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surface all the pain and anger he wanted to drown in alcohol.

“You shouldn"t care.”

“But I do.” She held out her hand. He considered it for a second before placing

the bottle of whiskey in it. He watched her return it to the bar and thank the

bartender. Like all she did, her actions were cool and graceful. Nothing like him.

There wasn"t a single coarse element to her.

He couldn"t help wondering just how different two people could be.

“Come on.” Her hand returned to his side, waiting for him to accept her aide.

“I think it"s best I take a cab home.”

The fine lines of her delicate jaw tightened. It was the only indication she was

irritated. If he kept pushing her, he would enter the danger zone. Rome didn"t know

if he wanted to continue or not.

She lifted her hand a little higher, a clear indication he had better take it.

Rome was wise enough to know when to admit defeat. Still she had to know… “I"m

not in a good place right now, Cupcake.”

“Neither am I. We should be perfect company for one another.”

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Chapter Thirteen

“I"m sorry.”

Sela glanced sharply at him before returning her attention to the road. She

didn"t seem too pleased with his apology. Rome couldn"t blame her. He had an idea

what she was thinking. He was only apologizing because he was drunk. And she

was right. Partially. He wasn"t as intoxicated as she believed, but the unknown

number of whiskey shots gave him the courage to tell her what he was really

feeling.

“I"m not just saying it because I"m buzzed. I really am sorry. I…” He broke off,

unsure what to say. Everything he had been feeling, dealing with the last few days,

threatened to break free.

He grimaced. That was the problem with alcohol. It weakened the floodgates.

He could feel them cracking as he sat beside Sela, trying not to reach out and stroke

his hand down her arm. Instead he clenched his fingers into fists.

“I was worried,” he admitted.

She turned onto the street that housed his hotel before responding. “About

what?” she said icily.

The coldness in her voice cut him deeply. He had hurt her by sending her

away. He had known that she needed him to hold her. But… “I didn"t trust myself

around you, with the way I felt.”

She pulled into the closest parking spot and cut the engine. The rain howled

around them. It was no longer a comforting summer rain. It was angry and

beautiful.

Just like Sela.

She turned to him, shock, irritation, and anger in her heavenly eyes. “What do

you mean by that?” she asked softly. Her voice was clipped and cool. As though she

was trying desperately to keep her own emotions in check.

Ironic, considering all he wanted to do was let his roam free. “Do you want the

truth or the pretty things?”

She stared at him for a few seconds. “The truth, Rome. I"m a big girl. I can

handle it.”

He ran his hands over his face, frustrated. Yes, Sela grew up while they were

apart, while he felt as though time stopped for him when he left. “There"s something

about you. You make me feel shit, emotions I"d gotten good at denying. Sometimes,

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it"s good, and sometimes you make me so fucking mad. When I found out about your

date, I was so angry, angrier than I"ve ever been in my whole life, because all I"ve

ever wanted was you. Then to find about the kid. It was too much, more than I ever

would have asked for. A family. Someone who gave a shit about me. And they took

that from me.” He paused, tried to collect his thoughts. “I"ve wanted you for a really

long time, Sela, but I ignored it, fought it, told myself it was lust. Then I found out

you were coming to our reunion, and I couldn"t put aside my feelings anymore. I had

to get you out of my system, see if there could be something more.”

He saw the flash in her eyes as the change came over. Gone were all the other

emotions. He only saw her pain. It mirrored his own.

Shit
! He"d really fucked things up. He really shouldn"t have let her go. He

should have fought for her even if it meant fighting her.

Sela reached up and caressed his face, brushing her soft palm across his

stubble cheek in a sweet touch that left him feeling raw. Tonight he had hurt her.

Yet she was showing him compassion.

“That still doesn"t explain why you didn"t want me to stay with you. We could

have worked through the pain together.”

Logically, he knew that. But he hadn"t been thinking logically at that moment.

“I"m not good when I"m angry.”

She smiled and slipped her fingers into his hair. He closed his eyes and focused

on the feel of her silken fingertips against his nape. “No one is good when they"re

angry, Rome.” He felt her words against his lips and reluctantly opened his eyes to

find her watching him.

He shook his head. “You don"t understand.”

“Then please explain it to me.”

Courage left him. He turned and reached for the door handle. The conversation

had been a bad idea. He was too drunk and too savagely emotional to be having it.

Before he could open the door, Sela grabbed his hand. “Rome?” she called

softly. And he knew he was done. At the sound of her tender voice, Rome knew Sela

could ask for anything, and he would give it to her. The sun, the moon, the stars,

and the truth were all hers.

He turned and found understanding eyes looking at him. “Are you afraid that

one day you"re going to get so angry you hit me?”

For a moment he was so surprised by her statement he couldn"t process his

thoughts. And then he remembered all the times he had shown up at Sela"s home

with bruises. Not once had she ever asked what happened. Not once did Sela give

him the chance to lie to her.

She just always knew the truth about his scars and bruises.

Rome stared at her mutely, unwilling to talk about all the things he had never

said, but she wouldn"t turn away. Her penetrating eyes wore him down. He ran a

hand through his thick locks in exasperation and admitted the truth. “Yes… No…

Yes. I"m not sure, damn it, and that"s what scares the shit out of me.”

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She cupped his face. “Let"s go upstairs.”

“I don"t think that"s a good idea.”

