Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
The smile that spread across his face was slow and sexy. His eyes held a glint of pleasure. “That’s close. But I want the words. Sober you needs to say them.”
I tilted my head and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Why do I have to say them first?” I asked.
He licked his lips and smirked. “I’ve said them already.”
Straightening, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Was I passed out drunk?”
He dropped his hand from my face, stepped back, and pulled his shirt over his head, letting it fall to the floor. If he was trying to distract me, then the sight of his chest was a real good move. He pointed at the tattoo over his heart—my sketch, one that had meant something to both of us.
“I told you that I felt my soul again when I was inside you. That no one ever touched my heart or meant anything but you. I have your drawing over my heart for a reason, Salem. I have loved you since I was nineteen years old, and not once in all these years have I considered changing this tattoo. Having it made into anything else. Because I have a piece of you on me. With me. You owned me then, and you own me now.”
Warmth spread through me like the summer sun after a New England winter.
“That’s not the same as saying the actual words,” I pointed out, not letting him know how he had melted me with what he had said.
“People fall in and out of love all the time. The hold you have on me is indestructible. Years, life, have proven that,” he said, then grabbed my chin and leaned down closer to me. “But if hearing those words is important to you…I love you.”
Tears pricked my eyes, and I hadn’t meant to get emotional. Not wanting him to see it, I smiled and took a deep breath. “I love you.”
“It was my turn to say it first anyway,” he teased, reminding me of the day I had blurted out those three words to him.
I’d been only sixteen years old. He was going on a third date with a girl, and I was so jealous. The fear that he was falling in love with her had consumed my thoughts. So, I snuck into his room while he was getting ready, and when he walked into the room with a towel around his waist and droplets of water on his naked chest, there had been no holding back what I was feeling.
“I might have said it a little too soon back then,” I replied.
He shook his head. “No. But I think it would be better if you went and got naked and wet, then came out here in a towel—or you can leave that off—and let me tell you. Seems only fair.”
A giggle bubbled out of me, and he tugged me close, grinning.
“That girl cried when I broke the date and probably never recovered from it. Her tears were on you.”
My brows drew together. “You went on that date. I was the one who cried that night.”
His hand slid up my back. “I let you think I went. I had to do something to keep you from coming into my room and tempting me. I was doing all I could to keep my hands off you. I went out with some friends and then was home before ten,” he admitted. Then pressed a kiss to the side of my mouth. “I didn’t know I’d made you cry.” His words were a whisper on my skin as he continued to kiss other places on my face. My cheekbone, beside my ear, the tip of my nose.
My heart was fluttering in my chest like I was still that girl.
“I cried myself to sleep.”
He stopped kissing me briefly, then went back to leaving a trail until his mouth touched mine. “I’m sorry. For every tear you cried because of me.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond to that before he sank his hands into my hair, then bent down and took my mouth. As sweet as his words had been, this kiss wasn’t that. There was nothing sweet about it. Rome’s pierced tongue flicked over mine, and a satisfied growl vibrated from his chest. Kissing was something I hadn’t enjoyed, and Eamon would tease me about my lack of affection while he was overly so.
I understood now that I’d simply been ruined by Rome’s kiss.
“Not sure how much time I have,” he said as his lips left mine to kiss a trail to my neck. His hands grabbed my butt and pulled me tightly against him. “Liam said we’re having church after Micah gets back. The club needs updating on things.”
His erection pressed against my stomach as he groaned and licked the pulse point in my neck. “It’ll have to be quick, but let me inside you.”