Chapter 27
Five Minutes Later
The shower stall was bigger than Ava’s entire bathroom back home. She stood with one leg braced on the wooden bench, an orgasm
within arm’s reach thanks to the vibrating suction on her clit. Steam swirled around her and the water pattered against the
iridescent blue tiles like her own private rainstorm. She closed her eyes, recalling the way Roman had eaten her out against
the door in that empty office, and shifted her foot on the bench. There was a clatter of tiny plastic bottles as she knocked
her hair products to the floor, but she paid them no mind. A moan escaped her lips, and she raised her free hand to tweak
her own nipple. She was close, so close—
The sound of the door hinge made her eyes fly open. Roman stood frozen in the bathroom doorway wearing an almost cartoonish
expression of shock.
“Sorry,” he stammered. “I—I forgot my glasses. I heard a noise, thought you were hurt—never mind. I’m leaving. Carry on.”
He turned to go. Without pausing to consider the consequences, Ava called, “Wait.”
In the back of her mind, she wondered if they should talk about this. Asking him to join her in the shower definitely counted
as “hanky-panky.” But New Ava was firmly in charge and she was so fucking tired of denying herself what she wanted.
Him .
She. Wanted. Him .
Roman stilled. Their eyes met through the foggy glass, and Ava knew she’d have to be the one to say it. He was too good of
a man to overstep the line she’d drawn.
She extended a hand, reaching for him. “Come here.”
She wasn’t sure he’d heard her over the sound of the water, but a second later he was stripping off his clothes and joining
her in the shower. Without a word, Roman dropped to his knees and pressed his face to her pussy. Ava shut off the vibrator
and tossed it onto the bench as his tongue took over, and oh god, the real thing was so much better . The water beat down on his head, plastering his hair to his skull, but it did nothing to deter his efforts. He licked her
just like she’d been imagining before he walked in. She sank her fingers into his wet hair as his mouth brought her to the
peak once more.
What will your family say when they find out?
If only the rule-following part of her brain would shut the fuck up and let her enjoy this perfect man with his face between her legs. She wanted him. He wanted her. Why did it need to be more
complicated than that?
Because it is , her brain warned.
“Shut up,” she mumbled, and Roman lifted his head.
“What?”
She pushed his face back down. “Not you. Keep going.”
He did as she asked. Seconds later, an orgasm chased away all those pesky little thoughts, leaving only exhilaration in its
wake. Panting and leaning against the cool tiles, she gave Roman’s arm a weak tug. He stood and hitched her hip up on his
thigh, nudging her opening with his dick. Then he paused and dropped his head to her shoulder.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I don’t have any condoms. I’ll have to go get one.”
She draped her arms—heavy with the thudding pulse of her climax—around his neck. What she was about to admit had the potential
to change everything between them, but she was feeling too good to care.
“I have an implant. And you’re the only... well, the only other person...” She swallowed hard and couldn’t go on. He
had to know he was not just the only person she’d been with since Hector, but the only other person she’d been with ever .
His stare ran the gamut of emotions. She thought she saw surprise, arousal, and maybe even something deeper, something too
scary to name.
Just as she was starting to rethink her impulsive suggestion, Roman cupped her cheek and kissed her. She tasted herself on
him, which reminded her of how good he’d already made her feel this morning. Her body trembled with remembered aftershocks.
“You, as well.” He rested his forehead on hers and voiced the admission into the scant space between them. “Since the moment
we met, I have wanted no one but you.”
Her heart pounded as steam billowed around them, forming a sort of cocoon where it was safe to say such things. It was a different sort of admission than the one she’d made, but she nodded in acknowledgment. Their no-strings fling had somehow been exclusive all along.
He rubbed the head of his cock through her folds, bringing her back to the present moment and banishing all thoughts other
than anticipation for what was to come.
“Can I?” he asked, and when she nodded, his hips pushed forward. As he filled her, she gasped at the difference in friction,
at the deliciousness of being skin to skin. He gripped her other leg and lifted her, pressing her back into the tiles. She
hung on around his neck as he pumped into her, water streaming over his back.
“God, you feel good.” He pressed kisses into the wet skin of her neck. “I’ve missed this. Missed you .”
Me too , she thought. But she just hung on tighter.
“Touch yourself,” he commanded, and changed the angle so she could reach between them to rub her clit. Her fingertips brushed
his shaft, and she thrilled at feeling him both inside and out.
“Fuck, Ava.” Roman scraped his teeth over the side of her neck, drawing a moan from her lips.
