26. Romeo
So do something about it.
Her words hung in the air between us until I scoffed and rose to my feet.
“You don’t know what you’re telling me to do, Goldy.” I got up and made quick work of spreading the ashes around the base of the dying fire. Then I picked up the watering can I kept nearby and slowly doused the remaining embers.
Goldyn’s voice called to me as I watched everything in the pit turn to ash.
“If you’re scared to make a move, you can just say that, Rome.”
“I’m not scared of anything.” The lie came so easily because I’d rehearsed it for weeks now. I picked up the shovel after a few minutes and pushed around the ashes, making sure everything was wet.
When I turned to face Goldyn, she was watching me with an incredulous look painted on her face. With the fire gone, the only light that remained was the glow from the fairy lights hanging from the few trees in our yard.
The lights were dim, but they were enough to see the challenge still lingering in her eyes.
I stepped away from the pit and back into her bubble, standing in front of her. A smirk tipped up the corners of her lips as she reclined in her chair, staring up at me with smug satisfaction.
Eyes never leaving hers, I reached in my pocket, fished out my lighter and lit the last of my jay. I had two good hits left and I knew exactly how to use them to wipe that smirk off her pretty ass face.
Squatting in front of her, I kept my legs wide enough to bracket her crossed ones as I moved deeper into her space. “Come here, Goldyn.”
The command was simple and she followed it without question, leaning forward to study me. Her languid perusal of my face had me mirroring her actions until I broke the spell and inhaled, filling my lungs.
My hand found her jaw, pulling her closer than we already were.
My thumb found her bottom lip, brushing over it until her mouth fell open in a sigh.
My lips found hers, covering them as I exhaled smoke into her mouth.
Goldyn’s gasp forced an inhale and when she exhaled again, releasing the smoke through slightly parted lips, I smirked at her.
“Look at you, inhaling and shit,” I praised.
Her cheeks rounded and she smiled at me like I’d just unlocked the secret to the universe.
“Again?” I asked before taking the final pull.
Eyes fixed on me, she nodded and tried to scoot closer to me, eliminating the last bit of distance between us.
I leaned into her again, my free hand still cupping her jaw and covered her mouth with mine. I was deliberately slower at pulling back this time, enjoying the feel of her lips on mine too much to rush it.
And when I pulled back, Goldyn’s eyes were hooded as she watched my retreat.
“Exhale.”
She followed my command and tried leaning into my touch just as I pulled away from her.
“I’ma head back.”
“You can’t just kiss me and flee the scene,” she snapped, irritation making her face fall into a cute scowl.
“I didn’t kiss you. I blew you a shot gun.”
Goldyn shot up to her feet, eyes narrowed on me. “Your lips touched mine. I’m calling it a kiss. And now you’re running from me.”
“Nobody’s running from you, Goldy.”
I wasn’t prepared for the sting of her next words. “Yes, you are. You’ve been running from me since I got here.”
“Man…” I trailed, rubbing at the back of my neck.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes with me standing there, looking at everything but her.
When the silence became too much, Goldyn kissed her teeth and relented, shaking her head.
“Fine. Run. Again. I don’t care. But don’t say I never tried.”
Run . Again .
Those two words cut deeper than the hurt on her face and the frustration lacing her tone.
“I know you bought me those flowers. I know you don’t like anyone but Sin and Enzo, but for some reason you like me too. I know you go out of your way for me and try to disguise it every single day. But what I don’t know is why you’re trying to deny it right now.” She ended her words with a huff and tried to step around me.
But I couldn’t let her leave. Not when it looked like she was about to cry. Because of something I did.
Blocking her path, I let our bodies collide, anchoring my hands on her shoulders when she tried to turn the other way. “Now who’s trying to run?” I challenged.
She rolled her eyes, but leaned into my touch when I held her face again. “You’re so confusing.”
“I know. I don’t mean to be.”
“Why don’t you wanna admit you like me?”
