“I forbid you to touch him, Romeo,” Lauren stated quietly.
“Forbid me? What the hell kind of statement is that? No one forbids me. I understand you’re pissed at me, but you can’t go around forbidding me.” He frowned into her eyes.
She didn’t respond, just watched him as calmly as she had for the last five minutes.
“Look, Lauren, let’s get this out in the open between us. Be mad at me. Tell me exactly what you think of my overbearing, interfering and generally controlling ways. You can swear at me, kick me, whatever. But you can’t forbid me. No one forbids adults.”
“There is no point in any of that, Romeo. You are well aware of what you did. You know exactly how intrusive I find your meddling. You wouldn’t have been afraid to tell me if you didn’t.” Her tone was still calm and even. “The only thing I can change is the future. I forbid you to touch him. If you ever want me to forgive you, that’s what it’ll take.”
Romeo popped up off her as he realized what was happening. His big body paced across the room and turned to face her again. Lauren propped herself up on her elbows to watch him.
“You’ll forgive me and then what?” he wanted to know. His eyes narrowed as he studied her. She was playing a power game with a master strategist. The fact she held all the bargaining chips didn’t escape him. So maybe it wasn’t a game but a test. Would he bend to her wishes? It really depended on what she was willing to give for the concession on his part. If it was just a tiny bit of what he wanted, it was a game. If she was willing to let this go and start over, it was a test. Oh, God, he hoped it was a test. A test meant she wanted to trust him, wanted to believe him.
“Then we start over and get to know each other,” she responded.
“Starting tonight? You’ll stay with me?” he pressed, unable to believe it was actually going to be that easy to get around what he’d done.
Lauren got up and paced to the other side of the room. At least she was farther away from the door, he noticed.
“I spent all of my teens in and out of a hospital or going to a therapist because of the way my mother died. I want to date, Romeo. I want to experience some of what I missed. Go to a movie with my boyfriend and neck in the back row. I want to make out behind the barn. Get flowers on Valentine’s Day. To know what it feels like to get a call at two a.m. just because he misses me and wants to hear my voice. Or when he takes me to the beach, so he can look at me in a bikini. I want to have fun.” Lauren turned and stared out the window into the starry night.
“I’m also really unsure about sex with you. I know exactly how big that thing is and I think it’s going to hurt. I’m afraid. I know I’ll disappoint you. I know all the stuff I want are things you did a long time ago. It’s got to sound lame and stupid to you,” she ended softly.
Romeo was across the room in a lunging move she didn’t see. Pressing himself up behind her, he wrapped his arms around the forlorn little figure she made. His head dipped down to press his lips against her ear. “I want to take my lover to the movies,” he whispered. “And neck in the back row. She won’t have panties on so I can make her come with my hand and no one will know. I want to take her out behind the barn to the back woods and go skinny-dipping in the pond. We’ll make out on the bank as we dry off. I want to send her flowers on Valentine’s with a diamond in the center of every rose. I never want to call her at two in the morning because I miss her. I want her to be right there beside me so I can lick her awake because I need her. I want to make love to her in the back seat of a limo after we do dinner and a show in London. I want to take her to a private beach in the Caribbean so she won’t have to wear a bikini at all. I want her to have fun. I want to play with her.”
Lauren turned in his arms and looked up at him. Tears dripped slowly down her cheeks. He licked them off and continued. “I will never do anything to hurt you, Lauren. If I can’t make you beg me to put it in you, and then you enjoy it all the way to your womb, I will not do it. You can tell me to stop at any time and I will. I swear, honey, you’ll like it.”
He’d just taken what she felt were silly little-girl wishes and made them beautiful, sensual adult fantasies. He promised the moon and she secretly suspected he could give it to her. Where did this man come from? Was it possible he was telling the truth about everything? Could he really have decided so abruptly that they were made for each other?
“I’m still not comfortable with the audience out the door. I know it’s old hat to you, but this is a big deal to me. I can’t relax and stay here tonight, Romeo. I’d never, um, it’d be… I can’t,” Lauren wailed softly into his chest.
“I took care of that already, Lauren.” Romeo glanced away and frowned. “I guess I threatened them all with a hiding if they said one word to you about being an Ice Queen or not turning a cold shoulder to me. I, well, I told them that mommy and daddy wouldn’t lift a hand while I did it either.”
Lauren’s mouth dropped open as she stared up at him. “You threatened them with a spanking?”
“Yeah,” he acknowledged.
“You can’t say that to adults!” she scolded emphatically.
“Well, if they act like children they deserve to be treated like children. I also told them I intend to marry you. No one is going to say one word to you if you stay here tonight. And if they do, I will take care of it in the manner they deserve,” Romeo threatened darkly.
“Romeo, I forb—”
“I know, I know, you forbid me to touch them,” he interrupted. “All this forbidding better come with some conceding, honey.” He was still frowning as he held her against him.
