Him and I Read online

  Roman goes about running his fingers through my long, blonde hair before he deftly braids it into one braid down my back. When he’s done, he leans forward and kisses my bare shoulder. “There, now I can see more of you,” he says into my ear.

  A shiver runs down my spine even though the temperature has got to be in the high eighties already this morning. Roman notices and rubs away the goosebumps on my arms without a word about it being too hot for shivering.

  “We’re almost there,” he says pulling my back to his front and pointing out at the water where a yacht sits waiting in the open water. I’ve never been on a yacht, so I have nothing to compare this one to, but as far as boats go, it seems large, expensive yet not too flashy.

  The name Wisteria is painted in navy blue lacey script along the side. “Wisteria,” I say out loud not meaning to.

  “My mother’s favorite flower.”

  That makes me smile. “That was sweet of you. Are you close to your mother?”

  “Yes, very.”

  The boat pulls up against the yacht, and Roman stands with his hands on my hips to help me climb the ladder on the side of the yacht. His grip is tight and not once do I fear slipping or falling, which makes me think of the time David and I went boating with a group of friends on a lake. I was struggling with a rope ladder that kept floating under the craft when I tried to climb. Instead of jumping in to help me like his best friend, Jeff, did, he was digging in the cooler looking for a beer.

  When we are both on board, I take hold of the railing to get my balance. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For helping me aboard. I’m not much of a boater.”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to leave you down there while I made myself a drink,” he says, and my mouth pops open. “What?”

  “No, it’s just, never mind.”

  “Sure?”

  “Yes, what’s for breakfast?”

  He smiles, and with his hand on the middle of my back to support me, he leads me inside where a large round table is full of every kind of breakfast food imaginable.

  “Wow, you went all out, didn’t you?” He pulls out a chair for me, and I sit.

  “Nothing but the best for my new friend,” he says ‘friend’ like it’s a dirty word.

  “You make being friends sound unappealing.”

  “It’ll do for now.”

  “Roman,” I say with a warning in my tone. He lifts his eyebrows and chuckles.

  “You sound like my mother when I’m in trouble. Coffee?” He holds out a pot, and I nod. I don’t want to sound like his mother. Even as just friends that’s a horrible comparison.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t want to send any mixed signals.”

  He sets the coffee pot down on the white linen tablecloth. “Aria, there is no signal you can send that will be misinterpreted. I am a grown man. I know you’ve just experienced a breakup. I know what I’m getting into. Now stop worrying about me and start concentrating on your breakfast, will you, please?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “You’re most welcome. Cream or sugar?”

  “No, black is fine.”

  “I knew you were my kind of woman.”

  I smile and try to remember what he just told me about misinterpreting things.

  The engine starts, and the yacht rumbles under our feet as we head out to deeper waters with Juan at the helm.

  “So, how does it work owning a yacht when you live in Chicago?”

  “I have two. This one I usually keep in the Keys, and the other is on Lake Michigan.”

  My hand stops halfway to my mouth holding my cup of coffee. “Two?”

  “Yes, it’s not as big a deal as it sounds. This one is mine, and the other was my father’s. I take care of it now that he’s gone.”

  “Your father died?”

  “Yes, a few years ago.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  His expression is guarded as he goes about serving me fruit and pancakes. “I love pancakes, and these strawberries are huge.” I stab one with my fork and bite into it. Juice runs down my chin, and I scramble to catch it with my napkin before it drips on my lap. Roman is faster than me, cupping my chin in his hand and catching the spill. Before I can apologize, he leans over and licks the juice from my chin. The lick turns into a kiss that curls my toes and awakens a slew of butterflies in my tummy.

  A moan escapes his lips, and he pulls away nipping my bottom lip as he goes. “You’re delicious.” I want to tell him it’s just the strawberries. I want him to keep kissing me. I want him to do a lot more than kiss me but rather than say any of that, I smile, and he picks up my napkin that I dropped and places it in my lap.

