Smoke and Sin Page 17

  “What’s wrong?”

  Not even realizing he’d paused, Roman had been turning the questions over in his head. But he had no answers. So he diverted his attention back to her silken flesh.

  Leaning closer, he kissed her knee before tightening his grip on her ankles and flipping her over. Damn, that was a beautiful ass. Heart-shaped and perfect, the globes of her backside were made to fill his hands.

  “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this.” He cupped her lush derrière. “You’re beautiful, woman.”

  “Roman, if you’ve changed your mind…” She pushed up to her elbows and turned her head to face him.

  Oh, no. She wasn’t getting away. He moved in between her splayed legs, using his body to hold her down. Once he had her pinned, he bent to whisper in her ear. “The only thing I’ve changed my mind about is how this will go down. You know what I’ve decided, Gus? I don’t care what our sex life was like back then. We were horny kids who couldn’t wait for orgasm. Now I’m a man. I want more. I need it. I intend to have everything from you.”

  She ducked her head, resting it against the bed. “It wasn’t so bad back then.”

  “It was the best sex I’ve ever had,” he admitted. “It was the sex I’ve compared encounters with every other woman to. All of them came up lacking. But I think you and I can do even better this time. We’re stronger. We can go higher.”

  She slid a seductive grin his way. “I like how you think. Why don’t you show me how much better this Roman is, because the younger version was pretty good.”

  Faint praise, but he would prove that he was right.

  He licked the shell of her ear. She’d always been sensitive there. Had any of her other lovers known that? How well had she been loved during the years they’d been apart? Had her other lovers been more tender? Had they taken the time to worship her properly?

  Water under the bridge. Their sex in the past might have been hurried, but he’d definitely learned to please her in small ways. She liked a little nip. And when she was really hot, she could do some damage with teeth and claws. Roman hadn’t minded one bit. In fact, he hoped to feel that again. The fresh, raw scratches down his back used to fill him with confidence, make him feel like such a man.

  “Now I need time with you. We’re not hiding from anyone anymore. We’ve got no reason for quickies. We have all night, Gus. I’m going to use every minute of it.”

  “You’re going to kill me, Calder.” Her voice sounded throaty, rough. Aroused.

  “Roman,” he corrected. “I’m Roman. And you’re my Augustine.”

  She used last names to force distance, and he refused to allow that tonight. Inevitably, it would come, but not until later. For now, he wanted absolutely nothing between them. Not their past. Not the uncertain future. Just the glorious now.

  “All right. You know Dax will likely find out,” she murmured.

  Yes, he did, but she wasn’t fighting him. He considered that a win. He had no idea what his old pal would think. In fact, Roman wasn’t entirely sure Dax hadn’t known about them back then. He’d never said anything, but the odd tension he’d noticed between them had evaporated after Gus had taken the shark-in-training job in DC. At the time, Roman had thought it was a mistake, but she’d proven herself. Her stubborn choice to do exactly the opposite of what he had wanted was the reason they were together now. If she’d gone back to New Orleans all those years ago, she wouldn’t have been as versed in politics and wouldn’t have been qualified for the job that brought her close to him again.

  Thank god she was so willful.

  “I’ll handle your brother.” He wasn’t sure how, but he would. He hated strife between him and any of his remaining brothers, but in that moment he knew that even if being with Gus again cost him Dax’s friendship, he wouldn’t make any other choice.

  Maybe being willing to lose a dear friend for a woman made him a selfish ass. She seemed willing to risk her relationships for the chance to touch him, too. Of course he could protect Gus without getting into her bed. But he was determined to have this time with her. Most likely, it would never come again.

  And if Dax showed up with a shotgun…well, he wouldn’t have much choice, would he? He’d do what he had to.

  Roman wrapped his hand around her hair, drew it away from her neck, then brushed his lips over the sensitive skin at her nape. “I’ll handle everyone. All you have to do is let me stroke you. Let me kiss you. Fuck you. Let me show you everything I should have before. Affection. Need.”

  She shivered beneath him as he kissed his way down her spine. “You’re going to torture me, aren’t you?”

  He loved the curve at the small of her back and the twin indentations there. “Think of it as anticipation. My dick is so hard right now and I can smell how ready you are for me, but that doesn’t mean we should throw down with no preliminaries. I’m sick of quick and empty. I want this to mean something.”

  She stiffened. “It always meant something to me, Roman.”

  He soothed her with kisses down the curve of her ass before shifting down her legs, licking the back of her knee and loving the way she squirmed. “Then that was my mistake, baby. I still don’t have anything to offer you except pleasure. I’ll give you all I can. I’ll make it so good for you.”

  They weren’t fighting right now, but they would. For the moment, he needed this truce afforded by arousal, the blissful respite.

  Why was it the only woman in the world who could bring him such peace was also the only one who could rev his temper and turn him into a blind hothead he swore he’d never be?

  Roman forced the thoughts aside. There was only now. Only this. Only Gus.

  Slowly, he wandered back to her feet and her perfectly kept toes, gratified to see her shiver under his touch. When was the last time he found a woman’s toes and ankles fascinating? Never. In fact, not once. But he wanted to inspect every inch of Augustine, like a man memorizing something precious, something he knew he would eventually lose so he needed a picture in his mind of its perfection.

