The thought had crossed his mind that one of those stooges could have been the one giving her a hard time earlier today, and he wanted to know for sure if he was dealing with just a jealous boyfriend or something way more dangerous. Because they were definitely Rogues, and for reasons he wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge Rome prayed it wasn’t the jealous-boyfriend angle.
“I don’t know who they were or why they were gawking at me that way. And you should try minding your own business. My phone call was private.”
“It sounded more than private. Is someone harassing you?”
“Other than you?” she snapped, giving him an angry stare of her own.
“Let’s try this another way. Just so you know, Kalina, I’m not going to let this go. Those guys were definitely gunning for you, and I want to know why. Either you’re going to tell me or I’ll find out on my own.”
She exhaled deeply. “I don’t know them.”
“And the one you were talking to on the phone? Is he a problem?”
“He’s my problem.”
Rome’s jaw clenched. This wasn’t the answer he wanted, but like he said he’d deal with it in his own way. She didn’t have to tell him anything else.
He also needed to deal with this painful erection before his mood became any more foul than it already was. It seemed the hostility between them had only stoked the fire growing in the pit of his stomach.
Suddenly the truck’s interior was a lot warmer than it had been before. In his haste to get her inside and out of sight, her dress had hiked up her legs so that it now showed an enticing amount of skin. The legs he remembered admiring as she’d walked into his office the other day were now displayed like a delicacy. Swallowing hard, he tried to adjust the burgeoning erection that threatened to drive him out of his mind. It had been that way since she’d walked into his office—each time he’d thought of her, remembered her voice, the feel of her writhing beneath him. He wanted her and desperately didn’t quite seem to describe how bad.
“You’re incredibly sexy when you’re pissed off,” he said, reaching out to brush his knuckles over her bare shoulder.
Normally he liked women with long hair, figuring it gave them a more feminine look. But the short, spiky cut of Kalina’s hair did something for him, and it fit her feisty personality perfectly. When she turned her eyes narrowed, and she looked at him like a woman ready to fight. Behind his zipper his erection protested, straining to break free.
“We’ve had the discussion about sexual harassment before, Mr. Reynolds. And again, no means no.”
“Call me Rome. It seems highly unusual to refer to a prospective lover so formally.” He would be her lover —Rome knew this as surely as he knew his own name. There was something pushing them together; whether it was just circumstances or something more, he couldn’t really tell. And didn’t really care at the moment.
“What? You … we—” She stopped, took a deep breath, then released it in what could only be construed as a barely restrained manner. “You are the boss and I am the employee. We are not now, nor will we ever be lovers.” She jerked away from him and heat soared through his body.
The challenge was clear, and the beast within acted quickly. He was across the seat in seconds, grasping her at the nape of her neck, pulling her to him until she was half sprawled over his lap. She glared at him, her lips parting in surprise just before he claimed them, swiping his tongue across them in one swift stroke.
“Tell me no, Kalina. Say no and I’ll stop.”
Her body shivered in his arms as he pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, suckling until her palms were pressing against his chest. His mouth opened over hers and he plunged into the kiss with all the fierce desire he had inside.
It had been months since he’d had a woman. Of course it had been his choice. Shifters were known for their insatiable and sometimes dark sexual desires. They were created to breed, and if it wasn’t fighting for survival that occupied their minds it was most likely the sexual hunger that ate at them on a daily basis. Rome hadn’t wanted anyone in particular for weeks, and so he hadn’t taken anyone. Not until now, not until Kalina.
Everything about her appealed to him on a level he’d never ventured before. It was strange and yet it felt right. His mother would say fate. To be safe Rome was classifying it as opportunity. Her body was luscious, his hands slipping down her bare back to cup her plump bottom. She sighed, moaning into their kiss her pleasure at his touch. He lifted her leg, adjusted her until she straddled him completely, then let his palms knead her ass, his fingers grazing in between until the heat of her pussy tickled his fingertips.
“Say no,” he whispered.
She should have kneed him in the nuts again. Her teeth could clamp down on his lips and draw blood. Memories of the night she was sexually assaulted sifted on the outskirts of her thoughts, reservations at being touched intimately by a man warring with the sweetest sensations he was arousing in her. She could give in to the fear, to the dark hatred she harbored for the one who’d dared to touch her without permission.
Or … she could just sink into this feeling—this foreign reaction to a man she barely knew. She could let the memories of the last time he’d touched her commingle with the heated dreams she’d had of him in the days since. And she could enjoy.
It wasn’t something she did often, not normally having much in her personal life to enjoy. But this, his touch, the husky rumble of his voice in the dark interior of this truck, did something to her, pushed her to be what she’d never thought she could be again.
A woman.
In the moments since she’d been closed in with him Kalina had felt sexier than she had in her entire life. Her body hummed with anticipation. The way his eyes raked over her said sex, pure and simple lust that was now dripping from his every kiss, each touch of his hands along her bared skin. The tips of his fingers grazed her center through the thin material of her dress, and she sucked in a breath. That action lifted her breasts, had the tender nipples scraping along his chest. With erratic breathing and fingers that seemed to operate with their own intentions she gripped the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer as she opened her mouth to his kiss.
Delving deeper she let her mind clear of all doubts, vowing to take, for once in her life to simply take. When his hands moved past the material of her dress to touch the bare skin of her bottom she hissed, arched her back, and sighed.
“You can’t deny me, because that would be like denying yourself,” he whispered, his lips fanning over the line of her neck as her head fell back. “Did you wear this hot little dress for me? Did you want me to see it and die from wanting to touch you?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Do you want me to stop?” Sharp teeth nipped at her neck, sending spikes of desire straight to her core, now creaming at his silent command. As if he’d known that would be her reaction, his fingers slipped past the thin barrier of her thong, traveling along the dampened folds that opened to her desire. The second he plunged a finger inside Kalina’s world changed. Everything she thought she’d known about pleasure, that she’d taught herself through mechanics and imagination, crumbled. What he was doing, this seemingly simple touch, proved all she’d known was drastically wrong.
“No,” she panted.
“You want more?”
Her breath came quicker, her body inflamed by his touch. “Rome.”
“Yes,” he replied, his finger thrusting deeper, then pulling back.
She whimpered at the loss, pressing herself down on him immediately. “Don’t stop.”
His chuckle was hoarse, rumbling through his chest as he pushed back inside her. “You don’t want me to stop. It’s okay, I don’t want to stop, either, baby. You’re so wet and so ready for me. I want to feel you, taste you.”
And she wanted whatever he had to give. Or at least she let herself believe she did. Right now it only mattered that he continued to give her pleasure, that his fingers continued to move inside her, pushing her to a pinnacle she’d longed to reach.
Her back arched further as she rode his hand with vehemence. It felt too good to stop, the journey toward that exciting edge too enticing to ignore. And so she traveled, with eyes closed, mouth opened to release each sound that tore from her instinctively. She held on to his shoulders, her breasts moving with the motion, tender and eager for his touch. He was saying something, murmuring words to her that sounded X-rated and highly inappropriate for two people who barely knew each other and who worked together, but aroused her just the
