Page 20 of Romi

She pouted, giving me a twirl, then strutted a few steps before striking a pose like some supermodel, “I think this should be the new fashion! DIY couture!”

I laughed again, shaking my head at her antics.

“Come on, then, show me what you’ve got!” I challenged, handing her a brush.

While she started doing the cutting in at the skirting board, I climbed the ladder and began doing the same on the ceiling. I had the radio on, and she started singing along to the music as I secretly observed her.

She was on her knees, and I couldn’t help thinking dirty thoughts about that. Every now and then, she stopped painting to shake her arse in time to the music whenever she re-loaded her brush, and I smiled because I couldn’t remember feeling as relaxed and happy in a woman’s company before. We just seemed to fit.

I’d poured some of the paint into a roller tray for her to use while I took paint directly from the tin. When she told me she needed it refilled, I headed down the ladder and poured more. I was getting hot, so I removed my T-shirt without thinking.

She gasped as she dipped her brush in my paint tin, getting paint on my hand while removing it. I glanced down to see her staring at my chest, eyes wide. Oh hell!

Our eyes met and held. My whole body froze. Sonia gulped, blinking up at me several times before slowly grinning.

My breath hitched, and I couldn’t look away from her. I wondered what she was going to do. I knew I should move away from her, but I was rooted to the spot.

She took the brush and dabbed it on my cheek. “Oops,” she said, looking mischievous. She stared me in the eye in an open challenge.

So, she wanted to play, huh?

My inner voice screamed at me to break our gaze and step away, yet I couldn’t. Instead, I took my brush and dabbed a little bit of paint on Sonia’s nose, chuckling. She laughed and dabbed some paint on my left pec, then bit her bottom lip before licking it. She looked at me as if she was imagining licking my chest, and that was it. That was all I could take.

Before I could stop myself, I dropped the brush, leaned forward, grabbed the back of her head, and kissed her. I heard her brush drop to the ground as her arms came up and around me as she kissed me back. It was heaven—better than anything I had imagined.

The sweet taste of her on my lips set my soul ablaze. I groaned and closed my eyes, pressing her more tightly to me. I couldn’t get enough of her. She tasted wonderful, and the zing of energy passing between us sparked through all of my nerve endings and went straight to my cock. I was lost in her, kissing her like a man possessed. I felt my erection press into her stomach as my tongue delved deeper into her mouth.

She moaned and pushed up against me, and my eyes snapped open as reality hit with the force of an articulated lorry coming at me at full speed. Oh shit, what the hell was I doing?

Gasping for breath, I jumped away from her, quickly backing up a few steps and stared into her eyes as the shock of my actions struck me.

We were both breathing heavily. Sonia’s eyes were still partially closed, and she had a look of pure ecstasy on her face. I really, really wanted to kiss her again, but one of us had to be sensible. This shouldn’t have happened. I needed to stop this before it went any further.

“That was a mistake!” I said, hurrying from the room.

I quickly stripped my overalls off and used them to frantically wipe the paint from my chest and hand, trying to not think about the look of hurt on her face when I’d said those words.

What have I done?

“Romi?” she called as I was putting my T-shirt back on.

“Get changed, Sonia, I’m taking you home!” I told her firmly without looking at her.

“Wait, what?” she asked, “You are just going to kiss me and then act as if nothing happened?”

“Nothing did happen! At least it shouldn’t have. Forget about it; we need to leave. Get ready, I’ll meet you in the car,” I told her before heading for the front door.

How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let things get so far? I’d kissed her! I’d bloody well kissed her!

Outside, I took some deep breaths. My hands shook as I ran them through my hair, feeling like a bloody idiot. I’d told her we’d made a mistake, and we had. Yet, nothing had ever felt as right as kissing her. Why hadn’t I stayed in control? Everything was going so well until I screwed it up and ultimately hurt Sonia. I cringed as I realised that I would need to hurt her even more to ensure we didn’t make the same mistake again.

I was going to have to ensure that she knew we could never be. I was going to have to pretend our kiss hadn’t meant anything, and the thought of that tore at my soul. I dragged a breath deep into my lungs, closed my eyes, and then slowly released the air. I continued to do this as I calmed myself and fortified my resolve. I needed to put a stop to this, now. I was about to be a bastard to the only woman I wanted in the world, and it was going to be the hardest thing I’d ever done.

It needed to be done.

But why did my heart feel so heavy?

CHAPTER 12

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