  He flipped her over again. She gasped up at him. Then a frown flattened her gorgeous lips, and she fisted her hands at her sides, as though she didn’t trust herself not to reach for him. Or because she was thinking of punching him. With Gus it could be either.

  “When did you take to manhandling me?” she demanded.

  He grinned. So she’d noticed that he could still lift her and carry her around. Daily workouts had kept him strong, but he might need to up his cardio if he was going to spend a few weeks in her bed.

  He yanked her down the mattress so her backside perched on the edge—and her pussy was splayed wide open to him. Her skin had flushed a pretty pink, and her nipples were straining for attention. Already, Roman could tell she liked being aroused slowly, being kissed and caressed and adored as if he had all night long. She might not want to admit it, but her body didn’t lie.

  He urged her to bend her legs and place her feet flat on the bed. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I like being in charge.”

  Her eyes flashed. “You are so not in charge of me.”

  Another challenge, but then he should have expected that.

  He laid his right hand on the tiny curve of her belly. Frustratingly close to the flesh he wanted to touch…but he would get there soon. “Do you want to bet me? How about I won’t give you my cock until you admit I’m the boss in the bedroom?”

  “You’ll give in before I will,” she vowed. “I’m in control, Roman. Always. I have to be. This is all nice, but I can handle you.”

  So she could take him or leave him? That’s what she implied. That pretty mouth could BS him all day long if she needed to protect her ego. The old him would have been hurt by her tart words and started a fight. Now, he simply shut his mouth and vowed he wouldn’t give up until she’d surrendered everything to him.

  He smiled down at her, satisfied when unease crept across her face. “I will take that deal, baby. Let’s see who gives in first.
”

  * * * *

  “We’ll see.” Gus dug her nails into her palms. If she didn’t, she might do exactly what she’d sworn not to. She would beg.

  She wasn’t sure who the hell Roman had turned into, but this new version was infinitely more devastating than the previous one. This Roman was slowly driving her mad with his long caresses, deliberate kisses. If he’d missed an inch of her skin, she wasn’t sure where. Well, besides the one place she needed him most.

  “Why are you still dressed while I’m naked?” She bit back the need to ask when he would stop this torture and put his damn sexy mouth on her pussy.

  But she couldn’t give him that kind of power over her. He already had enough. Begging was totally out of the question.

  He lowered his head, his mouth hovering above hers. “Because you’re so pretty naked, Augustine. I don’t think you should ever wear clothes.”

  Yep, he was making her crazy. The Roman she remembered didn’t talk and tease during sex. That Roman had fucked. Oh, he’d fucked well, and for the blissful moments she’d been with him, she’d felt as if he truly needed her—at least for his orgasm. But the way he made her feel like the center of his world now was totally new.

  And so dangerous.

  She wasn’t about to tell him that she liked being naked for him. Something about the way the fabric of his slacks gently abraded the skin between her legs made her feel wanton and sexy, like she was a treat he’d rushed to unwrap because he couldn’t wait another second. “I think the press pool would find me walking around naked amusing.”

  His mouth played lightly over hers, his tongue teasing her before retreating in a frustrating dance. “I think I would have to kill a couple of those reporters, but your nudity would be an easy way to change the narrative of the twenty-four-hour news cycle. Maybe we should consider that the next time Zack steps in it. We’ll send you out all pretty and bare. At least half those asses won’t be able to think long enough to ask questions.”

  Who the hell was this? Roman didn’t joke during sex. He single-mindedly forged ahead until he was inside her, pounding away at her. She’d thought it was so passionate at the time, so romantic that he couldn’t wait another second to have her. But this…this was something more than sex. He was taking the time to make a connection with her.

  It scared the hell out of Gus, but she’d ached for him so much and for so long, she couldn’t find the will to fight him.

  He kissed her again, drugging her. She slid her hands over the smooth skin and rippling muscles of his back. That hadn’t changed. If anything, he was stronger now than he’d been then. More manly. And more tempting. When he’d picked her up, she’d actually felt light and dainty, and for a woman who was taller than most of the men she knew, that was saying something. She wouldn’t admit it to Roman, but when he turned or twisted her at will into whatever position he wanted, her heart raced. She loved the way he could press her down into the mattress and hold her still so he could ravage her mouth with his.

  He raised his head again, staring down into her face, seemingly trying to read her. “But you should understand that the first one who touches you will never see the light of day again. I’ll charge him with treason and turn him over to those bloodthirsty boys at the CIA.”

  Before she could respond, he kissed her into silence, then began working his way down her body. His lips brushed her neck, sending electric thrills through her. She bit back a moan when his mouth wandered to her breasts. He teased her, his tongue licking around her areola in long, unhurried laps—first one, then the other. More blood rushed to the untouched tips. Gus bit her lip to hold in a whimper.

  “Need something, baby?”

  He was taunting her. And he probably relished how hard she fought not to beg. Damn sexy bastard.

  Gus meant to assuage some of the ache without his help, so she raised her hands to pinch her aching nipples. Roman was having none of that. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the mattress on either side of her.

