Chapter 43
Elenie
“Where did you get this scar? Not Florence again.”
She ran her finger over a narrow ridge of silver skin on the inside of his forearm.
“I honestly don’t remember, but I don’t think she was to blame for that one.”
She adored the low rumble of Roman’s voice when it was a little hoarse from passion. His chest rose and fell underneath her. Elenie rested her chin on her hand and smiled at him.
“I like that you have scars. You need a few tiny flaws amongst all that perfection. Makes it less intimidating for the rest of us.”
Roman raised one eyebrow.
“I’m perfect, am I? Says the woman with skin like velvet and eyes that could lead me into the jaws of hell.”
He ran teasing fingers over the small of her back and gave her ass a squeeze.
“And that’s without even mentioning your—”
“We were talking about you!”
Elenie batted away his hand.
Roman’s deep chuckle tapered off as he traced a darkening bruise on her shoulder.
“Is this sore?”
She flexed it.
“A little. But that’s what you get for being the filling in an idiot sandwich. I think I got in the way of someone’s elbow.”
In truth, she felt a bit like she’d been hit by a wrecking ball.
“I mark really easily so I’ll probably be covered in bruises by tomorrow, but I’ve had worse. Tyson’s such a jerk.”
His arms tightened around her, his eyes pained. Roman turned her palm over to examine the thin, pink scratch that ran across its center.
“I hate that I can’t stop you from getting hurt. That I can’t keep you safe. It makes me want to break things.”
Elenie touched the muscle that jumped in his jaw.
“Everything in my life is a million times better because of you. I feel safer just by knowing you.”
Roman swallowed. He pressed his lips to the palm of her hand.
“I was drowning before I met you. You can’t even imagine how bad it had gotten. But seeing you battle every single day, seeing your will and your determination—you make me remember that I’m strong, too. I would take on the world for you if I could. It’s what you deserve.”
He pulled her up his body and kissed her with an intensity that fanned the glowing embers in all her nerve endings.
“Stay with me tonight?”
Elenie blinked away a hot glaze of tears. She wished she could see herself through his eyes.
“For a while, I was so desperate for someone to hold me that I made some really stupid relationship choices. I could pretend nothing else mattered if I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being held.”
Roman expelled a long breath.
“Let me hold you tonight.”
No judgment, just understanding.
She had no defense against his tenderness.
“It is very late . . .”
“And your clothes are covered in beer . . .”
“And you seem to have taken back your shirt . . .”
“Well, that’s sorted then. I don’t want to have to write you up for public indecency.”
Elenie could have stared at Roman’s teasing half-smile and his strong, tanned features forever. Even though keeping a grip on what they had together felt like cupping a handful of dry sand, somehow he had become the center of her world. It was terrifying.
“Don’t.”
He caught hold of her chin.
“What?”
“You went somewhere else then. And you know I can hear you thinking.”
There was purpose in his sudden movements as he sat up, then stood. Roman took her hand and pulled her to her feet.
“I guess I’ll have to distract you.”
It was working already. Thinking of anything but the glory of his naked body was a physical impossibility. Elenie ran hungry eyes over him from head to toe and he laughed.
“What an insatiable little thief I have had the fortune to stumble across tonight!”
Roman followed the trail of his clothes back to the countertop, scooping up each item as he went. Dumping them all into the washer with Elenie’s, he grabbed a laundry capsule from the cupboard and flicked the switch.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
He held out his hand.
“Let’s get dirty while our clothes get clean?” Roman waggled a dissolute eyebrow, then shook his head ruefully. “That sounded better in my head.”
Elenie giggled.
“If the good people of Pine Springs could hear you, Chief Martinez, they’d be scandalized!”
He reached for her with a scowl and led her toward the stairs.
“If they even think of turning up here before morning, they will have only themselves to blame.”
In his bedroom, Roman turned on the small bedside lamp, pulling her down onto the covers. Elenie shivered, goosebumps springing up on her arms. She didn’t know if it was from the cool sheets against her skin or the expression on Roman’s face. He looked as if he wanted to swallow her whole. She forced herself to stay in the moment. This was too special to spoil with panic about the future.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“A little.”
Her eyes fixed on his, her voice husky.
“Make me warmer.”
He lowered himself to cover her body and his heat surrounded her. It was blissful. His arousal, already hot and heavy against her legs, made her stomach flip. She curled her fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth down to hers, and Roman’s tongue parted her lips. Elenie heard herself sigh and he moaned into her mouth.
