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I guess I got so busy chasing down leads, trying to understand what happened. I knew Rome would get my need for answers, but he also would have made me be careful, contact the cops again, let him get involved. He damn sure never would have let me go check out the warehouse on Kennedy all by myself.
I didn't want anyone slowing me down.
And that made me, well...
"I'm such a shitty friend," I whimpered, putting my hands up over my face to keep the ugly cry hidden.
I really, really needed a free hour to myself to get these emotions out of my system so I stopped crying at the drop of a dime. It was getting pathetic.
"Else, no," Rome said, voice soft again as his arms grabbed me around the back and under the knees, pulling me up onto his lap and letting me pull it together against his neck.
It took me an embarrassingly long two or three minutes before I remembered that I couldn't do that with Rome anymore. I couldn't cry on his chest. I couldn't sit in his lap. I couldn't keep confusing him. Feeling me stiffen, Rome's arms fell from around me as I scooted off his lap and dropped down on the seat beside him.
"Sorry. I'm a mess."
"Oh please. This is nothing. Remember when Alexi dumped you junior year? That was a mess," he teased, bringing up the memory of me ugly snot crying on the abandoned bleachers after school one afternoon, using Rome's school sweatshirt sleeve to wipe at my running mascara. When he had finally gotten me into his car a while later and I pulled down the mirror, yeah, let's just say it wasn't pretty. "This is just someone who works too hard and doesn't ever let anyone else help shoulder her burden so she gets over-tired and emotional thinking she's a shit friend, when she's really the best friend anyone could ask for."
"Oh yeah? Then how come I haven't asked you what led to gelato and a kickass Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer movie on a Sunday night when you like to get extra sleep for work Monday morning?"
"Because you have more important things on your mind than my stupid work problems."
"I never have too much on my mind when you need to talk, Rome."
He gave me a smile, tucking my hair behind my ear. "I know that, Else. But not tonight. Tonight you need to get some sleep. We will catch up over the week, okay?"
"Rome really..." I pressed as he moved to stand.
"Shush. Go on. Go up to bed. Put a cold compress on those eyes and that throat. We'll get coffee after work whatever day works for you, okay?"
"Okay," I said, giving him a smile as I followed him to the door.
He pulled it open, turning, then turning back. "You need to talk about this, call me. Don't bottle it up. Okay?"
"Okay," I agreed and he kissed my forehead and took off down the steps.
I closed and locked the doors, turned off the DVD and the TV, cleaned up the ice cream, then made my way back upstairs, stopping in my bedroom doorway to untie my shoes and kick out of them before going inside.
"Don't scream," Paine's deep voice said from somewhere inside the dark room, repeating the first words he ever said to me and making me jump, my heart going into overdrive.TenElsie"Jesus Christ," I said, hand slapping down over my heart as I heard his heels kick the platform of the bed as, I imagined, he rose from it. "You were supposed to leave."
"We had some unfinished business," he said, arms going to my hips and sinking in slightly.
"You were seriously just up in my bedroom in the dark while I was watching a movie with Rome?"
"Yep."
"That's kinda creepy," I said, fighting the urge to lean forward and press my face into his chest, breathe in his spicy scent, steal some of his strength.
"Flick that light on, Elsie," he demanded, pushing me back a step toward the door and the light switch.
"Why?"
"When I finally slide inside you, babygirl, I want to watch your face."
My sex clenched hard, making my thighs tense and my breasts get heavy again. I reached blindly behind me and hit the switch. The room got bright, making me squint for a second until my eyes adjusted. Then Paine was advancing toward me, each step predatory, animalistic. I found myself retreating until the wall prevented any more backing away. Once he got close, his hands went around my back to my ass and sank in hard, lifting me up and off my feet, coaxing my legs into going around his waist. My arms went around his shoulders as he slammed me back against the wall hard as he thrust his hips upward, making his hardness slam against my cleft, and having me moan out his name into his neck.
