Page 76 of Forbidden Games

He laughed. “Fair point. Yes, I’d like to come snorkeling with you.” Saying it felt like he was agreeing to something more serious than a daytime outing, but Roman didn’t let himself think about that too hard. He liked Allie. He liked spending time with her. She wasn’t going to let him get any ground on talking business while they were down there, and even if he went back to New York, he couldn’t make any forward progress without her. All that aside, hewantedto be on West Island. With her.

“When’s the last time you had a vacation?”

He shrugged. “I visited my parents in Morocco a couple years ago.”

Those blue eyes saw too much. She gave a soft smile. “When’s the last time you had a real—relaxing—vacation?”

“Ah, that’s something else altogether.” He thought hard and came up blank. “I don’t know. Maybe spring break in college, but that’s hardly the idea of relaxing you’re talking about.” He’d had his eye on the prize even back then, so Roman had used the time to network. Nothing brought people together as much as getting drunk and doing stupid shit, and those relationships had panned out nicely in the years since.

But an actual vacation? Just to relax?

He cleared his throat, not quite able to meet her gaze. “Never.”

“That’s what I thought.” Allie set down her mug and slid into his arms as if she’d made the move a thousand times before. “We have four days left on West Island. Why don’t we treat it like a real vacation and just enjoy ourselves?”

It sounded a whole hell of a lot like she’d just smacked an expiration date on them. Roman wasn’t surprised at that. Whatdidsurprise him was how her words made him feel—like he wanted to bend her over the counter and fuck her until she admitted that there might actually be somethingthere.

Instead, he palmed her ass and gave her a light squeeze. “You’ll stay here at night.”

“Yes.” No argument for once. Her gaze dropped to his lips. “I have to talk to Becka, but judging by how excited she was by my leaving last night, I don’t think she’ll have a problem with the change of plans. Especially if it leaves the villa open for her to have her own vacation fling.”

I’m not a fucking fling.

Once again, he smothered the response. Roman didn’t know what he wanted from this yet, other than more time with Allie, but he’d be damned before he did or said something to spook her. There would be plenty of time to hash it out later. Right now, they were just talking about the next four days.

He smoothed her hair back. “Why don’t you bring your things here for the duration—it’d save you the multiple trips.”

“Trips I’ll still have to make to arrange things with Becka for our daily plans.” Allie shook her head. “No, this is better with clear boundaries. I’ll bring enough stuff for overnight—toothbrush and that kind of thing—but the rest stays.”

Stubborn woman.

“You’re being difficult.”

She grinned. “What I’m being, Roman, is noncompliant. I get the feeling that you don’t get told no a lot, but you should get used to it. You might have a magical cock, but that doesn’t mean you get a permanent free pass to run my life.”

“You think I have a magical cock?” He pulled her closer, lining up their hips so she could feel exactly what she’d just described.

Allie’s eyes went wide. “I might have said that.” She palmed him through his shorts. “Then again, my memory is a bit faulty. It’s been ages since I’ve had you inside me.”

“Woman, it’s been a few hours at most.” He laughed and scooped her into his arms, liking the little yip sound she made. “But never let it be said that I don’t take care of your needs.”

“Heaven forbid.” She arched up to murmur in his ear. “I’m desperate for you, Roman.”

His cock went rock solid and he tightened his hold on her. “In that case, I think your friend can wait another hour or two.” He strode for the bedroom.

Allie sat as rigid as she was able to while the boat wobbled its way through the waves away from the island. When she’d invited Roman along to go snorkeling, she hadn’t really thought it through. Becka hadn’t seemed to mind, so it didn’t really sink in until they’d left the island that this was...a date.

No, not arealdate.

But it was as close as she’d come to a date inyears.

Not loving what that says about my social life.

What social life?

It was different when it was just her and Roman in his villa. She didn’t have to think too hard about the implications, because it was clearly just sex. Or maybe the sex just fuzzed her mind andthatwas why spending all that time with him didn’t bother her.

Either way, it was different now.

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