“The noises you make drive me crazy. I hear them in my dreams.”
He began kissing a path down her neck, stopping to open his mouth on one of her breasts, stroking her nipple with his tongue. Roman’s hand drifted lower, skating over her hip, his thumb drawing circles on her skin.
“I love the way you touch me.”
Her back arched off the bed, her head falling to one side.
“Never stop. Please, never stop.”
He laughed against her skin.
“Just try and make me. I can’t get enough—I want to do it forever.”
Forever. That word. It hurt to hear it when it couldn’t be true.
But the cramp had no time to take hold on her heart, as Roman’s fingers crept between her legs, curling in the dark triangle of hair between her thighs and stroking her already sensitive lips. He caressed her as his mouth switched to her other breast, sucking and pulling. His broad thumb brushed her clit, sweeping backwards and forwards in a movement that tugged at her core. He was so fucking good at that.
Elenie’s stomach trembled; her muscles tightened. Her blood was hot, spiked cider, heating her veins and intoxicating her senses. Her body wasn’t used to this kind of reverence. She was going to explode.
Roman moved lower, his lips hovering where his fingers traced the moist folds between her thighs, until she tugged on his hair and begged for relief. The flat of his tongue delivered it in strokes that sent her flying. Elenie’s fists clenched and the night air turned humid around them. She came with a cry, spiraling over and over as he played her with his clever mouth and agile fingers.
When she could breathe again, he slid up her body and took her mouth, hard and deep, with lips that tasted of her sex. His cock teased her opening, resting heavily against her thighs.
“You’re my favorite taste. My favorite flavor,”
he told her huskily.
Elenie tilted her hips in invitation, desperate to feel him inside her again, knowing how perfectly he filled her. Roman sat up in one quick movement, reaching for a foil packet from the drawer beside the bed. She watched him roll the condom over himself—the action, his hands, his bare muscled chest, all so erotic. Just seeing him close his fist around his hard length forced a breathy sound from her lips and his eyes blazed. He guided her legs apart and settled between them.
There was a moment of anticipation so full of need that it twisted her heart. Elenie wanted to pull him to her but it wasn’t necessary. She was so wet he slid inside in one exhilarating surge. Roman’s eyes closed. He rested his forehead on hers.
“Holy fuck, Elenie. How can it feel this good every time?”
He began to move.
“I want—I can’t . . . ah, yes. Just like that. So damn perfect.”
The words escaped him through gritted teeth and he pulled her even tighter against his hips with one hand behind the small of her back.
With earthy whispers into her ear and his fingers in her hair, he drove her higher and higher. His control shattered piece by piece, taking Elenie with him as he began to fall apart. She drew him closer, her heart pounding, telling him how unbelievable he felt—how unbelievable she felt.
And when they finally broke, they broke together.
Roman’s bedroom was the most heavenly place she had ever woken up in.
They hadn’t drawn the curtains, just fallen asleep immediately after the quickest of trips to the bathroom. And now the morning sun was breaking through the trees, casting light and shadow on her face as her eyelids flickered open.
For several long minutes, she watched the treetops bend and dance outside the glass doors, like the most graceful of chorus girls performing in time with each other. A smile curved Elenie’s lips—whether it was from the beautiful view, the warm ache between her thighs, or the possessive curve of Roman’s arm around her waist, she wasn’t sure. She decided she didn’t have to choose.
Turning her head just slightly, she found an even better view. Roman looked younger in his sleep. His face lost its hard angles to relaxation, and closed eyelids covered his usual focus and intensity. That he rested so peacefully gave her a fierce jolt of pleasure. He deserved more than undisturbed nights as a reward for all he’d gone through.
His eyes seemed less haunted recently, his posture less strained. If she could ease any of the weight he carried by listening and understanding, she’d do it in a heartbeat. The thought of him struggling hurt Elenie in ways that scared her.
She studied his heavy eyebrows, long eyelashes, and sharp cheekbones with greedy eyes, and that fearful fist pressed down on her chest. Why did it have to happen that the one man she wanted above all others was someone who deserved so much more than she had to offer?
Elenie knew her own value. She’d been told often enough. And she understood to her cost that you could wish all you liked for something but you couldn’t make it happen. People like her didn’t get that lucky. She swore to herself she would read the signs when the time came for him to move on. And she knew it would. However painful the memories might be in the future, she’d treasure this pocket of bliss forever.
Roman’s lips moved and he sighed. His fingers tightened on her waist. When his dark eyes opened and fixed on her face, Elenie basked in his lazy, sleepy smile.
