“You okay?” she ventured cautiously. His swollen cock was still hot and pulsing against her stomach and he was barely able to breathe.
“Honey, the only way I’d be better is if that happened inside you,” he murmured.
“Oh,” Lauren frowned. Well, that was very instructional. If she couldn’t even wrap her hand around the thing, what made him think it’d fit inside her? Now she knew virginity was not the worst option. It was a damn good thing this happened with a guy who was very sexually active elsewhere. No need to worry about his wanting to try the other with her. They weren’t even a dating couple so he would not assume she wanted to anyway.
Romeo stepped back and put them under the water again. Reluctantly he let go of her to rinse his cum off her breasts and abdomen. He still felt dizzy—her little hands wrapped around his cock was better sex than pounding most women into the mattress. Seeing her splattered with his seed was a visual that moved him in an elemental way. Oh yeah, keeping her naked and covered with his cum felt right. Suddenly he understood the urge to mark a woman in the most primitive way possible. He wanted his cum in her, on her. It stated ownership on a cellular level. His drive to establish ownership of this woman was a base animal response that would not be denied.
He ran the soapy washcloth over her then shut off the water. Stepping out of the shower, he immediately grabbed a towel and dried her carefully while he dripped on the bath mat. He didn’t get his own towel until he’d wrapped hers around her and secured it. Drying off quickly, he purposely tossed his towel back on the rack. Letting her be the only clothed person in the room wouldn’t fix past hurts, but it was something he could give her. Maybe it would help deal with that old pain.
Sitting her on the vanity again, Romeo grabbed supplies to dress the scratches on her shoulder. She turned for him and he prepared to swab the area. Neither of them commented on the clothing issue as she watched him tend to her.
“How am I going to get clean clothes?” she asked. “I can’t walk through the house like this. They’ll all know exactly what we did.”
“I’ll go get your bag in a minute,” he responded. “If they see me, I’ll just say you’re in the shower. It’ll be fine. Besides, they know better than to talk to me after this.”
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault, Romeo. The horse is evil and it went nuts.” Lauren tried to reason with him. Strangely, she felt the need to curb his wrath before he went face-to-face with his cousins. “I’m not even hurt that bad, just a scrape and a few bruises. Let it go.”
“Honey, this is letting it go. If I think about what could have happened, things would get ugly real quick,” he responded quietly as he pressed a large square adhesive over the injury. Helping her off the vanity, he led her into his room. “Why don’t you lie down a minute while I dress and get your things? How’s the head? Any sign of another headache?”
“No headache, but I could lie down. It’s been a busy day,” Lauren confessed tiredly. She went over to the bed and took off the damp towel. Draping it over the side of the bed, she crawled in, sliding under the sheets naturally. Even an averted migraine left her drained. Trying to hide it took an even greater toll. The events in the shower added an amazingly warm and fuzzy layer of tired on top of that. After what had just occurred, sliding into his bed for a tiny minute didn’t register as anything but a necessity for Lauren.
Romeo watched her as he dressed and a smile spread across his soul. He didn’t dare let it show on his face. Seeing her settling into his bed while he moved about the room quietly felt good. Fully dressed, he stepped over to her and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back in a bit, baby,” he whispered and she grunted. Her eyes didn’t even open as he slipped out of the room.
It was already after six and everyone was gathered at the big kitchen table having supper when he emerged. Walking into the room brought a hush to the table. Romeo almost felt better when he saw the worried faces.
“How is she?” Carla asked immediately.
“She’s resting,” he responded in a quiet voice. Cold black eyes cut around the table as he looked at each face. “Did you know she’d never been on a horse before?” he asked the group. All the heads nodded. “I see.” His lips turned down as he regarded them. Even the uncles didn’t say a word as the aunts sat back and watched.
“I won’t waste my breath on how stupid that stunt was, Steven. You and I will talk later. Carla, how long have you known Lauren?” he asked as he pulled out a chair and started loading his plate.
“About a year now. Isn’t she going to eat? Should I take her a plate?” Carla wanted to know.