“Because you scare the shit out of me.”
“Why?” she asked on a gasp.
“Because you already have too much power. You throw me off without trying. I don’t wanna know what would happen if I gave in to you. Fully.”
“You think I’m going to hurt you?”
“No.” I let out a dry laugh, my fingers tracing the shape of her face. “I think you’re going to ruin me.”
“What if I want you to ruin me too?”
“Goldy…”
“Kiss me, Rome. Kiss me again without trying to mask it as something else.” Her voice was pleading and my dick ached at the desperation in her eyes.
Nobody ever looked at me like their next breath depended on my touch, but Goldy did. She hung on every word I said. Every stolen touch I gave. And now she was asking for more.
“Fuck it,” I swore, just as my lips crashed into hers.
GOLDYN
Rome’s kisses were the opposite of everything I expected from him.
His lips were slow, soft, sweet and searching as they moved against mine, sipping on my sighs and sucking on my tongue.
I craned my neck, desperately trying to keep our lips connected until he grabbed me by my hips and lifted me like I weighed nothing.
Relief let my body sag against his, relishing the kiss, the closeness, and his hardness pressing up against me.
“God, you taste good,” I whispered between kisses, looping my arms around his neck. “You feel good too.”
His only answer was a moan from low in his throat while his fingers trailed over my spine, up to my neck and tangled in my curls.
“Goldyn. Fuck .” Romeo hissed, his mouth moving from my lips to my jaw and breathing me in. “We shouldn’t do this.”
He said that but never stopped kissing me. Never stopped clinging to me like I could supply his next breath.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m clingy, protective, and possessive.”
“Hmm,” was all I said before kissing his neck. He smelled like smoke and pine. And he tasted like an answered prayer. I didn’t know how much I’d been craving something I’d never had until I had time to let my lips trace over every inch of smooth skin exposed above his collar. “I’m already with Enzo and Sin so you should know I don’t have a problem with any of those traits. I like my men clingy. Protective. And possessive.” I repeated every word back to him, punctuating each one with a sucking kiss against his neck.
Rome whimpered and my heart and pussy took that personally. I was so damn soaked, I knew my thighs would be sticky whenever he set me back on my feet.
It took everything in me to take my lips off him, but I did and stared at him. “What’s your next excuse so I can tell you it doesn’t matter?”
His hooded gaze was a boost for my ego, even though I knew it probably had more to do with the weed than me.
“You belong to them, not me,” he answered as if he’d been waiting for the chance.
“If you hadn’t noticed by now, I like being shared. And they don’t have a problem with me being with you.”
Eyes wide with alarm, he asked, “You talked to them about this?”
“Of course.” I dropped one arm from his neck and swiped my lipstick from his lips. “Now, what’s your next excuse?” I asked again.
But Rome didn’t have one ready this time. Instead, he kissed me again. Deeper, rougher, and more urgent than before.
He sucked my tongue into his mouth and kneaded my hips as he held me impossibly still against him. I didn’t want to be anywhere but right here with him, but I knew there was a whole party still happening yards away from us and I needed to go back inside before Sin and Enzo got worried.
“We should go back inside before they come out here looking for us.”
Romeo nodded, his forehead against mine. He pecked my lips and released a shaky breath. “Everything about you is better than I expected.”
He carried me back to the house, my legs wrapped around his waist and his hands anchored at my hips.
At the back door, he placed me down and I squirmed at the mess between my thighs. I was going to need to sneak away to freshen up before I could go back to this party with a straight face.
While I was lost in thought, Romeo was kneeling in front of me, lifting my foot in his palm and putting my heels back on without a word. He secured the pearl-beaded strap around my ankle like he’d done it a million times then sat my foot back on the deck, his hand brushing over my ankle and sending a shiver of awareness through me.
“Let’s go back inside,” he said when we were eye to eye again. His fingers threaded with mine and he led us back inside, and my only thought as the kitchen came back into view was that I would follow him anywhere.