I couldn’t even bring myself to roll my eyes. Bastian’s constant politeness was starting to rub me in all the right places. I was losing sight of everyone else in the world that wasn’t inside of this penthouse, and I was forgetting exactly why Rome meant anything to me when I hadn’t heard or seen him since I’d moved.
“Tell me something.” I stared him down. “Is this how you treat all the women you bring here?”
He let out a breath and went to throw away the trash. Then he was back in front of me, dragging one finger down my arm and up again to my neck where my curls hung loosely. He let them fall between his fingers as if memorizing the way they did. “I’m starting to think I don’t treat any woman like you, because there is no woman like you. You don’t bitch about anything, you don’t care to prepare for me to be back. You’ve worn ratty socks since you’ve been here, and you still look good enough to fuck on this counter right here. And to add to it all, you make for damn good company.”
“Most women can do all those things, Bastian.”
“I don’t think so. I think that’s why you’re coveted bait and why I have to make sure you’re never bait again.”
With that, he wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed me. I met him halfway, sure I could erase every memory of any man before him with the way he treated me.
His touch was softer than I expected. He let me control the kiss, and I wondered if this was how he would rule Chicago, letting those around him think they were controlling, that they were a partner, that they could work with him to be the best.
I wrapped my arms and legs around him, trying to pull more from him, absorb more for myself. I was chasing a feeling that only one man could give me and it wasn’t Bastian. He lifted me right onto his length, and I rubbed against it as he walked me down the hall to his room.
“We’re moving quick, Katie.”
“We’re moving with purpose. You have calls to make.”
I felt his chest rumble with laughter right before he threw me onto the white down comforter on his bed.
I glanced around his room. The whites flowed into warm wood tones and matched muted pictures on the walls. “Your room is welcoming.”
He didn’t take his dark eyes off me. “My room is here all the time. You in it, on my bed, willing to spread your legs, is not. So might be time to strip and look at my room later.”
I scrambled to my knees and looked at him through my eyelashes, sure the power had shifted my way in this moment. “If we do this, it’s probably going to change things.”
He nodded but started unbuttoning his shirt like he didn’t care at all. I lifted my top over my head to reveal an unlined lace bra. The stark white against my skin felt like a lie every time I put it on. It was one of the reasons I always wore it, like I could fool my body into thinking it was innocent again.
Bastian groaned as I dragged a hand over the lace and let my fingers linger on my nipples. He yanked his unbuttoned shirt off and unbuckled his pants at a rapid speed. Bastian was defined in all the right places, his skin tanned and taunt over his muscles. I wanted my mouth to water for him, for my desire to amplify, but there was nothing.
Nothing except for the need to feel in control of myself, to steer my longing for Rome to someone else.
“I’m not sure if I want you to strip the rest off or leave it on. Fuck, Katie.” He breathed it out like he could barely contain himself.
I wished I felt the same. My eyes scanned up and down him, hoping for a spark.
None came, not even when I studied the lips that were just on mine. His kiss had been nice, but I didn’t want nice.
I wanted ravenous, vicious, something close to monstrous.
Bastian smirked at me, his eyes dark and full of need. He moved toward me, his hand went to my thigh and slid up to my shorts where his thumb dipped into the leg opening. “No panties? Were you planning this?” he whispered near my ear.
The question had me jolting back. Rome had asked me the same thing, and it was at that moment, I knew this couldn’t go further.
I leaned back, my heart thundering too loudly in my rib cage to ignore.
“Fuck, woman.” His eyebrows slammed down, confused by my sudden recoil. “Do you want to do this?”
I smiled at him, but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. “I want to but I don’t know if I can.” I’d used sex as a tool and weapon before. Whatever I had to do for the family, I did. It was my choice, but for the first time in a long time there was a hurdle I wasn’t sure I could jump over. I’d had Rome’s hands on me, wished they were there again, and only thought of him. My body didn’t want to cooperate, and I didn’t know how far I would be able to go while thinking of someone else.
He scratched his head like he didn’t understand. Then he tilted it. “If you can? You don’t have to sleep with me, Katie.”
I didn’t know why tears sprung to my eyes or why he grabbed my shirt to push it back over my head before pulling me close for a hug.
We sat there for a long time as I silently let the tears run over my face.
He finally whispered in my ear, “Tell me what you want.”