Page 25 of Teaching Roman

“Don’t you trust me?” He stalked toward me.

I backed up a few steps, shaking my head, as a familiar sense of panic began racing through me. I’d seen this look before on other guys’ faces. It was the one they wore right before they threw me into a pool or a lake. Half the reason that I loved the Pacific Northwest was that it was usually too cold or too rainy to swim. Roman wasn’t a boy though. He was a man—six-feet-some-odd-inches of man at that. There was no way he’d toss me in the water. “I trust you. I don’t trust the undertow.”

“I won’t let it pull you under.” His eyes smoldered as he spoke, his usually faint accent deepening with a sexy roll of his tongue.

Why was I afraid of the ocean? I was already drowning.

I was so caught up in his eyes that I didn’t have time to react when he scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder. I giggled as I struggled against his hold—until he ran into the ocean. So much for trusting him. Water splashed across my bare legs and my arms tightened into a vice grip around his neck.

“What the hell?” I shrieked. Why did guys always want women to be damsels in distress?

“You’re standing in the ocean, Jessica…and you’re alive.” Judging from the choked tone of his voice, he wouldn’t be much longer. If he died, we were both going in the water.

“Put me down!” I smacked his back, wiggling in panic in his arms.

“Are you sure about that?” Roman loosened his grip on me, allowing me to slide a few inches closer to my doom, and I realized what I was asking.

“On second thought, don’t.”

“Relax.” It was more of an order than a suggestion and part of my body obeyed, melting against him. “I have you.”

“That’s easier said than done. You can swim,” I accused, equally frustrated with the situation and my body’s involuntary reactions to his presence. Roman Markson’s mere existence could not be enough to erase a lifelong phobia. So why did I feel more safe with each second he held me in his arms?

“Cierra los ojos y aferrate a mi mientras que el mundo se nos escapa,” he said in a low voice that I had to strain to hear over the waves.

I had no idea what he was saying but the huskiness of his voice sent a shiver tingling up my spine. “My Spanish isn’t that good.”

“It’s a poem I’m working on. Do you want to hear it or do you want to accidentally drown yourself trying to escape?”

“What’s it about?” I asked, giving in to curiosity but keeping my arms pinned around his neck for safe measure.

“You.” His hands slid lower until he was cupping my ass. My body slid along his until our hearts were in perfect alignment. I wondered if he could feel mine beating like a wild bird that wanted free of its cage.

“What does it mean?” I asked. Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered the spray of the ocean on my toes, but I ignored it. His eyes met mine and the electricity of our connection sizzled in the air between us. I wanted to lean forward and close the distance but I clung to my last shreds of patience.

“It means close your eyes and hold on to me as the world slips away.” His hands shifted, lowering me to my feet, but never leaving my body.

Right then, I didn’t care that I was ankle deep in the ocean or that I could hardly swim. There was no fear. There was only Roman and all I wanted was to slip away with him. “Get me out of this water.”

My words weren’t panicked or commanding, but they were a plea. He seemed to know what I was thinking and this time when he scooped me off my feet, I didn’t protest as he carried me back toward my villa.

At the door, I slipped out of his arms and peeked inside. The lights were off inside and there was no sign of Cassie who was probably already watching television in her bed.

“Coast is clear,” I breathed. It was all the invitation he needed.

Roman’s lips slanted over mine, capturing my mouth. As the kiss deepened, I knocked his hat off, seizing his hair, and then I was in his arms. We crashed into the doorframe so hard that I knew I’d have a bruise along my tailbone tomorrow. Right now, I didn’t care. All I could think about was one thing: Get. Roman’s. Shirt. Off. As soon as my fingers slipped it over his shoulders, I sighed against his lips. My hands traveled over the coiled muscles, flexed from holding me against the wall, and another surge of desire shot through me. Roman should be studied. Clearly, he’d achieved a biological superiority that probably single-handedly proved the theory of evolution, since simply touching his body could reduce a well-educated, feminist, pre-med student into a shirt-clawing, hip-bucking sex kitten.

Roman held me steady with one arm around my waist, my legs wrapped loosely against his trim hips, as his free hand shoved my sundress up. Our mouths tangled together along with our limbs as we sought to free ourselves of our extraneous clothes. Finally, I pulled away and shook my head. “I need you naked. Now.”

In a flash I was on my feet and Roman was kicking off his shorts. I hooked my thumbs into my panties and stripped them off. He was on me instantly, spinning me toward the wall as his arm snaked around my bare torso. Bracing myself against the doorframe, I gasped as he slid inside me, but the sound morphed into a throaty moan as his teeth bit into my shoulder.

I wanted to rake my fingernails across his back and sink my teeth into his pecs, but he held me steady as he whispered things that would have made Jess blush.

Jessicaliked it.

A lot.

His hand slid lower, urging me along with him until fireworks. They exploded across my tightly clenched eyes. I felt them flash across my skin and burst through my limbs. It was a downright applause worthy orgasm.

Which is why it took me a few seconds to register that the clapping coming from somewhere in the near distance was actually not all that distant—and not at all in my head.

I could see the smug, self-satisfied grin Cassie was wearing before I turned to find her dark eyes trained on us. They twinkled mischievously even in the dim light of the not-actually-deserted villa. “If you two are going to fuck like bunnies, you should shut your door.”

Cassie had finally given advice worth taking.