Smoke and Sin (The Perfect Gentlemen 4)

He set a ruthless rhythm, shuttling in and out, testing his angles until he found just the right one to have her tensing and gasping, clawing at him as he sent her closer and closer to the edge. The pleasure built, a hot, destructive force threatening to break her—and tear down all the walls she’d erected against him at any moment.

Over and over he slammed into her, ratcheting up her senses. He bellowed out each breath. The bed rattled. Gus dug her fingers into his shoulders, nails in his skin. When her thoughts evaporated and she clawed her way down his back, he tossed back his head with a groan.

“I remember that, too. Oh, fuck. Baby, I can’t stop. Feels too good,” he panted as he surged inside her again, somehow even deeper. “Why the hell did we wait this long?”

She didn’t know how to answer him.

Then she couldn’t because he settled his thumb over her clitoris and pressed down while his cock shuttled in and out, picking up speed and prodding her most tender spot over and over.

The explosion built and swelled, climbing, growing, overwhelming. Then he sent her soaring toward heaven.

Gus clutched him. He felt like the only solid anchor left in her world. Everything else was violent sensation. Pure emotion and energy flowed through her as her body jolted, her hips crashing into his, and she keened out in agonized satisfaction.

Roman’s head fell back and he gave up all semblance of control, following her into orgasm. He slammed into her again before she felt the heat of his climax jetting deep inside her.

He slowed his strokes before stopping altogether. But he remained inside her, still connected to her. Roman’s chest heaved as if he’d sprinted hard for the finish line. Then Gus realized she was breathing hard herself.

The younger Roman would have immediately withdrawn from her and either left the bed or talked about something deeply unromantic. Through the lens of maturity, Gus wondered now if he’d intentionally put walls between them because he’d been afraid not to. This Roman caressed her cheek, his stare delving into hers. He didn’t need words now. His expression told her that he was just as amazed by the pleasure and connection as she was.

“You good?” he murmured, thumb trailing over her temple as if he didn’t want to let her go yet. As if he wanted to savor their joining a moment longer.

“Yeah.” Gus wasn’t sure what else to say. Anything more would have told him that feeling him deep inside her again had opened some part of her heart closed for more than a dozen years, some part that belonged to him alone.

He smiled her way, then groaned as he withdrew and stepped back, stretching his big body. Gus shifted closer to the headboard but didn’t try to cover herself. It was nice to be naked with him. Her body was still pulsing with the gentle aftershocks of orgasm. She tried not to wonder if the two of them having lived more and now being less immature could mean anything to their future. A nice blanket of peace began to settle over her thoughts instead. Later, she’d think about the ramifications of tonight. Now, she intended to wrap herself in bliss.

“Wow. We should be happy you’re on the pill because there’s no doubt in my mind that episode would have ended in an unwanted pregnancy.” Roman sighed. “I’ve never come so hard in my life.”

His words yanked the peaceful blanket away and punched her in the gut. She jolted upright. He was joking, of course. He had no way of knowing what had happened the terrible night they’d split up. She’d never told him. But it didn’t matter. One word rang in her head over and over: unwanted. That was all she needed to hear.

She remembered why she’d never intended to be with him again.

His expression shifted from satisfied to concerned in an instant. “Augustine? Baby, are you all right?”

She sat up, scanning the room for anything she could use to cover up. She refused to look his way. “I’m good. I need a shower before I get in bed.” She rolled off, grabbing the robe the staff had obviously left behind for him. It was far too big, but she needed the cover it provided now. “Are you sure you want me to sleep here? It’s been forever since I slept with someone. For actual sleep, anyway. I might snore.”

Roman blocked her path to the shower, wrapping her face in his big hands and tilting her up to meet his stare. “What did I say wrong? That’s the second time I’ve seen you turn pale and haunted. What am I doing, Augustine? Talk to me.”

