With the feel of his hands on my waist, I close my eyes and lean back against his warm chest. “Belle,” he whispers in my ear, his voice heavy with regret, “I’d do anything for you. I’ll even quit the damn band if that’s what it takes for you to understand how much I fucking love you. I would’ve protected you from him. You must’ve known that.”
“I knew if I didn’t walk away, your father would keep making your life miserable. And I think a part of me always knew you’d be better off without me dragging you down. Our lives were so different—they still are.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong.” Then he’s spinning me around to tenderly stroke the wound his father gave me. His eyes burn with unshed tears when he whispers, “The only time I’ve ever been happy is when you’re in my life. I love you so damn much, baby. I’m so sorry he tried to break you.”
“He tried to break us both.”
“This time I can promise you with absolute certainty that he won’t ever come between us again.” Taking my face in his hands, a chilling darkness spreads through his gaze. “He’s dead, Belle. Last night, before the concert, I went to visit him at his hotel. He was drunk and tried to attack me. He hit his head…I watched him bleed to death on the floor.”
A sharp gasp falls from my lips and a tingling sensation rises in my stomach.
He’s really dead?
And I wasn’t there when Roman needed me.
Just like the time his father almost killed him.
But his father won’t ever threaten us again.
“Oh my god,” I whisper with heat rising behind my eyelids. “Roman…”
But what else can I say? I’m not sorry he’s dead, and I know damn well Roman isn’t either.
“I didn’t call the cops at first,” he continues. “I just left his room and returned to the stadium. I was so fucking numb. But when I started singing, you weren’t there and I couldn’t get a handle on my damn stutter. So I walked out, had Luke take me directly to the police station. They weren’t exactly excited about me leaving the state.” Eyes flipping back and forth between mine, his thumbs stroke my face as a sad smile tugs his lips upward. “But I told them there wasn’t anything that could stop me from coming back to find you.”
With a hiccuping cry I seal my lips over his, clutching his hair in my hands and tasting him like it’s for the very first time. He grips my hair and deepens the kiss even more while lowering me to the couch.
The sorrow in the pit of my stomach becomes something more primal, more urgent.
“I love you more than I ever thought was possible,” I rasp out. “I’m so sorry I left you again.” A sob rips from my throat as I clutch him tightly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, baby.”
We undress each other with deft fingers, each moment that passes becoming more intense. His fingers stroke over my tingling heat as he stares down on me, his beautiful eyes shining like the most brilliant stars in the sky. “You’ll always be mine, Belle. Nothing will ever change that.”
And as he enters me, slow but firm, and kisses me with eager, hot strokes of his warm tongue, I know deep down in my heart that Roman Stone will always be mine. Even after years of anguish and heartache, we survived his father’s cruelty. We’ll survive anything else that tries to get in our way of a happy ending.
Epilogue
ROMAN
Bottom lip caught between her teeth, Belle slowly approaches the gift I had delivered while she was out with Mel and Nicki earlier. The sight of her naked curves silhouetted by the moonlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling window spikes an intense heat through my groin, ripping a quiet growl from my throat. I’m pretty fucking sure that even if she didn’t have a killer body and perfect tits, I’d feel the same incurable draw to the woman who will always hold my heart in her hands. Through our struggles and hardships we’ve always had each other, creating a connection that I’m guessing will be tested time after time, but never broken.
Though we just finished having sex in the kitchen less than fifteen minutes ago, my fingers itch to throw her down on the hardwood floor of our new apartment and make her body sing for me.
But not yet. I have one more surprise planned.
During the remainder of the tour, two label executives flew in a month apart to offer Belle impressive deals that would make her a star. But one offered a multi-album deal that would allow her very little flexibility, and the other rubbed her the wrong way as the guy seemed more interested in making money on what’s trending versus the kind of music she wants to make. So she turned them both down, and I couldn’t be more fucking proud of my girl.