“No, I’ll take her one later. She’s sleeping. How did you meet her?” Romeo started eating as he waited for a response.
“She volunteers in the children’s ward. She and I hit it off when I was doing a rotation in there,” Carla told them. “She seems to really understand the kids. I don’t know why she’s not going into a medical profession. She’d be so good at it.”
Romeo raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “You ever ask her why?” It made perfect sense to him. Of course, she’d volunteer there. She knew exactly what it was like to be little and trapped in a bed.
“No, I guess I haven’t. We met when I was going through a rough patch and we never have gotten around to talking about that,” Carla mused.
Romeo nodded and went back to his meal.
“Are you going to tell me if she’s hurt?” Carla demanded. “I am the one in pre-med. I think I should look her over.”
Romeo lifted his eyes slowly to Carla. The black depths weren’t cold anymore. They burned with the anger he’d been holding in. Carla gasped and sat back instinctively.
“No. She’s had about enough of your care. Perhaps you should work on your medical observation and diagnostic skills, Carla. Because when you’re a real doctor, I’ll expect you to be able to tell when someone has had a HT in the last twenty-four months,” he bit out.
“No shit!” Carla gasped.
“And I’ll also expect you to know when they’re showing signs of a migraine,” he continued. “It’s the little white stress lines around their mouth and eyes. Of course, the trembling and difficulty seeing is a dead giveaway, too.” Romeo suddenly clamped his mouth shut. Lauren was going to kill him. He knew Lauren hadn’t wanted everyone to know about her condition. She wanted to be treated normally after being an invalid so long. If Carla didn’t know about her physical problems yet, she’d probably been hiding them.
“What’s an HT?” Jason wanted to know.
“Heart transplant,” Carla told him shortly. She was frowning as she registered all Romeo was and wasn’t saying. “She had the migraine when we arrived, didn’t she?” Carla asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Romeo replied. Looking around the room at the somber faces, he sighed. “Look, guys, don’t treat her like an invalid. She’d hate that. Obviously, she didn’t tell Carla because she wants to be treated like everyone else. Her new heart is fine. But she doesn’t have the stamina everyone else does. Do me a favor and try to be adults about this.” He frowned darkly at them. “And back off the Ice Queen shit. That was beneath you and you know it.”
He stood up to leave the room, no longer interested in food, but turned back to them. “I’m going to marry that woman. I hear one of you give her a hard time about not turning the cold shoulder to me, I’ll give you the hiding I should have when you were kids. And believe me, mommy and daddy will not lift a hand.” He glanced at his aunts and uncles, raising his brow at them. They all smiled and shook their heads. Romeo stalked into his study to gather some papers he needed to go over.
Back in his room, he made himself comfortable on the other side of the bed and started doing the paperwork a ranch and investment portfolio the size of his entailed. He needed to get a lot of it done. He intended to be busy doing other things in the near future.
Lauren woke up to a dimly lit room. Directly in her line of vision sat Romeo. Pillows against the headboard proppe
d him up. His long body stretched out as he studied a paper he was moving forward and back again as he tried to read it. His other hand held the file he’d gotten it from and he frowned fiercely at the defenseless paper.
“Where are your reading glasses?” Lauren asked quietly.
He didn’t even look at her as he scowled at the paper. “In the old man store where I’ll get them when I’m an old man.”
“Ah, perhaps you should visit the ‘Seriously in Denial’ store and see if they have something to tide you over,” she suggested.
Romeo stuffed the paper back in the file and laid it on the nightstand. “Hungry, brat?” he turned to her and asked.
“Why are you naked?” Lauren wanted to know. It certainly wasn’t a complaint as her eyes wandered over the long, lanky length of him. Romeo naked was a visual delight of honed muscle covered with a dusting of dark male fur that begged to be stroked.
Romeo grinned. “I’m a ‘follow the rules’ kind of guy.” He rolled off the bed and reached for a pair of shorts at the foot of it. “I’ll be back in a minute with a tray,” he tugged on boxers and the shorts he’d left on the bed.
