Chapter Nineteen
Rome
I closed Bad Habit an hour early.
One of the perks of owning your own business was that if you wanted to lock the door and tell the world to fuck off for the night, you could.
Today, I wanted to.
Actually, I wanted to find whoever spray-painted Josie’s windows and have a long conversation with them involving my fists. Since I didn’t know who that was yet, I settled for going across the street.
Scoop & Swirl was quiet when I walked in.
The lights were still on, but Josie had already flipped the chairs onto the tables. She was wiping down the counter with her back to me.
She looked smaller today.
Dimmer.
The words on her windows were gone. The effect they had on her wasn’t.
I leaned against the doorframe and watched her for a second.
She kept wiping the same spot over and over, lost in her head. I hated that.
“You’re gonna scrub through the counter.”
Josie jumped, and her hand flew to her chest. “Jesus, Rome.”
I pushed off the wall and walked over. “Been standing there for a bit, baby.”
“You still scared me.”
I stopped in front of her.
Her brunette hair was pulled back, no makeup, dark circles beneath her eyes, but she smiled anyway.
It broke my fucking heart. I cupped the back of her neck. “You ready?”
She blinked. “For what?”
“I’m taking you home.”
“Rome-”
“And I’m not leaving you tonight.”
Her mouth opened. Closed. Then she rolled her eyes. “You can’t close the tattoo shop because of me.”
I shrugged. “Sure I can.”
“No, you can’t.”
“One of the perks of owning my own tattoo parlor is that I can close it whenever I want.”
“That’s irresponsible.”
“That’s freedom.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s what I just did.”
Josie looked around her shop. “I should stay and stock things for tomorrow. Go back to work, and give someone a kickass tattoo.”
“No.”
“I have things to do.”
“They’ll still be here tomorrow.” She frowned, and I stepped closer. “You had a shitty day.”
Her shoulders sagged.
“You don’t have to be tough tonight.”
Her eyes met mine, and something soft passed through them.
Then she sighed. “Okay.”
I kissed her forehead.
“Good. Let’s go home.”
An hour later, Josie was sitting on my back deck in one of my T-shirts, and I knew I was completely fucked.
The shirt hung off one shoulder, and the hem hit the middle of her thighs.
Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy knot that looked like it was seconds away from falling apart, and her bare legs were tucked beneath her in one of the deck chairs, with a beer bottle dangling from her fingers.
I stood at the grill and flipped burgers while trying not to stare at her. Failed.
“You know I can see you staring at me.”
I smirked. “You know I don’t care.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “You should.”
“You look hot as fuck.”
“I look like I got dressed in the dark.”
“You look like you stole my clothes.”
“I did steal your clothes.”
I pointed the spatula at her. “And I support it.”
She laughed. The sound was quieter tonight. Not fake, just careful. Like she was still carrying around the hurt from this morning.
I hated that.
I hated that somebody had managed to crawl inside her head and scratch at old wounds.
I flipped a burger and glanced at her. “You okay?”
“I know it shouldn’t bother me.”
“It should.”
Her eyes found mine. “I don’t want it to.”
“I know.”
She picked at the label on her beer bottle, and tiny pieces fell onto the deck. “When I was younger...” She stopped, took a breath, and then started over. “Bruce used to say things.”
My jaw tightened, but I stayed quiet because this wasn’t about me. This was about her finally saying shit out loud.
“He’d tell me I’d be prettier if I lost weight.”
I stared at the grill. At the burgers. At literally anything except the look on her face, because I already wanted to kill a man I’d never met.
Josie laughed. The saddest fucking laugh. “He used to say it like he was helping.”
My grip tightened on the spatula.
“He’d say...” She swallowed. “‘Nobody else is going to want you.’”
I looked at her.
Nobody wanted her?
I could barely go a few seconds without thinking about her.
“He told me I should be happy he loved me.” The words came out quietly. Matter-of-fact. Like she’d repeated them enough times, they no longer shocked her.
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t, because the angrier I got, the quieter I became.
Josie noticed. “You okay?”
“No.” My voice was flat. Dangerously flat.
She blinked, and I took a breath. Another. Then, finally, I looked at her. “That man spent years lying to you.”
Josie shrugged.
“After awhile...” She looked down at her beer. “You stop hearing it as a lie.”
I hated that.
Hated.
It.
I thought she believed me when I said she was beautiful. She smiled. Blushed. Argued. But deep down... She still believed him a little more.
“Fuck that guy, babe.” I paused. “Fuck anyone who doesn’t see you the way I do.”
She let out a loud laugh. “Oh, Rome. Where were you when I was twenty-one?”
