Her smile twitched and she blinked, obviously stunned by his open admission. He didn’t regret the words, but he second-guessed voicing them right now. He knew she wasn’t ready to hear them. And maybe he’d jumped the gun.
But after the still moment, her grin widened.
“I know you do,” Harper responded, and leaned in for a deep kiss, stealing his breath away.
She ended it just as quickly and twisted to open the shower door, taking his hand in her steady grip.
Apparently that was all she had to say. But it would be enough for now. He watched her reach for a towel, and then willingly went with her as she dragged him along to the big, comfy bed.
Then again, maybe it was more than enough.
Rome loved her.
He said he loved her. Harper had no idea how to react. No man had ever said that to her. Certainly not a man like Rome. A man she imagined she could love as well-a dangerous thought. That, even more than his words, had shaken her something fierce.
So, instead of making a fool of herself with some kind of hasty response, she’d taken his hand and led him out of the shower and they’d dried each other on the way to the foot of the bed. The superfluffy and cozy-looking bed. The kind of bed that made you want to make love to a man like Rome while on it.
Rome’s confusing yet adorable hesitance she’d sensed in the shower was all but gone as he tugged on her hand and pulled her against his strong body, already stiff again with desire. Apparently the shower did have magical healing powers.
Under the intense spray of the water, she’d tasted his heated length, revered the power of him once he’d slid inside her. She hadn’t even wanted any foreplay. Never before had her body been so fulfilled and her soul been so content.
But she didn’t want to think about that right now. All she wanted was to lose herself in him for a little while longer.
He crushed his lips to hers, and she opened her mouth to him, allowing his hot tongue to sweep over hers. Back and forth, his hands glided over her energized flesh, searing trails that mimicked the movements of his mouth.
Moaning with a churning desire that was making her too weak to stand, she leaned back to lie on the bed and pulled him down on top of her. The brief seconds she was separated from him were pure agony, and the moment his sleek skin touched hers again was sheer bliss.
Running her hands down Rome’s muscular back, she shifted her head to the side as he nipped down her neck. His mouth skimmed across her collarbone, cascading feathery kisses on her shoulder, peppering the scar from her swimming injury. She vaguely remembered tracing the long scar on his knee with her tongue.
Harper’s attention snapped back to now and she clutched his solid biceps as he levered himself up to cover one of her breasts with his open mouth. He pressed the flat of his tongue against her taut nipple, stroking and licking around the rigid peak, while the other was pinched with exquisite vigor.
In reflex, her hand shot up to hold his head in place, latching on to the short damp locks. Tiny bolts of lightning flickered from her breast to her groin, the delicious sensations wetting her easily.
Rome shifted his mouth to her other breast, pleasantly rewarding it with similar treatment. She wanted him to stay there for a good long while.
Then his lips trailed down over the ridges of her ribs and abdomen. Balancing above her, he spread her legs and paused, hovering his mouth over her heated center.
Rising up on her elbows, she chanced a glance down at his face, wondering what the holdup was. His blue gaze burned into hers as the sexiest grin she’d ever seen flashed across his face just before he lowered his head to her.
She dropped back to the bed with a short gasp as he flicked his tongue over her, alternately licking and nipping, as if lapping rich cream from a bowl. Only she was melting.
A coiling pressure continued to build, centering from his mouth and spreading through every fiber of her body at a staggering pace.
Against her will, her hips began to buck against his fervent attention. Her body began to spiral and she immediately decided she wanted him inside her when it burst into a thousand glittering pieces as she had in the shower. She reached down to clasp her hands on each side of his head to pull him up before she lost it.
His body covered hers as he slithered on top of her, the hair on his chest grazing her oversensitive skin, thrilling her into a shiver, his thick hardness pressing against her tummy.
Bringing her hands to his shoulders, she pushed against him, flipping him over to straddle his solid abdomen.
A huff of breath escaped from his grinning mouth. He seemed to like her taking control. She did, too.
Running her hands over his chiseled chest, she shifted her hips downward. Harper lowered her head for a moment to dash her tongue across each of his stony nipples. His body jerked under hers at her touch, eliciting a low laugh from her. Rome brought his hands to her thighs and hips, running them up and down her scorching skin, leaving trails of fire behind his touch.
She grazed her slick center along his erection as she moved her breasts over his chest, the surge of sensations driving her absolutely crazy. Reaching a hand down, she circled her fingers around him, guiding his thick shaft to her and lowering herself to take him inside of her.
They moved as one, joined together in a timeless moment, sheltered by the resilient bond they’d forged.
The pace suddenly picked up by mutual consent. With a powerful joint thrust, the crest of the stormy wave came crashing down. The sheer force of their shared climax rivaled that of the energy that flowed from her psi powers.
He’d said he loved her.
And as Harper collapsed onto Rome’s heaving body, spent and sated like never before, she believed she might be in bigger trouble than she thought.
Because in spite of everything, she had to admit to herself that she was falling in love with him, too.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Harper peered at the laptop, scrolling through the files that had finished downloading as she lay on her stomach on the rumpled bed, naked beneath the down comforter. As soon as they’d awakened, they’d engaged in another round of lovemaking. Well, honestly, really hot and mind-blowing sex. But this time it had been slow and easy, even playful. When it was over, they’d just dozed until her empty stomach growled for some attention.
Rome had made them something to eat, and then they’d gotten down to some more research to plan their next move. It was the first time she’d been able to get back to the laptop and finish scanning over Bobby’s files. Reading the same paragraph for the third time, she rubbed her strained eyes, easily figuring out why she was so unfocused.
The reason was sitting against the sturdy headboard, his lower body covered by the other half of the comforter.
She’d known he was hurt at the compound, but it just now came to her how close he’d come to getting killed. Rome was willing to die for her. Yes, he’d betrayed her once, but even knowing that she didn’t have long to live herself, he’d now risked death to protect her.
Shaking her head, she glanced over her shoulder and saw his intense gaze focused on her. She smiled at him, which earned her a matching grin. He added a heated leer and then returned to reading one of the file folders they’d taken from the lab. There was no longer any doubt that he was committed to helping her in a way she was just beginning to understand, and she was eternally grateful for it.
She reluctantly turned her attention back to the bright screen and switched gears. A few extra seconds and the data began to register. The picture and scope of what her brother was doing flashed by as if she were on an interstate highway, soaking in the landscape as it spoke to her.