Chapter 23 #2
I meet him by the door, sneaking a kiss. He pinches my chin in the now familiar gesture. “Hi, sunshine.”
“Hi.”
“Thanks for picking her up.”
“Whenever you need me to, I’m here,” I say, and he answers with another kiss then kicks off his shoes and hangs up his coat on the hook next to the front door.
“Hey, Maze.” Roman holds his arms out, and she runs into him so he can pick her up, swinging her around until she shrieks in glee. He kisses her head and cheek before setting her back down. “Hungry for dinner?”
“Yes!”
He holds out his palm for a high five. “No cursing that time, nice.”
She slaps it, yelling, “Fuck yeah!”
I hide my laugh, and Roman heaves a sigh, heading toward the kitchen, mumbling his own curses.
When I try to help Roman with the food, he sends me away to keep Steve and Mazie company in the living room, so I spend the next hour watching Beauty and the Beast while my mouth waters because of the delicious scents wafting from the kitchen.
“This smells so good,” I tell him when he finally calls us to the table, set with our plates, glasses of water, and a big pot of chicken and rice in the middle. He gestures for us to sit down then scoops me out a generous serving. “I’m seriously impressed.”
“Don’t be.” He fills Mazie’s pink plate and then adds two scoops to his own. “Mostly everything I make has five ingredients or less.”
“Well, I hate cooking, so it looks like you’ll be making all our meals,” I blurt before I think better of it and freeze with my fork halfway to my mouth.
Roman merely lifts his huge shoulder, his eyes shining, lips quirked to the side, not at all offended by my proclamation. “Guess so.”
During dinner, Mazie chatters on about her day at school, her friends, and how she wants a leash for Steve so she can take him for a walk, but Roman immediately vetoes that idea. I stay out of the argument, hiding my amusement by stuffing more of Roman’s delicious dinner into my mouth.
Afterward, he announces it’s bedtime. She looks up at me with those big brown eyes, so much like her father’s. “Will you read to me tonight, Eloise?”
“Yes, of course,” I reply, meeting Roman’s eyes over her head, seeing nothing but acceptance and love in his gaze. There is no second-guessing. I smile at his daughter. “I’d love to.”
I leave Roman to clean up the kitchen while Mazie changes into her PJs, brushes her teeth, and then we settle into her bed, the book about a cat and a unicorn throwing a party spread out between us.
It’s silly and cute, and she knows almost all the words, mouthing them with me as I read.
And when I finish, she tucks the comforter more fully around herself, asking quietly, “Stay with me a little while?”
“Always,” I answer and kiss her head, but it’s barely five minutes before she’s asleep, her breaths even and deep.
When I return to the living room, Roman’s waiting for me on the couch, but instead of pulling me down with him like I expect, he stands and wraps his arms around my waist. “Thanks for doing that. It means a lot to her. To both of us.”
“Thanks for letting me. I think…” Stopping myself from admitting something I’m not sure I’m ready to say out loud—that I love him and his daughter—I say, “I think if I had a kid, I’d want her to be like Mazie. You’ve raised a great girl.”
“And you’re great with her.” He brushes a stray lock of hair behind my ear, and I should tell him I read the letter, that it broke my heart all over again, knowing what he and Mazie have been through, but I don’t want to betray the trust he’s placed in me.
Hopefully, we’ll have more conversations about Amy, although now is not the time.
Because his lips are on mine, melding our mouths together.
It’s intense yet soft, emotions behind every lick of his tongue as good as speaking words.
I feel love and safety, comfort and passion.
It’s a slow burn, his hands lazily roaming all over me, keeping the embers sizzling in my belly, but anytime I try to speed him up, he stops and offers me a shake of his head.
Almost like he’s trying to tell me something too.
In the way he takes my hand and leads me to his bedroom and gently pushes me to the bed. His eyes track over me with reverence as he removes my clothing. There’s no rush, no urgency.
But there is a depth of unspoken feelings, a silent declaration in the tender glide of his hands over me like I’m precious and what we have between us is something to be treasured.
Roman worships me with his fingers and mouth, exploring every curve and dip, pressing soft words into my skin.
My beautiful girl.
Sunshine.
You’re perfect.
You’re a dream.
“God, Eloise,” he rasps against my innermost flesh. “You are so fucking sweet.” He licks up my center, moaning like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted. “I want to do this forever.”
I breathe out a laugh. “Please do.”
In return, he pushes my legs wider, fingertips pressing deep into them with a bruising grip. Then he deliberately scrapes his beard along my hips and thighs, grunting. An animal marking his territory.
I don’t mind.
I like the idea of being marked by him.
But when he slips his thick fingers inside me, I can’t think about anything other than the fire he stokes in my belly, the heat crawling up my spine, setting my skin aflame.
I curl my fingers into his hair, keeping him in place as I reflexively fight his hold against my legs, and he releases a sound that I feel more than hear, rumbling against my clit, and it nearly sends me into a different stratosphere.
I am a panting, sweaty mess, begging to come, and when he finally crooks his fingers against my swollen inner wall, he slaps a pillow over my face to drown out my shout.
Though, he doesn’t let me rest, dragging me to the edge of the bed, keeping one hand shackled around my ankle while he digs through a side table for a bottle of lube.
