#Hater (Hashtag #2) (19 page)

Romeo

The distance between us was getting wider.

She thought I would just drive her back to campus, that I would just let her walk away mad.

Hell to the no.

I still remembered the night she got out of the Hellcat and walked away from me. The night I had to tell her getting close to her had only been a bet. The hurt in her eyes still cut me to the core.

I didn’t want a repeat of that night. Not ever again.

Zach had been the cause of that night, and he was pretty much the cause of the space between us now.

He was a hater. Plain and simple.

I couldn’t. I
wouldn’t
let the hate he spewed so willingly overshadow everything I had with Rimmel. I agreed with my dad.

She was a keeper.

Her hand was stiff as I pulled her along toward my place, but she still allowed me to lead her. When we got close to the pool, she moved closer to my side, and I angled my body in front of her to block the sight.

Once inside, we didn’t speak. She took off her heels and coat, and I went to turn on the fire in the bedroom. When I came back, she was crouched down in the living room, petting Murphy, who was zigzagging around her feet.

“You took pictures of me when I was sleeping.” Her voice was calm and quiet, but it filled the room.

“Yeah, I did.” I wasn’t going to apologize for that. Deep down, I must have known things might come to this. I was a lawyer’s son after all. I knew things needed to be documented.

“You could have just asked.” She straightened up from Murphy and looked at me. “Instead, you took advantage of me and never said a word.”

“I didn’t take advantage of you. I was just doing what I thought was best.”

“Well, you don’t get to decide what’s best for me!” Her voice rose, and Murphy paused in purring to look up at her.

“I don’t get a say?” I shot back, trying to hold on to my temper.

She took a deep breath. “Of course you do. But you didn’t
say
anything. You just did. Just like at dinner. You just announced I was getting a restraining order. There was no conversation.”

I opened my mouth, but she kept talking.

“How am I supposed to trust you when you do things like this without me knowing?”

“You don’t trust me anymore?” I said the words with quiet calm. Surely this wasn’t enough to ruin the trust between us.

She blew out a breath and paced across the room. “I didn’t say that.” She spun away from me and looked at the wall. “I’m just upset.”

I strode across the room. It was darker where she was. The lights were off in here, and from this position in the room, the crackling fire in the bedroom didn’t cast much light.

My feet stopped when I was directly behind her. Usually, I would touch her without thought. But right then I paused.

Fuck. That.

I wrapped my hands around her wrists, then loosened my grip to slide my palms up her arms to rest at her shoulders. I felt her exhale, and I wrapped one of my arms across her chest and pulled her back against my front.

“I could tell you I’m sorry,” I whispered in her ear. “I could whisper how much I love you and that I won’t ever do something like this again.”

The back of her head hit my chest as I spoke. The silky strands of her perfectly straight hair tickled my lips as I talked, and the scent of her shampoo enticed me closer.

“But I’m not going to apologize.”

She stiffened, but I strengthened my hold, unwilling to let her pull away. I kept my voice whisper soft and my lips right beside her ear.

“I’d do it again, in a friggin’ heartbeat if that’s what I thought you needed.”

The frustration in her body was evident, but I ignored it.

“Do you know how much I love you?” I whispered. “I love you so goddamned much that it scares the shit out of me. You have no idea the kind of power you wield, how much of me you own. Knowing you were completely vulnerable, that you were locked unknowingly in a bathroom with someone who literally lurked around while you were naked, while you were washing yourself, makes me sick. He could have raped you.” My voice broke on the last part because I had to force the words out of my mouth.

“He didn’t,” she said quickly and tried to turn to face me.

I wouldn’t let her. I liked her where she was. It was easier to bare my heart when she wasn’t staring into me with her eyes.

“No, he didn’t. But he’s put bruises on you. The way you looked in that pool last night. The way your body just kind of stopped. You sank to the bottom with a dark cloud of hair obscuring your face. I knew you had to be reliving what happened. It broke me, Rim. Loving me has cost you so fucking much. Too much.”

This time, she wouldn’t let me hold her. She spun around and tipped her chin up to look at me. I let her see. I let her see the bleakness in my eyes.

“Loving you has
given
me way more than I imagined.” She reached up and brushed the backs of her knuckles across my cheek. I dragged my fingers through her hair.

“It scares me too,” Rimmel whispered. “How much I love you.”

“I’m going to protect you. I’m going to protect us,” I said. “I won’t ever stop.”

“Next time, talk to me. Nine times out of ten, I’ll probably do what you ask just because you ask me to. I know you want to shield me, but I can’t be
beside
you if you’re always pushing me
behind
you.”

“Deal.”

Rimmel leaned forward to kiss me, but I lifted my lips, denying her. Her eyes narrowed, and I smiled. “One more thing.”

“What?” she asked suspiciously.

“Do not get in between me and a chair. Me and
any
fight ever again.”

“We’ll see,” she replied noncommittally.

I growled my displeasure, but she only smiled.

“Kiss me, Romeo.”

I pushed my face down to hers. Our lips melded together like they were one and the same. To me, her lips felt like velvet, the softest touch I’d ever known.

