Panic set on his features. “Don’t. Don’t do that!”

“Do what?”

“Write us off. Don’t run away when it gets tough.” He gripped my chin. “You fight your past problems. I’ll learn to control my anger. We fight back against my family. We ignore all the others. We get through this! Don’t you dare quit on me now, Shakespeare. Don’t you f**kin’ dare!”

“Rome—”

Dark eyes searched mine. “No! I won’t let you go. I know I’m all kinds ‘a wrong for you, but you’ve changed me. You’ve f**kin’ changed me! Can’t you see that?! You’re gonna face this with me. Say it! Please, baby, say it to me!”

I shook my head, ready to argue, and he shuffled forward until he held me captive with his tall, broad body. “Say you get me, Mol?”

“Rome, I—” I groaned.

A clenched fist hit the shelves behind, causing stacks of boxes to crash loudly to the floor. “You’re not runnin’. YOU GET ME???”

“YES! YES, I FUCKING GET YOU!” I screamed, pushing against his chest. Even through the hardness of his words, I could feel the fear pulsing from his body at the thought of losing me.

His hand gripped the back of my neck. “You’re still in?” he whispered, searching every part of my eyes.

I sighed and he hitched my leg over his hip, struggling to get even closer.

“I’m still in.”

Romeo’s pupils dilated and an excited flush spread on his rugged face. “Fuck, I want you so bad. You doing everythin’ I say makes me hard as f**k.”

I leaned forward and kissed the spot just below his ear. I drew back slowly and, taking his hand, lifted my dress and placed his hand square against my heat.

“Mol… Christ,” he groaned as his fingers slipped along my core. “You’re killin’ me.”

My tongue circled the shell of his ear. “I like it when you lead, when you assert your authority. It turns me on.”

“Fuck… I can tell, and I like that you submit. It…calms me. You’re what I need. Damn, you’re perfect for me. Beautiful, sexy as all hell with a body that makes painters weep.”

Rome’s fingers began their exploration and I lost all semblance of sanity. He wrapped his hand in my long hair and held me tightly as his fingers entered me, making it impossible for me to move. I hissed and his gaze grew darker.

“They’ll be no one else. For the first time ever, you’re givin’ me what I want, what I need. You give me full control, and I love it. You do too, don’t you? You f**kin’ love it…?”

That familiar devastating wave of want began to lap along my legs and my breathless pants filled every corner of the room.

I gripped onto his shoulders and answered, “Yes, I love it. I love it!”

His taunting smirk both turned me on and infuriated me, and his fingers pulsed at a mind-bending speed.

My hand reached down to his jeans and he roared, “Off! Let go. Now. This is not about me. You won’t touch me unless I say so.”

I did as dictated and when a third digit entered me, I threw my head back and screamed in release. My chest heaved with the sensation and I gripped Romeo’s hair, smashing his lips to mine, conveying my complete acceptance of who he was, who I was, what we were together.

The beat from the music on the dance floor thumped through the quiet of our little room; I could feel the drum and bass penetrate through Romeo’s chest against mine. Romeo pulled his hand from my panties and kissed me softly, slowly, and lovingly, a direct contradiction from only minutes before.

“Are we okay?” he whispered against my mouth, his eyes guarded, even scared.

I kissed his forehead and smiled, causing a brightness to light up his face. “I want you, Romeo. You give me something I didn’t even know I needed too.”

“Even though I’ve f**ked around for years? Made things even harder on you? That I come as damaged goods?”

I ran both hands up his arms. “I can’t pretend I’m okay with it, but if I’m yours and yours alone, then I’ll deal with it.”

“You are. I don’t even see other girls now, haven’t since our very first kiss.” It seemed as though it was almost painful for him to admit those words.

“Romeo?”

Fingertips stroked my face and he watched every move I made. “Mmm?”

“Are we wrong? Is how we need to find… pleasure completely f**ked up? You ordering me around like a staff sergeant and me giving in to your demands.”

He smiled darkly at my tormented worry. “I’m gonna say a resoundin’ yes.”

I nodded, slowly turning away. He pulled me back to his amused face. “Do you like it, Mol? Do you enjoy me bein’ in control?”

My eyes rolled back, scorching heat threatening to ignite at the mere thought. “Yes… every time.”

“Then we’re not wrong. In fact, there are no two better-suited people. We fill an emotional gap that we both have missin’.”

I breathed out a laugh. “Fateful star-crossed lovers?”

He smiled again. It was almost a full smile I’d never seen from him before, so careless and free. “I think we need to stop quotin’ that damn play, Shakespeare. I feel like we’re the f**ked-up rated-R version of Romeo and Juliet.”

I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter, Romeo joining in. I fixed my dress and took his hand. “Now, let’s go dance.”

“I’m crazy turned on as it is. You’re gonna make me blow by simply watchin’ you move. Your curves are dangerous, baby.”

I rubbed myself against his body, feeling the hard ridge in his jeans. “You’re nowhere nearly done with me tonight, Romeo. I want you thinking about that until we leave this club. But we came here to dance, and I wanna dance. Show all your past conquests that you’re now mine and they need to back the hell off from my man.”

I went to turn away when he jerked me back, lifting me off the floor, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Say that again,” he ordered sternly, playful Rome completely gone and dark Rome rearing his head.

“Say what?”

“What you just said.”

“That you’re mine?”

“Yes,” he rasped as he pushed himself up between my legs.