Chapter 6 Romeo
ROMEO
Sara’s laughter is bright, and I smile in return.
“You’re not just saying that to get in my pants, are you?”
I kiss her lips, transferring her taste to her mouth with my tongue. Goddammit, the way she licks her lips, tasting herself… It blows my fucking mind.
“I would never,” I begin. “You’re too special, Sara. I…I’ve wanted…”
I can’t admit that I’ve been planning our lives together from the first time I saw her.
The first time she looked at me across the nail salon, I imagined us spreading a blanket underneath an oak tree in fall, lying back, and catching the fiery orange leaves as they fell.
The second time, I thought about riding the ferry with her, the wind in her hair, the tip of her nose pink from the cold.
The third time… I realized that dating Sara would never be enough.
That it would be all or nothing. That’s partly why it took me so long to pluck up the courage to speak to her.
I was setting myself up for a monumental failure when she realized that I’m a total fucking lunatic. Stalker material.
But here she is, and I promised myself that if I ever got the chance to speak to her, I wouldn’t hold back. I would be honest from the start, and if she didn’t like what I have to offer, then I would simply have to lick my wounds and worship her from afar like a tragic hero.
Deep breath. Here goes.
“I want more than this. I want it all,” I whisper.
She turns those beautiful brown eyes on me, and I’m gone. It all spills out, and I’m powerless to stop myself.
“When I first saw you in the nail salon, I knew that there would never be another girl for me. You’re it, Sara Mancini.
You probably think I’m crazy right now, and if this is all you’ll ever want from me, I’ll be happy with it.
I’m not good enough for you, I’m a fucking train wreck.
But you’re mine. And I’m yours. And I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you.
Even if you walk out of here, and never want to see me again, I’ll be right there, adoring you from a distance. Protecting you.”
Her eyes go wide. “Romeo…”
I shrug. “I know it’s a lot.” That’s the understatement of the fucking century. It’s the most words I’ve ever strung together in one breath, and I literally poured my heart out to her. On our second date. I haven’t even bought her a drink yet. “But all it took was one glance, and I knew. “
She sighs. Her lips lift into a little smile.
And she opens her legs beneath me.
“Make me yours,” she whispers.
I growl. I fucking growl like a feral animal and I’m not even ashamed.
I sit back and pull my sweatshirt off, throwing it aside.
Fueled by her eyes raking the ink across my chest, I stand up and remove my pants and swim shorts.
They’re sticky damp still. I didn’t want to get naked in front of her on the beach, was afraid I’d scare her off before I’d even gotten the chance to tell her how I felt.
But now, the fear is gone. Whatever Sara Mancini sees when she looks at me, it’s enough for her. She’s the first person to ever make me feel worthy. The first person who ever made me feel special. Worth waiting for.
My erection springs free of my swim shorts as I look at her spread out before me. “Sara…” My voice is thick with emotion. “You’re so beautiful. You’re perfect. For me.”
Her eyes widen, and she bites her bottom lip. “What did you say?” she asks. “I’m yours, and you’re mine.” She extends her arm, and I take her hand, raising it to my lips.
“I’ll be gentle but stop me anytime you want. Please. I don’t want to hurt you,” I murmur.
I kneel on the bed and nudge her legs apart with my knees. She’s dripping wet. The pink nub of her clit is winking at me. Her nipples are hard and swollen from where I sucked them. But the smile on her face tells me that she wants all of it too.
When I press gently inside her, I feel her breath hitch. Leaning forward, I support my weight on one elbow and kiss her lips. “Kiss me, Sara. Let me in.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice. Her arms wrap around my neck, pulling me down, holding me still while her tongue explores my mouth. We stay like this, mouths locked together, while I slide deep inside her, and her walls tighten around me.
“Tight,” I breathe into her mouth. “So tight, Sara.”
“Keep going.” Her fingers trace lines across the back of my head. Her eyes lock onto mine. “You’re mine, don’t forget.”
“I want this so badly, baby. I’ve wanted this since I first saw you.”
“Romeo…” She gasps. Her back arches, guiding me deeper inside her. “I wanted it too.”
“All this time…” It hurts, but I always knew that Sara was worth waiting for. “I’d have waited till I was old and grey.”
