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  He made it to the front door and did a one-eighty. “I forgot something.”

  “You don’t trust it to stay here?” she protested sliding her hands on her soft hips.

  “Nope. Hand over the peach cobbler, lady, and no one gets hurt,” Roman commanded.

  This time it was Elise’s turn to laugh as she backtracked to retrieve his package.

  Roman followed her and said at the kitchen’s threshold, “And the rest of dinner too, please.” He flashed a mischievous smile.

  Elise presented both to him a few minutes later.

  “I’m having this with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” Then he locked gazes with her and added, “And I’ll think of you with every bite.”

  Roman smoothly juggled the containers in one hand and Elise in the other as he dropped a good night kiss on the woman so intense that food would be the last thing on either of their minds for a while.

  Chapter 7

  TWO MONTHS LATER

  SATURDAY, 12:37 A.M.

  Dinner at the Grand Lux Café on the Magnificent Mile, followed by a walk along Lake Michigan, had been a romantic interlude unlike any Elise had experienced with any other man. The kisses they shared were so raw and desperate that she was beginning to think she would have to carry an extra pair of underwear whenever she was with him.

  Roman pulled up in front of Elise’s ranch home, came around the front of his Audi, and opened the door for her.

  “Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?” she asked.

  “Baby, the way I’m feeling right now,” Roman answered, his voice husky with promise, “that wouldn’t be the best move to make.”

  She looked up at him, frowning because she didn’t get his meaning. The feelings between them were explosive. Because their schedules had sabotaged their original dinner date, they were forced to a realm of mostly verbal communication via the phone. No visual contact—no physical contact, so when they met on the phone their words to each other were riddled with longing and a pinch of frustration. Sometimes their daily work demands required each from time to time to encourage the other.

  Roman gave soothing words of comfort and comedy when she ranted about her business. Elise peppered her language with understanding and serenity. They missed each other, they wanted each other, and they needed each other.

  They were the balms for the other’s soul. And as apprehensive as she should be, Elise wasn’t. It had nothing to do with him being a cop. It was him—all him. Roman was one of the good guys. He was the type of man who was secure in who he was, a man who didn’t have to hurt or use a woman to prove that he was Top Dog.

  Elise’s expression had to reveal her confusion as Roman took her gently by the arm and escorted her to the front door. “I don’t know what’s happened with you, Elise, but you need a slow hand, not a man who’s trying to rush into you like there’s not enough time to savor you, to learn you, to know you.”

  Elise put a few inches of space between them before she looked up at him. “How could you possibly know that about me?”

  Roman focused on her well-manicured lawn for a few moments. “I’m a cop, sweetheart.” He focused on her then. “I’m trained to observe, evaluate, and assess.” He inched closer. “It’s in the way you move sometimes—cautious, like you expect something’s coming your way and you need to be prepared to run or fight.”

  His gaze drifted to her lips. “It’s in your voice when you’re not quite sure if speaking your mind is all right.” Roman cupped her face in his hands. “You are beautiful, strong, and sexy—but something, someone, hurt you in the past to the point that you’re not always sure of yourself.”

  He feathered his lips across hers. “I don’t want to be the man who takes advantage of that. I want to be the man on the opposite end of that spectrum. The man that you’ll realize is nothing like whatever or whoever hurt you.”

  Elise wanted to burrow into this man and nestle in his spirit. In the few months of knowing Roman, he had washed away so much turmoil in her life that Cecil had left behind.

  She owed him an explanation that respected that bond he had cultivated with her. “Here’s the thing, Roman—the important thing.” She took a long, slow breath. “I’m always cautious about who I let in my personal space—my intimate space. But somehow you slipped in under the radar without any effort. Not because you had an ulterior motive but because with you, I always feel … all right.”

  She pressed her shoulder to the steel security door. “My ex-husband has a lot of money. So he felt he was … entitled to things, entitled to treat me a certain way, entitled to take … things I wasn’t ready to give, even when I no longer lived under his roof.” She let that admission hang in the air.

  Roman pulled her closer and held on for several moments.

  “I was tired of being afraid, tired of being used,” she said softly, holding onto him. “That wall of protection has always been real for me—a survival mechanism.” Elise looked up at him. “Having you with me, I always feel safe. A feeling I never thought I’d have again.”

  Roman traced a finger across her cheekbones. “I want you to always feel that way. We don’t have to rush to the bedroom, we can take our time. I want to know that you’re sure about this, to know that you’re sure about us. I can’t take the chance with my heart if you’re not.”

  Elise locked an intense gaze on him. She fisted her tiny hands in his shirt for emphasis. “I understand where you’re coming from. You can take your time if you want, but Roman …”

  His right eyebrow fanned up his forehead.

  “… if you don’t make love to me right now, I swear to God, I’m going to lose my freaking mind!”

  Roman’s lips were on hers in that next instant. They were inside the door. He kicked it closed, holding her so close to him, there was no way to know where she ended and he began.

  Elise had thought his previous kisses were nothing short of spectacular. But now, baby-bye!! These kisses, right here, were the stuff of legend. The way he commanded her lips, her tongue, and her mouth was nothing short of earth-shattering.