  “Mimosa?” he asks pouring himself one.

  “Uh, sure. I guess so.”

  He hovers the bottle over my glass. “If you don’t want a drink, that’s fine. I won’t be offended.”

  “Oh no, I occasionally drink just not usually this early in the morning.”

  “Most of it is orange juice, so you should be fine.” He pours me a glass, and the yacht hits a wave just right making my insides drop.

  “I thought yachts were supposed to be a smooth ride,” I say, my voice shaking.

  He tosses a disgusted look over his shoulder to where Juan is steering. “They usually are. Are you all right?”

  “Yeah,” I lie. What am I doing here? I’m not a fan of boats. I’m supposed to be sorting through my feelings about David in my room safe and alone. That was why I decided to take this trip. Well, that and the fact that David had already paid for it, and I figured he owed me that much.

  “You don’t look okay,” he probes.

  “You know, actually I don’t feel the best. I forgot how motion sick I get on boats. Would you mind if we went back?”

  “Wait right here.” He stands and walks toward the bow. I watch him stop and say something to Juan who cuts the engine. On his way back, he stops to open a first-aid kit mounted on the wall inside a wooden cabinet to camouflage it from guests. When he returns, he opens a small package that looks like a Band-Aid.

  “This is for motion sickness. It goes behind your ear. May I? He holds it up for me to see, and I look at it skeptically. Medication isn’t going to help what’s wrong with me. I need to get over David, and I need to do it alone.

  “I don’t know, I don’t usually take medicine. What if I have a reaction to it, and we are out here on the water far from a medical facility?” Now that sounds more like me. Cautious, careful, always thinking of the worst-case scenario.

  He looks at the patch and sets it back on the package. “What can I do to convince you to stay? I have Dramamine if it’s really nausea that has you wanting to go back to the resort. Or is it fear? If I had to guess, that’s what I would say. You’re thinking this isn’t safe out here all alone with two men you don’t know. Am I right?”

  I twist the napkin in my lap, and the breeze blows the tendrils of my hair tickling my face. I don’t want to be nervous. I want to relax and go with the flow, be spontaneous, live in the moment, but that’s not who I am.

  “You don’t have to answer that, I can see it’s true. You have nothing to be afraid of, Aria. Give me an hour to prove that to you. We can anchor right here and finish breakfast.”

  Pushing my anxiety down, I nod, and Roman raises his glass to toast with me. I do the same although with less gusto and hold up my glass.

  “To new beginnings,” he says clinking the rim of the champagne flute with mine.

  “To new beginnings,” I repeat.

  Chapter 3

  Two hours later, I’m glad I didn’t let my fears get the best of me. Roman and I finished a wonderful breakfast together followed by dolphin watching on the upper deck of the Wisteria. We sunbathed, went swimming, and had more mimosas. He never had to ask if I wanted to go back to the resort after an hour. It was obvious I didn’t.

  “Let’s nap,” Roman says reaching out from his lounger to touch my shoulder. I have my ey
es closed soaking up too much sun. I’ll probably be burned tomorrow even though I’ve applied sunscreen three times.

  I smile in response to his question. The way he said it sounded like an invitation for sex not a nap.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  “Let’s nap?”

  He sits up and pushes my sunglasses up off of my face. Sunglasses that he had on board just for me, or so he says. “Would you rather me say let’s fuck?”

  “I would rather you not mislead me.”

  “All right, Ms. Savage. I am drained from the sun and our long day in it. I would like it if you would accompany me to bed for rest followed by fucking and worshiping and leisurely lovemaking until the sun goes down when we will shower and have a gourmet candlelight meal served to us on deck. I believe I have made my intentions abundantly clear, don’t you?”

  “I do, you have, and I accept.” The words tumble from my lips before I have time to worry or overthink his plans. Why not enjoy this man and everything he has to offer? He’s been nothing but a gentleman all day. He is by far the best-looking man I’ve ever known, and he makes me feel good just being with him. I can’t think of a reason to say no.