She pulls my lips onto hers. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
I kiss her long and hard, slowing when I hit the wall and she starts panting. “That’s it, baby. Nearly there. You can take all of me.”
I keep pushing, a fraction at a time, until the wall gives, and her warm juices flow down my shaft. I kiss her with all the emotion swelling inside me. Fisting her hair, desperate to discover all that Sara Mancini has to offer, and to win her heart at the same time.
I move slowly, at first. Sliding my shaft all the way out until the head is kissing her pussy and then sinking it deep inside her. Her eyes grow dark. Her kisses more demanding. I push harder, and she wraps her legs around my back, hugging me close, wanting more.
Her hips meet mine with every thrust. She whimpers into my mouth, and if it isn’t the sexiest sound I ever heard.
“Sara,” I breathe, fascinated by the way she feels underneath me. “Fucking hell, Sara.”
“Harder, Romeo,” she pants.
Her legs tremble around me. I rub myself against her clit, grinding deep inside her, knowing that I won’t be able to last long at this rate. I don’t want to come alone.
Her breathing grows ragged. She moans through her kisses. Right as I feel Sara start to clench around me, my climax rips across my spine. I arch, moaning as I fill her up, never wanting the moment to end.
I whisper her name like a prayer, every part of my body shaking with my release.
As I return to my body, I press my forehead against hers, I breathe, feeling her shaking underneath me.
“Sara,” I murmur. “Are you okay?”
Her smile makes my heart feel soft.
“Can we do that again?”
When I wake, Sara is still in my arms. The sight of her beside me, her hair fanned across the pillow, her lips parted to create a tiny heart in the center, makes my heart melt. It’s everything I ever dreamed of, and more.
I press a kiss against her shoulder. “Good morning.”
She turns and burrows her face into my chest “Mmf,” she murmurs.
I laugh and pull her closer. “Did you sleep well?”
“The best.”
I inhale the smell of her hair, mango, and coconut from my shower gel, blended with her unique scent. I want to imprint the smell of her on my psyche so that I never have to be without her. I want to carry this image, this moment, around with me forever.
I hold her close, soaking up her presence in my bed. In my life. Sara Mancini is here. In my arms, and I don’t ever want to let her go.
She stirs. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes,” I smile. I don’t mean food, however. I lean down and bite the place where her neck meets her shoulder, and she giggles underneath my mouth.
“Okay, big boy. We can get that for breakfast too.”
Big boy. It means something else entirely when Sara says it, and it isn’t even a bit embarrassing. I love her for it. I love her for making it sound like a label I could get used to.
“Before or after I make you the most satisfying breakfast of your life?”
“That’s quite a claim. I admire your confidence.”
I kiss my way up the column of her smooth throat until I find her jaw. My hands splay out over the skin there, and I pepper kisses between my fingers.
“It’s all down to you,” I murmur. “I’ve never cooked for anyone else.”
“Never?” She pulls my face back to her and kisses my mouth. “Then, I must be the luckiest woman alive. Although, I’m extremely fussy.”
“I think I know what you would like.”
She grins at me, face still flushed from sleep. “Are we still talking about food?”
“Depends…”
I love this playful side of her. I never got to see it in the salon, she was always professional in front of customers, but I hope that she never loses it.
I hope there never comes a time when I make her feel so uncomfortable that she can’t be herself around me.
I’ll try my damned hardest to make sure that she is always this happy.
A lifetime of waking up to Sara’s smile is more than I deserve, but she chose me too, and I don’t want to lose it.
“Depends on what?”
“On what time you start work this morning.”
Her expression crumples and she wrinkles her nose. “Maybe I’ll call in sick.”
“Sara, I don’t want you to get into trouble for me.”
A sound reaches us from the floor, and I groan inwardly.
My cell. I already know who it is without checking the Caller ID.
Sara isn’t the only one with commitments, but I’d created a bubble around us and almost convinced myself that we would never have to leave.
That real life is for other people. Not us.
“Romeo,” Sara whispers. “Your phone is ringing.”
“Let it ring.”
“It might be important.”
Nothing is more important to me than she is. “They’ll call back.”