  “Roman,” she panted.

  He paused right in the middle of lowering her to the floor, and locked gazes on her.

  “I don’t do rug burns,” she said.

  Roman swept her up in his arms. “Point me in the right direction.”

  Chapter 8

  Roman felt like he was about to burst out of his skin. Good Lord, Elise not only wanted him, she ached for him as profoundly as he starved for her. Making it to the bedroom was a foggy haze. All he could focus on was her. He lowered the zipper on her form-fitting black dress and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. The dress hit the carpet, she turned to face him.

  Elise was just sexy all over. She stood modeling a white lace corset with matching panties and garters anchoring black silk stockings.

  “You were stunning with the dress on, but you’re an absolute goddess with it off.” I’m a grown ass man, and this woman is bringing me to my knees!! “Elise?” he whispered.

  “Yes?”

  He was locked in a vault of awe and wonder and could not escape, and neither could his words. She smiled up at him and unbuttoned his shirt as he dropped his hands by his sides. Roman focused on his breathing as her silky hands did incredible things to the sensitive skin of his chest.

  Keep it together, man. Keep it together.

  A thin sheen of perspiration helped her hands travel easier across his body in more of a glide. Hot-blooded was the only word that came to mind.

  Elise lowered her hand to the tight abs, across the flat lines of his belly, then to the buckle holding up his slacks. When the pants hit the floor, she gasped at the erection that was straining for freedom and to be into a place it had been yearning to visit ever since he had moseyed from his cruiser to her car.

  Her eyes lifted to meet his and he nearly attacked.

  “Happy to see me?” she teased.

  “You don’t know the half of it.”


  She slid down, taking his boxers along the way, and he stepped out of them, now completely displayed in all his golden glory.

  Elise glanced up at him and the look of raw need almost killed him. For now, this was her show, her pace, her way. Roman was determined to hold firm. Then she slid slowly up his body, letting all her sweet spots, starting with her mouth, brush and graze and glide along his skin and his knees nearly buckled from just her touch.

  She faced him again and crooked her finger. Roman followed like a love sick puppy to the bed and Elise straddled him. Her thighs surrounded his hips. His hands reached out to steady her, to place her near an erection that demanded her undivided attention.

  Elise snagged a condom from the nightstand, ripped it open and sheathed him.

  Roman took in her beauty and wanted to see more. His hands closed around the edges of the corset and pulled it away. Her luscious heavy breasts sprang free and the need to taste was too much.

  The moment his tongue flickered across those cinnamon nipples, Elise gasped. Oh, she tasted like perfection. One by one, he unlatched the hooks on the corset, then slipped off the lace panties, garters, and stockings until she was bare before him.

  His hands lowered until they had a command of her buttocks, spreading her for his pleasure. He teased her pearl until she could barely catch a solid breath. He studied her reaction to everything he did. Her increasing pants encouraged him to titillate and tease.

  “Roman,” she gasped.

  With the sound of her desperate tone, his next move was cheetah quick—flipping her so that she was under him. Elise’s body arched in anticipation, demanding that he enter that sacred space.

  “Elise,” he said as he parted her thighs with his knee, centered himself and waited.

  Her mouth sought his.

  Roman let her find it and eased her ache with his tongue. When her movements increased, telling of her frustration, he lifted his head. “Are you sure,” he asked trembling with his need, with hers.

  “Yes,” Elise cried.

  Roman devoured her mouth and thrust straight to the heart of her core. She gasped and her entire body viced around every inch of him—his back, his hips, even his erection felt like her body was milking him to stay cradled within her.

  He looked down at her, nervous, waiting.

  “It’s all right,” she whispered. “It’s just … it’s been a minute. That’s all. I’m not fragile.”

  Roman slowly inched out and drove home slow and steady. He kept the pace the exact same rhythm no matter how frantically she moved beneath. Each stroke was the same measurement of completion, the same force of impact, the same intensity of sensation.

  “I’m right here with you, Elise,” He kept the same rhythm, never wavering. “Feel me, let it come over you,” he whispered. “Let it take you. I’m right here.”

  Elise screamed in rapturous surrender as the floodgates to desire set her free. This was not the pulsing vibration of her climax flowing from her. No, this was the release of her pain, her fears, her past traumas. Only when those things were set free could she be truly ready for him.

  He felt her damp face bury into the curve of his neck. He kept his palms splayed over her buttocks, kneading them, stroking them, bringing her to a fevered pitch.

  “Roman!” She panted, unable to hold on.

  “That’s it,” he said.

  “What are you doing to me, Roman?”

  Chapter 9

  “What you need me to do, baby,” she heard him reply through a haze of splendor.

  Elise was lost. Thrown into the eye of the storm of ecstasy. Nothing in her life had felt like this. His body was doing things to hers that she never wanted to end. When had making love ever been this earth shattering?

  She clasped her hands around his face panting with aching joy. His eyes, his glorious eyes, enslaved her and then they changed to dark, sultry promises and his loving strokes change to something heady and primal and ravenous.

  Elise cried out, unable to stop the storm.

