilled, waiting for her answer. God—what was the fucking question? Color, he’d asked about the pink again. “Yes!” she moaned at last.

Rewarding her outburst, he slid one finger past the flimsy fabric barrier, stroking and then entering her pussy. It pulsed around the invasion. His free hand danced along her spine until he popped the clasp on her bra, freeing her heavy breasts. He bent his head once more taking one nipple back into his mouth as he continued the slow drag of first one finger and then a second through her, stretching her sex as he pumped in and out.

“Roman—I need more.” She hated to beg, but everything he was doing to her was on another level. She’d do more than beg if he asked it of her, but now she needed so much more. “We’ve had a week of foreplay. I need you inside of me.”

Just like that, he rolled, and she was on her back, his hard body leaning over her soft one. His lips hovered over hers and he whispered against them. “Don’t rush, beautiful. We’ve got all day and I want to savor you this first time.”

When he put it like that, could she deny this man anything? She’d never felt so special, so cherished as he was making her feel in this moment, with these words. She licked her dry lips and nodded. She couldn’t even speak to answer him, but it was enough.

Roman worked his way down her body—sucking on her earlobe, ravishing her neck, and leaving a trail of kisses between her breasts that had her pulse raging like a storm. He worked her forgotten dress down her hips as he went and slid it down her legs along with her panties, until she was naked for him.

Kneeling between her spread thighs, he looked down at her as if he was memorizing every line of her body. His gaze was a physical thing, like a paintbrush. Adding strokes of color to highlight and create shadow. He looked at her with a lustful gaze that reminded her of the way he looked at art that he envied, only far more intimate.

“I want to mark you.” Roman’s admission came out a possessive growl.

Damn—that was hot. He was already marking her in indelible ways that she could never explain. Why not this way too? But right here, right now, she wanted him to mark her body with his love, make her want no man but him ever. It was a challenge she didn’t even need to give voice to. As her gaze swept from that hungry look on his face, darkened with his five o’clock shadow, down to the hard length of his cock that she’d already had between her painted lips; he would ruin her for any other man.

He lowered himself over her. Spreading her thighs with kisses and the sweet burn of his unshaven cheek against her flesh, he worked his way to her core. He reached back and hooked her knees over his shoulders. Then she felt his hot breath against her. Her thighs shook with her building need, all this waiting. God—she wanted him so bad. She held her breath until the moment his tongue stroked her pussy top to bottom.

Gigi cried out in sweet relief.

Once he began, the tease was over. Whatever fragile strength had acted as his restraint snapped and he ate her like a starving man. He lapped circles around her clit as if he’d been hungry for her from the moment they met. Maybe he had. Lord knew she’d been craving him as long.

Her orgasm built like a gathering storm, sending tremors through her like thunder in the distance. Roman had sent this tempest raging through her. It pulsed inside her pussy and she bucked against him, an echo of what he’d done when she’d sucked him. He slid two fingers inside of her scissoring and then pumping in and out as he concentrated on her clit. Then he sucked on it and her orgasm broke free like lightning, burning through her body. Gigi screamed. Her control gone as she held onto his hair, pressing his face into her.

When she lay spent, her hands fell away and he climbed her body until he claimed her mouth in a kiss that sent another rumbling of thunder echoing through her veins. God—they’d only just started. The taste of her own pleasure on his lips was so naughty, it was just enough for that side of her; the Gigi who usually came out to play. Tonight, that version needed to stay locked away. This man, the man that had given her that pleasure deserved the real woman. He’d be the first to have her with no masks, no rules or boundaries.

Roman reached across the bed, rifling through the pockets of his discarded jeans until he came up with the condom. He held it up like a prize and smiled at her. That smile was so sexy. That smile was just for her. She sat up on her knees as he rolled the condom down his hard shaft. She didn’t deserve this man, but she wanted him anyway.

She crawled across the bed to him as he settled against the headboard. He took her hand and lead her to his lap. She knelt over him and he ran the head of his cock against her primed entrance. He cradled her face with one hand, staring into her eyes. She met his golden gaze with her emerald one, willing her to show him the love that was already building in her. The emotion she didn’t know how to give voice to, just yet.

Gigi leaned her forehead against his. “I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you.” The words were a whisper, as if the admission had ripped from her soul.

She hadn’t even known she was going to say it—didn’t believe she could have. It was as close to a declaration of love as she had ever made. And she did love him. She didn’t know how he’d worked that magic, but somehow, he had captured her in a way no one else ever could have.

He slid into her then, pulling her hips down until she was flush with his, and his hard length fully sheathed inside her. She cried out, eyes squeezed shut.

He ran his thumb over her eyebrow and placed a soft kiss on her lips before speaking. “Hey, open your eyes, beautiful. Look at me while we make love.”

She didn’t know if she could, not after admitting as much as she had. Not with him filling her like this. Gripping her hips, he moved her against him and she gasped, her eyes flying open against her will. So much of what transpired between them seemed to go against the grain. Her hands slid from his shoulders, gliding up his neck. She leaned her forehead against his and moved. Rocking her hips, she rode him. Her movements building to a rhythm that matched the rest of their lovemaking—slow torture. He’d already broken her with the strength of that first orgasm. Now she wanted to break together.

His hands moved over her body, caressing her curves, stoking the fire inside of her higher. “That’s it—take want you want from me.”

“I want it all,” she whispered against his lips.

Then they were moving. Still buried inside of her, he rolled, bringing her down to her back. Now their rhythm changed. Not faster, not yet. Harder. He pulled nearly all the way out and she cried out at the loss—a loss that was filled immediately when he slammed back home.

“Is this what you want, Gigi? Do you want me to take you the way I love you—long and hard?”

Fuck—he loved her and all she could do was moan out an incoherent yes. Did he even know he said it, or was he becoming as drunk on the sex as she was? She didn’t care. Not he didn’t stop.

She wanted them to break together and with each thrust, each smack of his flesh against hers, it came closer to a reality. He slammed into her with his lips on her neck and then sucking her ear lobe, tugging on it with his teeth.

“Come for me, beautiful—I need you to fall with me.” His whispered plea against her neck sent a shiver of pleasure rolling through her as his hand continued working her between their crashing bodies.

It was exactly what she needed. The spasms, the savage relief that came with them broke free, gripping him as he thrust home and held. His body shook over hers. He pulled his hand free, using it to brace his weight off her smaller frame as the shudders of his own release racked his body.

His arms shook with exhaustion, their foreheads pressed together, but for once her eyes were wide-open—taking in the emotion pouring off him. He moved as if to pull away and she wrapped her shaking legs around his waist, pulling him down. Refusing to let him go. It forced him lower, onto his forearms, crushing their sweat-slicked bodies together.

“Not yet.” She needed to hold on just a little longer. Needed him to anchor her.

This—what they had just done—had shaken every previous experience to show them for the lie it all had been. This was real and she needed to savor it just like he’d said. This is what it meant to be more than skin deep.