He waved me off. “I have what’s mine whether it’s smart or not. By the way, you on birth control still?”
“What about how clean I am? You’re not nervous I’m sleeping with someone else?”
He side-eyed me. “You better not be on someone else’s dick that fast, woman.”
I rolled my eyes at the deep warning in his voice because we both knew I wasn’t. “Yes, my birth control is still going strong. A word of advice, though. It’s a good idea to ask a woman if she’s on birth controlbeforeshe has sex with you. It defeats the purpose to ask after.”
“You’re the one who dove onto my dick.” He shrugged like he didn’t care either way and smirked at his joke.
“Oh, please. Get fucked. No one’s jumping on you that quick,” I shot back even though I knew it was a lie.
He laughed at my quick retort and I joined him. He raised a brow as if to question me. “Sure about that?”
My gut clenched. Rome was a freaking god amongst men and I could imagine the women who would throw themselves at him. I looked down at a nail, acting unfazed. “Yep. You got me off first. Got on your knees for me. In all actuality, maybe you had to coax me onto there, hmm?”
His smile stretched full across his face at me goading him. “I think you want real punishment. I’m happy to deliver too. You got a nice enough ass that I could lay a few good slaps over it without causing any real harm.”
I found myself breathing faster and clenching my thighs together at his words. I glanced out the window quickly so as not to give myself away.
He caught me, though, and moved to sit right next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “I’m inclined to not make this damn meeting at all at this point.”
“It’s the biggest meeting of our lives.”
His tongue dragged from my bare shoulder all the way up to my ear where he bit me softly. “I’ll table your punishment for later then.”
My nipples tightened and I had to clench my fists to stop from responding physically to him. I closed my eyes at the reminder of the meeting, of the fact that we were going to another new club that was under Rome’s name and housed the family’s events.
We were dancing on thin ice, playing with fire, walking on melting rock and hoping it didn’t turn to lava as the volcano erupted in the background.
“We have to be stronger than our connection to one another, Rome.” I said it with my eyes closed, my body rigid in denial.
He sighed and I felt him pull away. There was a long silence. I heard the roll of his deep breaths through the limo and wondered if he was even going to respond.
“Maybe you’re right.” He wiped a hand over his face, and I heard the scruff on him I loved so much scratching at his palm.
My core clenched again and I ran my fingers through my hair before I turned to look out at the city rushing by as we drove. Hearing him agree with me sent an unexpected shock through my heart, one I couldn’t even begin to interpret. “We know what they’re going to ask of us in the next hour.”
“I know what they’ll ask of you.” He emphasized ‘you’. “You get to decide.”
“Does that mean if I choose to be on Bastian’s arm so all of us can survive, you’ll table the monster in you and let it happen?”
“You expect that I’ll be the only problem here, woman? You can’t control the pull I have on you either.”
“Well, we have to try. We can figure it out as we go.”
We’d hidden in the shadows before, taken our passion in the night. We could do it again if we needed a fix. I’d have to get stronger, but as I looked at him, I knew I’d give in to weakness time and time again.
Rome shook his head like he could read my mind. “I won’t have you like that again. I won’t hide, Katalina. You’re either mine or you’re not.”
“Bastian and I could have a partnership, Rome. That’s what the bratva and the families will respect. You know that their tradition is buried so deep in their bones, they’ll barely look at me as a leader because I’m a woman. If I don’t tie my blood to his, there won’t be much of a partnership at all. If I’m yours, the bratva ceases to exist. You get everything you ever wanted and I, nothing. I can’t make an impact without ruling and I can’t rule without taking the partnership. I’m left at your side while you put the family first. Can you say otherwise?”
He growled into the palms of his hands. “You’re the family. I put you first too.”
I shook my head. “You don’t.” My throat tightened at the thought of Mario bleeding out in front of me. “Mario’s a testament to that. You took his life after I asked you not to.”
“That was as much for you as it was for them.”
The ball in my throat grew large at the image of Mario lifeless in my arms. “He was a good uncle to you.”