Hate to Crave You

by Bella Love-Wins

The conversation between them had gone from friendly to…something else entirely in practically the blink of an eye. She couldn’t even really put her finger on what had caused the change.

  Even something as simple as eating one of the breadsticks that had been served with her dinner seemed to be laden with a sexual charge that heated her flesh and shortened her breath.

  As she closed her lips around the crusty end of the bread, Roman’s lids drooped and a heavy breath escaped him. She noticed that he hadn’t eaten much of his meal and as she put down the breadstick, she gestured to his plate. After dabbing the crumbs from her mouth, she commented, “Don’t you like the fettuccine?”

  “I’m finding myself hungry for…something,” Roman said, his voice lower, rougher.

  The heat inside her threatened to explode, and she reached for her glass of wine, only to find it empty.

  “Let me.”

  She looked up as Roman reached for the bottle of wine—it was the second one they’d had opened and she was probably on her third or fourth glass now, but she didn’t think that was why her head was spinning. It had more to do with the way he was watching her, more to do with the heat pulsing inside her.

  She sipped her wine, lingering over the ripe, fruity taste before letting it slide down her throat.

  “I’m not all that hungry myself,” she said as she lowered the glass.

  “Is that a fact?”

  “Hmm. I think I’ll go use the ladies’ room.” She slid from her chair, pausing for a moment to make sure her legs would stay under her before she started to walk.

  “Get a hold of yourself,” she told her reflection.

  It didn’t matter that the man out there was beautiful and seemed to eat her up with his eyes.

  She didn’t know him.

  Their families were entwined in what could only be described as a bitter, ugly feud.

  Sure, that didn’t have to involve them—she didn’t even fully understand why her parents and his couldn’t stand each other. She personally had nothing against Roman and judging by the way tonight was going, if she’d met him anywhere outside of how they’d met, if he wasn’t a Montrose, she’d probably fall for this heated flirtation playing out between them.

  So why let your family stop you?

  She stared into the eyes of the woman in her reflection, trying to understand just that. It was a simple question. And yet…it wasn’t.

  Before she had time to come up with an answer, the door opened, admitting two women, both of them talking in excited, low whispers.

  She nodded at them as she stepped back from the sink.

  She needed to get back out there anyway.

  To her surprise, she found Roman lingering near the grotto that housed the restrooms.

  He caught her hand, and before she could so much as blink, he tugged her toward him. “I hope I don’t have to apologize for this,” he said in a low voice just before his mouth closed over hers.

  He licked at the entrance to her mouth, a questioning sort of caress and without hesitation, she opened for him with a moan.

  Roman reached up to cradle the back of her head with his hand and she found herself sagging into his embrace as the kiss deepened.

  This was a kiss.

  There was no mashing of his lips to hers, no awkward attempt to half strangle her with his tongue.

  No…he courted her with that kiss. His mouth was firm, but gentle on hers, and when he finally dipped his tongue inside, she tasted wine on him. It made her crazy for more and she arched against him, curling one arm around his neck.

  A shudder went through him.

  Her nipples tightened inside the silk of her bra and as music twined through the air, she found herself wanting to twine herself completely around him.

  He was the one who broke the kiss, tearing his mouth from hers, but not breaking away. He stood there with his head pressed to hers, breath coming hard. “I want you,” he said in a low, seductive voice. “I wanted you the second I saw you in that boardroom. Say you’ll come home with me.”

  Julianna knew there were a hundred reasons why she shouldn’t and only one of them had to do with the fact that she barely knew him.

  But as she pulled back to peer into his pale, lovely eyes, none of those reasons really seemed to matter.

  What mattered was the fact that this man wanted her.

  And she wanted him.

  Reaching up, she laid a hand on his cheek, peering into his eyes as she studied him.

  “I’ll come home with you,” she whispered.

  5

  Roman

  Fuck, it’s like her mouth was made for seduction and everything sinful, Roman thought.