“What kind of conceding?” she wanted to know.
“The kind where you agree we’re an exclusive couple,” he told her. “And you agree to stay with me tonight.” She opened her mouth to interrupt but he laid a finger over it. “We don’t have to do anything, baby. I know you’re still a bit shaken up. But I want you to sleep here with me. Tomorrow we can deal with the other. Just stay,” he pleaded softly.
Lauren’s arms crept up around his neck. Her fingers sifted through his hair as they gazed at each other. A smile bloomed across her lovely face as the big man in her arms held on tightly.
“You want to be my boyfriend?” she whispered.
“Oh, yeah,” he breathed.
“Good. My first boyfriend needs to be a big guy who won’t be so intimidated by my brothers. They are a mean bunch and have been scaring men off for a couple years now. I thought I’d be a virgin for the rest of my life.” Lauren stretched up on tiptoes—he helped her by lifting so her lips brushed his as she spoke. “And then there is my dad, the ex-Marine. I don’t even want to think what he’d do to a little guy.” The sentence ended as her lips sealed against his and he opened under the firm licking of her warm, soft tongue.
Romeo reached down and grabbed her thighs to wrap her legs around him again. It was easier to kiss her when she was riding him. He suspected her father might be a valid issue, but he didn’t have time to deal with it right now.
Lauren pulled her mouth a breath away from his and continued. “My oldest brother just retired from pro football this year. So he’s old and you probably don’t have to worry about him.” She dived back in for another long suck on his tongue. Pulling back a millimeter, she continued with the list. “The next one owns a boxing gym. He doesn’t compete professionally anymore so that makes him old, too.” Lauren licked down his jaw to suck on the tender spot between neck and shoulder. “The youngest one is a race car driver. He’s away a lot. You can probably avoid him.” Her licking tongue traveled back to his mouth and they kissed deeply for several long minutes.
While still kissing her deeply, Romeo carried her over to his nightstand. His hand reached down and he dialed the phone without looking, only pulling away from her mouth to put it to his ear when someone picked up on the other end.
“Yes, this is Mr. Montero.” He spoke smoothly into the phone with his eyes locked on hers. “I’m reserving the honeymoon
suite for tomorrow. Yeah. We’ll be in around four. Sure. That will be fine. Thank you.” He hung up and went back to kissing her.
Lauren pulled back and sputtered, “What did you do? Where? Tomorrow?”
“I reserved us a room in Vegas for tomorrow.” He turned and headed for the door with her still wrapped around him. He kissed her neck down to her cleavage as she tried to avoid him and get some information from the growling heathen who was easily carting her across the house to the kitchen.
“What about dating? You haven’t asked me to move in with you. What happened to all that? We can’t get married tomorrow. You don’t even know, well, we don’t know if…” Lauren glanced up as they entered the kitchen and her voice trailed off. Oh, damn, she’d been nearly yelling at him, every one of the people in the kitchen had to have heard every word.
Romeo lifted his head from her chest to answer and saw the surprise in her round eyes. Following her line of vision, he turned swiftly to see what she stared at. All six cousins were seated at the kitchen table with two loaves of bread and every condiment known to man spread across it. It was after midnight, he should have known they’d be in here. They all gaped at him walking in with Lauren wrapped around him, yelling about not getting married tomorrow while he licked her chest.
Carla recovered first. “I see you’re feeling better, Lauren. Is he being a pain in the ass and trying to order you around?” she asked hopefully. “I warned you, girlfriend.”
Romeo turned and walked over to the table, only releasing Lauren when he had a chair to sit her in. People shuffled and moved over quickly so he could slide another chair in beside her.
“I…ah…no, I mean yes, he’s a bit, ah…decisive, but…” Lauren trailed off in embarrassed confusion.
“Hand me the bread and some of that stuff, guys,” Romeo asked. He swiftly started making two sandwiches.
Carla continued. “What’s this about tomorrow? You’re planning on getting married tomorrow? Don’t you think Devin might have a problem with that?”
“Oh, um, we’re not…” Lauren floundered.
“Yeah, we are. Her family is made up of trained killers and I have to be married to her before I meet them. They might let me live then. Which one is Devin?” Romeo asked as he plopped a sandwich in front of her. The faces around the table grinned at this amusing turn of events.
“They are not,” Lauren defended. “Well, two of them are, ah, maybe three of them. The fourth one is just fast.”
“Devin is her wanna-be boyfriend,” Carla supplied. “The one who has been puppy-dog infatuated and saintly patient for months now. He’s the guy who gets to hear how she’s not ready to settle down all the time.”
“Carla!” Lauren gasped. “We haven’t actually had an opportunity to discuss that quite yet,” she stated sharply.
Romeo put down the sandwich he was about to bite into and looked at Lauren. “I guess we can refer to Devin Dufus as your stupid ex-boyfriend now. Right?”
