When I reach to touch him, Roman catches both of my wrists in a firm hold, pinning them above my head. The heel of his palms press into each of mine as he drives deeper, his pace slowing but the intensity only ramping up.
“Mmm,” I moan, arching my back as I pull against him, and the resistance floods me with a furious, flaming desire. He breaches every one of my defenses, and I let him. Let him devour me. Let him claim me. Let him hold me like he owns me…and in this moment, he does.
Another one of his intoxicating kisses robs me of my senses, and I realize that I’m fully under his control. My body trembles as I surrender, letting myself submit to his prowess. I don’t expect it to hit me like it does, but being at his mercy sends an intense craving coiling through me—one I can almost taste as he brings me to the edge.
Roman’s only focus is on my pleasure, his warm, lustful kisses littering my body as he bucks against me. My eyes shut and I stuck in a sharp breath, my orgasm hitting me in drugged waves with his last thrust.
“Ohhhh god, Roman…” I whine, digging my nails into the back of his hand as he holds me in place. The resistance makes my release all the more intense and a blistering heat grips me as my body clenches around him, giving him the final push to his own climax.
“Fuck, Maddie,” he hisses as that hypnotic wave crashes into him. Burying his face into my neck, he groans, and we collapse against each other onto the bed.
For a moment, we’re quiet; the only sound is our labored breathing as we lie there. Still too high on him to consider the consequences of what we’ve just done, I reach for his hand. He takes it, pulling me on top of him.
“You’re so fucking perfect, Maddie. You know that?” The rasp in his voice makes my body tingle, as if I have anything left to give. “I could do that forever.”
Forever.
“Me too,” I whisper, my head falling back onto his forearm.
Neither one of us thinks about what that word actually means, but for now, it’s the truth. I could live inside these last few moments with Roman and the contentment I feel for eternity.
Chapter Seventeen
AsIlayonRoman’s shoulder, fingertips tracing the endless lines of his tattoos as his chest rises and falls with each breath, my mind is almost blank. Nothing else matters, nothing else exists, except for us, in this moment together. I don’t want to think about what happens next, or what this means moving forward, because, right now, everything is perfect and I’m not ready for that to fade.
I don’t exactly have a long line of experience to compare it to, but sex with Roman is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. He knew just how hard to push me, when to pull back, and exactly where to touch to drive me wild, like he designed my sweet spots himself. It was almost irritating how fast he mastered me, but he was patient and intentional and took every cue I gave, so by the end, he knew what I wanted even before I did.
It was everything I expected, yet nothing like it at all, and as we lay here, it only gets better. I half expected Roman to kick meout and send me back to my room the moment it was over, but he did the opposite. His strong arms have held me for almost an hour, his fingers gently caressing my back and shoulders. We lie tangled beneath the sheets, naked bodies pressed together like we were designed for each other.
As tired as I am, I don’t want to breathe too hard for the risk of ruining the moment, because I know what comes as soon as it’s over. Instead, we lay in the quiet, both lost in our own thoughts.
This thing between us is almost more than I can handle. One minute he’s infuriating me, and the next, I’m absolutely positive I’ll never be able to live without his touch. It’s disorienting in the best and worst of ways, and I know that what we just did is only going to complicate things.
Not only are we completely incompatible on paper, he’s my boss. I left my lease and I’m counting on the money he’s paying me to get me out of debt. And we just slept together.
Roman leans close, and he presses a kiss to my forehead. “Are you okay? You haven’t said much.”
“I’m great.” I smile up at him. “Just taking it all in. That was…it was incredible.”
He grins, catching my mouth in his. “For me, too. I don’t know why the fuck we waited so long.”
“Probably because we’ve got ourselves a little bit of a mess now.” My stomach knots as I sit up, covering my body with his bedsheet. The elation of the moment slowly dwindles, replaced with gripping reality.
“Maddie, there is no mess.” Roman props himself up. “I meant what I said earlier. You’re in control here. If you want this to be a one-time thing and we never speak about it again, then we’ll do that. No questions asked.”
It’s probably the most logical answer, but each word he says is like a twisting knife in my chest. His face is unreadable, giving no clues to how he’s feeling until he finally speaks again.
“But you should know that’s not what I want.” He swallows, resting his palm on my cheek, his thumb sweeping across it.
“It’s not?”
“Of course it’s not.” He’s almost offended that I asked. “Is that what you thought?”
I don’t answer, biting my lip as I try to make sense of what I’m feeling. “I don’t really know what to think, Roman. You’ve been playing a game with me since the moment I got here…and I can’t say that I haven’t been laying here thinking what happens now that you got what you wanted.”
Roman’s eyes widen, and he lets out a heavy breath. “Maddie…I’m a fucking asshole. You’re right, I’ve acted like a dick the last few weeks and I’m sorry, but it’s only because you’ve made me absolutely insane since the moment you got here. That’s not an excuse. I’m just telling you like it is. But don’t for a second think that you are some kind of game or conquest for me. It’s the exact opposite, actually. I’ve started to get feelings for you in the last few weeks that I haven’t felt for someone in a very, very long time. Probably never.”
He pauses, rubbing his chin. “And that scares me. I don’t like being out of control or unprepared, and that’s why I’ve been acting like I have. You kind of made me lose my mind.” He lets out a sharp laugh. “Maddie, I think you’re brilliant. You’re witty and you’re passionate and you’re fucking gorgeous. I’m done pretending that I’m not attracted to you. I’m all in on this. I want to see how things go between us, but I’ll also respect how you feel about it, so you’ve just got to tell me. We’ll work it out however we need to.”