  Inside his condo, they stood beside the floor to ceiling windows that featured an expansive view of the New York City skyline and he had one hand fisted in her hair as he explored and tasted her mouth the way he’d wanted to do from the second he’d seen her earlier that day.

  Julianna arched against him, her slim body warm and strong, her breasts a sweet weight against his chest. Sliding a hand up her side, he cupped one of her breasts in his palm and plumped it up, wondering what she was going to look like once he peeled all of her clothes away.

  A goddess, he decided. She’d look like a goddess. He reached for the zipper at the nape of her neck and she shivered a little as he began to drag it down.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  “No,” she said on a shaky breath. “Something else entirely.”

  The look in her eyes sent a blast of heat punching through him, one that settled in the vicinity of his cock and balls. As blood drained down lower, he pressed his lips to her ear. “And just what is it you’re feeling if you’re not cold, Julianna?”

  She turned her mouth to his as she covered the palm he had on her breast. She squeezed lightly. “Why don’t you tell me?”

  He laughed and caught her mouth in another deep, drugging kiss.

  She absolutely was a drug. One Roman thought he could maybe let himself get addicted to, if only it were possible.

  The zipper rasped loudly as he dragged it the rest of the way down and he pulled back, staring down as the dress sagged around her shoulders. She slid him a look from under her lashes and pressed a hand to her chest, holding the dress in place.

  Please, fuck, don’t let her get shy now.

  Holding her gaze, he reached up, resting his hands on the shoulders of the dress. Her hand fell away as he exerted light pressure and Roman eased the dress down.

  A chocolate colored silk bra was revealed, her skin gleaming like a pearl against the material.

  He wanted to bury his face in the valley between her breasts and see if the scent he caught from her emanated from there.

  But he kept on pushing the material down.

  It caught on the faint swell of her hips and he gave it another nudge until it went sweeping down to her feet.

  Her panties matched the bra.

  With thin bits of silk that rode high on her hips, the material swathed her lovingly and he wanted to grab those narrow strings and tear them, get her naked so he could feast on her with his eyes, then with his mouth. It was a heady thought, but he kept his pace slow.

  He didn’t want to rush this.

  She stepped out of the puddle of material the dress had formed around her feet.

  Catching her waist, he drew her back against him. “I knew you’d look this beautiful,” he murmured, bending his head to kiss the curve where neck joined shoulder.

  A soft sigh escaped her, followed by a shiver as he trailed his fingers up her back.

  “I want you naked now,” he said, catching the clasp of her bra.

  “I’m already almost there.” She gave him a mock pout and said, “You haven’t even taken off your shirt.”

  “Maybe you should take care of that, then.”

  She bit her lower lip and he felt a pulse in his cock—he wanted to feel her doing that to him, then have her lave her tongue all over his shaft before t
aking him in her mouth and going down on him.

  There were a million dirty, wicked things he wanted to see her do, that he wanted to do to her.

  And so many of them centered on that mouth.

  She let her lip go and he reached up, pressing his thumb to that ripe, plump curve. “Every time you do something like that, I think about having you do the same thing to my cock.”

  She sucked in a breath.

  “Does that surprise you?” He moved in closer and pressed his lips to her ear. “Or are you a little repulsed? Do you not like hearing me say I want to see my cock in your mouth?”

  “Oh, repulsed isn’t what I’m feeling,” she whispered. “Not at all.”

  She nudged him back and reached for the buttons on his shirt. He’d taken his suit jacket off when they’d come inside, but he almost wished he hadn’t because the pleasure of being undressed by Julianna Castle was a unique and singular one. Once she had his shirt off, she didn’t just drop it to the floor. She folded it and he had the very enjoyable honor of watching her turn and walk over to put it on the couch, bending just slightly in those fucking sexy panties and a pair of fuck-me heels.

  When she came back to him, she reached for his belt buckle, but he stopped her, catching her hands. “It’s my turn now.”

