18. Roman

18

ROMAN

Q uinn lifted her head from my shoulder, staring at me. "How?"

"We can worry about that later. I'll talk to the boys, if you don't mind them knowing."

She shook her head, giving me a small smile. "I don't mind." Pausing, she bit down on her lip. "Do—do you want to be with me?"

How was that even a question? "Fuck yes, I do. There's no question of that. You're a motherfucking goddess, baby, and I'm just here to worship you."

That got me a bigger smile. "You're ridiculous," she huffed.

"Ridiculously into you." I grinned at her, leaning forwards to kiss the tip of her nose. "But seriously, there's no one else I want. Freya…earlier…shit, I don't even know what that was. My fucked-up attempt to get you out of my head. It didn't work."

"Yeah, I could tell by the way you attacked your friend." She smirked, and yeah, she even looked hot with a smirk on her face. Fucking hell, how did I get so lucky to have this girl here in my arms after everything?

"I should probably apologise to him. Speaking of apologies, about the boat… I honestly have no fucking idea what happened. All I remember is getting back to the lighthouse, completely fucking delirious from the swim and the cold water, and panicking about leaving you out there for too long. I think I said something about you, but I don't even know if I was talking to myself or a person. My head was so messed up. It feels like a dream or something. I remember that someone shoved a drink into my hand. My mouth was full of the taste of saltwater, and I was so thirsty I downed it in one go. After that…nothing. It's like my memory is completely blank. Whatever it was gave me a hell of a hangover, like I'd gone on a week-long bender or something."

Her brows pulled together. "I don't like the sound of this. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you tried to tell me before. Who would spike your drink, and why? What purpose would it achieve?"

I shrugged, unease creeping down my spine. "No clue. The boys have no idea, either. I'm just being careful, keeping an eye out. We all are. I might have accidentally been targeted, but if it was on purpose, then we need to be on our guard. No more letting anyone hand me drinks. That's why I wasn't drinking tonight, and Tristan took care of the weed. Him and Knox are the only ones I trust. And you. I trust you, Quinn."

Her lip trembled again, and I couldn't have that. I kissed her, and she sighed against me. "How have we gone from you hating me to this?"

"I never hated you. I hated that I wanted you. There's a difference. And yeah, it's no excuse for the way I acted. I can't tell you how fucking sorry I am for the way I treated you. But you were always meant to be mine, Quinn."

Finally, she smiled. "Everything you said goes for me, too. And just so you know, I trust you, too, Roman."

"Good." Now we'd managed to get the difficult conversation out of the way, it was time to do something I'd been wanting to do for-fucking-ever. "Lock the door, baby. I'm gonna show you how a god fucks his goddess."

She stared at me and then burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, but that line was terrible."

"Yeah? You don't want me to make you see stars with my mighty rod?"

"Stop it." She collapsed into me, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "I can't take any more."

"But, baby, I can take you to heaven."

"No more," she gasped, clambering off me, still laughing. I noticed she was pretty fucking quick at getting the door locked, though. Good. I wasn't the only one eager for this. And my girl was a goddess, whether she liked it or not, and I was going to make sure she was treated like one. Beginning with getting her naked and worshipping every inch of her beautiful body.

When she returned, I wasted no time in sweeping her off her feet and carrying her over to the bed, where I lowered her down. Seeing her lying there, ready for me, staring up at me with so much lust in her eyes, made my dick throb. I needed to be inside her. After I'd made her feel good.

I tugged off my shirt and kicked off my shoes, fucking loving the way her gaze went all heavy-lidded, dragging down my body and stopping at the bulge in my jeans.

"Roman."

"Yeah? Like what you see?"

"More," she moaned. Fucking hell, this girl was so fucking sexy.

"You want more? You know what to do."

She licked her lips and then kicked off her shoes. I raised a brow, and so she took her socks off. Fine. If she was going to be a little tease, two could play that game.

I took my socks off, wincing at the freezing temperature of the flagstones beneath my feet.

"More," she demanded.

"You first."

Moving into a seated position, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. Her hands disappeared behind her back, and then the next thing I knew, she was pulling her bra out from under her short dress. Fuuuck. Just one layer of fabric separated me from those delicious tits I couldn't wait to play with.

Sliding her hand down her body, she lay back down. I palmed my aching cock through my jeans, staring at her with my mouth open. Yeah, I was aware I probably looked like a dickhead, but I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that she was here and all the shit we'd been dealing with since she'd come back was over. Okay, not over, but there was a reason. I knew why she'd been acting the way she had. She accepted that I'd had my drink spiked. And now? Now, I finally got a proper second chance with the only girl I'd ever really wanted. And I wasn't going to fuck it up.

