Roman Will Fall

by Cynthia Eden

  She shimmied her way down his body. He wasn’t quite at the edge enough for her, not yet. When she’d said she wanted him to nearly lose his mind from need, she’d meant those words. Wasn’t it only fair that they both suffer from the same madness? Harper thought so. She put her mouth on him. Took the broad head of his cock between her open lips.

  “Harper.”

  That was what she wanted. A savage desire that stripped everything else away. She decided to see just how far she could push him. She licked. Sucked. Got lost in enjoying the way he tasted as her mouth moved and stroked over him. Lips and tongue and—

  She was on her back. He was looming above her. His expression? Savage. Exactly what she wanted.

  “Can’t. Wait.”

  “I don’t want you to wait.” She leaned up. Nipped his lip. “By the way, a condom’s on the nightstand. I found a box in the bathroom, so I thought I’d be helpful and move one close to—”

  He got that condom on, and his cock shoved at the entrance of her body. “How the hell will I ever let you go?”

  “Don’t. Hold on tighter.” Words torn from her.

  He sank deep. Thrust hard. Control was gone. Hers. His. There was only consuming need. Their bodies heaved together. Her nails raked down his back. Every glide and thrust had her gasping. His hand slid between them. He strummed her clit as he drove into her. Again and again and the orgasm that ripped through her whole body made her scream.

  So good. No, amazing. The pleasure hummed and rolled and kept her shuddering beneath him. His thrusts quickened, and her legs locked tightly around him.

  He was beautiful. In a primitive, sex god kind of way. When Roman’s release hit him and the pleasure swept across his face…

  She smiled up at him. Smiled and held on even tighter.

  Sex with Roman wasn’t like sex with anyone else. Because he was special. Different.

  With care, he withdrew from her. Padded to the bathroom. She heard the running of water as she slowly stretched in the bed. She still had on the shirt. His shirt. Harper laughed. They hadn’t even gotten around to taking it off.

  “What’s funny?”

  Roman was at the side of the bed. He bent and carefully pressed a warm cloth between her legs. Wasn’t that sweet? Her hand slid over his cheek. She liked the rasp of stubble against her fingers. “Next time, I can’t forget to take off the shirt.”

  He pulled away the cloth. Ditched it. Then lingered by the bed. “You’re planning for a next time?”

  Another yawn. The adrenaline crash was sweeping through her. “Of course.” She settled comfortably amid the covers. “Aren’t you?”

  He didn’t slide onto the mattress.

  Uncertainty trickled through Harper. “Do you want me to go find another room?” Careful. No emotion.

  “No.”

  Okay.

  He stared down at her. She waited for more from him.

  The seconds ticked past. Then…“I don’t want you to leave.”

  Was that so hard? She patted the pillow beside her. “I won’t go anywhere.”

  “Promise?”

  “Roman, the only place I’m going is to sleep. Right here. In this bed, with you.”

  He slid into the bed. Lay stiffly beside her.

  A sigh eased from Harper as she moved closer to him. “Will this make you feel better?” She put her head on his chest. Right over his steady, strong heartbeat. “This way, you can make sure I don’t leave. You can put that muscled arm of yours around me and hold me all night.”

  His arm came up. Settled around her.

  Her eyes drifted closed. “Better?” she asked sleepily.

  His hold tightened. “Much.”

  That was good. Sleep tugged at her.

  “You…you do make me feel better.”

  “Glad,” her slurred response. She fell asleep with her head over Roman’s heart.

  ***

  He’d made a mistake. Sure, during the course of his life, Roman had made more than his share of bad decisions, but this time, he had a clusterfuck on his hands.

  Sex with Harper.

  She was asleep in the bed. Curled against him. Exactly where he wanted her to be. She felt good against him. Right. As if she belonged…

  Belonged to me.

  But that was wrong. Harper wasn’t his. This was just temporary. It was…sex? Partners with benefits? It was—hell, he didn’t know what it was. Roman only knew that it was the best thing he’d ever had. The connection with Harper was unlike anything he’d experienced before.

