Roman: Book 1 (20 page)

His eyes narrow on mine for what feels like forever before he finally speaks. “Your brothers lives were left untouched because of the daughter of mine you carry and continue to protect so fiercely. It is your love for her, the love that has transformed you into this astounding and ferocious woman, responsible for my outlook on life to change. Every single time I witness this beautiful miracle occur, the more I realize not only are you ready, but you will succeed in fooling them all, even me…”

His first words feel like cool aloe over a blistered sunburn. His last two…those stung like a slap against my split and already swollen cheek. “After our initial truth session, I haven’t once tried to fool you, Roman. It hurts me to think you believe differently.”

His hands sink into his hair and fist as he leans his elbows onto his knees. “Doesn’t matter either way, mouse. The bottom line is, we need a story. A very good, believable story. We need to come up with an explanation—How did you go from being a detective investigating my association with the disappearance of eleven women and the suicide of another to becoming pregnant with my child, and six weeks from marrying me—“

I cut him off, confused as hell. “Why? It’s like it always has been, Roman. What ever is, is because you say so. Why now does it all of a sudden matter?”

BAM
! You know those moments in life, the ones when you’re standing face to face with an answer, so close in fact, that you can’t even see it? And when you do see it, when it finally becomes so clear, you could slap the fuck out of yourself for not seeing it? As Roman’s words flit back through my mind absolutely everything clicks into place.
“Your brothers lives were left untouched because of the daughter of mine you carry and continue to protect so fiercely…”
My eyes widen and both hands fly to my mouth as I gasp.

Roman smirks while nodding, then acknowledges I’ve realized exactly where the curve ball was coming from. “Ahh… Now, we’re on the same page. Good girl.”

The water works are back in full force, as tears stream down my face and I try in vain to speak. “My brothers? M-my br-br-brothers?”

“Yes, baby. Your brothers. I think it is imperative your brothers as well as my parents are involved in the making of this… little family we seem to be creating. I’ve already spoken to my parents and explained, lied, whatever you want to call it, and they completely understand what ‘happened’ and why they weren’t able to meet you in France. Now, it’s your turn, mouse. We need a story, a story your brothers will not question, and I am coming up short. So I need your help, you know your brothers, I don’t. This is something only you can do successfully. If you can give me a story I am certain they will believe, then I will allow my family and your family to bear witness to the binding of our family.” His blue eyes pierce mine. “Mouse, tell me. Are. You. Ready?”

I nod before he can even get out the first word of his repeated question. “I-I’m ready. I’m ready.”

Sadness flashes across his face before he coolly masks it with the fakest of smiles. “Then the floor is all yours.” He picks up a fountain pen and a pad from the table beside the chair he’s sitting in before looking up at me and patiently waiting.  

After I mentally pull my courage and strength up around me, my perseverance clicks into place like well oiled armor and my lungs completely empty before I slowly breath in, look up, and lock my eyes on Roman's.

Fuck. Well, here goes…

“The case my father was working on when he died, the same case I threw myself into at the first chance to take you down…the case against you and your twelve was nothing more than a decoy. You were the victim. Your father’s status as both a respected general as well as your family’s elite social standing made you the perfect target, especially when anyone with half a brain connected that with your father’s less than stellar ‘business associates’ and any extracurricular activities he was involved in beginning in the late sixties and continuing into the late nineties. When I realized this, I was done. Whatever I was trying to fix by putting you behind bars because of the grief over my father’s death was never there to be fixed. Plus with Jay taking me off the case and suspending me from the department, there was no reason to continue the path I was on. So, I walked away. From everything.”

My eyes keep assessing his face for any evidence of my words being effective or worthless but all he allows is blank boredom.

“However, before I realized this, you and I had spent enough time over the two years playing our game of ‘Cat & Mouse’, creating a thin, fake yet polite ‘friendship’. Our ‘friendship’ grew over our phone conversations and brief lunch or dinner dates which occurred sporadically when you and I found ourselves in the same countries at the same time. Over several months our ‘friendship’ turned intimate and we made more of an effort to not just fall into each others company, but go out of our way to secure our time together was as frequently as possible.”

He smiles wickedly at me after jotting down my words and speaks. “And all the while you were spinning your beautiful, intrinsic web, I was falling truly, madly, and deeply in love with you…”

If you had a feather in this moment, and your name was Heather…
you
could easily knock me on my ass. Spellbound. Mystified. Captivated. Thrilled. The woman has bewitched not only me, but my mind, my heart, hell she’s even occupied my once desolate goddamned soul.

I know you read somewhere in my earlier ramblings that I wasn’t able to love, I was superior to falling victim of any minute human, much less allow them the power Heather just seized from me with nothing more than her beauty and her words.

Her brows furrow before she smirks and speaks, “Mr. Payne… were you not? Did you just profess your love?”

