8. Annie
ANNIE
I have the most incredible dream about Roman.
I dream we’re lying in bed together and that he wraps his arm around me and pulls me close.
I feel his warm, hard bulge against my butt as he tugs my panties down.
He slides into me, and neither of us speaks.
I just let out a single tiny moan as we make love.
Hot, slow, passionate love. And it’s incredible.
I come over and over and over until he finishes inside me.
But when I wake up, I realize it wasn’t a dream at all. It really happened. Roman’s cum is dripping out onto a wet spot on the sheets beneath me. He’s propped up on one elbow, gazing over at me like I’m the most beautiful girl in the world.
A blush creeps up my throat and over my cheeks. I smile and try to cuddle up to him, but I can’t move. That’s when I realize my wrists are still tied to the headboard.
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Couldn’t have you running off again,” Roman replies. I actually detect a hint of sarcasm in his voice. So I give it right back to him.
“As soon as you untie me, I’m outta here.”
Finally, he fully smiles. Not just the hint of a smile but an actual smile. My whole body lights up like a struck match. Up until now, he’s been brutally and ruggedly handsome. But now, it’s like the gentleman in him is coming through, and I’m finally seeing the man beneath.
The man who refused to harm me. The man who put his life on the line to save me.
“Your feet are dirty,” he says. I look down. He’s right. “Come on. Let’s take a shower.”
He leans in and unties me.
“That sounds nice,” I reply. I stand and fake a dash toward the door, just to see what he’ll do.
I’m honestly slightly surprised when he doesn’t move. He just keeps smiling and shakes his head.
“We both know you’re not going anywhere, Annie.”
He’s right. It’s like he already knows me so well. Like he can read my mind. And that’s so sexy.
A sense of solidarity settles into me as he takes my hand in his. His big, strong, callused hand that leads me into the bathroom. I’ve never felt safer. Never felt more content. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and I could stay here forever.
Just as long as I’m with him.
It’s a walk-in shower, and the water takes a second to warm up, but Roman shields me from it with his enormous body. Then he kneels in front of me and using a bar of soap, starts to wash me.
If this was a scene in one of my books, it would be a massive turn-on. I’d be flipping pages as fast as I could just to get to the inevitable sex scene. But as I watch Roman run his hands over me, up and down my legs, cleaning last night’s dirt from my body, a different feeling sweeps over me.
A feeling that drills down deep into my bones.
A feeling of true belonging.
This is where I’m meant to be, and Roman is who I’m meant to be with. A monster of a man who could, and would, do anything to protect me. A man who is capable of unthinkable acts of violence. And what is he doing? He’s gently washing me.
A sharp contrast to the way he pounded me last night over the table.
I’m still sore from that now.
He stands, and I take the soap from him to return the favor. I can tell by the expression on his face that he wasn’t expecting that. But he goes along with it as I run my tiny hands over his massive muscles.
It’s like he’s built from steel. Carved from stone. Even now, it’s almost hard to believe that he’s real.
Warm water rains down on us as I wash his shoulders and chest. Somehow, this moment is even more intimate than when he was inside me. Right now, the rest of the world doesn’t exist. It’s just Roman and me and whatever fantasy I dream up next.
“Roman,” I ask, my voice soft. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“How did you become…this?” I ask slowly.
My question hangs in the air. For a moment, I’m worried I’ve offended him. But just before things become uncomfortable, he responds.
“Mom had bad taste in men. They’d hurt her, and I was forced to protect her.” I feel it. His trauma. Like a weight pressing down on me. “Mom died from an overdose, and I ended up in foster care. The first man I killed was the man who got her hooked.”
His face stays stoic, but the pain in his voice is unmistakable.
“I couldn’t save her. I guess that’s when the world went dark. When I went numb to everything.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Don’t apologize.” He cradles my chin in his hand. “You were right to ask. After all, you want to know everything about the man you’re going to spend the rest of your life with.”
His words rock me down to my core. I swear my brain stops functioning for a few seconds at least as I just stare up at him, gawking.
Did he really just say that?
His face stays stoic. He doesn’t flinch.
Yeah. He did.
I’m shocked, but at the same time, I’m not. It’s like he’s just putting into words what we both already know. That this is my man. Picturing my future without him is impossible at this point. Who else could understand me like he does? Treat me like he does? Give me all the things I need, and more?
Nobody.
I lean forward, pressing my cheek against his chest. Feeling his mighty breath go in and out is so soothing I could almost fall asleep right here.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t save her, Roman,” I whisper. “But you saved me.”
The shot from outside rings out a millisecond before the bullet hits.
The glass of the shower window shatters, spraying all over us. Roman covers me with his body and lifts me into his arms.
“Keep your head down!” he hisses. He moves fast. There’s no hesitation as he carries me into the bedroom and sets me down on the far side of the bed and pulls the blanket over me.
Another bullet impacts the wall above us.
“What’s happening?” I scream, panicked.
Roman reaches under the mattress and comes out with a pistol. He cocks it and aims it at the door, his eyes focused.