His hips moved faster, but it was like time slowed down, and Ava was aware of every thrust, of the water falling from the
showerhead, of the cool tiles behind her shoulders, of Roman’s warm hands gripping her thighs and ass, of the bunch of his
back muscles under her hand, of his scent, his taste, his cock burrowing deep inside her. She collected every detail, committing
them to memory, so she’d have them to hold when this thing between them was over.
“Keep touching yourself.” He nipped her earlobe, and she realized she’d been so consumed with the experience of being with him, she’d forgotten what she was doing. She resumed her efforts, and sensation swelled inside her, centering in her core and spreading outward like the precursor to an earthquake.
“Roman, I’m close,” she said on a gasp, and he changed the angle once again, hitting her right where she wanted it. “Yes.
Oh god, yes, there.”
“Come, Ava. Come all over me.”
The thought of it—of coming on him with no barrier—did the trick. Her thighs tightened around his hips, her back arched, and
the climax bore down on her. She cried out, her toes curling against his ass as spiraling fissures of pleasure sparkled through
her veins, making her see stars.
Roman let out a grunt and thrust hard into her. As he stiffened, his fingers dug into the backs of her thighs, and he groaned
as he came inside her.
Ava could barely breathe through the pulse pounding in her throat, and her legs wobbled when Roman gently set her down.
He pulled out and once again fell to his knees before her. He held her steady with a hand on her hip, then slipped her other
leg over his shoulder. Parting her with his thumbs, he gazed at her with open longing.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, licking his lips.
“What do you see?” It was something she never would have dared ask in the past, but Roman’s open adoration made her bold.
He dragged his fingertips through the stickiness between her legs, sending another sizzle down her limbs. “You and me. Mingled.
Inseparable.”
She swallowed hard. “I wish I could see.”
“Next time.”
Reality thudded into her thoughts like the Kool-Aid Man, and Ava let out a long sigh.
Roman’s gaze flicked up to hers, doing an admirable impression of a guilty puppy. “Did I just break a rule?”
A laugh burbled out of her, but she sobered quickly. “I think we broke all the rules.”
He leaned toward her, his expression devious. “Are you going to spank me with a ruler, profe?”
And then his tongue darted out to lick her clit.
The move gave her a full-body shiver. “I should. You’ve been very naughty.”
A devious light sparked in his eyes. He rose to his feet and gripped her chin. “We’ll save that for later.”
All this talk of “later” and “next time” was too much for her. Ava turned, grabbing the soap to wash off again. As her system
went back to normal, she couldn’t block out the doubts any longer.
What the hell was she doing?
It didn’t matter how much she enjoyed being with him. She didn’t want to be involved with someone who had any ties to her
family.
And Roman definitely fell into that category.
His hands landed on her hips and slid around her belly. He hugged her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“No,” she lied, then stuck her face in the spray. When she stepped back, he turned her to him. His brows drew together, and
she was glad she couldn’t see her expression. She probably looked like a cowering mouse, about to be eaten alive by the most
frightening of monsters, emotional intimacy .
“Ava, is this because we didn’t use protection? Because if it is—”
“No.” She cut him off before he could issue an offer that would make them both uncomfortable. “I mean, yes, but not—not for
the reason you think.”
“Then what is it, if not that?”
Suddenly the enormous shower stall seemed claustrophobic. She tried to shrug him off, unable to explain how the lack of a
physical barrier between them mirrored her emotional walls coming down. “It’s fine.”
“Ava.” He let go of her and stood naked with his hands on his hips. With the water running down his chest and legs, he looked
for all the world like some kind of wet, pissed off Greek god. Or, she supposed, a Roman one. “You’re clearly not fine.”
“You’re right, I’m not,” she snapped. “I’m pissed. I set those rules for a reason, and now I’ve broken them all.”
His eyebrows twitched, his expression shutting down, and she could tell she’d hurt him. That hadn’t been her intention but
fuck, she had to get out of this shower and away from him. He was too overwhelming in the best ways, and being around him
made her forget all the reasons why this was never going to work.
She scrubbed herself with quick, angry movements and rinsed off. “I’m getting out.”
He caught her wrist before she could go, and the look on his face was devastating.
“Look, I understand that you’re scared and you need time to process things,” he said, and the steady patience in his voice
nearly made her crack. “Let’s table this for now, call a truce, and meet with Belinda again so you can give her your feedback
on the things we discussed yesterday. Sound good?”
It sounded far more reasonable than she deserved. To deny would make her seem petulant. “Okay.”
He kissed her forehead. “We’re not done here, Ava.”
She swallowed hard, dreading the conversation to come. He was going to make her own up to pushing him away again. “I know.”
“Get dressed. I’ll see you at breakfast.” With that, he grabbed a towel and left the bathroom.