I happily note that it is brand-new because he has to unwrap it, and the jealous shrew that popped out of its hole can slink away because Roman is mine. No one else’s.
He pops the top and squeezes a good amount on his index and middle fingers, smoothing it over the length of my pussy and inside.
I’m already swollen and wet, but he mutters things about how I’m not ready for him yet.
He bends to suck on one of my nipples, torturing me with his teeth and tongue until I’m squirming all over the bed, and he has to drag me back to him, flipping me over so I’m on my stomach and my feet are on the floor.
He moves a pillow under my hips, so my ass is even higher, back arched slightly.
“Fuck yeah, sunshine. Look at this,” he growls a moment before his mouth is there, biting my cheek.
Then he slaps it, gripping it roughly to pull them apart, revealing everything to him.
He sinks his face down, the wiry yet soft hair of his beard a stark contrast to the wet touch of his tongue as he licks and kisses me all over before focusing on that hole.
I gasp into the sheets, jerking forward, earning another smack.
“Oh god, Roman. Oh my god.”
I feel him nod, groaning like he enjoys this as much as licking my pussy. I think I do too.
After another minute, he stands up behind me, and I glance over my shoulder to see him adding more lube to his fingers, dragging it from my front entrance to my back, the tip of his finger invading.
“Okay?” he asks, and I nod, pushing my hips up even more, offering all of myself to him.
To do with what he wants. “One day, I’ll fuck you here.
But we have a lot of work to do before then, don’t we, Eloise? ”
He bends, the thick and heavy length of him settling in the crease of my ass as he nips my earlobe. “What do you think, sunshine? You ready to work?”
“I think you’re trying to kill me,” I mumble into the sheets, his amusement rumbling in his chest on my back.
“Nah. I like you alive and chatty. So, talk to me. You ready for me to fuck you hard?”
“Yes, daddy,” I say against his mouth, a brush of his lips against mine before he calls me his good little girl and straightens once more, pulling my hands behind, settling them at my lower back, holding them together in one of his hands, keeping me exactly where he wants me.
Then he’s there, pushing his huge cock inside me, giving me a mere few seconds to get used to the feeling before he easily slides out with all of the lube and thrusts back in.
True to his word, he fucks me hard, pumping in and out in an unrelenting rhythm, and I can’t do anything but lie there, grunting and panting, my body held in place by his.
He is so deep, hitting so far inside me, that it prevents me from taking a full breath, and still, I rise on my tiptoes, needing more.
Behind me, Roman grunts a “good girl” that is barely audible, like his teeth are clenched.
But a moment later, he slows enough to squeeze out more lube.
I’m pure sensation, so worked up and overheated that the cool gel is a shock, and I jolt.
“It’s okay,” he tells me in a low, grating voice that is like sandpaper over my skin.
“You’re doing so fucking good. Such a good girl, taking me so well. ”
He smears the lube all over, teasing my clit with a few circles then up to where we’re connected, rubbing it all over my pussy and his cock, and up even farther. He pushes his finger inside, deeper than before, ordering, “Relax, sunshine, relax. That’s it. Fuck, you’re perfect.”
And I’ve never felt fuller as he begins to move again, but this time, it’s nowhere near as rough.
It’s gentler, lazier, a slow glide in and out, his finger mimicking the movement, and I am lost somewhere in space, moaning into the bed, strands of my hair stuck to my lips, my breasts and belly pinned beneath me even as my legs quake.
I am close. So close, all it takes is one synchronized roll of his hips and thrust of his finger, and I am gone.
Bright lights spark behind my eyelids and rushing fills my ears, and I feel like I’m being pulled out to sea, unable to see or hear or breathe, wave after wave hitting me, dragging me back under each time I’m about to reach the surface.
The only thing that brings me back is Roman curled over me, his face near mine, his breath hot on the side of my face, his hands massaging my arms and hips and legs. That’s when I realize I’m free to move, yet I can’t.
Might as well throw me back into the ocean, so I can float.
“You okay?” he asks, and I manage a nod. “You did so good,” he tells me, and I nod again. “I’m going to clean you up. Don’t move.”
I couldn’t even if I wanted to, and Roman draws himself up, pulling out of me with a quiet hiss, and drops a smattering of kisses on my neck before leaving me still splayed out on his bed.
My body temperature quickly plummets, and goose bumps break out all over my skin.
I slowly wiggle my fingers and toes then bend my knees and elbows, working life into my limbs so I can roll to my back.
In time for Roman to reappear with a glass of water and a warm washcloth.
He carefully swipes the cloth over my face, tucking my hair behind my ears, leaving a kiss on my forehead, then he tenderly wipes it over my most sensitive flesh and places an openmouthed kiss on my throat.
He tosses the cloth in his laundry basket then hands me the water, watching as I drink down the entire thing. Only then does he settle back on the bed, stark naked and entirely too self-satisfied when I mumble, “I think you broke me.”
“Fucked you so good you won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”
He shuts off the light and wraps his arm around my waist, settling us against the pillows, and I relax into him. “That was your evil plan all along, wasn’t it?”
He kisses my shoulder. “Anything to make you stay.”
I yawn and close my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”