I want her head wrenched back with her long hair circling the knuckles of one fist while the other clutches her neck and my nails pierce
her
skin. Without thinking, I have her cornered, facing the wall. My hands exactly as I envisioned them seconds ago.

The hand entangled in her hair releases its hold, reaching down and ripping the flimsy dress from her body. After my hand recaptures her blond tresses I wrap the silky strands around my fist twice and yank her head back growling in her ear, “The day you think I allow my love for you to EVER control me, is the day you make your last mistake.”

My nose slides from the crook of her neck to behind her ear before my teeth sink into the flesh, “Imperium Romanum, baby. I am an empire. And you… you will never be anything more than mine. My lover, my slave, my whore, my what the fuck ever I want.”

I slide my fingers from around her throat to between her legs and smile when I feel how wet she is. “And you’re going to love every second of it.” She involuntarily pushes her ass against my erection and moans earning a rare chuckle from me before I slip two fingers inside her and circle her swollen clit with my thumb. I feel her cunt convulse around my fingers as an orgasm tears through her body; my cock swells further, aching to sink deep inside her.

My unbuttoned slacks slide to the floor as I spin her, shoving her against the wall and hoisting her up with both forearms under each of her thighs. I spread her as wide as possible and rub myself against her wetness. She soaks my cock, coating it with her cum causing any and all reservations I may have harbored
to
fly out the window. I slam into her to the hilt, ripping a scream from her throat. “So tight. God you’re so fucking tight.”

Her head lolls back and the sight of her long arched neck ignites my addiction, causing me to seek out the hit I’ve been starved for. I lick and kiss a path from the top swells of her breasts until my mouth reaches the tendon between her neck and shoulder. I sink my teeth into the soft flesh of her neck and shoulder, marking her as I growl, “God, I love it. Your tight little pussy is squeezing my cock, mouse.”

My assaulting thrusts quicken as I shift my hands, positioning her and making it easier to raise her up before using all her weight to slam her back down, pounding her pussy down onto my cock. With her back chaffing against the wall her hands fist in my hair tighter and tighter as her cunt begins to convulse around my shaft.

The sound of her husky moaning as her wet lips brush against my ear almost sends me flying over the edge. “You will not cum Heather!  Do you understand?  You will not cum until I tell you to.”

“Please, I can’t… I can’t—“ She begs.

“
YOU CAN, AND YOU FUCKING WILL
!” I shout, slamming into her harder, over and over, and as soon as I feel my balls tighten I demand, “Now!” As she cums, my teeth sink into her shoulder again and I pour every drop I possess deep inside her, roaring around my teeth clenched into her shoulder, “God damn I fucking love how tight your pussy squeezes my cock!”

I’m unsure how long I keep her held against the wall with my cock buried in her, our sweaty foreheads rest against each others as we catch our breath. After I’m able to gather my strength
,
I slowly set her on her feet before scooping her up with one arm behind her back and the other under her knees and carry her into my master bath. I turn on the water, and walk us both under the warm spray of the shower.

I gently wash her body and shampoo her hair
.
Once
I’ve bathed us both I wrap her in a towel and carry her into my room, pull back the covers and slide us both between the sheets.

Even though her eyes are closed and her breathing has evened out I know she’s not asleep
,
but I decide to allow her this moment of silence.

Well after the sun has set and darkness floods the room she whispers, “Do you think you love me, Roman?”

Her words settle between us like tiny ticking bombs. In order to keep from blowing up on her, I turn the tables on her little ‘I’m asleep’ trick and remain silent and unmoved with my eyes closed.

Ten minutes later she sighs and softly kisses my shoulder. I feel the bed shift under her weight as she slides to the edge of the bed. Before getting up and leaving I barely hear her whispered confession.

“I don’t know if I will ever love you enough to truly take away all of the evil lurking inside you. And after this baby is born, I will leave you the moment your mask first slips
.
I will leave you, and you will never see either one of us again.”

The next sound to meet my ears is the clicking of the door as she leaves.

I lie in bed as her words circle my mind until the sun comes up. And before my consciousness leaves me the only response I can settle on is, to never let my mask slip. Or to run like hell, leaving both my wife and my daughter behind before it happens.

The days pass quickly, and with each day that comes and goes the hope, my happiness, and my peaceful contentment slowly begin to fade away. Her words from that night begin eating away at me like a cancer, eroding me from the inside out and there is no stopping the shift I feel occurring within me. The blackness invading any goodness she caused is so strong it’s palpable.

Heather has chosen her gown, the cake, the flowers and decorations. And today, the day the invitations are to be sent out,
she
and Andrew are going over the menu for the cocktail party in which I will come face to face with her brothers for the first time. My parents’ plane will land in a little over an hour. Before they arrive she and I have decided to call Bobby, the brother she lived with and explain in detail our ‘story’. She has decided it would be best if she does the explaining and most of the talking and I agree it will sound better coming from her than me.