Page 107 of Along Came Amor
“Is that what happened before?”
She sighed. “In my family, everyone is all up in your business. Nobody gets to have secrets.” Opening her eyes, she met his gaze with a silent entreaty. “With you, I wanted something,someone, who was mine. Who didn’t belong to all of them. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Good.”
And then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Chapter 33
Roman filled his hands with Ava as she captured his mouth in a hot, soul-twisting kiss. Their tongues moved together in a perfect rhythm, sliding and tangling in fierce caresses. She tasted crisp and sweet, a heady combination of fruity wine and raindrops. He couldn’t get enough.
She was his mermaid, his sirena, a watery seductress who’d stolen his heart.
While Roman hadn’t started dinner with the intention of professing his love for her, the setting had been too romantic to resist. He’d never imagined feeding someone could be so fucking sexy and so intimate at the same time. The moment had seemed right, and like he’d told her, he wasn’t the type to hide how he felt. For what? Fear that she wouldn’t return the words to him? That wasn’t why he’d said them. From the beginning, he’d put all his cards on the table where Ava was concerned. He wouldn’t hide this realization from her either.
He hadn’t expected her to reciprocate—he knew it was too soon for her, that she’d need to examine her feelings from twelve different angles before coming to any sort of conclusion—but at least there would be no doubt in her mind regarding how hefelt about her. He wouldn’t give her any more reasons to put space between them than she already had.
What she’d given him instead was more than he could have dared hope for.
I trust you.
Her trust, a fragile, precious thing, given cautiously by someone who’d been hurt in the past. He’d wanted to drop to his knees and vow to prove himself worthy of this gift, but not every moment needed a grand gesture. He was learning the value in simply being present.
“I’m tired of fighting this,” Ava murmured against his lips. “I want you. All of you. All to myself.”
His voice came out rough with desire. “Then take me.”
She nipped his lower lip and gave him a seductive smile. “Oh, I will. But like you said, we’re too old to fuck on concrete, so get that sweet ass of yours over to that bed.”
She punctuated the words by pinching his butt through his wet shorts.
“Sí, señora.” A hot spike of arousal zipped through him at hearing her paraphrase what he’d said to her that first night, and he let her hustle him back under the patio overhang. Once again, they fell onto a bed together soaking wet, but this time, Ava was the aggressor.
And he was more than happy to let her take the lead.
She shoved him down into the cushions and climbed on top of him, continuing the kiss they’d started in the rain. Pressed together, her thighs were warm on his lap, and he needed to feel more of her heat. Thrusting his hands under her dress, he pushed the skirt up, running his palms up her thick, gorgeous thighs. When he reached her butt and nothing impeded theslide of bare, wet skin, he rounded his hands over her cheeks, searching.
Nothing there.
He pulled back to find her gazing at him with a soft, knowing expression.
“You’re not wearing any fucking panties,” he ground out. Her kiss-ripened lips curved as she shook her head. His fingers dug into the flesh of her bare bottom as he growled. “Fuck.”
With something like a laugh, she reared back and wrangled the dress upward. The wet fabric clung, so he helped her pull it over her head. The garment landed on the patio floor with a splat and then she was completely, gloriously naked, save for the necklace with her name on it. Soft yellow light gilded the curves of her body, sparkled in her dripping hair, and caressed the outline of her cheekbone.
His chest swelled with love. Around them, the rain fell in sheets, sending a cooler breeze through the patio and making a heavy pattering sound on the roof and the pool. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The muffled noise and the thick foliage surrounding the yard made it feel like they were the last two people on earth, completely alone, free to enjoy each other’s bodies without judgment or shame. His hands slid up her torso to thumb her small, tight brown nipples.
“Mi sirena.” Awe made his throat tight. “Mi diosa.”
But she shook her head at the endearments. “Just Ava,” she breathed. “And just Roman.”
He nodded, massaging the warm weight of her breasts as she undid all the buttons on his shirt. He sat up so she could peel it off him, and it landed on the floor next to her dress. When hereached for her, she surprised him by shaking her head again and circling his wrists with her fingers.
“My turn,” she said, stretching his arms over his head and guiding his hands to the wicker rim of the daybed. “Hold on and don’t let go until I tell you.”
His pulse beat thickly in his throat and he didn’t ask for explanation. He understood—this was her showing that she trusted him. For someone else, trust might look like giving up control. But for Ava, being the one to initiate, to unleash her desire without hesitation, was the deepest form of trust she could give him. She wasn’t holding back. She was letting him see her as the strong, beautiful, sensuous woman she was, and trusting him not to judge her, laugh at her, or make her feel ashamed for what she wanted.
