37. Romeo
SEPTEMBER
Apprehension clouded the whisky orbs I loved as Goldyn rested her chin on my chest and peered up at me. It was my favorite way to be cornered by her. And there was nothing I could do about the smile tugging at my lips.
“I should just rip the bandage off, right?” Goldyn asked as we stood outside the only upscale restaurant in town, Noir. It was the same restaurant where Enzo, Sin, and I had celebrated Soulstice’s anniversary before going home to find the woman in front of me asleep on our couch.
Only two months had passed, but nothing in my life was the same. This woman had filled a sacred space in my heart and made it her home.
The Monday after Lorenzo got back from his business trip, Goldyn decided she did want to take that paternity test after all. He’d had someone come to the house and collect her samples before sending him to Chance’s office to do the same. By that Friday, the results were in our mailbox.
That was a week ago, and Goldyn still hadn’t opened the envelope to learn the truth.
Chance had agreed to let her set the pace, and dropped everything to come meet her today after two weeks of radio silence.
“I can do this,” Goldyn cheered herself on, trying to slide out of my embrace. But I held her to me, nodding as our eyes clashed.
“Yea, you can. You’re the bravest person I know.”
“Not brave enough to open an envelope and find out if he’s my dad,” she followed up.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re brave. Look at how you kept going after all your biggest losses. A lot of people don’t have it in them to move past it, but you do and you did. Every single time.” I bowed my head and kissed her, unable to resist the pull of her soft lips. “You went to college, even though you thought it was later than you should have. You graduated. You stood up for yourself to your doctor and got the surgery you needed. You converted a whole fucking van by yourself and traveled the country for two years in it. You danced in clubs where you didn’t know anybody. And now you’re opening the bookstore of your dreams because you never give the fuck up. You think a damn test result cancels all that out?”
Goldyn bit her lip, and I knew tears were about to start welling. But before they did, she got out a whispered, “I guess you were listening to me talk all those times I made you have lunch with me.”
“I’m never not listening to you, Goldyn. Even when it’s not your mouth doing the talking.”
In so little time, I’d conditioned myself to be in tune with her. I knew what her sighs meant. I knew what her eyes were saying before she ever said the words. I knew her excitement as well as I knew her fear. The only person I knew better was myself. I didn’t know how it happened, but I wasn’t mad at the turn of events. Some things were just meant to be.
Smiling, she tried to hug me tighter but her arms were already holding me as snug as possible. “Thank you for being here with me.”
“Stop thanking me. The only thing you ever ask of me is my presence, and I’m going to give you that every time, because you never leave me alone.” Even in sleep, she found a way to tuck herself into my space.
Just this morning, I woke up with her in my bed, smelling like Sin and Enzo. We’d barely said good morning before I was feeding her my dick for breakfast, fucking her in slow, lazy strokes while she alternated between keening moans and sucking on my skin.
“I missed you last night, but I fell asleep before I heard you come back upstairs from the gym.”
“You could have come to the gym and told me you wanted me in bed with you.” My balls clapped against her lips and I retreated just to hear an echo of the sound as I pushed back inside of her.
“I didn’t want to be clingy,” she wailed, clamping a hand over her mouth. Her brows met in the center of her forehead and her hips worked to keep up with my increasing pace.
“Stop that,” I ordered roughly, pulling her hand away from her face. “I wanna hear you, G. The same way I hear you scream for Enzo and Sin, I wanna hear you scream for me.”
But Goldyn didn’t scream. She gasped and her words came out raw and broken. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“You love me fucking you when your pussy was just full of their cum?”
She nodded, face contorted in pleasure.
“You love knowing I would do anything for you?”
“Y-yes.”
“You love knowing that I’m not going any fucking where?”
“Mmm, Rome,” she sputtered when I swiveled my hips, hitting a spot inside of her that made her legs shake on command.
“You love knowing that you belong to us and we’ll give you the fucking world?”
Finally, a scream loosed itself from her throat and she started convulsing around my erection.
“Fuck, Goldyn. You love coming for me, don’t you?”
Thrust.
“You love knowing that we belong to you and letting us please this perfect pussy.”
My own words mixed with the intensity of her release sent me spiraling into a climax that made me moan in her ear as my body enveloped hers, folding myself around her small frame until we were one.
Emptying everything inside of her, I kissed her hair and heaved a happy breath. “Fuck, I love you, woman.”
“I love you too, Rome.”
A few minutes later, I eased my softening length out of her and smiled at the drowsy curve of her lips.
“Will you come with me to meet with Chance today? I don’t want to go alone.”
“So you won’t.” I kissed her temple and rolled onto my side. “What time do we leave?”
“Twelve-thirty,” she answered, covering her mouth as a yawn slipped out.
“Mmm.” I nibbled on her ear. “Enough time for me to make you come for me again before I run us a bath.”
“Okay,” Goldyn exhaled, bringing me back to the present. “I’m opening it.”
The sound of paper ripping pulled my attention down to her hands. The slight tremor in them didn’t stop her from getting the envelope open and holding on to the folded results.
“What if he’s not my dad?” Goldyn forced a laugh, but I could hear the hope clinging to her words. “What if we drove out here for nothing?”
“Open the letter and see, baby.”
Goldyn swallowed hard and started fidgeting in place. “Right.”
Hands a little shakier now, she unfolded the paper and read the results in silence before her eyes flashed to mine. I couldn’t read anything except surprise in them, and I didn’t know if it was good surprise or bad surprise.
“Well?”
“He’s my father.”