I tipped my head to the side. “Uh, I was fourteen.”
She let out another peal of laughter. It was pretty crazy to think about.
Josie crossed her bare legs, shirt riding up. The sight of her unguarded, toes tucked up, and her hair in a messy twist made me wish I could stare forever without getting caught.
Josie rubbed her shin absentmindedly with her foot, and I caught sight of the pink of ner underwear.
I twisted the burner off, closed the grill, then stalked over. The boards creaked beneath my bare feet, and she smirked. “You realize you’re burning dinner, right?” she said, tilting her chin at the grill.
“We’ll start with dessert,” I said.
I watched her nipples tighten beneath the cotton of my shirt, and that was it. I was done waiting.
I grabbed her arms and hauled her up with me, my mouth crashing down on hers before she could make a sound. She gasped against my lips, her hands flying to my chest. Her fingers curled into my shirt and pulled me closer.
“Rome-” she breathed, but I swallowed her words, tasting the beer on her tongue.
I walked her to the side until her ass hit the deck railing, and my hands slid down to grip her thighs and lift her. She made a surprised sound, her legs wrapping around my waist instinctively, and I groaned at the pressure of her heat against my already hard cock.
“Hold on to me,” I commanded, my voice rough.
She did, her arms looping around my neck, her ankles crossing at the small of my back. I could feel her trembling, feel the race of her pulse where my mouth pressed against her throat. I bit down gently, sucked at her skin, and she arched into me with a moan that went straight to my dick.
“Need to feel you,” I growled against her collarbone. “Right here. Right now.”
“Yes,” she whimpered, her fingers tangling in my hair. “Please, Rome. Please.”
I set her down just long enough to tear at her panties, dragging them down her legs and tossing them aside. She gasped, but the sound turned into a moan when I dropped to my knees and pressed my mouth to her.
“Oh god,” she cried out, her hands gripping the railing for support.
I licked into her, slow and deliberate, tasting how wet she already was for me. She was swollen, sensitive, and I focused on her clit, circling it with my tongue until her legs shook and her moans turned into desperate, broken pleas.
“Rome, please, I need-”
I knew what she needed. I stood, unbuckling my belt with one hand while the other kept her pinned against the railing. Her eyes were glazed, her lips parted, her chest heaving. Beautiful. Mine.
I freed my cock, thick and heavy in my hand, and stroked myself once, twice, watching her watch me. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and I almost lost it right there.
“Tell me you want this,” I demanded, positioning myself at her entrance, feeling her heat against my sensitive skin.
“Want you,” she panted, reaching for me. “Want you inside me. Please, Rome. Fuck me.”
I drove into her in one hard thrust, burying myself to the hilt, and we both cried out. She was tight, so tight. I gave her a moment to adjust, but only a moment, because she was already moving against me, desperate and needy.
“Move,” she begged. “Please, move.”
I pulled back and slammed into her again, the force of it making the railing shake. She cried out, her head falling back, exposing the long line of her throat, and I leaned in to suck marks into her skin as I set a brutal pace.
The deck was open, exposed, and anyone could walk by and see us. See her legs wrapped around me, her breasts bouncing with each thrust, her face twisted in pleasure. The thought made me harder, made me drive into her deeper, chasing the sounds she made.
“So good,” she gasped, her nails digging into my shoulders through my shirt. “So deep, Rome. Don’t stop. Don’t-”
I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. She felt incredible around me, hot and wet and perfect, and I was lost in the rhythm of it. The slap of skin on skin, the creak of the railing, the broken cries falling from her lips.
I reached between us, finding her clit with my thumb, circling it in time with my thrusts. She jolted, her whole body tensing, and I felt her start to tighten around me, her inner muscles beginning to flutter.
“That’s it,” I growled, my voice barely human. “Come for me, Josie. Let me feel you.”
“Rome-” she choked out, and then she was coming, her orgasm ripping through her. Her body arching off the railing as she screamed my name.
I felt her clamp down on me, milking me, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I thrust deep one final time and let go, my own release crashing through me like a wave. My hips jerked as I spilled inside her, groaning her name against her neck.
Her legs were still wrapped around me, loose now, and I could feel her trembling in the aftershocks.
“Holy fuck,” I managed, my voice rough.
She laughed, breathless and shaky. “Yeah.”
I lifted my head, finding her eyes in the gathering darkness. She was flushed, disheveled, and absolutely beautiful. I brushed her hair back from her face, my thumb tracing her swollen lips. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I whispered.
She didn’t argue. Didn’t roll her eyes. She pressed a kiss to the pad of my thumb, and smiled.
That was progress.