She couldn’t. She wasn’t ready. Panic started to creep in. God, she felt so vulnerable. And now that he wasn’t showering her with ecstasy, now that she knew he still felt the same way about any child they might have conceived, she couldn’t stand it. Rose-colored thoughts of the future aside, she and Roman didn’t need to share more than sex. She didn’t need to give him the power to hurt her again.

“I don’t have to talk to you. That wasn’t part of our deal. I only have to fuck you and I did that.”

His face flushed as he dropped his arms to his sides, stepping back. “Are you kidding me? That’s such bullshit and you know it.”

She opened her mouth to fight back when a knock sounded on the door and a masculine voice called out. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Calder,” one of the Secret Service agents murmured. “The president needs you in his suite now. You and Ms. Spencer. He says it’s an emergency.”

“Understood. We’ll be there in a moment,” Roman barked before looking back to her, his eyes narrowed. “Get dressed. And in case you were wondering about the answer to your last question, yes. You will stay in that bed with me tonight. And if you think this conversation is over, think again. I’m not done. Not with the conversation. Not with the sex. Not with you.”

He stalked off toward the bathroom. She was left clutching the robe and wondering how the hell she could stop him from bulldozing her heart again.

CHAPTER TEN

Roman ushered Gus into the presidential suite before him, studying the stiff set of her shoulders and the haughty way she held her head. The questions rolled through him like a storm. What the hell had he done to suddenly put her in that bitchy, closed-off mood? He’d watched her change. One minute she’d been a happy little sex kitten, all curled up and ready to be cuddled. The next she’d gone cold as ice.

Was it because he’d joked about getting her pregnant? Was Gus’s biological clock ticking? Had he poked at some sore spot?

He wasn’t about to tell her that when he’d thrust inside her without a condom, his first and arousing-as-fuck thought had been that he could get her pregnant. They weren’t kids. They could handle it. Plus, a baby would bind them together. It would mean a permanent connection to her. They would have to work something out, then. They would both have to think about the child they shared first.

Not that his parents had. They hadn’t changed at all once they’d had a kid. In fact, they might have gotten worse. That was why he’d made the joke. His desire for a kid whose life they would probably ruin

scared the hell out of him.

But…was his life really ruined? Or was he holding on to that thinking as a defense against the terrifying possibility that he cared about a woman and might want a future with her? That he was falling for Gus again?

He couldn’t love her.

Roman stopped at the scene that greeted him. Liz sat on the couch, wearing a set of lounge pajamas. Because she was Liz, she looked elegant even though she was barefaced and clearly ready for bed. Zack was still clad in his tuxedo slacks and shirt, his tie and jacket gone. He paced behind Liz as he held what looked like a file folder in his hands, reading in a silent, grim fury. Lara sat beside Liz while Gabe and Everly had taken up the desk in the corner. She clicked away on her laptop. Everyone was tense.

Something was wrong.

“The gang’s all here.” He kept his tone bland since not everyone was in the loop about the conspiracy around Zack. He nodded Lara and Liz’s way, noting Gus immediately sat down beside her friend. When he was close enough to be certain the women couldn’t hear him, he leaned toward Zack. “It looks like a party, not a family gathering. Should I get us some beers?”

Zack sighed. “I can’t leave Liz out of this now, and since I knew Gus was with you, I saw no reason not to bring her in, either.”

Roman wasn’t pleased. “And we couldn’t leave them out why?”

Zack held the folder up, his voice a harsh whisper. “This is the reason. Liz?”

“I found that folder laying on my bed. I guess my room was easier to get into.” The press secretary might look casually elegant, but her hands shook as she clutched them together in her lap. “The president and I had a long talk about tomorrow’s discussion with the prime minister and the press conference that will happen at the end of the week. Then I got ready for bed. When I came out of the shower, that folder was waiting.”

Zack closed the folder, his face icy and closed. “She brought it straight to me. I’ve got Connor trying to figure out how the bastard left the folder behind. Liz locked her door.”