32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
L una
When we walked into the house, Roman pulled me into his bathroom, turned on his oversized shower, and stripped me down. Then he carefully cleaned me while methodically working over my body with his mouth and fingers, before leaning me over the tile bench and giving me a few solid smacks on my ass cheeks.
“You knew I was looking for Lionel, but you went radio silent when the Spades found him. By involving yourself in his death, you put yourself in danger, wife. We need honesty, and I need to know you’re safe.” He punctuated each word with a hard slap and ran his hands along my burning globes and thighs before dipping his fingers into my dripping pussy. Then he let loose with another volley of spankings, interspersed with a few well-placed strokes. My confused mind struggled to process the pain and pleasure as he heated up my bottom and thighs. I tried not to moan or cry out.
“Are you going to do it again?”
Panting heavily, I shifted under his hands but stayed silent.
“I can do this all night if I need to. You might not be able to sit, or sleep on your back for a week, but–”
“Maybe,” I gasped out.
He paused. “Maybe? What the fuck does that mean?”
“I might do it again, under the right circumstances. He deserved to die and I wanted to see him suffer–so much. He hurt her, and then kicked her when she was on the ground, bleeding.” I hiccupped and buried my face in my arms, trying to hide my emotions.
He stilled, then exhaled slowly. “Fuck me.” Leaning over my back, he pushed my wet hair to the side and trailed his lips across my shoulders. Then Roman wrapped his arms around my torso and pulled me up. “Are you talking about Misty or yourself?” he asked quietly.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. Memories pounded at me while shudders wracked my body. The shower was warm and steamy, but I felt cold inside. My mind tried to suck me back to that dark place, but this time I took big, deep breaths and fought with everything I had to stay in the present.
Roman turned me around. “I’ve got you, love, you’re safe here with me. Just breathe.” We sat naked on the bench as he cradled me in his arms, whispering promises and stroking my damp skin. My panting subsided and the crushing darkness started to recede.
“I’m so tired of going back there.”
“Misty’s attack hit a little too close to home, didn’t it?” he asked quietly.
I nodded against his hard chest as I tried to steady myself. Turning, I straddled him and wrapped my arms around his neck, laying my head on his shoulder. “It still hits me out of the blue and knocks me off my feet sometimes. Do you have flashbacks?”
He squeezed me, wrapping his arms tight around my waist, his erection rubbing against me. “Not in the same way. The memories come out when I’m not in control, or I can’t dictate my surroundings.” He rubbed his whiskers across my cheek and sighed into my hair. “It’s why I need to be in charge. You might’ve noticed by now I like to hold you down or tie you up when we fuck.”
I snorted against his neck. “I’m aware you’re dominant. We’ve been living together for a while now, and I’m wearing your collar and your ring. Have you had long-term submissives before?”
“A few, but those relationships were more regimented, and I’ve never lived with anyone.”
“The women at the charity event.”
He nodded. “I don’t need that level of control with you, and I crave more than just a physical relationship. I want everything.”
“What do you mean?”
Stroking my back, Roman leaned in and kissed along my jawline. “I want you here. I love coming home and finding you somewhere in the house, either studying in a corner or making food. You’re like finding the sun after years of cold, gray weather, and I have an obsessive desire to keep you close and safe. I’m a possessive bastard.”
“You don’t say.” I hugged him to me. I loved his care and possessiveness. Until the Spade family enfolded me into their ranks, I wondered if anyone would ever love or care about me, and I’d decided not to chance it. But with Roman, the choice had been taken out of my hands.
He leaned down and took a nipple in his mouth, sucking deep and then biting down, making me arch back and moan.
He slid his hands up my thighs and brought his mouth to my ear. “You always taste like citrus and smell like fucking cinnamon candy. Christ, I could eat you up.”
I moved along his hard length, the friction rubbing against my clit. Roman palmed my ass cheeks and I winced. “Ouch.”
He grinned and squeezed harder. “That’s what you get for not informing me they found Lionel and not inviting me to your Spade family BTK party.”
I leaned in and bit his earlobe. “You’re funny. I’ve never tortured anyone before, but I was so enraged.”
He ran his hands along my spine and brushed my wet hair behind my shoulder. “Those yellow boots of yours. Fuck me, I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or throw you over my shoulder and drag you away. Put my cock inside your cunt, wife.”
I stilled at his brisk, lewd command.
“Unless you prefer I bend you over the bench again and finish spanking you.”
Nipping his neck, I slid my hand between us and wrapped my palm around his thick, pulsing shaft. Then I worked myself down onto his massive length, moaning as he pushed up inside me.
He let me ride him for a few seconds and then growled against my temple and clasped my waist, slamming me down on his cock. Roman thrust his hips upward, spearing me deep as he pulled me down on him. I gasped and threw my head back.
“That’s it, take it all. You can do it, just relax and open for me.” His words singed my mind, and red-hot lust coursed through me. He held both my wrists in one hand behind my back and found my clit with his thumb. When he leaned in and ran his teeth across my nipple, my orgasm rose.
“Oh, God. Roman, I want to come.”
“Not yet. Keep your hands behind your back.” He repositioned his thumb against my clit and reached down to stroke my ass before sliding his finger between my cheeks. I stilled and my eyes flew open.
