Teaching Roman by Gennifer Albin Page B

and shook his head. “I need to see you. All of you.”
    I didn’t protest as he carried me out of the water. Although I was seriously impressed that he did so without breaking contact . He only did so when he laid me on the beach. The tide rushed around us, but the water was warm and the sand was wet—and so was I. Roman knelt beside me, running his hand along my thigh. “Mi bella, you are so perfect.” His index finger traced along the curve of my hip, up my navel, and came to rest between my breasts. “I’m pretty sure that I’m living every adolescent fantasy I ever had as a teenager.”
    I spread my legs wider and blew him a kiss. “Make Past-Roman proud.”
    He grinned as he dropped his mouth to my belly button. His tongue started along the path his finger had recently drawn, but in reverse. And in that moment, I was certain there was a god and heaven, because as he pressed his lips between my legs, stroking tenderly but powerfully across me with his tongue, I’d gone there. There was nothing to grab hold of on the beach, so my hands found his hair. I caught it in my fingers and held on as he continued his oral onslaught. My hips bucked against his mouth as he plunged inside me. I hoped someday he wrote a song about this, because it was worthy of musical immortality.
    My muscles tightened, pleasure pooling in my core, and then it burst into a million pieces that rolled through me. Tugging him up by his hair, I wove my body around his. Roman cradled me as the final tremors quivered through me. Our eyes met and without a word, he guided himself against me, pushing inside with one quick thrust. It was almost too much, too soon. But I didn’t stop him. Despite the toe-curling orgasm he’d just given me, I needed more. More contact. More connection.
    Roman rocked into me. He took his time, encouraging my body with slow, deep strokes until I felt myself swelling in anticipation once more. My eyes clenched shut and I bit into my lip.
    “Jessica.” His tone coaxed me to look up at him. “There’s something I need to say. Something I’ll regret.”
    But I already knew. Hooking my arm about his neck, I pulled him swiftly to my lips, stopping him before he could say it. Our bodies pressed together, working in rhythm. Skin against skin. Mouth on mouth. Heart to heart. His arms tightened around me as the first ripples trembled through my body, and then there was only Roman. His taste on my mouth, his skin on my own–we were one, body and soul in a memory that could fill a lifetime.
    And I hoped it would.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
    C ompared to the villa, my apartment felt small, but cozy, upon my return. Cassie was occupying our couch until the dorms opened up, and she insisted on having a best friends Christmas even though a week had passed since the blessed event. Everything was in its proper place, even Jillian, who had just returned from Christmas at home with her parents and Liam. But even though life was full here, my heart hurt. If Roman had been right—if I’d been the missing piece in his life—now he was the missing piece in mine, and I had no hope of filling the void of his absence.
    Jillian flew into my bedroom so quickly that I could almost picture her bags still in the doorway to the apartment.
    “Merry Christmas! I know how you love books,” she said with a wink. “I bet you didn’t do anything but read.”
    I shook my head, trying to bite back a smile and failing as I read the title: How to Survive After Being Robbed.
    “Where on earth did you find this?” I asked, thumbing through the pages.
    Jills plopped onto my bed. “Online. You can find a book on anything thanks to the digital revolution.”
    “Thanks.” I added the book to my bedside stack. “I’ll be sure to read it if I show symptoms of PTSD.”
    “It’s not fun when you go all Doctor Jess on me,” she said.
    “Speaking of, how are you?” I asked, sitting beside her. “Meds? Liam? Tara?”
    “Promising. More promising. And