  She cocked her head and the shiny, brown sweep of her hair fell over one shoulder. “I’m still wearing a lot less than you.”

  “Not my fault you wore a sexy little black dress and I was in a suit.” He pulled her up against him, felt her breasts go flat against his chest as he freed the clasp of her bra. “I want you naked.”

  The bra fell away and he lowered his gaze to stare at her.

  She didn’t lift her arms and pretend any false modesty. Instead she lifted her arms and curled them around his neck, tugging on his head. He followed her cue and kissed her, using his hands to plump her breasts together, tugging on her nipples and loving every shiver, every sigh.

  Julianna arched against him, her hands leaving his neck to grip his hips and tug demandingly.

  Lifting his head, he stared into eyes gone bright with lust. “In a hurry?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t call it a hurry.” She wiggled against him.

  A million circuits in his brain exploded and he sucked in a breath as she reached between them and palmed his cock. “Fuck, Julianna,” he muttered.

  “That’s the idea.” She gave him a sloe-eyed look of want.

  He bit back a snort of laughter and fought impulse to do just that—fuck her, hard and rough and once she was limp with exhaustion, he’d do it all over again, but slower.

  Except he didn’t want a quick hard fuck with her.

  He wanted to know what made her moan, what made her sigh.

  Like when he trailed his fingers up her spine, she shivered.

  Turning her around, he had her face the windows. The glass was privacy treated so even if somebody were to look, they’d never see anything. However, they could see out and the sense that somebody might see was a titillating one. “Slow down a little, Julianna,” he said. “Enjoy…”

  He cupped her breasts and a hitched sigh escaped her throat.

  She slid her hands back, clasping his hips and he couldn’t stop the involuntarily roll that had his cock pumping against her ass.

  It made her shudder and he reached down, pressing one hand flat against her belly to hold her still as he did it again and again.

  Sweat broke out on his forehead and he thought briefly, he could have come right there, just riding her sweet ass like that.

  But that wasn’t how he wanted the night to go.

  “Come to bed with me,” he murmured in her ear.

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  She’d slid onto the bed while he ducked into his bathroom to grab a box of rubbers.

  When he came out, he almost stumbled because the sight of her spread out on his bed with the comforter of white and a mound of pillows under her upper body was just about the sexiest fucking thing he’d ever seen in his life.

  He tossed the box of condoms onto the foot of the bed and braced one knee by her ankle, drawing her leg out flat. He climbed up her body then, pressing kisses to her knee, her inner thigh, the soft circle of her navel, then, finally, he buried his face in the valley of her breasts. The scent of her body was indeed stronger there and he groaned as he sucked in a deep breath, filling his head with it.

  “I could eat you up,” he muttered.

  “I won’t stop you.”

  Flicking a look up at her, he saw anticipation in her eyes, along with a nervous excitement.

  Roman had never been one to disappoint the ladies.

  Pressing his lips to her breastbone, he kissed his way back down her body, stopping once he was at her feet. “This is where every man belongs when he’s with a woman like you. On his knees, worshipping her.”

  “Are you worshipping me?” Julianna asked, a faint smile curling her lips.

  “Fuck, yes.” He let his eyes trail over the swells of her breasts and hips, the dip of her waist, the chocolate silk of her panties that still shielded her pussy from him. Reaching for the narrow strips at her hips, he caught them and began to drag them down. “Let me show just how much I want to worship you.”

  She moaned when he pressed a kiss to her core.

  Roman almost did the same, catching the faintest hint of her taste as he pushed her thighs apart and stretched out between them. She was sweet and wet, her flesh hot. And when he flicked his tongue at her clit, she jerked against him, letting him know she was already hovering on the edge.

  He was going to keep her there.

  That was just what he did, too. Using tongue and teeth, he worked her closer and closer, and as soon as he sensed she was almost there, he backed off, changed rhythm or simply kissed the crease of her thigh.

