Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

AURORA

" Y ou piece of shit, asshole, sonofabitch, bastard, coldhearted, scum-sucking, lowlife rat!"

Roman winked at the attendant who followed him into the room with a chair. "She's hopelessly in love with me."

I rattled my restraints as I tried to raise my arms. "When I get out of these restraints, I'm going to fucking shoot you for real, right between your fucking soulless eyes!"

Roman frowned as he placed a finger to his lips. "Shhh, darling, not in front of the help."

The attendant smirked as he placed the chair in the corner, bowed to Roman, and left.

Before he closed the door, Roman called out, "Don't open that door, no matter what you hear, until I knock."

My stomach twisted at the ominous command.

The attendant bowed his head a second time. "Yes, sir."

Roman unbuttoned his jacket and sat. He steepled his fingers and stared at me. "You tried to leave me."

I took a deep breath. I needed to handle this carefully. "Roman, take these things off me."

"I warned you not to leave me again. I warned you what would happen if you did."

"You should be the one locked up in here, not me, if you think anything I did justifies this."

Ignoring my comment, he rose and took off his jacket. "You shouldn't have tried to leave me."

I lost it. I leaned up as far as the leather cuffs would allow and rattled the restraints again. "I tried to leave because you are a psychopath! Because you literally just tried to frame me for attempted murder! Because I'm locked up in a fucking asylum right now on your orders!"

Breathing heavily, I fell back onto the bed. I rolled my head back and forth as I stared at the ceiling. My voice was low and strained as I continued, "Because you think love is something to be possessed and controlled. Because as much as you fascinate me, you terrify the ever-living hell out of me. Because I'm locked in your fucking killing jar and I'm slowly dying ."

Roman let out a frustrated sigh as he unbuttoned his cuffs, then slowly unbuttoned his shirt. "I've tried to be patient with you, kitten, but I see now that I have been too indulgent."

He shrugged out of his shirt and set it aside. The white bandage close to his shoulder was stark against his tanned skin. His hands went to his belt buckle.

My eyes widened. "What do you think you're doing?"

He whipped his belt off and set it aside. "It's time you understood you are mine. We are fated to be together. Only death is going to separate us."

I rolled my shoulders, trying to sink deeper into the mattress, the only escape available to me. "You're insane."

My gaze zeroed in on the bandage again. "How far did you go? Is it just a superficial knife wound, or did you actually shoot yourself to convince me I had done it?"

Roman smirked as he kicked his shoes and socks off and unbuttoned his trousers until they hung low on his hips. "I'm nothing if not detail oriented. And who says you didn't shoot me?"

My mouth opened and closed several times before I could form the words to respond to his audacity. "I know, Roman. I know it's all a lie. I saw the newspaper. It was your brother Richard's wedding. Not ours, because I said no ."

His gaze narrowed. "Don't say that word to me," he growled.

Feeling my sanity slipping from my grasp, I risked it all. Smirking, I said, "No."

He picked up his belt and stalked toward me. Climbing onto the narrow bed, he straddled my hips. He then wrapped the belt around my throat, not tight enough to cut off my air, just tight enough to be a threat. "Go ahead. Say no to me again," he warned.

I hissed through my clenched teeth. My heart raced. I could feel the blood rise in my cheeks as I clenched my thighs against my own rising arousal. Every nerve in my body tingled and responded to his threat. This was the real peril in loving a man like Roman. Your very body became addicted to the deadly rush of adrenaline the danger of his nearness caused. I chased the rush, running headlong into my own destruction. "No."

Roman pulled on the belt, lifting my torso up as his mouth slammed down on mine. The moment he pushed his tongue between my lips, I bit down. Hard. His head reared back. He placed a fingertip on his tongue and stared at the crimson drop. He smiled. "That's my bad girl."

I returned his macabre smile. This must be what it felt like to dance as Rome burned.

He leaned down to claim my mouth again. I reveled in the coppery taste of blood as I kissed him back, straining against my restraints.

Roman tore my hospital gown down the front and palmed my breast before pinching my nipple. I craved the bite of pain. I kissed him more fiercely, dueling with his tongue as I licked and bit at his lower lip.

Roman skimmed his mouth along my jaw as he wrapped his fist around the tail end of the belt. The metal buckle pressed against my throat, driving me wild. I forgot all his sins in this moment. I just wanted every toxic, fucked-up inch of him. I writhed on the bed, struggling against my restraints.

