It nearly killed me.
I joined him on the sofa and wrapped him in my arms while he cried with his head on my lap. I cried with him. I cried for the little boy who didn’t know love. I cried for the little boy who’d lost his childhood, and I cried for the man who had so much to offer the world, but had been held back by the unyielding bonds of his abusive and manipulative parents.
When he’d calmed to quiet weeps, I gathered Romeo’s face in my hands and forced him to look at me. “Romeo—”
“I love you… I love you,” he whispered over and over, eyes wide and frantic, the pads of his thumbs smoothing over the dampened apples of my cheeks.
“W-what?” My heart leapt to my throat.
Romeo shifted position and scrambled to his knees, pulling me to him as he fell back, laying me on top of him. “I love you. I love you beyond anythin’ I could’ve ever imagine was possible.”
I careened forwards, my chest smooth against his, our two hearts beating a maddening rhythm and confessed, “I love you, too, babe. I love you so, so much.”
His distressed eyes widened. “Baby, you do? Even after—”
“I’m not going anywhere. I came in here to tell you that. I was in the truck, listening to you hurting, and I knew that I had to be with you no matter what, tell you that I’m never going to leave you.”
“But my parents…”
“Yes, your parents tonight were something else, but they won’t ever chase me from you, from loving you. We’re star-crossed, Romeo. Interfering parents come as part of the package.” I winked jokingly.
A tentative smile drifted onto his bruised lips, the action transforming his troubled face. “I feel stripped bare right now… like someone has ripped open my chest and all you’re seein’ is a mangled heart held together by jagged scars.”
I pulled apart his shirt, button by button, and kissed along the path of his heart. He expelled a groan and I pressed my lips against the hot, bronzed skin.
“No one has ever known what they’re really like behind closed doors. I’ve never told a soul. You were a big ol’ brick through their glass fortress tonight. I could see the panic in my daddy’s eyes. You could destroy everythin’ they’ve worked so hard for.”
I traced the outline of the tattoo on his ribs. “As bad as that was, I’m glad I was there, that I now know what you cope with. We can’t erase the secrets and marred memories of our pasts, but we can build the next chapter of our lives together.”
Silent tears fell on his cheeks. “Mol…”
“Shh…” I laid kisses along his sternum, onto his torso, lapping over the hard peaks and into the deep valleys. I pushed the open shirt away completely and unfastened the top of his slacks. I risked a glance at Romeo and his eyes were burning, savagely glowing as he glared down at my seductive act, his dark irises untamed and wild.
The stiff zipper came down easily, along with his boxers, and I stroked along the summit of his thighs. I needed him more than air.
Seeing him bared before me made my mouth water. I edged forwards, delicately licking along his length, and Romeo’s head snapped back on a roar.
That was all the encouragement I needed.
I took him in my mouth and his hips soared, his hand finding purchase at the back of my head as he pounded his pelvis back and forth. I felt empowered. I felt in charge, and I loved how I was bringing him to his knees.
“Fuck, Mol. Your mouth!” he hissed, and I hummed in satisfaction, the vibrations affecting the pace of his thrusts. I hooked the waistband of his jeans with my fingers and pulled them off his muscly legs, dropping them to the floor, only to bend down once more to rain wet kisses down his muscly thighs and calves. I engulfed his hardness again in my mouth, my teeth scraping his skin from root to tip. He groaned and stilled, wrapping my hair around his fists.
Romeo Prince had snapped.
“Stand up,” he ordered forcefully.
I immediately stood and watched as he ripped off his open shirt and came before me, naked, excited, and emitting pure power. Gripping my shoulders, Rome spun me around and in one swift movement, tugged the zipper of my dress down to my lower back, the garment loosening and dropping to the floor in a wrinkled heap.
One of his hands snapped my bra, as the other untied the ribbons on the side of my black panties. All of the silky material covering my modesty floated to the floor along with all the hurt and pain of the night.
On a throaty groan, Romeo propelled me back onto the couch, his hot palm pushing on my chest as he moved between my legs. “I didn’t tell you to suck me, Shakespeare. You know you need to ask permission first.” His eyes tightened and I knew what he needed. He needed to take back control after his parents so brutally stripped him of his pride.