“No thanks,” Lauren turned over and stretched.
“Uh? You’re not hungry?” he questioned.
“Yeah, I am. What time is it?” she slid out of bed. “Did you bring my clothes?”
“Over there,” he pointed at the closet. “You don’t have to get up, honey. I’ll bring you something,” he offered again.
“I don’t like trays in bed. I’ll just raid the fridge and get out of your hair,” she stated casually as she pulled her bag out of the closet and grabbed the first clothes she came to.
“I was hoping you liked being in my hair,” his low voice rumbled. He leaned up against one of the bedposts, crossed bulging arms over his bare chest and watched her dress.
Lauren shot him a glance and smiled. “You know I did. It’s time I went back to my own room though. You’ve got things to do I’m sure.”
“Nothing more important than convincing you that this is now your room,” he murmured.
Lauren tucked her shirt into shorts and noticed they didn’t go together. A lot like this situation. “This room is taken. The one you gave me seems free. I’ll keep that one, thanks.”
“I’d like you to stay, Lauren,” he stated directly.
Lauren faced him fully and cocked her head to the side as she studied the seriously imposing man looking at her. Wearing only shorts and leaning casually against the four-poster bed, he was a pin-up advertisement for tall, dark and sexy. “You’ve been very kind, very, ah, educational. I’m grateful for both, but I think it’s clear I’m not in the same class as you. Heck, I’m barely on the same planet with you when it comes to experience. I’m not able to be casual about sex, certainly not with a stranger. And particularly not while there is an audience outside just waiting for something to happen. I’m sorry if I somehow implied I could do a weekend fling.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” he said after staring at her a second. She takes this seriously, he thought. “We’ll start at the beginning. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable with this relationship. We’ll do the dating dance. We’ll go to movies, have picnics down by the river and drink wine in front of the fireplace. You’ll fall head over heels in love with me. I’ll ask you to move in with me. Then I’ll get you drunk in Vegas and you’ll wake up married to me. How does that sound?”
“Seriously, Romeo,” she sighed. “I don’t want to be a plaything. I thought I wanted experience but as it turns out, I’m okay with being a nerdy little virgin.”
“There is nothing in this conversation that I’m not serious about,” Romeo countered. “I’m not looking for a plaything. We need to spend some time together before you’re ready to commit, honey. We can do that starting right now. What I don’t want is to see you walk out that door. We’re not strangers, Lauren. You can’t deny we have the kind of chemistry that starts fires. The people outside that door have nothing to say about what happens between us.”
“Romeo, this is your home. Do you usually bring a woman here? Are they used to seeing co-habitation with someone you met the same day?” she asked incredulously. “Carla told me I’m exactly your type, but that you usually have six women on a string. It’s the type you’re attracted to, not the person. I don’t want to join a long line of others. I just can’t do that right now.”
“Carla talks a lot of shit,” he spat out. “There are not six women on a string. Yes, I have been attracted to women who look like you all my life. But I know the difference between a body that gets my rocks hot and a woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, Lauren. I’m not a kid chasing after his dick. And if it makes any difference, I have never brought a woman here. You’re the only woman outside my family who has stepped foot in this room.”
Romeo straightened from the bedpost and stalked over to her. His hands came up slowly to fold her into his embrace. He moved slowly so she’d know she could stop him at any time. She didn’t. “This is what we have, Lauren.” He brought his lips to hers and licked along the seam of her closed mouth. Her hands clutched his biceps—he slowly kissed his way into her mouth, gently, leisurely invading her this time. When her lips parted to accept him, he took the time to explore her teeth, the soft interior of her cheeks and finally stroke her tongue. He insidiously turned up the heat, pressing her along the length of his body. One hand went to her bottom, cupping it to bring her into him while the other cradled her head as he sucked her tongue into his mouth.