  His head turned. His lips brushed her temple. “Don’t hate me.” Low. Rasping.

  But…

  She would learn the truth. Secrets had a way of bubbling to the surface. When Harper learned his truth, her truth, she wouldn’t want to curl trustingly against him while she slept.

  Instead, she’d probably want to kill him.

  ***

  “Are you planning to sleep all day or do you want to join me for some hunting?”

  Roman cracked open one eye. Of course, the chipper voice belonged to Harper. The chipper, perky, and far too awake voice. He opened his other eye.

  She perched on the end of the bed. Looking cute as could be—and fully dressed.

  Her hair was sleek and stylish. Light makeup covered her features. And she wore a pair of black pants and a gray sweater.

  “Where did you get the clothes?” he mumbled as he sat up. He rubbed a hand over his jaw. His growing beard felt like sandpaper against his fingers.

  “Antony brought them.”

  Roman stiffened. “When?”

  “About an hour ago. Before we had breakfast.”

  “You had breakfast with Antony.”

  “Yes. The man can make some mean pancakes.” Her head tilted. “What’s wrong?”

  “You…I didn’t hear you leave the room. Or come back in.”

  She leaned forward. Winked. “That’s because I tip-toed.”

  No, she didn’t get it. He always stayed on guard. He usually slept lightly, rousing at the faintest sound.

  Harper laughed and rose from the bed. “Don’t look so stressed. It was just me. I can slip in and out…look, if you must know my deep, dark secrets…”

  I want to know all of your secrets. But I’m terrified of you learning mine.

  “I have training.” She’d maneuvered to the side of the bed closest to him. “Back in my traveling days, I even joined a circus for a while. Don’t get too impressed, but I had a high-wire act.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. I was actually quite good. Had a fabulous stage name. Want to hear it?”

  “Yes,” he responded cautiously, completely fascinated by her.

  “High-wire Harper.”

  He blinked.

  “Okay, fine, it wasn’t fabulous, but it got the point across. I stayed with the group for a while. Learned lots of tricks.” An incline of her head. “In fact, it’s my high-wire training that helps me to case museums so well. Most of the people who are trying to get past security systems in museums and art galleries have to be pretty dang agile. Because of my training, I can think like they do. Can see how they maneuver through tight spots and even drop down from the ceilings so they don’t set off the pressure security indicators on the floors.”

  “I thought you were a thief.”

  Her brows rose. “Excuse me?”

  “Eric once told me…he said that you had a background that made you uniquely suited for the job you did. I thought he meant you were a former thief.”

  She laughed. “No. Sorry to disappoint you.”

  “There isn’t a single thing about you that is a disappointment.”

  Her eyes widened. “You just gave me a compliment.”

  “I just told you the truth.”

  Harper nibbled on her lower lip. “Did Eric tell you anything else about my past?”

  “No, he said you’d tell me. When you trusted me.”

  “He was right.” She turned on he
r heel. Made her way for the door. “You get that I just showed my trust, don’t you? By telling you about High-wire Harper? Next time, it will be your turn.”

  He shook his head, but she didn’t see him. She was already gone.

  ***

  The scene was damn cozy, and Roman didn’t like it. Not one bit. When he entered his kitchen, Harper and Antony had their heads bent together. A half-eaten plate of cinnamon rolls rested between them. There was no sign of pancakes. He figured they must have eaten them all. Tall coffee mugs were within reach for both of them, and Harper and Antony were whispering together. Nodding.

  Way too cozy.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  Antony cut him a sharp glance. Didn’t jump, though, so the guy must have known that Roman was there. You just didn’t bother moving away from Harper. He still hadn’t moved away from Harper.

  As for Harper, she beamed at Roman. “Finally!” Harper scooped one of the cinnamon rolls off the plate. “I was saving this for you, and believe me, it was extremely hard.” She hurried toward him and lifted the cinnamon roll to his mouth.

  He stared at the roll. Then at her.

