“What?” she suddenly asked, and I realized I was imitating a friggin’ statue, standing gaping at her in shock. She was still panting, trying to catch her breath.

Shuffling awkwardly, I admitted, “No one’s ever told me no before.”

Her mouth dropped like a damn cartoon character, and she emitted a single disbelieving laugh. “Are you serious?”

“Deadly,” I answered through clenched teeth. Fuck, I felt like I was in pain, my fists clenching as my c**k throbbed in my boxers.

A giggle escaped her mouth, and she blurted, “That’s… pathetic.”

Yeah… I guess it kind of was.

Dragging my teeth along my bottom lip, I moved in toward her tense body and held her by the hips. The damn sweet sound of her giggle broke through the thick wall of my aggression, and with a ghost of a smirk, I confessed, “But true.”

She shook her head, actually looking pretty damn disgusted, and tipped her chin to the sky. It dawned on me that maybe my past with chicks was putting her off.

With dread pitted in my chest, I plucked up the courage to ask, “You don’t want this? You don’t want… me?” I was so damn scared to hear her response. Actually scared for the first time in years.

“Romeo… I—”

“What?” I interrupted. I didn’t want to be pitied. I wouldn’t be made a fool of. Not by her. Not by anyone.

I watched the conflict in her eyes, but with a sag of her shoulders, she ultimately gave in, her want for me, for us, overpowering her logic. “You’re a lot to take on, you know,” she said with a defeated sigh, but her fingers wrapped in my red Tide T-shirt, subtly bringing me closer.

“I know,” I answered semi-humorously, feeling like I’d just won the friggin’ lottery.

Those hypnotizing golden-brown eyes searched mine, confusion glaring through, and she confessed, “I don’t know what you want from me. You tie me up in knots and I’m not used to it.”

You, I want only you, I thought. But out loud, I said, “Then let me show you what I want. Stop f**kin’ fighting this.” I couldn’t deal with any more running, any more hiding, couldn’t tolerate one more day without knowing I had her as mine.

Arms fidgeted and she tried to break loose, but I held on tight, causing her to murmur, “No, Rome, this is just… just…”

I’d well and truly had enough of this back-and-forth shit.

“I want to be with you,” I snapped, losing my patience, arms like a vise around her waist. “Come on, Mol. I need you. Tell me you get me. Tell me you’re as f**kin’ into me as I am you.”

Caramel eyes closed, and any remaining shreds of resistance left her rigid body. Then two words from her mouth changed everything. “Come inside.”

Exhaling a long, pent-up breath, I could only respond in the best way I knew how—with a sincere and a heartfelt, “Fuck. Yeah.”

12

The minute we’d stepped into her room, I was on Mol—hands roaming on her tight body, fisting her nightgown—and I slowly backed her toward her bed. Our mouths meshed furiously, tongues thrashed together as we hit the mattress, and I set to doing what do best.

Molly gripped my shirt hard, moaning and groaning into my mouth, and when her hands met the bare skin of my back, it was the green light I’d been waiting for.

Breaking from her mouth, I slipped my hand up her thigh, working toward her core, when she slammed on the breaks with a tight hold on my wrist.

“I-I can’t. It’s going too fast.”

Tipping my head back, I almost screamed out in frustration. I was so damn turned on I was almost blind with need. Molly released an embarrassed whimper, and seeing her flushed face, I instantly felt like an ass.

“Don’t do that,” I said, holding her face in my hands.

“Do what?”

“Feel bad for stopping. Never feel bad for that. When I have you, it’ll be when I have you writhing in need, begging me to f**k you. Never feel bad for stopping. When you give yourself to me, you’ll be so wet you can’t f**king stand it.”

Her pupils dilated and her lips parted. “When I give myself to you?”

She was so friggin’ cute.

“When you give yourself to me.”

Shifting slightly away, she said, affronted, “You’re confident. I might refuse you.”

She wouldn’t. Yeah, I may sound like an arrogant dick, but the way her eyes devoured me, my body, there was no f**king way she’d hold out long.

She was still staring at me, waiting for me to speak, so I said, “We’re going to happen. We both know it’s true, and I’m counting the days until I get inside you and make you come… over and over again. Fuckin’ counting the minutes…”