Chapter 81
The car ride home felt like she was suffocating slowly.
Every red light stretched out what she knew was coming. Roman was like a dog with a bone.
Blair could feel his eyes on her. It made her hands clenched in her lap. She felt the need to fill the silence.
“That was a nice evening,” she said, tight and way too casual.
“Was it?” Roman didn’t turn and look at her but kept his eyes on the road. He sounded chill, but she knew that voice. “Because you looked like you wanted to kill someone the last two hours.”
Her stomach twisted. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t you?”
It wasn’t the words–it was how he said them. It made her skin crawl in a way she hated, like he already knew the answer and was just waiting for her to admit it.
Roman pulled into the driveway and shut the car off, but neither of them moved. The silence was thick, stretching long enough to feel like it might snap.
“Blair.” His voice was quiet, low, but not soft. It carried that dangerous calm he got when he was just barely holding it together. “Look at me.”
She didn’t want to. But she did. Slowly.
His eyes were dark and steady, and she felt that look straight in her chest.
“We’re going inside,” he said, like it was a decision he’d already made for both of them. “And you’re going to tell me what the hell happened tonight?”
“Nothing happened-”
“Don’t.” That one word was sharp. Final. “Don’t lie to me. Not now. Not after everything.”
Blair opened the door and got out before she could think twice. Her legs felt shaky, and she didn’t need to look behind her to know he was following. He always followed.
Her hands fumbled with the keys at the front door.
“Having trouble?” His breath was warm against her neck.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” His hands closed over hers, steady and grounding in a way that just made it worse. “You’re wound so tight I can feel it from here. The question is why.”
She didn’t answer. Just pushed the door open and walked inside, kicking off her heels like that would somehow help her feel normal again.
Roman shut the door behind them with a quiet click. The sound felt way too loud in the silence.
“Talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
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“Bullshit.” He was already pulling his tie loose with rough hands. “You changed after you came back inside. Cold. Pulled back. Like someone flipped a damn switch.”
She stared at him. At his hands, mostly–how they moved, how tense he looked even doing something simple. Even angry, he was still stupidly beautiful.
“Maybe I’m just tired.”
Roman laughed once, no humor in it. “Try again.”
“Roman-”
“You want to know what I think?” He stepped in close, way too close, backing her against the wall. “I think something happened tonight. And now you’re shutting me out. Did someone say something? Did something happen?”
His hands went to the wall, one on either side of her head. She was trapped, even though she could’ve walked away. But she didn’t want to. Not really.
“I’m not shutting you out. No one said anything,” she whispered.
“No?” His face was inches from hers now. “Then tell me why you haven’t been yourself since Sutton left.”
Her stomach dropped. “What?”
“You heard me. Something happened. Did someone say something to Sutton and you won’t tell me? Then there was the way you acted around Luca. You were cold. Tense. Was it him?”
She felt the panic start to rise. Of course he noticed. He always noticed. Roman missed nothing.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said, but her voice cracked.
His jaw clenched. His thumb brushed her jaw, gentle and careful even now. “From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re hiding something.”
Her pulse was so fast it hurt. She had to end this. Had to distract him. Had to stop him from seeing more than she could handle him knowing.
So she kissed him.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t romantic. It was desperate and rough, meant to shut him up and shut everything down. Her hands. gripped his shirt, pulling him in like it was the only way to breathe.
He froze for half a second. Then he gave in.
His hands buried in her hair, and his mouth was on hers like he was starving. Like he was furious. Like kissing her might fix whatever this was or tear it apart entirely.
“This isn’t going to work,” he said against her lips.
“What isn’t?”
“Using sex to distract me.”
But his hands were already on her body, sliding down over silk like he couldn’t stop himself.
“I’m not-” she started, but he found that spot at her neck that turned her brain to mush.
“Yes, you are,” he said, voice low, teeth grazing her skin. “You’re trying to make me forget. Trying to scramble my head.”
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Her breath hitched as his fingers found the zipper on her dress.
“Maybe,” she admitted.
“Well, congratulations,” he said, sliding it down achingly slow. “It’s working.”
The dress hit the floor. She was left in black lace and heels. Roman looked at her like he might lose it, like if he touched her, he wasn’t stopping.
“Christ, Blair. You’re going to be the death of me.”
“At least you’ll die happy,” she whispered, reaching for his belt.
He caught her wrists and pinned them above her head, hard enough to make her gasp..
“Not here,” he growled. “Upstairs. Now.”
He scooped her up without warning, carried her up like she weighed nothing. Her arms looped around his neck, her heart hammering.
“I love you,” she whispered.
His arms tightened. “I love you too. But Blair?”
“Yeah?”
“This conversation isn’t over. You didn’t win. This is halftime.”
Her heart sank, but she shoved it aside. Morning could wait. Right now, she had him.
He set her down at the edge of the bed and stepped back.
“Don’t move,” he said. Low. Rough. Serious.
She stood still, breath shallow, as he unbuttoned his shirt one button at a time. The air between them thickened with every second. Her wrists still tingled from where he’d held her.
Then the belt came undone with that sharp sound that made her thighs clench.
He didn’t smile. Didn’t say anything stupid or sexy. Just looked at her like she was his whole focus.
“You want to distract me?” he said, walking back toward her. “Then you’d better be ready to commit.”
Before she could say anything, he had her on the bed, hands braced beside her, mouth crushing hers..
He kissed her like he was angry. Like she owed him answers and he was going to drag them out of her one gasp at a time. One hand slid up her thigh, pushing the lace aside.
She moaned when his fingers touched her. She was already soaked.
“Of course you are,” he muttered. “You love this. The way I take over. The way I see you.”
He pushed two fingers inside her, working her until she was shaking.
“Roman–please–Sir.”
He stopped cold. “No. You don’t get to beg. Not yet.”
He moved down, kissing her stomach, her hips, her thighs. He pulled her underwear all the way off. She was shaking when
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his mouth replaced his fingers. It didn’t take long.
She came hard and fast, barely aware of what she was saying.
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“Naughty girl. You didn’t have permission to come,” he said, but he didn’t stop. Just kept going until she was nothing but gasps and broken words.
Then he moved back up. “Turn over.”
She didn’t argue. She couldn’t. Once she was on her knees, his chest pressed to her back, his hand heavy at her neck.
“You’re mine,” he said, positioning himself. “Every time you lie. Every time you try to shut me out. I’ll remind you.”
He drove into her, hard and deep. She cried out, but not from pain. From everything.
He kept going, relentless, pushing her higher and higher.
“You think I won’t know when something’s wrong?” he growled, tugging her head back by her hair. “You think I won’t feel it?”
Blair cried out, surrendering.
“You’re mine, Blair. There’s nowhere to hide. I’ll always know. Now come.”
She shattered again, body clenching around him, and he followed with a groan, holding her tight as he came.
They collapsed together, bodies tangled, breaths uneven.
For a long time, they didn’t move.
Then Roman whispered, lips against her shoulder, “You can distract me all you want, baby. But I’m still getting the truth.”
Blair didn’t say anything.
She just closed her eyes and went to sleep.
