Page 126 of Dark Romeo

Roman, as usual, looked incredible in dark denim and a fitted black t-shirt that stretched over his muscled arms. His hair was mussed and he had a scowl on his face, his hands jammed into his pockets.

I slammed the door shut behind me before one of my neighbors could see him. What was he doing here? Did he forget something? Did he find out something about my attackers?

“Hello? Julianna?” a distant voice called.

Shit. Christian was still on the phone.

“I-I’m fine. Really. Thanks. I gotta go.” I hung up on him. I slid my phone and bag onto the side table. Roman still hadn’t said anything. “What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I shouldn’t be here.”

My eyes darted to the living room windows. He had drawn all the curtains. No one could see in. It was just him and me. Alone. A shiver fell across me. “No, you shouldn’t.”

“But I don’t care.”

“What?”

He just stared at me, hardly blinking. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so serious. “It’s what you do to me.”

I blinked as my brain struggled to comprehend what the hell he was saying. “What do I do to you?”

“You make me not care about anyone or anything else. It’s just you, you, you. You’re all I want. You…You make me fucking crazy.”

My stomach tightened, my head spinning at his admission. You make me crazy too, I wanted to say. I could barely breathe, let alone speak.

“I’ve tried to figure out,” he began to advance on me, his face beginning to twist, a sharpness to his voice, “what is it about you? Why you? Of all the women to make me…” he trailed off.

I backed up until I hit the door. He was in my face, crowding me. I could scream, but I was pinned frozen by his wild stare.

“Why the hell did it have to be you?”

He wanted me. He didn’t want to want me. Everything twisted inside me from my throat down to my core.

“I didn’t ask for this either,” I spat out.

“All the while I thought I was the dangerous one,” he said, his eyes never leaving me. “You had me all fooled.”

His finger gripped my chin, tilting my face up. His eyes dropped to my lips.

Kiss me.

Don’t kiss me. If you kiss me, I’m done for.

“W-What are you doing?” I whispered.

“I can’t stay away from you,” he said, sounding pained. “I tried but I can’t.” His gaze rose to pin me with a stare so intense my toes curled. “I’m done trying.”

Yes.

No.

My control. I was losing it. I was slipping.

Oh God. I am so screwed. I clung on to his words the last time he propositioned me. “You have to understand why I can’t offer you anything…more…”

I swallowed and forced myself to look away. “No, Roman. One more night between us would?—”

“I don’t want one more night,” he growled, leaning in so that his chest pressed against my swollen breasts. Dear God, he was everywhere. His scent and his heat rolling over me, his breath against my cheeks, his erection pressed against my belly, making my empty core ache. “I want all of them.”

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