Lauren knew he was going to kiss her. She even knew he’d make it the best damn kiss ever had on the planet. He’d do it because he could. She just couldn’t dredge up the will to stop him. His declaration that she was the only woman to have ever stepped foot in the room was so convincing. She decided wanting to believe something too good to be true had to be a sickness. It made you let the guy who could make an Olympic sport out of kissing kiss you. It made you wrap your legs around his waist and rub his cock into your wet pussy as well apparently.
Romeo turned to the bed and laid her down on it gently. Those gorgeous legs wrapped around his waist kept his cock crammed right where he wanted it to be. With her beneath him, he could keep teasing her sweet pussy with his cock and use his hands for further convincing. His whole body rubbed sensually over her as he ate her mouth. His hands gravitated to those delectable breasts and hard fingers plucked the little pebbles atop them.
Her body knew it liked this now—it exploded into flames as soon as he touched her. Every inch of her wanted his caress and every one of those inches was determined to ignore the logical virgin shrieking at them from her brain. The only plans her body was willing to hear about were the ones that let him do whatever he pleased. But he wasn’t doing it fast enough. He hadn’t loosened a single button, zipper or snap. How were they supposed to get her clothes off if he wouldn’t follow the program?
Romeo lifted his head and looked down at the moaning, undulating woman in his arms. Her hands were clawing down his back, her knees in his armpits and willing written all over her. Romeo took a deep breath and focused on the long-term goal. “Sweetheart, if I just wanted to nail you, I’d be doing it now.” He gave her a minute to open her eyes and realize they’d stopped the lovemaking.
Lauren frowned up at him in confusion and Romeo continued. “I want you to understand that I mean what I say. When I tell you I want a long-term commitment that means I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get one. So, I’m going to confess some things that will make you mad as hell at me. I’m doing it right now because we need to get everything out between us. And because I’m sure you’ll find out soon anyway and be even madder if I don’t tell you.”
Lauren tried to ignore the sheepish little boy tone in his voice. That dark-eyed, dark-haired scamp peeked at her guiltily as he confessed he knew she’d find him out. He was such a cutie she had a hard time frowning seriously up at him as she waited for the dreadful confession. He held her pinne
d beneath him, but most of his weight was supported on his elbows. “Are you going to let me up to hear this?” she asked.
“No. I might need to remind you what we are together. I can’t risk it,” he stated tightly.
“Well, get on with it,” Lauren prompted when he hesitated again. He really was afraid to tell her whatever it was he thought he’d done. That amazed her. He was supposed to be the experienced man of the world. The guy who was fully in charge at all times. This hesitation gave her the first real indication that he was truly sincere when he claimed his feelings for her were genuine. You couldn’t be afraid of a “throw away” person. By all accounts, Romeo wasn’t afraid of anyone.
“I called your doctor this afternoon,” he started. “I actually know the man. My mother was his second heart transplant surgery. So, it’s not like he was telling a stranger your case history. I know about the accident you and your mother were in when you were ten. How your mom died in your arms while you were trapped in the car. The serious injuries, how they had to rebuild your pelvis, that they discovered your heart problem then. How long you waited for a donor, the heart surgery and the migraines. I also know you have three older brothers and your father is still living.”
He paused to study her face. She watched him calmly without a flicker of emotion. That in itself was disturbing and he swallowed roughly. “I’m sorry if you think I was prying. I had no idea he’d go into such detail when I told him you were here and I was worried for your health because of the headache. But I didn’t stop him either. I wanted to know,” Romeo trailed off quietly.
“Is that it?” Lauren asked.
“Ah, most of it,” he hedged.
“There’s more?” Her eyebrows rose.
“Yeah, at supper I got so mad at that bunch of irresponsible children that I told them you’d had a HT twenty-four months ago and the migraine when you got here. I sort of ripped into Carla over being a piss-poor doctor for not knowing this stuff.” He paused again. She waited. “It just fell out of my mouth. My choices were that or see to it they all carry the same bruises you do. As it is, I still have Steven to deal with. He deserves a thrashing for bringing that particular animal out like that.”
Romeo Page 4