  “Antony’s greedy,” she continued as she patiently held up the offering. “He wanted to eat all the cinnamon rolls. I told him this one was yours.”

  His gaze slid to Antony. “Mine,” Roman said flatly but he really wasn’t talking about the damn rolls.

  Antony’s inclined head said he got the message.

  Roman took a bite of the offered roll. He let his tongue lick lightly over Harper’s fingertips. “Delicious.”

  A faint red flushed her cheeks. “So glad you think so.”

  Another bite. Another lick.

  “Ah, you can hold it.” The red was darker in her cheeks. “I’ve got some things to run by you.”

  He took the cinnamon roll. The freaking thing was surprisingly good. No wonder Antony had been trying to take them all.

  “We have a plan of attack,” Harper announced as she clasped her hands together. “We’re backtracking. You weren’t at Wilde for long. So we are going to start with our most recent case—Tomas the would-be thief—and work back from there. Because whoever is after us, he struck right after Tomas was taken into custody. Maybe the two things are connected.”

  Roman finished off the cinnamon roll. “I didn’t know Tomas until that case.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t familiar with you,” Antony pointed out. “You were rather infamous in certain circles. If the guy was selling off art on the black market, then he’s probably had dealings with some rather shady people. You know, the kind of people you attract.” A pause. “The kind of people who also want you dead.”

  True enough.

  “He’s in jail, but I have a friend at the PD who can get us in to see him.” Harper’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Layla is a homicide detective, but she has some serious pull. We’ll be able to have a one-on-one talk with him, no problem.”

  Roman rubbed the back of his neck. “He’d need a partner.”

  Harper’s brows rose. “Excuse me?”

  “It’s never a one-person operation. When this much money is on the line, there’s always a partner. You need someone to watch your back. We got Tomas…” And if he hadn’t been so distracted by Harper and her abduction, he would have focused on this sooner. “But what about his partner?”

  She looked over at Antony, then back at Roman. “There was no sign of anyone else’s involvement. He was the one with the ruby that night.”

  “But someone could have helped him get it. Someone who would have been able to work the security at the museum. Someone who would have run interference while he made the switch.” Roman kept considering the options. “Tomas was locked up, so he couldn’t send out the goons after you. If he was working with a partner, the partner would have been the one to hire the thugs and get them to—”

  “If this is about Tomas, we could be looking at it all wrong.” She bit her lower lip. “Maybe it’s not about your past after all, Roman. Maybe it’s about me. You. What we did. Together.” She paced to the counter and picked up her coffee. She sipped it and then said, “Maybe Tomas did have a partner, and that partner was pissed because we stopped the theft. I was the one to first go after Tomas, so for payback, the partner took me. Perhaps the plan was to punish us both.” Her eyes widened as she looked at Roman. “That’s why you were called after I was taken! That’s why you were pulled in. The partner wants to punish us for messing up his plans!”

  Roman peered over at Antony.

  Antony shook his head. “No, sorry, Harper, I hate to burst your bubble, but the word on the Dark Web is that Roman is the target. Someone knows he’s still alive, and that person wants him taken out. You were the means to that end. The lure to get him to show his weakness.”

  Her delicate jaw firmed. “I’m still talking to Tomas. As soon as possible. I think he has intel to give us.” She put down her mug. “Ready when you are, Roman.”

  “One issue that you haven’t fully worked out…what if Tomas won’t talk to you?” Antony asked. “You are responsible for him currently being behind bars.”

  She waved that away as she strolled for the door. “He brought that on himself.”

  Antony didn’t look convinced. “Oh, I’m sure he sees it that way, too.”

  Her brows lifted as she threw a glance back at him. “You think he’ll hold a grudge?”

  “Yes, a thousand times, yes, I do think the man you both got locked away will hold a grudge.”

  Harper turned her attention to Roman.

  He shrugged. Hell, yes, he thought the man would also be holding a grudge. But… “If he wants any kind of deal, he’ll talk.”

  “Whoa! Wait a minute!” Antony scrambled forward. “You don’t work for any government agency any longer. You have zero authority to make deals. I don’t even have the authority to make deals with this guy. He’s just a regular criminal. Not some international spy!”