"Roman. More." I could see her nipples through the fabric of her dress, and it was fucking mouthwatering.

"More?" My fingers drifted to the button of my jeans. As she stared at me, I divested myself of both my jeans and underwear in one go, and I groaned in relief as my cock was finally freed from its confines.

A breathy moan fell from her throat, and my cock jerked. Stepping up to the bed, I lowered my head, nipping at her lip as I slid my hand up her thigh. "Your turn. I want it all off."

Thankfully for both my dick and my sanity, she complied instantly, pulling off her dress and treating me to the sight of her gorgeous breasts, leaving just a tiny scrap of material covering the final part of her that I really fucking wanted to see. Placing my free hand on her other thigh, I pushed her legs apart and then traced a single finger over her underwear, already wet with her arousal.

I spoke against her lips. "All. Off."

She took a deep, shuddering breath and then fell backwards onto the bed, sliding her underwear off her body.

I stilled, taking in the sight of this beautiful woman who was about to become mine in every single way.

"Fuck," I rasped. "If you could see yourself now…"

Her lashes lowered, her cheeks flushing as she curled her fingers into the sheets. "Roman. I need you. Please."

"Condoms. Need?—"

"I haven't been—I had a full set of tests for everything when I came back to England. And I'm on the pill."

Fucking hell. Was she saying what I thought she was saying?

"I get tested regularly. If you want to go without…"

" Please ."

There was no way I could wait another second. I climbed onto the bed, covering her with my body. "I've never been with anyone without a condom before." I've never been with anyone I felt so fucking much for .

"Me neither." Her eyes met mine, and it was like we could read each other perfectly as I slowly pressed inside her tight, wet heat. I'd imagined this so many times, but it had mostly been hate fucking in my head because I hadn't been able to see a way past our animosity. I'd thought I would want it hard and fast, and yeah, I did still want that, but this…this was everything I hadn't known I needed. It was pure fucking perfection. Quinn wrapped her arms and legs around me, moving beneath me like we'd done this a hundred times before, meeting me thrust for thrust. Bracing myself, I switched up positions, kissing and licking her breasts, then up to her collarbone, and finally marking her throat with my lips and teeth. Her breaths grew rapid beneath me, her nails pressing into my skin as she gasped out a litany of swear words interspersed with my name, and I knew she was close.

Angling my body, I got my fingers on her clit, and it was game over. She cried out my name, fucking shattering around me, and there was no possible way I could even attempt to hold back. I followed her over the edge, my cum filling her as she gripped me so fucking tightly, milking my cock until we were both completely spent.

I rolled us over, pulling her on top of me as my dick slowly recovered and we stopped breathing like we'd just run a marathon. Stroking my fingers through her hair, I smiled to myself.

"You know how you're my goddess and I'm a god?"

Lifting her head, she raised her brows. "I'm not sure I want to hear whatever you're about to say."

My smile widened into a grin. "All I was going to tell you was that you can finally be in on the secret."

"What secret?" Amusement danced in her eyes.

"You've just experienced the real nectar of the gods. I filled you with?—"

"No. No more!" She slammed her hand over my mouth, muffling my words as she bit back her own smile. "If you mention gods or goddesses or god-related innuendos one more time, I'm leaving."

I palmed the soft curves of her ass, and when she shivered and removed her hand from my mouth, I angled my head for a kiss.

"No more. Want to hear another secret? A real one?"

"Yes." Laying her head on my chest, she stroked up my arm.

"Remember our first kiss? I couldn't stop thinking about it—about you. I was gonna text you in the summer and see if we could meet up somehow, so I could ask you to be my girlfriend."

Her breath hitched. "Really?" she whispered.

"Yeah. I thought at first that you were just fucking around with me, y'know, rebelling or whatever, but the more we talked, the more I realised you saw me. The real me."

She pressed the softest kiss to my skin. "I did see you, and I do see you. You saw me, too. You saw beneath the surface, and you were the only one I felt I could be myself with."

"We'll get that back." It was a promise that I wouldn't break. "We knew everything about each other back then, and all we need to do now is catch up. We both want the same thing, Quinn. You're fucking mine, and I'm yours, okay?"

"Okay." Her hand found mine, squeezing it gently. "It's a deal."