“Good morning.”
Rock-star husky, his voice raised the hairs on her arms.
“What time is it?”
“Early, I think. I’m not quite sure.”
He rolled onto his back and stretched, his body long and lean like a wildcat. So damn sexy, he stole her words.
“God, I slept well.”
Roman’s eyes sparkled.
“I wonder why.”
His smile was infectious.
When he reached for her, Elenie slid into his arms. The moon to his sun.
“You are a million degrees,”
she murmured against his chest. “So hot.”
“Why, thank you, ma’am.”
Roman’s laugh rumbled next to her ear. He stretched to lift his phone from the nightstand and squinted at the screen.
“You’re right—it is early. When are you due at work?”
“Eight.”
“Hmmm . . .”
He ran his fingers lightly up her arm and she gave an involuntary shiver.
“We have plenty of time then.”
Roman’s hands spanned her waist, dragging her over his body and sitting her astride his hips. When he kicked the quilt down with his feet, Elenie could feel the warmth of his impressive erection spring up against her ass.
“This would seem to be the time for an inappropriate joke about being armed and dangerous.”
She stumbled over the words, a breathless laugh dying on her lips.
Roman’s throat moved as he swallowed and he didn’t seem to hear her. Just ran his hands up and down her arms, frowning at the new bruises that had bloomed overnight on her skin. Elenie didn’t want to think or talk about them. She leaned down to press her mouth against his neck, glorying in the heat of his skin. His body was huge and solid between her thighs. Tanned muscles jumped beneath her fingers when she stroked him.
“Maybe we could push breakfast back a little,”
he rasped.
And they did.
“Tyson will be waking up in the cells this morning.”
“Oh?”
Elenie raised an eyebrow as she bit into her toast.
“He headbutted Liam Morgan before we could get him into the squad car last night. Add that to pulling a broken bottle on me and he’s managed to turn a drunken fistfight into something more serious.”
Roman watched her over his mug of tea.
“If I can throw anything else at him, I will. You could have gotten hurt last night.”
“What happened with the other guy?”
she asked.
“The huge one?”
“Levi Foster. He was pretty apologetic once we took him to one side. Tyson threw the first punch and most of the others too. Foster gave us no trouble at all as soon as we dragged him off you.”
Roman’s face was grim as he recalled the chaos.
“We let him go with a caution in the end. But I’ll be keeping an eye on him.”
He stood up to slot another couple of slices of bread into the toaster.
“Foster couldn’t even tell us what it was all about. He was pretty drunk.”
“Just trash talk, I think. Ty was knocking them back too and it doesn’t take much to make him flip out.”
She watched Roman’s face as she spoke. He grunted but said nothing.
One of these times, her repellent family would color this fragile thing between them. He wouldn’t be able to help himself from tarring her with the brush she’d been trying to avoid her whole life. It was guaranteed. And no amount of sexual pull would be able to stop it.
Elenie put down her toast, her appetite disappearing, as Roman came back to the table.
“So the handgun has gone off for analysis with the DEA. Dorsey was pretty understanding about it coming via me. And they’re looking into the Saginaw address you gave her as well. I’ve also had a couple of interesting emails from June Reed Sanders. You did well to get her on board. The information she’s forwarded from Craig is illuminating.”
Roman frowned at the butter as if that might be next under the spotlight.
“The balls are lining up over the pockets, Elenie. One of them will fall soon. When it does, we’ll be ready.”
His words sounded like a promise. It was one that she needed to be true so badly it hurt. No matter what came with it.
“I’m heading into Detroit tomorrow. Milo has to make a work trip—he’s got meetings through the afternoon and evening—so I’m going to grab the chance to share the ride and go with him. There’s some business I need to take care of.”
Elenie wondered if she was imagining the way he avoided her eyes. Roman swept some crumbs from the table into his hand and brushed them onto his empty plate. For a moment, his face looked stormy, as if old memories were biting at the thought of returning to the city. She reached out to curl her fingers around his wrist. His mouth softened immediately.
“I’m staying overnight but I’ll be back first thing Sunday.”
He gave her a devastating smile which had her stomach jumping, her skin tingling. Damn, but she loved that smile.
“OK.”
Elenie didn’t miss the flicker of relief that crossed his face.
She wanted to trust Roman would tell her if there was something she needed to know, but trust didn’t come easy. She opened her mouth to question him. Closed it again when she realized how many things she might not want to hear.