Chapter 10

Roman hauled her up against his body, refusing to allow her the room that she craved. He took her jaw in his big hand, caressing her chin with his long fingers and held her face up to his. He pierced her with his dark, almost black eyes and forced her to read the truth within. He tilted her face just a little and touched the edge of her mouth with his hard lips before tracing a line up her cheek toward her ear. She shivered as his tongue darted into the delicate shell of her ear before tracing the lobe.

He pulled back slightly and spoke in a hard voice, "Yes."

Katie's stomach plunged and she went limp in Roman's arms as she remembered the pool of blood in Colin's apartment. The blood that had belonged to her ex-husband. The blood that had been spilled by the hands that were now holding her. She blinked as tears pricked the corners of her eyes and blackness started to edge in on her vision. Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession as she gasped for breath.

"Don't you fucking dare grieve for him," Roman snarled, shaking her hard.

Katie's head snapped like a rag doll's causing the yacht and the ocean to spin around her. Roman lifted her as though she weighed nothing, turned her so she was facing him and forced her to straddle his lap. He snaked an arm up her back and held her by the back of the neck, forcing her head up to his. He used his other arm to wrap around her waist and anchor her against his incredibly hard body. She whimpered and squirmed against him.

"You will not mourn for the man that blackmailed you. Turned you into a ghost. I did the world a fucking favour, Katie. Do you hear me?" he snarled in her face.

She knew what he was doing. In his own way, he was begging her to tell him he hadn't fucked up and killed someone she loved. Roman couldn't handle all the twisted emotions that came with love. Because he hadn't ever been loved. Katie's family had always been close.

When Dexter was still alive he'd told them about his best friend. Roman had spent the first twelve years of his life in Juarez, Mexico. The son of a sex slave and a big-time drug cartel guy. Though his upbringing was anything but loving, it had been filled with wealth and privilege, with the expectation that he'd take over the family business. A competing faction had taken out Roman's entire family. Roman had escaped with a few low-level drug dealers to the States and joined the gang where he'd met Dexter.

She nodded her head against his, fighting the tears. "I hear you," she whispered. She felt some of the tension leave him.

She wasn't going to cry for Colin. He was a weasel. A disgusting bastard that deserved whatever he got. She cried for Roman. For the beautiful, fucked up, lost soul of a man that deserved so much better than her. He'd taken her penance. He'd blackened his soul just a little bit more for a woman that didn't deserve his adoration.

She felt his body tense up once more, felt his chest expand as he prepared to ask her the question she knew she wouldn't be able to answer. He took her by the neck and pulled her head away from his so he could see her blue eyes when he spoke.

"What did he have on you that kept you going back every month? Why would the fucking FBI get involved, Katie?"

Her knees tightened involuntarily on either side of his legs. Heat flared in his eyes. She held onto that look. Knowing it was about to turn ice cold. She clenched her fingers against his arms, preparing for his reaction.

"I can't tell you," she whispered.

As she predicted, any warmth in his eyes turned immediately to ice. His hands dug into her soft skin until she knew there would bruises. She didn't think he even realized what he was doing. He yanked her forward on his lap, slamming her chest against his. She brought her hands up to put some distance between them, but he pulled her arms around her back and held them in one hand. He gripped her jaw with the other.

"Won't," he growled.

Her breasts lifted and fell quickly with her gasping breaths. She was completely trapped against him, her legs spread across his on the bench. Though she was terrified, she knew her pussy was wetting the bikini bottom she'd pulled on earlier. She desperately hoped he couldn't feel the wetness soaking through the denim of his jeans.

She licked her lips and forced herself to focus on the man who was threatening her well-being in a very elemental way. She needed to put sexy thoughts away for the moment. "Either way, I'm not telling you, Roman."

She cried out in actual terror at the look that crossed his face. It was a look she'd never seen before on Roman's face. It looked like instant death. She imagined it was similar to what Colin, and many others, had experienced right before lights out. Katie began struggling in earnest, trying to pull her arms away from Roman's grip and twisting frantically on his lap. She knew right away that she'd done the wrong thing. That she was inflaming the big man past the point of reason.

He stood abruptly, his hand circling her neck. He shook her and then pulled her into the heat of his body. She felt his cock hard against her stomach. His voice was harsh as he spoke, his accent much thicker than usual. "Refuse to give me anything, Katie, then I am forced to make assumptions. I will treat you like the puta you act. Since I took care of your problem, you can make payments to me instead. Go downstairs and spread those legs, I'll show you what a real cock looks like."