Chapter 65 You're Perfect Savannah His lips claimed mine again, but this time it wasn’t force or insistence that melted my resistance. It was the softness, the care, the warmth of him pressing into me like he wanted to breathe life into the broken places I kept buried. For years I had built walls out of shame and anger, convinced that if anyone saw all of me, my mistakes, my scars, the ugliest parts of my story, they’d recoil in disgust. Yet here was Roman, kissing me as if he had been waiting his whole life to find me. “Roman…” I whispered when he pulled back just enough for me to breathe. My voice was shaky. “I don’t know how to let you.” His thumb brushed my cheek, lingering on the tear he’d caught before it could fall. His eyes burned into mine. “You don’t have to know how. Just feel me.” His mouth found mine again, slower this time, coaxing instead of demanding. My knees weakened under the weight of his tenderness and he scooped me up, carrying me to the bed. He laid me down gently, and when his hands skimmed down my sides, I trembled but didn’t stop him. He wasn’t rushing, wasn’t even taking. He was asking, silently, over and over, with every caress… Can I? When he slid my top upward, his lips trailed after it, warm and reverent. The brush of his mouth against my collarbone made my breath hitch. By the time my top was gone, I was shaking with nerves. Or shame. “I don’t want you to look at me,” I whispered, covering myself instinctively. “I’m not—” Roman caught my wrists gently and kissed each palm. “Savannah, I’m going to look at you. Everytime. Every inch. And you’re going to see exactly what I see, the woman I want. The woman I can’t walk away from.” My throat tightened. I let him lower my arms, let him strip me bare under his gaze. I didn’t feel like prey being judged, but like someone precious, treasured. And when his lips touched my shoulder, then my chest, then lower… It felt like worship. He kissed every part of me, not skipping the places I hated most. My stomach. The place where memory lived. His mouth lingered there, soft and reverent, as though he was telling me without words, I love this part too. I love all of you. I sobbed, and his lips drank the sound away.~~~~ Roman She didn’t know how beautiful she was. Not in the way that mattered. Savannah thought she was ruined, filthy, unworthy. And it broke something deep in me. I wanted to burn every lie she had ever been told, erase every cruel word that had made her doubt her worth. Since I couldn’t, I would do the only thing I knew how. I’d show her with my body what my mouth could never fully capture. Her trembling didn’t scare me. It only made me gentler. I kissed her shoulders, her throat, her breasts, and when I reached her stomach, I lingered. I knew this was where she carried the worst of her pain. I pressed my lips there and stayed, my hand covering hers, holding it against the same spot. “You are not filthy,” I whispered against her skin. “You are mine.” She choked back a sob, and it nearly undid me. When I finally settled above her, caging her with my arms, her wide eyes met mine. There was shame in them, yes, but also something fragile and desperate, the flicker of belief trying to spark alive.I kissed her again, slower, deeper, until her lips softened and opened for me. “Roman…” she whispered. I guided myself into her with a patience I didn’t know I even possessed. Inch by inch, until I was buried to the hilt. Her gasp filled the room, her hands clutching my shoulders. I stayed still, forehead pressed to hers, letting her breath, letting her know I wasn’t going anywhere. “Look at me,” I murmured. “Don’t hide. Not from me.” Her lashes lifted, and when her eyes locked onto mine, it felt like the world held its breath. I moved slowly, rocking into her with long, unhurried thrusts. Not for release. For connection. To show her she wasn’t broken, that she was whole in my arms. Her walls tightened around me, her body surrendering. With every stroke, I kissed her. Her lips, her temple, her throat, her tears. I kissed the soft sounds she made, kissed the gasps that escaped when pleasure began to melt the grief. ~~~~ SavannahIt shouldn’t still feel this way. Not after what I’d confessed, not after the ugliness of my past. But it did. Roman’s weight above me was grounding, his body moving inside mine with a rhythm that felt like home. Every time I tried to turn my head, ashamed, he kissed me until I had no choice but to face him. “Don’t hide,” he kept whispering. “Don’t you dare hide from me.” The words undid me more than the way his hips pressed against mine, more than the pleasure curling low in my stomach. He was stripping me bare, not just my body but my soul. And still… he stayed. “Roman,” I gasped, my hands gripping his back, nails digging in when the sweetness threatened to overwhelm me. His pace quickened only slightly, his forehead pressed to mine, our mouths brushing with every breath. “Say it,” he whispered. “Say you feel it.” Tears slid into my hair. “I feel it,” I cried, because I did. Oh God, I did. ~~~~ RomanHer body clenched around me, her cries filling my ears, and I knew she was close. I wanted to follow her, but I held on, needing her to break first, needing her to know she was safe even in surrender. When she came, it was with a sob that nearly shattered me. She clung to me like I was the only thing holding her to this world. I kissed her through it, kissed her until she stilled, until her chest heaved against mine, until her eyes fluttered open and I saw something new there. Not shame. Not fear. But a fragile, desperate hope. Only then did I let myself go, spilling inside her with a groan that left me trembling. I collapsed onto her chest, careful not to crush her, my arms still cradling her like she might disappear if I let go. And in the quiet after, when only our breathing filled the room, I pressed a final kiss to her lips and whispered the only truth that mattered. “You're perfect. Flaws and all.”