Page 53 of When We Meet Again

I practically sprint toward her and grab her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

She nods.

“Why are you here?” I wipe my face with my arm, like that will help.

She looks up at me through her wet lashes, causing me to ultimately surrender to the very essence of her being. If that’swhat she’s trying for, she’s succeeded. “I know you come out here every night.”

The rain seems to fall harder, but neither of us takes a beat to head inside.

“How was your date,” I ask, with a little too much bite considering it wasmyidea.

She stands and slowly moves toward me, closing the space between us. “He isn’tyou, Rome.” Her lips part before her beautiful greens, beaming like emeralds, fall to my lips.

A full-blown smile blooms on my face. I can’t help it. I stood outside of that restaurant and watched like a stalker, full of doubts, and she still chose me. I grab her hand. “I could kiss you right now, but I’m sweaty.”

She lowers herself to my torso, her eyes never straying from mine. Her tongue slowly slides out of her mouth as she smiles, and her hot breath touches my belly button. She closes her eyes and slowly licks a straight line up my stomach, past my chest, causing me to heave for air. Her tongue finds my throat, and I release a groan I can’t hold back, “Fuck, Waverly. What are you doing? Tell me what you want.”

My nerves are humming, waiting for her to tell me what she wants. In detail.

“I want to spend the night with you, Roman. I want you to ravish me. I want you in every way I couldn’t have you before.” Every movement of her hands is deliberate as her nails tenderly graze down my pecs, over the corded muscles, down to the muscles on my hips. She traces the ‘V’ shape, and her fingers hook onto my shorts.

“What do you say?” Her voice breaks. I won’t let her be insecure about this. I’ve wanted this for seven fucking years.

I sweep my tongue over my lip and bite back a smile. “Are you saying you want me the same way I want you, Waverly Kensington? The way I wanted you since the first time youwalked into that bar seven years ago?The way I’ve wanted you for seven painful years?”

Her eyes turn dark and hooded, and she nods. “I’m saying you’re not a rebound. You never were. A huge part of me believes it was always supposed to be you, Roman.”

The air around us seems electrified. I scoop her up, throw her over my shoulder, and she scream-laughs.

“What are you doing?!” Her laughter is contagious, but I don’t laugh. I’m a man on a mission to make this woman in my arms feel like she’s never felt before.

I push through my bedroom door and playfully drop her on my bed. She props herself up with her elbows, looking up at me. “Now what? Lost your mojo, handsome?”

I jump on top of her, catching myself before I land on her, so that I hover inches from her face. She wraps her arms around my neck, staring into my soul. My feelings for her are intensifying by the minute.

“Is this definitely what you want, Waverly? Because I can’t fight this pull between us anymore.” I dip my lips to hers, ghosting over them, trying hard not to kiss her until she begs me. “And I sure as hell won’t be able to stop making every demand you had, and will have, come true once I start.”

CHAPTER 27

WAVERLY

Fortunate:Roman wants to boink me.

Unfortunate: It’s been so long since I’ve been properly boinked; what if they changed it?

“The wayI wanted you since the first time you walked into that bar seven years ago?”

“How did you want me?” I ask in a whisper. I’m frozen in place. The rain has turned into a drizzle, but neither of us seem to care that we’re drenched and lying in his bed together.

“I told you already…”

“Tell me again. I love hearing how bad you wanted me.”

He rolls off me and then the bed and walks to the window, watching the storm.Damnit, Waverly. Foot meet mouth.It’s like he’s living it all over again.

I sit myself up and pad over to where he’s standing, wrapping my arms around him from behind. It doesn’t last long before he pulls me around so that I’m face to face with him.

“All those years ago…” He holds me close with his hands splayed on my back. “I know I was only eighteen, but I had to talk to you. Even if you shot me down.” I clasp my hands infront of me, trying to stop myself from shaking at his words. My nerves aren’t humming, they’re singing. From his words, but more from being this close to him. It’s not a foreign feeling. It’s something I’ve chosen to tuck in and forget. “There was just something about you. But when I came out, you were giving your number to Patrick, and I knew you were no longer mine to talk to—to want. Not the way I wanted to anyway. I wanted to get you alone— lose control with you.” His hands move around my waist, exploring the hallows of my back, causing a lurch of arousal within me.

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