Page 66 of The Agreement

Then, he said, “You’re getting wet, babe.”

The endearment came easily.

Slipped out fast, too.

And yet, the wave of emotions that crashed into Karine told the truth. She absorbed the impact of his concern wrapped in a pretty package all too well. It made her body ache with desire—for a man who looked at her like he did right then, and cared. Urgency followed fast behind, ready to remind her of reality. It was the panic that really clawed at her, though.

Deep.

And entirely unforgiving.

The same desperate need to escape that had sent her running from the party slammed into her all over again. Before Karine understood the implications of her actions, she lunged at him.

Roman worked at lightning speed to catch her. She fell on his chest as his muscular arms wrapped around her like a cage, the hardness of his lines somehow feeling soft to her the tighter he held her. For a second, everything was ... quiet.

Different.

Better.

She didn’t care what he thought of her—the spectacle she made of herself was just one of many that made up her life. It was the fact that this man was the one person who showed up in her sheltered circle that offered her something no one else did. An opportunity she could use. Tonight, she just needed to forget. He might well be able to help her do exactly that.

But that wasn’t even the strangest part. Rain continued to drizzle, the warm droplets sliding over Karine’s eyelashes and falling on her cheeks. He stared at her with a look that said he expected this—her in his arms, that was.

How?

Their gazes met, his holding hers strong even though a voice in the back of her mind hissed for her to look away. She didn’t really want to. There was something enthralling about the way he watched her, how his stare swept down to her mouth when her tongue peeked out to lick away the raindrops from her lips, and then jumped back up to her eyes when she blinked away the droplets from her lashes.

He drank her in.

Held her safe.

And she craved that.

More than he knew.

“You’re incredibly ... beautiful, Karine,” he murmured, the edge to his voice making her shiver when he added quickly, “I wanted to say something else, but it didn’t feel like enough. Hot wasn’t enough. Beautiful isn’t that impressive, but it’s better. More fitting.”

She blinked again, still silent.

Not because she didn’t want to speak, though. Oh, She did. Karine just didn’t know what to say.

Usually, a compliment like that would make her self-conscious. Maybe because she had never believed it, not if it came from a man. For one, there weren’t very many men who were in a position to say that to her in the first place. Not unless they wanted to answer for it, too. It was yet another reminder that Roman wasn’t quite the same as the men who surrounded her constantly. Something made him different, and she almost wanted to know what. And perhaps even why.

So, Karine, on the flipside of the same coin, left her surprised by her own body’s reaction to Roman, she also wasn’t shocked at all. She was accustomed to curling away, to feeling frightened and small in the view of others. Not with him. Instead, there was something about the way that he looked at her—it made her hold her head up higher, and stare back unashamed. She straightened her shoulders, daring him to keep looking.

She liked it.

And his words.

Returning the compliment to him in kind would be too much. Karine didn’t know how to formulate the words needed to thank him, let alone the ones to say how she perceived him. Either way, the fact that she didn’t pull away, and instead let her fingertips dance over the broadness of his chest, seemed to be enough for him because he leaned into her.

Impossibly closer.

Just like she wanted him.

Their hips grazed, and she pushed herself further into him, his grip on her loosening just enough to let her swing lightly in his arms. That didn’t last long before he pinned her close to himself again, engulfing her in the warmth of his body. She got a whiff of his scent when his hand came up to catch her under her jaw, tipping her head back to make her gaze stay locked on his.

Leather. Pine. And something sweet along the edges. She could taste him on the tip of her tongue, and while his fingers pressed into her jaw firmly enough to make her breath catch, it was the scent of him soaking into her senses that kept her still and calm.