  “Bad girl. All you had to do was ask.”

  Beg, he meant. But thankfully, he didn’t make her, he merely showed her mercy and sucked one nipple into the heat of his mouth. His teeth grazed her, approaching the right side of pain. Searing tingles sizzled, and she could feel her pussy clenching and pulsing with an arousal so fierce it was almost painful.

  He shifted to her other breast, lavishing it with affection. Like the first, he engulfed the tip into his hot mouth while he cradled the straining globe, seemingly more than content to worship her body. As she arched up to him, he groaned and wended farther down her body. He settled his hips between her legs, looking as if he intended to stay and torment her until he was good and ready for more.

  This was something she hadn’t counted on. Over the years, she’d thought a lot about what it would be like to sleep with Roman again. The idea had danced through her fantasies, but in every scenario, the sex had been quick, furtive. He would haul her into his office, growling and grabbing her as he bent her over his desk before taking her hard and fast, hurtling her to a screaming orgasm. The sex would be good, sure. But more important, she would have solved the mystery of what it would feel like to be Roman’s lover again. Then she could tell herself that, since their youth, she’d had better. And she could walk away after satisfying her curiosity and need, knowing she’d gotten all he was capable of giving her.

  But never in all her daydreams had he laid her out and made a decadent feast of her. Never had he teased her and taunted her. Never had he joked with her. And never had she imagined that he could make her want something more from him again beyond mere sex.

  Gus didn’t like the realization, but she couldn’t spare the brainpower to stamp it out now. She couldn’t think about anything, except the fact that Roman shimmied his way down her body, his exploring mouth inching closer and closer to where she needed him most.

  Callused fingertips skimmed over her ribs, drifted across the indentation of her waist, then settled on her hips. His hands were so big, so masculine, so talented as they held her in thrall. A shiver raced through her as he eased lower, showing her just how good he was with his lips, too. They skated over her abdomen before he dipped into her navel, awakening nerve endings she hadn’t known existed, giving her a preview of what his tongue could do elsewhere.

  When he edged down her body once more, he stopped just short of planting his mouth on the spot that would give her relief. A whimper slipped free from her throat. He was so close. The heat of his breath on her needy flesh wracked her. He palmed her thighs, spreading them even wider, and gazed up her body. His dark eyes flared when their stares tangled.

  A single lock of inky hair had fallen over his forehead. He was usually so meticulously groomed. When he was in his pressed three-piece designer suits with his hair tamed and neat, he was the president’s strong right hand. But now, with his shirt off, his eyes hot, and his hair tumbled, he was a dangerous predator. Gus couldn’t wait for him to eat her up.

  “You still shave.” His voice rang with satisfaction.

  She shook her head. “I got the kitty lasered a long time ago.”

  His stare held hers as he lowered his mouth and brushed his lips over the fleshy pad of her pussy. “So fucking soft. That’s what makes me crazy about you. You’re so strong and still soft. And this is beautiful.”

  Gus tried to give him an offhanded smile, as if his adoration didn’t matter. But she couldn’t stop herself from clutching the comforter in her fists. She didn’t know how else she could keep herself from tangling her fingers in his hair. Because if she did, she would tug on the strands and try to force him to fuck her with that mouth of his. Not only would he torment her by doing the opposite because the man was contrary, but she couldn’t let him know how much she needed him and the pleasure he could give her.

  Any power she gave him, Roman would use with ruthless intent.

  “Do you know how much I want this, Augustine? How often I think I can still taste you on my to
ngue? I’ll be sitting in a meeting and see you walk by, and I’ll swear your flavor is still lingering. Do you have any idea how often I get a hard-on in the middle of an intelligence briefing at the thought of getting my mouth on you again?”

  He still thought about her? No matter how much she’d tried not to, she’d thought about him, too. She’d told herself she’d moved on, but her longest relationship had been the ten months she’d dated a JAG lawyer Dax had introduced her to. It had ended when she’d taken the job at the White House. She’d told him her schedule was too insane, but not missing him at all had been her first clue he wasn’t the man for her. Now she had to wonder if being near Roman day in and day out had forced her to acknowledge that, deep down, no one could compare to him.

  “Do you?” He lifted his hand to her folds, gently pulling back the hood of her clitoris.

  Oh, god. What was he doing to her?

  “No,” she managed to breathe out.

  “I do,” he whispered softly against her pussy. “Oh, baby.”

  He licked her with a slow stroke of his tongue. Soft. Barely there. Gus closed her eyes and shuddered, fighting not to thrash against him. It felt so good, but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

  She pressed her lips together so she didn’t beg him for more. He wanted this, too. She had to remember that. Just like she had to remember that she was with Roman. He would eventually take what he wanted. It was his nature.

  “Hmm,” he groaned. “That’s exactly the flavor I remember. Tell me, Augustine. Do you want me to give you more?”

  “I do, but I won’t beg you.”

  “Baby, we’re not there yet. Not even close.” He leaned closer and licked her once more, drawing his tongue over her sensitive button and engulfing her whole body in heat. It swamped her, searing her skin, making her sweat. “I’ll let you know when you can beg.”