Roman pulled back.

I whimpered.

He slid down my body until his shoulders pressed into my inner thighs. "Purr for me, kitten."

He licked my pussy, teasing my clit. My hips bucked. He licked again, this time applying more pressure.

"Oh, God."

"Say my name."

"Roman," I breathed.

"Louder." His hot breath caressed my sensitive flesh.

"Roman!"

He flicked my clit with the tip of his tongue in reward.

I curled my fingers into fists, desperately wanting to drive them into the soft waves of his hair and pull him closer. The restraints around my ankles rattled as I tried to raise my knees. The inability to move how my body wanted only heightened my arousal. I was trapped under him, by him, because of him… for him.

The sexual tension reached a fever pitch. With every flick of his tongue, with each brush of his hand over my abdomen, with each soft caress of his breath against my thigh, my body responded as if touched by a brand. He was burning me from the inside out.

I writhed against my restraints as my orgasm took hold. My hips bucked again, slamming against his jaw. Roman's dark gaze captured mine as he slowly opened his mouth and stretched out his tongue, gently circling it around my now overly sensitive clit, driving me to the edge once more.

"No! I can't! I'm done."

"I warned you about that word."

He continued to torture me with his tongue until he wrenched another orgasm from me. As my body turned to ash in the flames, he stretched over me. Through my own harsh breaths, I could hear the metal clicks of him lowering his zipper. My heart skipped a beat.

The head of his cock was hot against my thigh as he pressed it between our bodies. He rubbed it between the seam of my pussy lips several times before pushing it inside, but only an inch or so.

"Wait," I begged.

Roman stared down at me, one eyebrow lifted.

"Release me. Please, Roman. I want to hold you."

He hesitated.

I softened my gaze. "Please, don't deny me." I knew he wouldn't be able to resist.

Roman reached up and unbuckled the first leather cuff around my right wrist. His chest hair brushed my nose as he then unbuckled the other one. The second I was free, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. I rarely initiated our kisses. I knew I would take him by surprise.

He immediately wrapped his hands around my jaw and deepened the kiss.

"Now, baby. Now!" I purred.

Roman thrust inside, filling me.

"Jesus, baby," he groaned as he thrust again, deeper.

I arched my back and switched the position of my hands to run my nails down his back. The movement spurred him on. He fucked me harder, each punishing thrust claiming me as his own.

He quickened his pace to a punishing speed, bruising my flesh as he pounded into me again and again.

I dug my nails in deeper as his harsh breaths brushed my cheek. I relished the feel of his weight bearing down on me, the press of his hips, his thick shaft stretching me open.

Roman growled as he thrust in deep and froze. Cords of muscle popped out on his neck as he threw his head back and released deep inside of me. It was the first time he had come inside of me since I had turned down his marriage proposal.

Roman collapsed to the side of me, so as not to crush me.

He tried to pull me into his side, as usual, but my leg restraints stopped him. He rose off the bed and released my ankles. He then pulled off his trousers and rejoined me.

I shifted until I was on top of him, my legs straddling his hips.

I leaned down low to kiss his neck, loving the salty taste of his sweat. I bit his earlobe, murmuring, "Did you like that, baby?"

He pushed his fingers into my tangled hair, cupping the back of my skull. "I'll never tire of fucking you, kitten."

I leaned my head on his shoulder, cuddling closer to him as I stretched my right arm down between the bed and the wall. Making nonsense mewing noises to cover my movements, my fingers skimmed along the linoleum surface under the bed until they touched the glass tranquilizer syringe. I pushed it against the wall so I could more easily pick it up with my thumb and forefinger.

I leaned up slightly as I slowly raised my arm. "You know I'm still mad at you for the dirty trick you played. It was really very boorish of you to make me think I had shot you… and at our own wedding, no less!"

Roman pushed my hair back away from my face as I leaned over him. "All's fair in love and war, baby girl."

I smiled as I skimmed the tip of my tongue over the edges of my teeth. My distraction worked; his sharp gaze focused on my mouth.

I adjusted my grip on the syringe. I then slid my hand across the mattress, out of his line of vision, bringing the syringe close to the top of his shoulder. "I'm so glad you think so."

I drove the syringe into the fleshy part of his upper arm and depressed the plunger.

Roman's eyes widened. "What the hell did you just?—"

His eyes closed, and his head lolled to the side.