Page 74 of Dark Romeo

“You’re the detective. You tell me.” He shifted back, moving away from me.

I kept approaching, my voice low and steady, trying to tell him that he had nothing to fear from me. I was on his side. “He forced you into his limo. You didn’t want to go with him.”

“Nobody forces me to do anything.” His back hit the door.

I only stopped when we were toe to toe. He didn’t move, he just let me cage him. God, he smelled divine; fresh and clean. We weren’t touching but I could feel the heat radiating off his body. I wanted to fall against him, to melt against his hardness, to run my hands down his body and lose myself in him again.

I couldn’t lose focus now. “Where did he really take you, Roman?”

“I told you, we had dinner together.”

“Don’t lie to me. Where did he take you?”

He flinched. “This is poor form, Julianna. Using our history to try to trick evidence out of me.”

“I didn’t come here to get evidence on you.”

He snorted. “Then why are you here?”

“I…I want to help you.”

“Nobody can help me,” he said quietly. The tone of his voice was hopeless and resigned. It stabbed me in the heart.

I wanted to reach up to touch his face, to comfort him. I was afraid that if I touched him I’d forget why I was here. “It’s just you and me here, Roman,” I whispered. “You can tell me.”

“You, me, and the wire you’re wearing.”

“I’m not wearing a wire.”

“Now who’s lying.”

He didn’t believe me. He didn’t trust me. He shouldn’t. For some reason, it hurt that he didn’t. A part of me had hoped he would look past my badge to the woman who had shared so much of herself with him that night. Roman Tyrell had learned to trust no one. I wanted him to trust me.

Before I could change my mind, I lifted my hands to my chest and found the top of my dress. I fumbled with the button for a moment before I got it open. My dress popped open, revealing my cleavage and the red lacy bra underneath, the same bra that he had pulled off me that night.

Roman’s eyes dropped to my hands, then widened. “What are you doing?” His voice sounded shaky. Just like my fingers.

I dropped to the next button and kept going. He didn’t stop me. He didn’t say another word. He stared, his breathing growing labored, his hungry eyes becoming almost demonic-looking. I heard the sound of fingernails scraping wood and realized he was gripping at the door behind him. I grew lightheaded, the wobbling in my heels becoming worse with each button I released. One at a time I popped my buttons until I reached the button at my navel. The dress gaped open to reveal my torso.

“See,” I said trying to keep my voice from shaking. “No wire.”

He sucked in a breath. Without warning his hands grabbed my shoulders and spun us around so my back slammed against the door. The air was knocked out of me.

“Don’t move,” he commanded before his hands dropped from me, leaving scorching handprints. I wasn’t sure I could move even if I wanted to.

He slipped both hands inside my dress, his fingertips brushing against my stomach. I inhaled sharply. He trailed his fingers up my front, sliding my dress open further until he’d pushed it off my shoulders and it hung from my hips.

His gaze fell to my half-naked body. My thighs shaking, I clung to the door hoping it would keep me upright. He made a low growling noise in the back of his throat. “No wire,” he repeated.

I swallowed, hard. Suddenly it seemed like a stupid idea to have come here.

His head snapped up. His gaze bore into mine, his lip curling up. He was angry about something. I wasn’t sure what. “You’re playing with fire, little girl.”

“I like the flames,” I admitted in a tiny voice.

He let out a growl and glared at me. “You’re going to get burned.”

“I…I don’t mind.”

---