  He stands up and scoops me into his arms. I squeal and hold onto his neck as he carries me to the bedroom inside the yacht. It’s luxurious and expensive and very compact like a mini Four Seasons Hotel room.

  His skin is hot against mine, but that could be from the sun we’ve both gotten today. I love the way it feels being held and pampered and cared for. Roman is quickly making me see that David did me a great favor by cheating on me.

  “What are you thinking?” he whispers laying me on the bed and curling his body around mine from behind. The entire length of my backside is essentially bare in my bikini, and he is only wearing swim trunks as well. It’s hard to think about anything with only three small pieces of material separating us.

  “Honestly?”

  “Always, please.”

  “I was thinking of my ex.”

  “What were you thinking while lying in my bed with my body wrapped around you and my cock pressed up against your back?” he says, pushing his rock-hard erection against my back. My core tightens and a rush of want tears through my body. I work to unscramble my brain so I can answer his question.

  “I was thinking he did me a favor sleeping with my best friend and maid of honor because it led me to you.”

  “That’s good. Let’s get it out of your system right now because I never want you to bring another man into bed with us again. He slept with your best friend?”

  “Yes, it had been going on for a long time, I guess.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “Two weeks ago, someone sent me an envelope of photographs of them having sex.”

  “Wow. Do you know who sent the pictures?”

  I slide my hand up his strong forearm, taking note of the veins that bulge there. Men at the gym always have bulging veins in their arms. He must work out regularly. I should work out more, but it bores me.

  “I don’t know. I never thought about it now that you mention it. I’ve been so focused on getting revenge by showing everyone he knows what a lying sack of shit he is that I never stopped to think about who took the pictures or who sent them.”

  “How did you get revenge?”

  “I made copies of one of the photos. It was of them in a particularly compromising position that was not flattering of her figure and even less complimentary of his member. I taped it under everyone’s seat in the church.”

  “In a church, no Aria, you didn’t.”

  “I did, and when my daddy gave me away, I stopped the ceremony and told everyone there was a gift for them under their seats and to please open it. When everyone had seen it, I told him off, and then I told my maid of honor she’s dead to me, and I left.”

  “That’s some revenge plan. Good for you. Did you ever consider the photos might not have been real? Maybe someone photoshopped them as a cruel joke?”

  “No. First of all, he has a small dick, so the pictures were accurate in that respect. Also, I never felt a connection with David. We were friends. and we had sex once in a while, but he didn’t make me feel special or wanted or beautiful.”

  Roman turns me in his arms to face him and places his hands on either side of my face. “I want to make you feel beautiful and wanted and special.”

  “You already do.” I blink, and he kisses me moving his lips against mine with a rhythm that somehow, I understand, like we are long, lost lovers. His tongue slides into my mouth tangling with mine. He nips at my bottom lip and sucks the sensitive areas after each bite.

  I scoot closer to him pressing my breasts against his chest and wrapping my leg around his waist pulling him against me. His thick cock twitches, and my sex tightens. “I don’t want a nap anymore,” I pant out between kisses.

  “I never wanted a nap,” he admits pushing my head back to get better access to my neck where he licks a trail down between my breasts. “I only wanted you, in my bed, naked and writhing under me begging me to fuck you hard until you scream my name.”

  I’ve never begged a man for anything in my life, but I’m willing to beg for Roman. He pushes the small square of material covering my breast aside with his nose and takes my aching nipple into his warm mouth sucking and dragging his teeth over the sensitive bud. “Oh God, don’t stop,” I beg just like he said he wanted me to.

  “Mmm, you’re such a good girl. I knew you would be. Tell me how much you want it, Aria. Tell me you want my cock inside you making you come, making you scream so loud every creature in the ocean is jealous of you.”

  “I want you. I want you to fuck me, please, Roman, don’t make me wait.”

