Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I gazed down at her. “If this happens between us, it will change everything.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
I laughed. “Yes, Effie, it does.” I already knew it would. It already had. I couldn’t explain it; I didn’t want to think about it, but I knew it was the truth.
She gazed up at me, her wondrous eyes bright in the dim light. Wide with desire. Nervous, yet she met my gaze with determination.
“Do you feel it?” I asked. “This connection between us?”
“Yes. With every breath in my body.”
Those words sealed her fate.
CHAPTER 12
ROMAN
Ilifted Effie, taking her with me and covering her mouth with mine. I carried her down the hall, laying her on my bed, my body following hers to the plush mattress. I was careful to stay away from her injured side as I kissed her, our tongues tangling together, her taste filling all my senses.
I pulled away, looking down at her, my breathing fast. “I should send you to another room. Away from me.”
“Will that stop this?” she asked, reaching her hand up to cup my cheek.
“No.” I shook my head. “You shouldn’t do this, Effie. You shouldn’t give yourself to me. There is no future here. I have nothing to offer you.”
She didn’t withdraw her touch. “It is my choice, Roman.”
“Why? Because you think I saved you? I’m not a hero.”
“No, you’re a man.” She smiled, her fingers tracing small circles on my skin. “A complicated one. But you make me feel something I have never felt until now. I want you. I want you to be my first.”
“I’ll be your only,” were the words that blasted through my head. I stared down at her, wondering if she had any idea of the power she held over me. Of the emotions she stirred within me. From the moment I saw her, it started. And I couldn’t control it. I didn’t want to control it.
Aldo was right. Somehow, somewhere, I had “caught feelings.” How far, how deep, I didn’t know, but they were there. And they were changing me.
And I didn’t want to fight them or her.
EFFIE
Roman loomed over me, his expression once again fierce yet tender. I saw the war going on behind his eyes, felt his tension and need. But the fury, the anger from before, was gone. I had seen it dissipate the closer I went to him. The longer I spoke. It ebbed away, leaving room for another emotion. Desire.
His eyes were dark, the pupils eclipsing the green. His muscles bunched under his sun-kissed skin.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
I met his gaze. If anyone had told me that in the short time span since he’d walked into the diner for the first time all that would transpire, and that I would be under him in his bed, I would have thought they were on drugs.
But here I was.
“Yes.”
He lowered his chest to mine, the hard planes of his torso pressing into my softness. His mouth covered mine, kissing me. When he had asked me earlier if I had been kissed before, I had been truthful. Other men had kissed me, but not the way Roman did. His mouth was demanding and possessive yet tender and giving, all at the same time. He took control, sweeping in his tongue and exploring me. Making me whimper as I slid my hands into his thick hair, pulling him closer. Being kissed by Roman, I decided, was highly addictive.
He took great care not to press on my injuries, holding his full weight off me. But I wanted to feel him. I wanted him pushing me down into the mattress. I tugged on him, and instead of coming closer, he lifted away.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I want to feel you.”
He grinned, the action changing his countenance. With his hair messy from my fingers, his lips wet, and a wide smile tugging on his lips, he was sexier than ever.
“Oh, you’re going to feel me, Little Tiger. Every damn inch of me.”
He grasped the bottom of my T-shirt and tore it in half. One wrench of his hands and the material tore up the middle. I gasped as he stared at my breasts, slowly tracing his fingers over my tightened nipples.
“Fucking exquisite,” he muttered. He yanked his shirt over his head, tossing it somewhere behind him.
Then he slid his arms under me and sat up, enfolding me in his embrace. His mouth descended once more.
And I was lost to him. To this moment.
It didn’t matter how I got there. Who did what and what had happened to bring me to this moment. I was in his arms. He wanted me. I wanted him. That was all that mattered.
His chest rubbed on mine, my nipples sensitive and aching for something. He pulled me up, closing his lips around me and sucking. Licking, gently biting. The sensations were incredible, and the ache shot into my center, making me whimper for him. He kissed his way back up my neck, covering my mouth again. He held me close with one arm, the other hand roving over my back, cupping my ass and sliding between my legs.