Divided (Unguarded #2) - Ivy Stone Page 0,16
dangerously low on his hips, button and zipper still undone. He runs both hands through his dark blond hair, murmuring something I can’t quite hear.
“Roamyn, please stop for a second. Will you look at me?”
His head shoots up and his eyes pierce me with pent up anger. “Look at you? I’ve been looking at you for weeks. I’ve seen way more of you than I fucking should have. Damn it, Ali. What the fuck?”
He begins pacing the room with one hand rubbing the back of his neck, and looks back and forth at me, taking me in from head to toe as if he isn’t sure it’s actually me.
I put my hands up in surrender. “I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you before now.”
Roamyn stops and faces me, the skin around his eyes bunching. “Why didn’t you?”
A lump forms in my throat. I crawl to the edge of the bed and slide off the sheets, coming to stand in front of him. His breathing is so fast and harsh the v lines in his stomach draw me in with their movement, and any decision left in me is made by the time I reach his scowl. He’s fighting it. The lust. The desire. It’s there—I’m sure of it—locked behind preconceived notions of right and wrong and his guarded heart.
I push up on my toes and curl my hands around his face.
“Because if I’d told you, you wouldn’t let me do this.”
My mouth slightly parts and I press my lips to his before he can protest. His moan fills the air as our tongues explore. He squeezes my shoulders and breaks our kiss.
“Ali, stop. We shouldn’t be doing this. You’re too young.” He sighs, leaning his forehead against mine.
Our breathing labored, bodies so close. The spark between us, flaring through me—it’s magnetic. How can he not feel it too?
Coldness wraps around my bare shoulders as Roamyn turns away from me with his hands on his hips.
Rejection.
It chips away at the remaining pieces of my heart. Tears build behind my eyelids and I drop my chin, hiding my face behind my hair.
My limbs feel heavy and when I stand back up, Roamyn flips back around. “How are you working at that strip club? You might look twenty-one in your get up,” he gestures the length of me, “but you sure as hell aren’t. I know that much.”
“I don’t work there by choice,” I mutter.
“What did you say?” Roamyn all but growls out each word.
“Nothing.” I shrug, staring down at my feet.
Warmth circles around my wrist.
“Ali, you better start talking or I’m gonna start guessing, and where that shit’s headed is nowhere fucking good.”
Roamyn’s round worried eyes weaken me down as he rubs his thumb against the inside of my wrist. Ten minutes ago his eyes were dazed over with pleasure. Now all he must see is the broken girl who let out all of her worries on a complete stranger. A girl I no longer am. Now I’m the girl I never wanted to become.
Lonely. Pathetic. Weak.
Fire heats in my veins and I pull my hand away from his grip. “Why? I’m pretty sure that’s not what you invited me back here for.”
His eyes harden to steel. A tremor rolls through me and I take a step back without thinking. I’ve seen the look in his eyes before. Just not from him.
“Why?” he yells and I flinch. “Because for four fucking years, you’ve been in my head and never far from my thoughts. I searched for you, Ali. I never stopped searching.”
I shake my head as tears begin to build. “I didn’t know.”
My arms wrap around my body, the instinct to protect myself kicking in.
“Hey.” Roam pulls me into him, my softness against his hard muscled torso. But I can’t enjoy it. The ferocity in his voice still echoes in my ears, blocking out everything else.
“Look at me. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that.” His fingers tip my chin up so I have to look at him.
He twirls a piece of my hair in his fingers, never letting me go. “You couldn’t have known I was looking when it was impossible to actually find you. But I guess I wasn’t searching in the right places. And apparently, not for the right colored hair.”
His words sink in. The right places. He means with the Marino family. Flashes of what happened when I went back to find Roamyn flip to the forefront of my mind.
My stomach ties up in painful