  He stops moving, and I open my eyes thinking I must have said or done something wrong. I’m not used to this kind of dirty talk. David and I never talked during sex. It was always lights off, ‘wham, bam, thank you, ma’am’ but without the thank you.

  “You don’t even know how sexy you are, do you? Don’t answer that. Your voice, your body, your hair, your mouth, everything about you makes me want to have you. But, I have to be sure of one thing first.”

  “What? What one thing?”

  “You won’t give your ex another precious moment of your time for the rest of your vacation. Let me help you get over him. Let me make you forget. Let me fill your time, distract you, and occupy every moment of the next two weeks. Aria, let me put him so far in your past you won’t remember his name when you go home to Chicago.”

  “Yes, yes, make me forget.” It’s a beautiful offer, and I’d love it if he could make it happen, but I have my doubts. David and I were together for six years. You can’t just erase that no matter how handsome or smooth-talking you are.

  His mouth is on me again and so are his hands touching, caressing, and teasing until I am writhing under him like he said I would be. He rises on his elbows to kiss a trail down my belly to the top of my bikini bottoms. His fingers find the strings to free me from the suit, and his hot breath hits my wet seam.

  I can’t breathe. I can’t think. All I can do is want and want and want more of Roman and his skilled fingers and his magical mouth on every inch of my body. “You make me crazy, Aria. I want to be inside you and all over you at the same time.”

  He nudges my legs apart with his knee, and I open for him more willingly than I ever have any man before him. “I need to make you come. I need to taste you,” he says dipping his head between my legs to lick my throbbing clit.

  I’ve been primed long enough that one touch is all it takes to send me rocketing out of control. My orgasm hits me with the most incredible intensity. I cry out like an animal, and it lasts and lasts, but he’s greedy and merciless not allowing me to recover before sending another shock through my core.

  No man has ever made me come like that, like an ocean wave that washes over me again and again, each time more acute, more severe until I’m on the verge of tears. “Please, Roman
, no more. I can’t…”

  “That’s what I was waiting for, you’re ready. Are you on birth control?”

  “Yes,” I pant feeling the time for these kinds of questions is long past.

  “I’m clean. Do we need a condom?”

  “No, I’m clean, too.”

  “Good.” He rises on his knees and pulls me closer wrapping my legs around his waist. I can feel the thick head of his cock against my seam. He takes hold of it at the base and slides it up and down my sopping wet core from my clit to the pucker of my ass. “I’m going to take you every way possible, Aria, here,” he says pausing at my opening. “And here,” he says sliding back to my pucker and pressing just enough pressure there to make me squirm. “And here,” he slides his finger into my mouth, and I suck as he drags it out.

  One corner of his mouth rises in a smirk when I suck, and I can tell he takes that as a confirmation of his plans. And it is. I want him to go wherever he wants even though I’ve never been much for blowjobs, and I’ve never had anal sex. I’m more than willing to try with him.

  He slides his cock deep inside me, slowly stretching walls that have never been so full. My ex, what was his name again? I can’t remember, but I do know he was a third of the man Roman is in more ways than one.

  He pauses when he hits the end of me and moans. “You’re so fucking tight, Aria. My God, you feel so good.”

  I would tell him how good he feels filling me so full, but I can’t. I can’t do anything but hold on and be ridden hard when he starts a punishing rhythm that both stings and thrills my senses. He’s big, bigger than most I assume since I’ve only been with a handful of men in my life, and none were like Roman.

  He slows and pauses inside of me for a long moment with his eyes closed. I can feel him pulsing inside of me trying to keep from coming. When he opens his eyes, he looks down at me, and a drop of sweat falls splatting on my breast. We both watch it, and I can’t help thinking it’s one of the most erotic things I’ve ever seen.

  This gorgeous man is soaking wet with sweat born from his lust for me, hovering over me, dripping on my tanned breasts as he attempts to rein in his orgasm. Nothing I’ve ever experienced is more beautiful than this.