“I’m going to take you here. Soon.” His lips tipped up in a menacing smirk as he worked me over, and when he stroked my back hole and slid a finger inside, I cried out as an orgasm crashed through me with so much force, my back curved and my head flew back.
Roman kept at me until my climax receded, then grabbed my hips and brutally thrust up into me. I brought my hands around to steady myself on his shoulders as he slammed inside one last time and climaxed long and hard. When he finally came down, he cupped my backside with his hands and squeezed again, getting another whine from me. “Your cunt, this ass, and these lush, rosy tits are mine .”
Then he grinned and kissed my mouth, running his lips up to my forehead. “And this beautiful brain.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed him to me. “Then you’re mine too.”
He nodded slowly. “I am, and you’re probably going to regret that.”
I slept late on Monday morning and vaguely remembered Roman kissing my neck before he left for work. I decided to give myself a lazy day, and deep pleasure coursed through me at not having homework, classes, or anything else hanging over my head. Milo was recovering in the suite above the garage, and I took some food and checked in with him.
“Are you sure you have everything you need?” I asked for the third time.
“Yes. You fed me breakfast, brought me something for lunch, and left snacks and more books than I’ll read in a lifetime. I’m good.”
“Okay. Can I ask you about getting shot?”
Milo sighed. “I knew this was coming.”
“Is that a yes?” I asked, sitting on a kitchen barstool.
“Fine. Three questions.”
“Ten,” I pushed.
“Four,” he countered.
“An even five.”
“Alright, but first get me two pain relievers out of the bottle on the counter. I’m going to need them by the time we’re done.” I smiled and got the pain meds and a glass of water.
I finally left him to convalesce in peace, changed into workout clothes, and headed to Roman’s gym. He spent at least an hour a day in here, either boxing, lifting weights, or working out with me before he’d sometimes tie me up with his jump ropes and play with me on the mats. He had an inventive mind, and he liked to use restraints. I shivered, thinking of our last session.
As I wound down on the treadmill, I glanced at my phone and noticed a text from a number I didn’t recognize. My finger reflexively moved to delete it and block the number, but I paused when I noticed a recorded video attached. Squinting at the screen, something caught my attention. I decided to play it.
The video was wobbly and showed a familiar dark marble floor. I recognized the office conference room door when the picture panned up a little. Immediately, I heard one of the partners talking and had to put the phone up to my ear to hear what was being said. I recognized Ivan’s voice first.
“Luna’s father doesn’t give a rat’s ass about her, and she hates his guts.”
“I’m aware. I still plan to fuck her.”
“So, what? Now you’re thinking that maybe instead of ruining her law career before it starts, you’ll just destroy her life by fucking her while she’s your intern.”
My body locked when I recognized Roman’s voice and Drakos’s glib response. Xander replied next, but I barely heard what he said as pain and betrayal slammed through me.
“She doesn’t deserve to have her life wrecked so you can get your revenge.”
“Thank you for stating the obvious, but I’m not sure that’s how revenge works.”
“I agree with Xander. You framing her for stealing from this firm and cheating on a law school exam is juvenile and asinine.
My heart cracked painfully when I heard what Roman had planned for me all along, as Gideon continued lecturing Roman.
Her father may have been a major shareholder in Bitter Creek Ranch, but Luna wasn’t. And now that you all know her, destroying her will make you feel exponentially worse… You need to fix this.”
“I still plan to have her.”
By the time the recording ended, I’d slid to the mat and sat curled in on myself. After a while, I stood and walked numbly into the bedroom, pulled a suitcase out, and started packing a few things. My mind felt bruised and traumatized. I’d been so happy a few hours ago, and yet now I wanted to find a place to hide and lick my wounds; I needed time and distance to digest what I’d just heard.
Did Roman still plan to frame me and ruin my life? Maybe afterward, he’d throw me out and divorce me. Was all this–our marriage and this life together–just another sick way to hurt me?
When I walked into the mortuary apartment an hour later, the place felt lifeless and still as I lugged my suitcase inside. That’s what I’d thought about Roman’s house the first time I was there. Then I remembered Luna had started taking Carl down to the funeral home during the day so he wouldn’t be alone up here, and the space felt even more desolate.
I walked into my room and looked around. It seemed the same, except there were fewer books, and half my clothes were missing. Looking around the room, I realized I’d never fully moved into Roman’s stark modern home. I probably knew on a fundamental level that the relationship wasn’t real.
With my father being who he was, and him contributing to Roman’s traumatic past, I was a fool to think he would ever care about me. And maybe I wasn’t worth caring about. I just didn’t know Roman had planned to set me up in the most brutal ways possible and wreck years of sacrifice and work.
So why string this out? Lionel was dead and we could all return to where we were before Klim started this mess. Except I knew that was a lie–at least for me. I hadn’t felt this level of betrayal and hurt since my father shut that closet door.
I lay on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Roman would look for me here first, and I needed to tell Sylvie and Fenn what I’d found out, then get away from Roman’s reach. But I didn’t move. He was still at work and I had time. Besides, I was just… tired. Turning to my side, my eyes blurred with unshed tears.