  Roman took Harper’s hand. “Fine, but he doesn’t know that.”

  “Shit.” Antony grimaced. “This is a bad plan. I hope you know that.”

  Harper didn’t look away from Roman. “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Sorry, but you’re not going to be able to talk to him, not without the guy’s lawyer present.” Detective Layla Lopez had paused beside a closed door. Her thick, dark hair was twisted into a loose bun. She wore a light blue suit—one that looked both professional and feminine on her. No jewelry, except for the very large diamond ring on her left hand.

  “That’s new,” Harper noted with raised brows. She pointed at the mega diamond. “Did you forget to tell one of your closest friends something very, very important?”

  Layla lifted her hand. “What? This thing?”

  “Don’t tease, Layla.”

  “It’s just…a loaner.”

  Behind Harper, Roman was silent. She’d introduced him to the detective a few moments before. Layla was the rising star in the homicide department, but she had pull everywhere at the PD. Harper had hoped Layla could get them in to chat with Tomas but…

  But I have been momentarily distracted by the fact that one of my best friends may have gotten engaged without telling me. “Kendrick.” Harper knew Layla had been spending a lot of time with the criminal defense attorney, but she hadn’t realized they’d grown quite so close.

  Layla nodded. “Yes. Tomas hired Kendrick Shaw to represent him.”

  “No, no, that wasn’t what I—” Harper stopped. “Wait, what? Say that stuff again.”

  “Kendrick is waiting inside for you. I told him that it would be to his client’s advantage to take this meeting, so he hauled ass down here to get things set up.” She looked at the ring. “I shouldn’t be wearing this here. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She started to pull it off.

  Harper caught her hand and leaned in close. “What’s going on?”

  Layla swallowed. Her gaze d
arted over Harper’s shoulder toward Roman. Then back to Harper. “Nothing. We’ll talk later. I heard about the kidnapping. You have a whole hell of a lot more to deal with right now than my drama.”

  Harper squeezed her hand. “It’s not drama. It’s you.” Layla was the most drama-free person Harper had ever met.

  Layla eased a little closer to Harper. “I told Kendrick I’d think about the proposal. He told me to keep the ring while I did. That maybe I’d start to like how it felt.” She wiggled her fingers. “I like it.” Her gaze rose. Held Harper’s. “I like him.”

  “Then tell the man yes,” Harper encouraged her.

  “He defends criminals. I lock them up. He’s been a player for years, and I—”

  The door opened. Kendrick Shaw stood there. As always, he was dressed to impress. Handsome, tall, lean, Kendrick had been known to have the ability to charm even the most cold-hearted of judges or jurors. In a courtroom, every prosecutor cursed him while every client praised him.

  “My ears were burning,” Kendrick murmured as his gaze took in Harper and her grip on Layla. “Thought I’d better see what was causing the fire.” He smiled at Harper. “Good to see you again, Harper.” The smile dimmed a little as concern lit his dark eyes. “Heard about what happened. Glad you’re okay.”

  “You and me both.” She’d noticed that Layla’s shoulders had stiffened. Harper had also taken note of the fact that Kendrick had sidled closer to Layla.

  Kendrick raised one brow as he took in the silent Roman. “Who’s the new friend?”

  She let go of Layla and moved back a step toward Roman. “He is my partner. Roman Smith,” she put a hand on his chest, “this is Kendrick Shaw.”

  Kendrick inclined his head. Seemed to assess Roman.

  She had the feeling Roman was doing the same assessment. Tension thickened the air. Men. “Thanks for agreeing to let us see your client. We’ll only need to speak with him for a few moments.” Maybe. Hopefully. She squared her shoulders. “We’ll be right back out as soon as we’re done.” Harper strode for the interrogation room.

  Kendrick stepped into her path. “That’s adorable.”

  Harper shrugged.

  “Nice try, Harper. You know that isn’t how things work. I’ll be in the room. The entire time,” he emphasized.