“Or you’ll sacrifice yourself for the one you want to survive more than you.” I believed what I said deep in my bones. “I’m a testament to that.”
“You’re a warrior, Katalina. Your father would be proud of you.”
I picked at my nail and let his words linger. “He wasn’t, Rome. He wouldn’t be now. I’m still trying to fit in. I’m still trying to do something he believed I wasn’t meant to do. To him, I was born for something bigger, better than what I was doing then and what I’m doing now.”
“Youwereborn for something bigger. And you’ll still reach the place you want to be, even if it’s not where you are now.” He slid his hand over my jaw and turned me to meet his eyes.
I looked over his face, his dark eyebrows that were normally dipped in a frown, the strong jawline and his scruff. I found myself yearning to feel it over my skin again.
“If I reach that place, will you be there with me?” I murmured, not sure I wanted his answer.
He leaned in and took my mouth instead. He tasted of the only thing I ever really wanted: my own destruction and salvation twisted together in my love for him. He’d either bring me to my knees or save me from myself.
Did he feel the same about me?
We lost ourselves in one another for maybe a minute, maybe an hour.
When I finally pulled away from him, I’d decided one thing. Trust was only given when you gave a person a reason to put their faith in you. “You got seventy-two hours, Rome. I’ll stay here until then.”
The left side of his mouth kicked up. “You don’t have much of a choice, Kate-Bait.”
“I think you’ll listen to me either way,” I threw back, not really sure at all.
He chuckled and got to his feet, then grabbed my biceps and lifted me too. “Whatever helps you sleep better in my bed.” The man winked at me like all of a sudden we were on joking terms. Rome, the underboss of America’s most ruthless mafia, wanted to play.
And I couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across my face, because this side of him warmed something in me that had been cold for a very long time. “Pretty sure the thing that’s going to help me sleep at night is you getting me out of these zip ties.” I waved them in front of us.
Towering over me, he crossed his arms in that black hoodie of his. “I don’t think I will.”
“Rome!” I whined.
Then I saw his eyes track down my body, and it immediately heated. I searched his face and saw him lick those soft lips. My gaze turned greedy. The sweatshirt material covered the tattoos I was obsessed with but not the contour of his muscles. It stretched over his biceps like the seams were about to break. Rome could never get something baggy over those muscles. He was too big, big in all the right places.
I took a step back when he took one forward. “Maybe I need to take advantage of the position I have you in for tonight.”
I lifted my chin. “Maybe keeping me tied up will get me to the high I’ve been searching for. I can’t seem to hit it lately.”
He shook his head. “Baiting and taunting me, huh?”
“I’m not doing anything of the sort.” I turned away from him and sashayed around the room in the dress I knew he loved seeing on me even if he hated any other man seeing me in it. “I’m just speaking the truth.”
“You know damn well I get you off every single time I touch you.”
My nipples tightened at the deep timbre of his voice. “Is that so?” He came toward me, and I backed up against the wall. “What if I’m faking it?”
He pushed his body up against me, and his length against my stomach alone had me whimpering. “You couldn’t fake with me if you tried. I’m the detonator to your bomb, woman. You ignite every single time, and I love watching you explode in beautiful chaos around me.”
“Light me up, Rome. I better feel the damn fireworks.”
His hands went to the sweetheart line of my dress. Before I could protest, he ripped it down the middle. The dress tore down to the skirt and left my chest exposed to him. “I’m going to burn this material,” he mumbled almost to himself before he took one of my breasts in his mouth. He sucked so hard, I had to swing my arms up over his head to rest on his shoulders so I wouldn’t collapse from the pleasure and pain of him.
“Rome,” I panted, “I’m here all night, you know, and the next night and, well, seventy-two whole hours.”
He licked up the swell of my breast, and I shivered. “I need to be working.”
“Work on me.” I held his gaze for a second before he shook his head and kissed me again.
I lifted my arms back over his head and to his front, then yanked his black sweatshirt up and ran my hands over his abs. I wrapped one leg around his hip so I could get him closer to my core, where I wanted him always. I wanted to be connected to him forever on another level, away from the mess the world pushed upon us.