“They tracked us somehow.”
“How!”
My heart is going to explode. Gunfire? Someone actually trying to kill me? I look down. Roman’s feet are bloody, shards of glass embedded in his soles. And all because of me.
I pluck out as many as I can, but a sound comes from the living room. The front door opening. In an instant, Roman is on his feet.
“Wait!” I hiss. But he doesn’t hear me. Or maybe he does, but he’s not listening. He’s in full-blown killer mode now. And it’s actually astonishing to see.
He moves like a well-oiled machine, keeping the gun close as he makes zero noise crossing the room. Back to the wall, he takes a breath and looks at me.
I’m shaking all over. Adrenaline rips through me. I’m wrapped in a blanket, completely naked underneath. But what does it matter? What could I even do here? My life is on the line, and the only one who can save me is Roman.
“Stay here,” he whispers.
And like that, he ducks out of the room and out the door. Doomsday scenarios play out in my mind like a movie on fast-forward. This is life or death, and Roman is out there where I can’t see him. Where anything could happen.
My heart skips a beat at the sound of the first shot.
Oh, God.
Two more follow, then another three.
Then something big and heavy hits the floor.
Part of me is screaming at me to cry out Roman! Are you okay? But my tongue just doesn’t work. My jaw doesn’t move. My entire body is a block of ice, frozen in place as I listen…listen…for any kind of clue as to what’s happening out there.
This is all Dad’s fault.
Anger at my father rises up in me like a storm.
All I see is his face. His ‘charming’ smile that he’s used to fool so many people.
I think of all the times he skipped town, missed a birthday, bailed on taking me to the movies, and then I think of the two million dollars that got us into this mess to begin with.
If Roman dies because of you…
Footsteps. The sound nearly knocks me over. I duck down behind the bed, fighting to control my fear.
If it’s another man sent to kill me, I’ll have to do something. Throw myself at him, scratch his eyes out. Something. I take a deep breath, playing this out in my mind. But that’s when I hear it.
“You can come out now.”
Roman’s voice.
It nearly causes me to explode.
Tossing the blanket off me, I leap to my feet, vault over the bed, and jump into his arms. My legs wrap around his waist, and I kiss him long and deep, clinging to him like a little spider monkey.
“You’re okay!”
“I’m okay.” He nods. “My feet hurt a bit, but other than that—”
“Who was it?”
My heart is pounding, but I can feel his through his chest. Slow and solid. Like he just finished reading a book. A sharp contrast to mine that feels like it’s about to burst.
“One of Jimmy’s guys. I don’t know how they found out about this place, but they did.” He looks at me, his eyes filled with remorse. “I’m sorry, Annie. I thought we were safe here.”
Shaking my head, I kiss him again. “You’ve saved my life twice now, Roman. You have nothing to apologize for.”
Suddenly, a cell phone ring blares in the other room. Roman sets me down.
“Wait here. You don’t want to see what’s in there.”
He’s right. “Okay.”
He’s limping as he walks out of the bedroom, leaving a blood trail from his feet. I go to the bathroom and start putting together a makeshift First Aid kit. Antiseptic, gauze, a pair of tweezers.
I’m still freaking out from what just happened, but if I’m being honest, the thought of taking care of Roman has me giddy inside.
“Not a fucking chance,” I hear him snarl as he comes back into the bedroom. He’s got a flip phone to his ear and a scowl on his face. “Not happening!”
With a grunt, he hangs up and tosses the phone on the bed.
“What was that?” I ask.
Roman bites his lower lip and cracks his neck. “They’ve got your father. And they’re gonna kill him if I don’t…”
His voice trails off.
“If you don’t what?”
The floor nearly cracks as Roman stomps his foot hard, putting all his weight behind it. I jump back. That must have driven the glass even deeper into his sole, but he doesn’t even acknowledge it.
“It doesn’t matter because I’m not going to do it!”
He’s keeping something important from me, and that’s not okay. We are not going to be a couple that hides things. We’re standing here completely naked in front of each other, but it’s not true intimacy if we can’t share everything.
“Roman. What do they want you to do? This is my father we’re talking about.”
From the way he shakes his head, I see he knows I’m right. But he really doesn’t want to tell me. He cracks his neck again, rolls his shoulders, and slams a fist into his palm.
“They want me to go meet with them to ‘discuss the terms’ of getting him back.” His voice trails off.
“And?”
“And they want me to bring you.”
Now I get it. Why Roman didn’t want to talk about the conversation on the phone. It’s obvious why they want me to go with him.
They want to kill me.
You don’t have to be a trained killer or a mobster to get that.
And I should just listen to him. I should just do whatever he says. He’ll get us out of this. I know he will.
But even though my dad is a total dick that left me with daddy issues that run deeper than the Marianas Trench, I still can’t live with the thought of something terrible happening to him because of a choice I made.
He’s still my dad and the only family I have left.
Gritting my teeth, I look to Roman.
“We’re going.”
His face hardens. That smile is gone. The gentleman is gone. All that’s left is the danger. The killer.
“Absolutely not.”