Taking a step forward, he reached his arms around her torso and grabbed her hips with slightly shaking hands, lifting her to him. Pressing his chest to hers. Her upper body strained against him as she hoisted her body upward, just enough for him to slide into her waiting center.

Her heated slickness clenched around him, their bodies setting a frenzied pace his mind could barely handle. Powerful legs twisted around his middle, pulling and pushing him. He crushed his arms around her tightly, holding her lean body as he thrust hard and wild, his confidence growing as their gazes linked like lasers through the shower’s steam.

Fiery sensation poured through his every fiber, igniting every inch of his flesh, boiling his blood. Her aggressiveness chased away any hesitance he had left. Rome wanted this flawless moment to last forever, but craved the climax she was drawing from him, wanting to share it with her.

Rome watched the green of her eyes brighten and spark. Could feel her searing center tighten around him, seizing his hardness as she neared her own release.

And as she gave him a radiant grin, his heart split into countless pieces, filling his entire being with an honest passion he wanted to give to Harper.

He loved her.

Against all rational thought, he loved her. He knew he shouldn’t. Their lives had just intertwined for this one blip of time. What would they do once this whole thing was all over? When she was over? He had no business falling in love with her.

But he loved her. And he realized in an alarming yet certain instant that he wanted this one blip to last for eternity. He had to find a way to make it so.

Her low moan reached through his thoughts, grabbing his attention. He watched Harper throw her head back and gasp, locking her thighs tightly around him, wringing from him everything he could give her.

Fiery sparks exploded inside of him, splintering through every muscle, shaking his vision. Riding out the powerful climax, he continued to thrust, savoring the feel of Harper’s undulating body against his until her urging relaxed and his breathing slowed.

Lifting her to stand once more, he relished the lazy, fulfilled look in her eyes and wanted to freeze it in his memory. Savor the knowledge that he put it there.

With a languid movement of his own, he placed one hand on her hip while the other reached around to turn off the warm water. She rested her hands on his wet shoulders, met his gaze with a charming smile that grabbed the hovering pieces of his heart, claiming them for her alone.

“I love you, Harper.” Rome couldn’t stop the words that poured from his soul.

He hadn’t wanted to get close to her, to fall in love with her, because he knew she was going to die. Because regardless of the serum’s healing power, it would kill her. And because he knew she didn’t trust him. A distance had been between them ever since he’d turned her in. Yet his heart had somehow closed that distance in spite of everything.

Her smile twitched and she blinked, obviously stunned by his open admission. He didn’t regret the words, but he second-guessed voicing them right now. He knew she wasn’t ready to hear them. And maybe he’d jumped the gun.

But after the still moment, her grin widened.

“I know you do,” Harper responded, and leaned in for a deep kiss, stealing his breath away.

She ended it just as quickly and twisted to open the shower door, taking his hand in her steady grip.

Apparently that was all she had to say. But it would be enough for now. He watched her reach for a towel, and then willingly went with her as she dragged him along to the big, comfy bed.

Then again, maybe it was more than enough.

Rome loved her.

He said he loved her. Harper had no idea how to react. No man had ever said that to her. Certainly not a man like Rome. A man she imagined she could love as well-a dangerous thought. That, even more than his words, had shaken her something fierce.

So, instead of making a fool of herself with some kind of hasty response, she’d taken his hand and led him out of the shower and they’d dried each other on the way to the foot of the bed. The superfluffy and cozy-looking bed. The kind of bed that made you want to make love to a man like Rome while on it.

Rome’s confusing yet adorable hesitance she’d sensed in the shower was all but gone as he tugged on her hand and pulled her against his strong body, already stiff again with desire. Apparently the shower did have magical healing powers.

Under the intense spray of the water, she’d tasted his heated length, revered the power of him once he’d slid inside her. She hadn’t even wanted any foreplay. Never before had her body been so fulfilled and her soul been so content.

But she didn’t want to think about that right now. All she wanted was to lose herself in him for a little while longer.

He crushed his lips to hers, and she opened her mouth to him, allowing his hot tongue to sweep over hers. Back and forth, his hands glided over her energized flesh, searing trails that mimicked the movements of his mouth.

Moaning with a churning desire that was making her too weak to stand, she leaned back to lie on the bed and pulled him down on top of her. The brief seconds she was separated from him were pure agony, and the moment his sleek skin touched hers again was sheer bliss.

Running her hands down Rome’s muscular back, she shifted her head to the side as he nipped down her neck. His mouth skimmed across her collarbone, cascading feathery kisses on her shoulder, peppering the scar from her swimming injury. She vaguely remembered tracing the long scar on his knee with her tongue.

Harper’s attention snapped back to now and she clutched his solid biceps as he levered himself up to cover one of her breasts with his open mouth. He pressed the flat of his tongue against her taut nipple, stroking and licking around the rigid peak, while the other was pinched with exquisite vigor.

In reflex, her hand shot up to hold his head in place, latching on to the short damp locks. Tiny bolts of lightning flickered from her breast to her groin, the delicious sensations wetting her easily.

Rome shifted his mouth to her other breast, pleasantly rewarding it with similar treatment. She wanted him to stay there for a good long while.

Then his lips trailed down over the ridges of her ribs and abdomen. Balancing above her, he spread her legs and paused, hovering his mouth over her heated center.

Rising up on her elbows, she chanced a glance down at his face, wondering what the holdup was. His blue gaze burned into hers as the sexiest grin she’d ever seen flashed across his face just before he lowered his head to her.

She dropped back to the bed with a short gasp as he flicked his tongue over her, alternately licking and nipping, as if lapping rich cream from a bowl. Only she was melting.

A coiling pressure continued to build, centering from his mouth and spreading through every fiber of her body at a staggering pace.

Against her will, her hips began to buck against his fervent attention. Her body began to spiral and she immediately decided she wanted him inside her when it burst into a thousand glittering pieces as she had in the shower. She reached down to clasp her hands on each side of his head to pull him up before she lost it.

His body covered hers as he slithered on top of her, the hair on his chest grazing her oversensitive skin, thrilling her into a shiver, his thick hardness pressing against her tummy.

Bringing her hands to his shoulders, she pushed against him, flipping him over to straddle his solid abdomen.

A huff of breath escaped from his grinning mouth. He seemed to like her taking control. She did, too.

Running her hands over his chiseled chest, she shifted her hips downward. Harper lowered her head for a moment to dash her tongue across each of his stony nipples. His body jerked under hers at her touch, eliciting a low laugh from her. Rome brought his hands to her thighs and hips, running them up and down her scorching skin, leaving trails of fire behind his touch.