“That works.”
The line goes dead. I set my mug down, pick up Fae’s, and turn towards the hallway to wake her. Whatever Felix has found better be good. We have spent too many days chasing our tails and I am praying that once our living nightmare ends, Fae’s nightmares do too.
CHAPTER 23
FAE
Iwake slowly, tangled in warmth. There is a weight pressed along my front that is solid and unmoving and my half-asleep brain decides it is just the blanket until I realise it is too heavy but still comforting. I groan quietly and shift, trying to wriggle free, only to feel soft lips brush my cheek, then my temple, then my nose. I think this is Roman’s favourite way to wake me and I cannot help but swoon a little. For the past two weeks, every morning I am either wrapped up in him like a pretzel or he is kissing any part of my body he can reach.
“Roman,” I mumble, attempting to turn my face into the pillow. He follows me easily, his body pinning me beneath him, his mouth still finding my skin as his warm breath tickles my jaw.
“You can’t go anywhere,” he murmurs, voice rough like he has just woken up. I know he hasn’t though. I can smell the coffee that has already been made. His arm tightens, anchoring me in place as he squeezes my hips slightly to tickle me and I let out a small, helpless laugh. The sound seems to catch him off guard and he stills, lifting his head just enough to look at me. When I meet his eyes, heat crawls up my neck.
“What’s that look for?” I ask, suddenly shy.
He doesn’t answer straight away, just studies my face like he’s memorising it. He always does this, pausing as his eyes flicker across my features like he’s cataloguing them. I always wonder what it is he’s trying to see.
“I just love hearing you laugh,” he finally responds quietly.
My cheeks burn at his admission as I try to duck my head again, smiling into the pillow while his forehead rests against mine, like the world outside this room doesn’t exist. I never knew men could be this soft. Father certainly wasn’t to my mum, not that I remember. Felix’s softness is different and any other man has been brutal in their affections.
“You’re actually a teddy bear, do you know that?” I say as I feel him smile against my cheek and grunt.
“Don’t tell anyone; I’d hate to have to kill them,” he jokes back… well, I think he is joking; I can never tell.
Roman still has that killer edge about him. I see it in the tightness of his jaw and the angles of his body after another dead end. Every time we go to a warehouse, I see the threads pulling him further apart. Each failed rescue unravels something in his control.
But with me… it is all light and softness. There is a peace between us and I have no desire to lose it. I worry sometimes that I am replacing Robyn with Roman, like I cannot bear to be alone after all those years, but then Roman bathes me, cleans my hair, cooks for me, and I realise it’s him I’m obsessed with. I would be like this with Robyn here too.
Roman lifts his body just enough to spare me from being crushed, the loss of his weight making me aware of every place we are still touching. I stretch instinctively, my arms reaching above my head, my spine arching into his body before I even realise I have done it. Roman makes a deep sound in his throat and buries his face into the curve of my neck.
His breath is warm and deliberate. His nose brushes my skin, then his mouth as he kisses my throat. It’s not rushed, just enough pressure to remind me he is there. My breath hitches despite myself, a soft, traitorous moan giving me away completely.
“Careful,” he murmurs, lips grazing the sensitive spot beneath my ear. There is a smile in his voice, but something darker beneath it, like he wants me to be anything but careful.
We have barely been able to keep our hands off each other. I never knew sex could feel this good; it is like he has me addicted to him. Roman’s hand slides up under the tee I wore to bed. His fingers move slow and possessive, splaying across my ribs like he is grounding himself as much as me. I can feel the tension in his body and my pussy starts dripping with need. His dick presses against my naked heat, warm and solid, and my mouth waters. It is unfair how needy I am suddenly, how every nerve hums under his touch.
“I was asleep!” I protest weakly, though my body betrays me as I arch back into him again. His thumb traces a lazy line along my ribs as he continues to kiss the sensitive skin of my neck.
“Hmm,” he hums, unconvinced. “You don’t feel asleep to me.”
My pulse stutters at that, heat pooling low and insistent. I turn my head just enough to catch his mouth, a soft, unguarded kiss that lingers longer than it should. His response is immediate, not desperate or rushed but heavier. When he pulls back, his forehead rests against mine, eyes dark and focused like he is deciding something.
For a moment, neither of us moves. The room feels smaller, warmer, like the world has narrowed to breath and skin and the quiet hum between us. His grip tightens slightly at my waist, enough to promise without taking; I swallow, suddenly awarethat if either of us moves the wrong way, this calm will shatter into something else entirely.
Roman keeps eye contact as he slowly moves one hand from my ribs down to my exposed cunt, a wicked smile crawling across his face as he feels how wet I am for him. He moves his mouth beside my ear, close enough that every word feels pressed straight into my skin.
“Do you feel how hard it is to behave when you look at me like that?” he growls. “You’re a naughty girl, Tink, and I don’t even have time to punish you.”
“What, why?” I squirm, he chuckles, a low, throaty sound.
“Do you do that on purpose, so I punish you, Tink? I think I have been going too soft.”
I moan as he pinches my clit, hard enough that to most people it would hurt, but for me it fuels the fire. He kisses behind my ear, then down my neck, and bites hard as his thick finger is shoved into my pussy.
“Jesus!” I shout as he groans and adds another, pumping in and out until my pussy is like a waterfall.
The feelings he provokes make my whole body tingle, my stomach clenching as if it is desperate to hold on to him, and the juxtaposition of his rough finger fucking and the gentle caress of my clit is enough to make me cum already.