I hunched around her, wanting closer, gathering her against me until there wasn’t even enough space for air between our bodies. My tongue slipped into her mouth and licked against hers, the slightly rough texture a direct contrast to the softness of the rest of her.

I groaned, but the sound echoed into her mouth.

My face bumped against her glasses, and I pulled them off quickly and tossed them onto the couch.

Her hands began to wander over my body and slipped beneath the hem of my shirt. Her touch was light as it danced across my abs and up over my chest. When her hands brushed the dog tag lying against my chest, she retreated to push my shirt up to reveal the expanse of my stomach and part of my chest.

Her lips were warm and moist as she pressed them against my skin and then slipped over to press a kiss against the metal of the necklace.

“Baby,” I murmured and grabbed a handful of hair at the back of her neck. Gently, I tilted up her head and her eyes fluttered open to look at me. “I’m not sorry for what I did. But I am sorry if it hurt you.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

The words pierced my soul.

We walked through the dark house, nothing but two shadows in the night, until we stepped into the bedroom and our bodies were cast in the orange glow of the firelight.

I brought her around to kiss her again. This time it was lazy and slow as I backed her up toward the bed. As we moved, she unbuttoned my jeans and then shoved her hands down the waistband, reaching into the back of my boxers, and cupped my ass.

My cock was already throbbing, already jealous that she was touching the rest of me. I pulled back so I could quickly rip off my clothes, and when I looked back, I noted she was doing the same.

When she was standing in front of me in nothing but a pair of black panties and a black lacy bra, I sank down on my knees before her. Her nipples were erect beneath the cups of her bra, and I wrapped my lips around them, moistening the fabric and using my tongue to rub against it, creating friction against her already sensitized skin.

Her hands delved into my hair, fisting in the thickness, and her back arched. I lavished attention on both her breasts until the fabric was wet and she was panting. Her hips twisted around like they were searching for something, and I smiled.

I kissed down her flat stomach and then buried my face in the center of her panties.

Rimmel’s groan filled the bedroom, and I felt like a superhero. The fabric between us was too much so I pulled it down her legs and she kicked it away.

Her body swayed on her feet when I licked up her center with one long stroke. My hands wrapped around her narrow hips and pushed her back so she would sit on the bed. I stood to lift her farther back, but she grabbed hold of my jutting cock and slid her mouth down over it.

I jerked in the tight space of her mouth and she took me as deep as she could. I let her stroke and lick me until my knees started to feel weak and I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull her off if she went any further.

I pulled back and she looked up. Rimmel’s little pink tongue darted out to lick across her lips, as if she were tasting every last bit of me.

A low growl rumbled the center of my chest, and she smiled. She moved quickly, turning so her bare ass was in perfect sight, and crawled up toward the head of the bed to lie down. Before she turned over from her hands and knees, she looked back at me over her shoulder.

I lunged forward, grabbing her hips and pulling them toward the center of my body.

She made a sound of appreciation, and I smoothed my hands over her hips and naked ass. My hand dipped between her legs and slipped in her already flowing juices. I rocked against her without thought, and she pushed her tight little butt into me.

I didn’t give it a second thought. I pushed the tip of my swollen head inside her. She shuddered, and I looked down at her narrow waist that gave way to softly curved hips.

I plunged the rest of the way in, and she collapsed onto her elbows. It changed the angle, and I went even deeper into her. My pelvis rocked against her and I rotated my hips in a circle.

She was so tight. So wet and so fucking perfect.

My eyes slid closed as I rode her from behind. In and out, in and out I thrust. I could see her hands fisted in the blankets and hear her ragged breathing. I bent at the waist, bringing my chest against her front, and filled my hand with her breast. Gently, I pinched the nipple and rolled it around in my fingers.

Rimmel ground against me and started rocking her hips. I knew she was close. Her inner muscles squeezed around me. My free hand slid lower, and I pressed my thumb against her swollen clit.

She came apart in my arms. When she would have collapsed completely onto the bed, I held her up and kept riding her. My own release came hard and fast. I pulsed and emptied myself into her body while bliss stole over every last part of me.

I collapsed onto the bed beside her and lifted her boneless body across my chest.

I hated fighting with her.
But damn
. The make-up sex was awesome.

We were both so satisfied that neither of us moved. I thought briefly about pulling back the bedding to cover her, but with the fire going and our body heat, it really wasn’t necessary.

I thought she’d gone to sleep, but a long time later, her quiet voice filled the room.

“Romeo?”

“Hmm?” I asked and dragged a hand up the length of her spine.

“He kept telling me to ask you why he was so mad.”

I knew who she was talking about, and I was glad she hadn’t said his name. I didn’t want it in this bed with us.

“I’m the one who got him arrested. I had the nameplate put in his room. I had the dean search it. I knew what he would find.”

“He lost presidency because of you.”

“No. He lost presidency because he’s an asshole and because the members of Omega just needed an excuse to dethrone him. He was supposed to be out of the house completely, but his daddy made some calls.”