She smiled slowly, giving him a glimpse of hope. “I think it"s a great idea.”

He turned to the car door, hating the fact that he had to pull away from her so

he could exit the vehicle. He briskly walked to the other side and opened her door.

Rome shrugged out of his light jacket and placed it over her head just as she

stepped out. She looked up in surprise. “But you"re going to get wet.”

He shrugged and wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her close so they

could run into the building together.

The bellboy tipped his hat as they rushed in. Rome barely noticed the man, he

was so focused on the woman beside him. He wrapped his arm around Sela"s

shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She stiffened for a second before softening

against him, molding her curves to the hard planes of his body.

Rome didn"t release Sela until they reached the elevators. Even then he hated

to let her go so she could comfortably pass the silver doors. He held her in his arms

for the full length of the elevator ride.

They rode in silence. He ran his hands up and down her back, trying to comfort

her as he thought of the things he wanted to say, the emotions that suddenly

needed explaining. But nothing came out.

He couldn"t seem to find the right words to express what he was feeling. The

jaded hunger. The turbulent need. The coarse rage. They all went without being

voiced.

He glanced at the lit-up numbers panel when they reached his floor. He

released Sela enough so she could walk. She turned, looking at him, as she backed

out of the elevator. Her fingers were intertwined with his, but it was the look in her

eyes that had captured him.

She knew exactly what he was feeling.

Because she felt the very same emotions. He could see the truth in her gaze.

Rome stepped out of the elevator to join her on the floor. His fingers

automatically intertwined with hers. Together they walked to his door. He took his

keys from his pocket and held them in his palm. They felt unreasonably heavy as he

stared at the door. “You don"t need to stay.”

She wrapped her free hand around his waist and pulled him closer. “I want to

stay, Rome,” she whispered against his shoulder before placing a kiss there.

He nodded, unable to respond. Words didn"t feel appropriate. So he focused on

getting the door open. He stepped into the room and came to a pause. Rome was at

a loss. He wanted Sela with a viciousness that threatened to tear apart his self-

control, but he couldn"t know how to breach the gap that separated them.

“Let"s go to bed,” Sela said as she walked past and headed straight for the

sleeping area. He followed her, stripping off his clothing as he went. When Rome

reached the bed, only his boxer briefs remained.

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Sela had also made short work of her clothing. She lay on top of the comforter

wearing only her bra and panties. She looked lovely, sultry, and wounded.

He reached for her, intent on erasing the pain he saw in her espresso gaze.

She entered his arms easily, almost as though she had been waiting a long

time for his touch. He lightly brushed his lips across the sharp lines of her

cheekbones before lifting his mouth to kiss her eyes closed. Then he dipped his head

and captured her mouth. Rome found her lips parted. He slid his tongue into her

mouth, determined to take his time tasting Sela, satisfying the need to explore her

and fill his senses with the taste of her lips.

She groaned something indecipherable into their kiss and lifted her hands.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and held him hard against her as she

deepened the kiss, moving her tongue across his.

Sela broke off the kiss and pushed against his shoulders. He lay upon the bed,

following her silent directions. “Sela?”

She shook her head slowly, midnight hair flowing around her shoulders in the

dim lighting. Holding his gaze, she smiled at him and reached for his boxers. She

pulled them down his hips until his hard, heavy cock was bare. Her small dark

fingers curled around his dick, testing the thickness, sliding down the length before

working their way up his cock so she could brush her thumb across the red, angry

bulbous head.

She lowered her head.

“You don"t—”

Sela cut him off. “But I want to, Rome. God, I want to,” she whispered tenderly

before her hot, pink tongue flicked over his cockhead.

“Shit.” The sound was torn from his lips. Even though he knew he released the

feral curse, Rome never really heard it. Every inch of his body, every one of his five

senses was too focused on Sela and the bliss her touch brought him to do anything

else.

The air was filled with the mixture of Sela"s flowery perfume and his own

scent. Rome reveled in it, drank it in, until he could taste it on his tongue and had

memorized their distinctive flavor.

He stared at the sight of her dark head between his thighs. He groaned at the

feel of her long black hair brushing his thighs and her tongue running against the

underside of his shaft. The ardent sounds of her suckling turned him on, heating his

blood until it was feverish. She reached the area just beneath his cockhead and

tongued it.

The pleasure was almost too much. Rome sat up and grabbed her shoulders

before she could push him any further to the edge. He rolled them over until Sela

lay beneath him. “First you, then me,” he murmured before stealing her lips in an

openmouthed kiss.

The air around them thickened and deepened with the desire swirling between

their heaving bodies. Energy, tender and decadent, swam through the room. Her

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impassioned hands moved over his body, pleas for pleasure on her every fingertip.

Rome lifted his gaze to stare at Sela"s expressive face. If he wasn"t mistaken, the

fire in Sela"s eyes was burning hotter. She was a woman totally lost in her passion.

Savage satisfaction surged through him at the sight. He was able to bring her

to that point. He had once guaranteed her a night of pleasure. It had been more

than a week since that conversation happened, but he fully intended to continue

pleasing her.

Her fingers skirted over the planes of his jaw, his cheek, before dancing upon

his lips. “I want you, Rome. I need you.”

Damn
! Beautiful didn"t begin to describe the sound of her words.

“I need you too, Cupcake,” he admitted before moving his lips over hers,