  “I will always give you what you need, always give you what you really want,” Roman promised.

  Each stroke took her to a place where all she could think about was him, having him deep within, having him touch her, having him drive her completely insane. She cried out his name, and the next series of thrusts were more demanding than the last, as if he was erasing all traces of anyone else.

  Another orgasm slammed into her, and she screamed until he silenced her with another kiss. Roman kept his lips on hers until nothing remained but whimpers of pleasure.

  He lowered her hand to the base of his hardened member, and she gave it a gentle squeeze to keep him hard, to keep him from ending things much too soon.

  “Roman?”

  “We’ve got all night, baby. I’m going to take my time with you.”

  She didn’t know if that was a promise or a threat. But one thing she did know, Roman Montgomery was going to make good on it either way.

  * * *

  SATURDAY, 8:32 A.M.

  Elise lay in Roman’s arms, listening to that mellow, even breathing that signaled he was taking a much-deserved rest. Between the work he did with teens who were almost destined for a life within the prison system, and taking on new cases, he always seemed to be burning the candle at both ends and striking a match to the middle.

  After Cecil, and what her family had put her through, she’d thought she wouldn’t allow herself to get close to anyone again. But she was more open with Roman than she had been with anyone. Truthfully, the feeling was nothing short of intoxicating.

  She stroked a hand gently across his chest. He stirred and pulled her closer to him. She stopped thinking, and surrendered to the comfort of being with him.

  No worries.

  She closed her eyes, and that was her last conscious thought.

  * * *

  A few hours later the doorbell rang, startling her from a sound sleep.

  Roman stirred, lifting up on an elbow as he looked down at her.

  “I don’t know who that could be,” she said, answering his unspoken question.

  She hurried out of bed, grabbed a robe from the closet and was down the stairs just as the bell sounded a third time.

  “Just a minute!” she called out.

  Elise opened the door, and a pint-sized version of herself was holding a small suitcase and giving her the brightest smile. He rushed into her arms.

  “Mommy!! Daddy says I can come home now.” Her son ducked under Elise’s arms and scrambled into the living room.

  “You can’t come in right now,” Elise said when Cecil tried to push past her any way and into her living room.

  “We need to talk,” he growled, obviously frustrated that she had not moved out of the way. “Donna’s pregnant, and your little brat’s giving her all sorts of problems.”

  He took off his blazer and hat and tossed them on the sofa. “He’s always demanding to see you, and—” He looked over Elise’s shoulder. “Who the hell is that?”

  “Mommy has a friend,” her son supplied, his head tilting upward, trying to get a good look at the man making his way to the first floor landing.

  Elise tracked Cecil’s scan of her appearance, her disheveled hair, and her guest’s sudden appearance from upstairs. His expression darkened with anger.

  She could not help the smile that turned up the corners of her mouth.

  That’s right, I have happily moved on. Oh, and the next time we meet in court, it will be on equal footing.

  “Actually,” Roman announced to her son. “Mommy’s friend is going to take you both out for breakfast. Would you like that, Jordan?”

  “Yes, sir!” her little man piped in gleefully.

  Looks like Donna still hasn’t learned how to cook.

  Roman focused on Elise and added, “We’ll have to stop by the station on the way out.”

  “Station?” Cecil frowned, rising from the sofa, dripping with disdain. “You’re a fireman?”

/>   “Police officer.”

  “Ooooh,” Jordan cooed, tugging Roman’s half-buttoned shirt. “That’s what I want to be when I grow up.”

  “And that’s a good thing,” Roman said, tweaking the tip of Jordan’s nose. “That means you’ll always try to do what’s right, especially when it comes to protecting the people you love.” He said it to her son, but he locked a steely gaze on Cecil. “You know, like making sure people don’t overstep their bounds or overstay their welcome.”

  Elise stepped over to Jordan as Roman snatched Cecil’s items from the back of the suede sofa and held them out to him. “Common courtesy means calling before you show up at someone’s home. The door is right behind you. Make good use of it.”

  Cecil glared at him for a long moment, then yanked the items from Roman’s hands. He gave Elise one last, blistering look before storming from her home.

  Roman watched Cecil until he reached his car and sped off. “If I’ve overstepped my bounds, I apologize,” he said when he turned to face her. Roman crossed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. “He needs to know that this is one place he doesn’t have free rein. This place is off limits. You are off limits whether I’m here or not. Whether I’m … with you or …”

  Elise wiggled from his embrace and looked directly into his solemn eyes. “You’ll be here, Roman,” she whispered, placing a hand to his cheek. “You’ll be with me.”

  The sudden change in him floored Elise. Those simple words had brought him such relief, it was a living entity. She rose up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  When they separated, they were blushing because it had dawned on them that they were not alone. As one, they turned to Jordan who looked at them in innocent wonder.

  Roman cleared his throat. “I’ll keep this little guy busy while you get dressed. Maybe I could take you and your future law officer for a quick tour of the station before breakfast.” His gaze swept to the science project in Jordan’s hand. “Then maybe the planetarium?”

  “Yessss!” Jordan crowed, pumping his fist in the air.