  He kept that up until she was pulling at his hair and fisting her hands in it, lifting herself to his mouth and begging him.

  That was where he wanted her, Julianna with his name a ragged cry on her lips.

  She moaned when he backed away a third time, but this time, he went to his knees and reached for his belt.

  At the rasp of his zipper, Julianna’s eyes opened and she stared up at him. “You’re a tease,” she said in a full, throaty whisper.

  “You taste like a goddess. I don’t want it ending too soon,” he told her, freeing himself from the confines of his pants. The sight of her eyes widening had his cock jerking in response as he reached for the box of condoms.

  They kept their eyes on each other as he dealt with the task of ripping one of the foil packets off, then open. When he went to put it on, though, Julianna’s eyes dropped. “Like what you see?”

  “Oh…more than,” she said, her voice a little weak. Her gaze came back to his. “I’ll like it more when I’m doing a little more than seeing.”

  The bluntness of the statement had his prick stiffening to the point of pain and he drew the rubber on, then covered her body with his. “I wanted you the second I saw you today,” he said, his voice gruff as he rubbed his mouth over hers.

  “Me, too,” she said weakly.

  “You didn’t show it. You were like an ice princess, hardly even looking at me.” He rubbed his cock over her slit, not quite entering her, but letting her feel him.

  She shivered and arched up. “Roman…”

  He laughed at the shaky plea in her voice, then reached down and held himself steady, adjusting his angle. “Take me in, Julianna,” he said demandingly, covering her mouth with his.

  She moaned and did just that, tilting her hips up as he started to fill her.

  It was a sweet, sweet possession and the urge to drive himself into her faded as another broken moan shimmered out of her. She was tight and hot around him and he found himself wanting to feel her without the damn rubber, to have her muscles milking him without any barrier.

  Crazy, he thought. It was crazy.

  But he wanted it anyway.
r />   She clenched around him with a moan and under that exquisite sensation, thought ceased and he began to move, thrusting deep into the wet heat of her.

  Her head fell back, exposing the long, elegant arch of her neck and he ran his lips up, then down it.

  She shivered and he added his teeth to the caress, smiling inwardly as the shivering increased. She was so responsive and he loved it.

  Julianna dipped her hands into his hair, tugging his mouth back to hers and he went, more than willingly.

  As he slid his tongue into her mouth, she bit him lightly, then sucked, drawing a ragged groan out of him.

  He began to move harder, faster, one hand braced by her head.

  The rhythm of her body was raw and wild, urging him on. Not that he really needed any urging. He could feel her climax bearing down on her, her body going taut against him, her nipples stabbing into his chest.

  Sweet…it was all so fucking sweet.

  She exploded under him with a cry, one he swallowed down hungrily. Then, and only then, did he give up the reins of his control and follow her.

  She’d been sleeping quietly for almost an hour when his phone vibrated, signaling an incoming text.

  Without bothering to put on any clothes, he slid from the bed and padded into the other room to read it.

  He smiled as he read the text and moved to the door.

  The man on the other side didn’t so much as twitch an eyelash at the sight of Roman standing there naked. He simply handed over a padded yellow mailer, then turned on his heel.

  He didn’t ask about money.

  That would be unprofessional.

  He knew Roman’s company would wire the funds in the morning.

  Roman said nothing to him.

  There was no point.

  He just shut the door and slid the padded mailer open, peeking inside.

  It was rather small and unimpressive, he had to say.

  With a shrug, he walked over and picked up Julianna’s purse from where she’d left it on the floor. After a quick glance toward his room to make sure she hadn’t slid out after him, he pushed the envelope inside.

  Guilt tugged at him, stirring unpleasantly inside him as he lowered the purse back to the floor. He moved back to the doorway of his bedroom and stared inside. He could remember the girl she’d been—he hadn’t ever forgotten her and had often wondered about her.