Chapter 19

"When did you find out that Dexter was gay?" Katie asked Roman softly.

She was laying on the bed, curled in his arms, perfectly at ease with Roman Valdez for the first time in her life. After their explosively passionate encounter up on the deck, he carried her down to their stateroom. He tenderly examined the belt wounds he had inflicted, though she assured him they didn't hurt, and then rinsed them both off in the shower. After drying, he tucked her into the large bed, brought her a glass of ice water, then crawled naked into the bed and pulled her against his chest where he held her willingly captive.

His arms tightened around her. She was half afraid the big tough guy would refuse to answer her question. The only other person that had acknowledged Dexter's sexuality was her other brother, Wendell, and they'd only ever discussed it after Dexter's death. Dexter never came out. He wasn't given the chance.

"Guess I always knew." Roman's voice rumbled against her head.

His answer surprised her. Dexter had been a sweet guy, but was not particularly open and trusting except with the people he was closest to. How had Roman figured out that Dexter was gay when they inhabited such brutal circles where he would have been murdered by their own people if someone had found out? Gangs were not forgiving about such things.

"Is that why you went out of your way to protect him?" she whispered.

He laughed harshly. "I'm not that guy, Katie. Never was," Roman said linking his fingers with hers on the quilt and lifting their hands together. He traced his thumb over the blue veins on the back of her hand. "Liked your brother. Didn't care where he got his rocks off. He didn't care about me either so long as I didn't touch little sister until she grew up."

Katie smiled a little and tried to picture that conversation. All three Pullman children had taken after their pale blond mother. While Wendell was short and stocky like their father, both Katie and Dexter were tall and willowy. The combination looked good on Katie. On Dexter it had looked a little ungainly, but also endearing. When he was annoyed, happy, embarrassed or anything really, his face tended to turn tomato red and the entire room would know what he was thinking. She could just picture him telling Roman, who was twice his size, to stay away from his little sister until she was mature enough to handle a relationship. The thought sparked tears in her eyes.

"Well no matter what your motives were," she said huskily, "thank you for watching out for my brother. He deserved a friend like you."

He rolled her until she was laying underneath him. He cupped her face, sliding his fingers into her hair and holding her still. Her chest ached at the look he gave her. She tried hard to stay in the moment, but her mind kept drifting to the contents of the safe. She wished desperately they could live in their own world, just the two of them, wrapped up in themselves with no interference and no other commitments.

"I don't deserve nothing, hermosa, but I'll take everything from you," he growled, deliberately sounding street. He tapped his fingers against the side of her head. "I know you think of running. I can see your brain thinking, thinking. You make plans to" he made a sound of air escaping with his teeth and lips, "go from me. I won't allow this, Katerina. You are out here on this yacht, on the open ocean. You can't go anywhere. We stay here until I am convinced that you will never leave me."

Her heart skipped a beat and her entire focus returned to him as he lifted himself and tugged the quilt from her body. She gasped as he pressed his naked body along hers, careful to keep his weight from crushing her. Though his words sounded threatening, she also heard the desperation and romance as well.

She wrapped her arms around his huge shoulders and tugged until he was completely settled against her. She wanted to feel him crush her. Her belly fluttered in response when she felt his already hard cock press against her leg. Her pussy ached deliciously where he'd plowed into her earlier. She pressed her lips against the side of his neck and trailed her tongue up to his ear. Whispering, she said, "Then I'll just have to convince you to take me to dry land, won't I?"

He turned his head quickly, capturing her lips in a quick, hard kiss before pulling back to growl, "Don't know how you're going to manage that, mujer. Already know you're a sneaky little bitch."

She laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. Then she opened her long legs wide and wrapped them around his waist as far as they would go. She moaned in his ear at the feeling of his huge cock rubbing deliciously against her already wet core. Biting her lip, she arched her head back against the pillows and squirmed in his arms, using his body to build friction against hers.

She gripped his broad, tattooed shoulders tighter, widened her legs and climbed a little higher. In this position, she was able to gyrate against him and rub her clitoris against the hair of his muscular belly where it pressed delightfully against her.

"Sex!" she exclaimed breathlessly.

"What the fuck?" he demanded, confused, having lost the thread of their conversation while watching the sexiest woman alive use him to get herself off. The look on his face was somewhere between awe and shell-shock. She wanted to bottle it up and keep it forever.

"Going to use sex to convince you that I want to stay forever!" she said the last word on a scream as she exploded in his arms, arching backwards. Her knees jerked inward, pressing hard against his waist for a few seconds while she rode the waves of her self-induced orgasm.

Her legs loosened at the same time as her eyes opened to find his staring down at her. His expression was fierce, but unreadable. She could feel his cock, hard and hot, pressed against her ass cheek. He pressed his thumb against her mouth until she opened for him. He held her tongue and leaned in to speak.

"Don't believe your words, Katie," he said gravely. He dropped his other hand down her body and shoved two fingers up into her pussy, so far inside her body she was sure he damn near touched her cervix. Pleasure and pain sizzled through her body, merging in her brain and short-circuiting everything until she couldn't have managed a single thought if she wanted to. She brought her legs up alongside his to ease the pressure, but her actions forced his fingers deeper. She arched her back and neck, choking on the thumb in her mouth.

He dropped his head to her neck and bit down on the tendon that was straining as she tried to ease some of the pressure building up inside her. She whimpered.

"I believe this body, baby," he growled against her skin, licking the spot that he'd just bitten. "It'll always tell me the truth."

He pulled his fingers from her body, releasing the tension from within her. A tiny explosion detonated throughout her body. A mini orgasm just from the removal of his fingers. She didn't really know what was happening to her, she just knew it felt amazing. She moaned as her body collapsed onto the bed. He didn't let her enjoy it for long.

He rolled her over onto her stomach and then forced her up onto her hands and knees. He kneed her legs apart on the bed and growled in appreciation as her glistening folds parted in front of his hungry gaze. He pressed his fingers back into her body, pumping them a few times. She moaned and arched her back, looking over her shoulder so she could watch every expression that crossed his dark face as he played with her. She loved that he couldn't hide behind his normally stoic expression when he was with her this way.

She was surprised at how quick she got over her shyness about her scars with Roman. Even with Colin, who she knew for years, she hated getting naked in front of him. Before the nightmarish year after their divorce, she'd always insisted on having the lights off for sex. After the divorce, he wanted them on. Colin rarely mentioned the tiny white lines, but when he did, it was never nice. He made her feel like a freak.

Roman scissored his fingers in her body, making her instantly forget about the scars. He pulled his fingers from her body and quickly moved them up to her puckered ass. She moaned in protest and automatically jumped forward in a bid to slide out of his grip. She panted and watched him helplessly. His dark eyes watched her every expression as he relentlessly used her own juices to slide one massive finger past the tight anal barrier.

"Roman!" His name was torn from her throat, half protest and half plea. She didn't know what she was begging for.