Sara arches against my hand as I cup her breast, the ringing phone momentarily forgotten when it falls silent. But before we can pick up the conversation where we left off, it rings again.
With one last lingering kiss, I break away. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I should get this.”
Sara laughs. “It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”
I locate the phone in my pants on the floor and hit the green button, resenting work for the first time in my life. “Elio.”
“Romeo. Meet me at the dock in an hour.” We’re way past introductions and small talk. Since Elio grew up in Italy, his English is lightly accented and uniquely him. “Bring extra supplies.”
He hangs up before I can say anything.
I stare at my phone for a second. Supplies means weapons. Ammunition. It means that Elio is bringing me to the docks to kill someone.
“Romeo?”
I turn to Sara.
She’s sitting on my bed, the sheet gathered up to her chin. Her hair is tousled, her lips swollen. Her cheeks rosy.
She looks like an angel.
And I am the devil who will leave her bed to murder someone.
I shut my eyes briefly. “I’m so sorry, Sara.”
“Sorry for what?”
The muscles in my jaw work. I was fooling myself.
How can this go anywhere when I’m two different people: the person I am when I’m with her, and the killer employed by Elio Rossi?
But I promised her everything. I stood there last night and assured her that this was a whole lot more than just a one-night stand.
I would never have taken her for ice cream if I hadn’t wanted to give her everything.
I would never have lied to her. Or to myself.
No words come out.
Sara’s eyes soften. “That was Elio, wasn’t it?”
I nod.
She sighs and settles back against the plumped-up pillows. She pats the bed. “Come here.”
Meekly, I oblige. I stretch out next to her, tucking my legs under the sheets so that I can feel her bare leg against mine. Sara puts her head on my shoulder.
Idly, her fingertips trace the tattoos across my stomach.
“I know who you are, Romeo,” she says. “I knew it the first time I saw you. I know the Rossis. I know what they do, who they are.”
I tense. This is it. This is when she tells me that she likes me, but she can’t be involved in this way of life…
Sara’s voice interrupts my thoughts. “Did you mean it, when you said that you’re mine? That you took one look at me, and you just knew? That you want everything?”
“Yes,” I whisper hoarsely. The thought of not having it all, of letting her down before we’ve even gotten started, is like cutting out my own heart and handing it to her in a greasy paper bag.
“We barely know each other, but I can’t imagine never holding you in my arms again, never kissing you again, never—”
“Saving me from the Hudson River sharks again.”
I smile. “That too.”
“Romeo…” She twists her face to peer into my eyes and strokes my jawline with her fingertip. “For a big guy who grew up thinking that he was too much for anyone to handle, you can be quite poetic when you want to be.”
“It’s a fluke. I’m panicking because I don’t want to lose you.”
“You’re not going to lose me. I told you I don’t do one-night stands.”
“But…”
“No buts. That’s it. I work in a nail salon, and you work for Elio Rossi.
I still choose you. I chose you six months ago, although I didn’t think that it would take you so long to ask me out.
” She pauses long enough to kiss my lips tenderly.
“I will choose you again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, so I guess this is the life for us.”
I blink. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Romeo, I have no intention of changing you to fit some rose-tinted lifestyle that only exists in the movies. This is you. This is us. You’ll take it all, right? I’ll take it all too.”
“Does this mean…?”
She smiles. “It means that I’ll wake up with you. You’ll go where Elio tells you to go. You’ll do what Elio tells you to do. I won’t ask questions, I won’t judge, but I’ll beg God every day to send you home to me.”
It’s too much to hope for.
I suck in a deep breath. “Sara, I can’t ask you to do this for me.”
“You’re not asking. But I’m willing to do it anyway.” There’s no mistaking the gleam in her eye.
I slide her down the bed and roll on top of her, my erection trapped between our abdomens.
“I only ask for one thing, Romeo. That you’re mine, and I’m yours. Nothing else matters. You told me that you’re not a violent man, but you’re violent by circumstance. I think you can be peaceful in the right circumstances too. And if you’ll have me, I want to be your peace.”
I shut my eyes and pull her close.
“I’ll have you, Sara Mancini. I’ll have you for the rest of my life.”
She kisses me on the lips. “That’s settled then. Now, go. You don’t want to keep Elio Rossi waiting.”