“Well, he’s not really stupid. He’s a surgeon. I think I should—”
“Let me give him a call after we get married and tell him to shove off,” Romeo interrupted. “Then we’ll call him your nerdy, stupid ex-boyfriend if you like.”
“Ah, what I was going to say is that he deserves an explanation, Romeo,” Lauren stated firmly. “I have no idea what that explanation is, but I think I should give it to him personally. He deserves at least that.”
“Oh, man!” Steve hooted. “Can I come? I’d love to hear how you go from casual no-commitment dating to married to someone you just met in less than twenty-four.” Leaning back from the table balancing on two legs of his chair, Steve continued to chuckle over this tale.
“Shut up, Steve,” Romeo barked. “The only reason you’re not in the emergency room right now is she forbade me to touch you. That was over the horse incident, she hasn’t said a word about your wise-ass mouth.”
Steve’s chair slammed down and his mouth dropped open. “She forbade you? Shit, Lauren, I think I’m in love with you. You’re obviously a magical being or something. Would you care to consider another proposal?” Laughter erupted around the table at that.
“Careful, pup,” Romeo warned. “I don’t feel benevolent about this. Lauren is busy for the next sixty years. If I die before she does, she’s still not available.”
“Cut it out, guys,” Lauren demanded. “You’re enjoying this little show way too much. I’m about to revoke the other thing I forbade him to do.” Lauren pushed away from the table. “I’m done discussing this in front of an audience.” Romeo grabbed their sandwiches and stood up with her.
“Hey,” Carla called after them as they headed for the door. “What was the other thing?”
“Spanking each one of you,” Lauren shot back over her shoulder. “I fully understand the urge to do so.”
“There’s a private patio off my rooms, we can eat there,” Romeo murmured as he sort of herded her back toward his wing of the house.
Lauren glanced at him and sighed. “No one said you weren’t determined I suppose.” He wasn’t about to let her go back to her own room. Now a whole bunch of new junk was cluttering up the original disagreement and they were nowhere near a compromise. One thirty in the morning and it looked like a long night ahead of them.
His private patio was a walled-in oasis complete with a stone waterfall into an inviting hot tub. Lush shrubbery made it a perfect private garden of delight. The table’s umbrella was folded so they could see the stars as they sat on the padded chairs and munched through the sandwiches. Both remained silent. She suspected mostly to be sure she ate. He watched like a hawk ‘til the last morsel disappeared.
They both sat back and looked at each other. “What now?” Lauren asked quietly.
“We go to bed and get some sleep. I’m beat,” Romeo sighed.
Lauren smiled. “Good plan.”
Chapter Three
Lauren awoke to a rough hand caressing her thigh while a very gentle mouth sucked and licked at one of her nipples. Groaning, she stretched while the mouth remained attached to her breast and the hand slid between her legs to lightly cup her intimately.
Romeo lifted his head and grinned up at her. “Need the bathroom?”
“It’s morning, doesn’t everyone?” Her sleepy face scowled up at him.
“Ah, not a morning person.” His wicked grin widened. “I’ll be here when you get back, honey.”
Closing the door behind her, Lauren frowned at the lavish surroundings and headed for the toilet. Afterwards she turned on the shower. His ass could just wait. She knew what he wanted. She still didn’t think it’d work between them and she wasn’t about to rush back in there and see how badly that scenario would turn out.
Just as she turned her head up to the warm spray, the door behind her opened. Of course, what made her think he’d stay in bed like a good monster? Two hands slid around her to cup her breasts.
“Did you not get that I’m a nasty grump in the morning?” Lauren asked as one of his hands wandered down her abdomen.
“Hmmm, the nasty part is good, the grump part is my responsibility,” he mumbled into her shoulder while dragging his tongue across it. Firm fingers plucked her nipple then rubbed across the swollen nub. The other hand was pushing between damp folds, petting them softly. “If you’re still grumpy when we’re done,” he continued. “I’ll agree that you get to tell Dufus to take a hike.”
“And if I’m not?” she questioned distractedly, his hand between her legs making it difficult to think as it strummed and caressed without giving the firm touches she was beginning to want.
“We fly to Vegas this afternoon,” he mumbled into her other shoulder.
“That’s it? All I’m agreeing to is a visit to Vegas?” Lauren questioned as she turned in his arms and slid her hands down his torso to grasp his cock firmly as he’d shown her yesterday.
“Oh, God, easy, baby,” he gasped. “Ah, yeah. A visit,” he agreed. “I want your agreement on t
he marriage thing. But I’d never make a deal over it.” Romeo groaned as she stroked him steadily, not easing up one bit. “Slow down, I’m not the one who needs help getting turned on. Let me pleasure you,” he pleaded as her hands worked him, one hand kept stroking and the other slipped under his balls to lift and roll them between curious fingers.
Lauren leaned forward and dragged her tongue across a male nipple then immediately sucked it into her mouth, pulling hard. Romeo’s hands left her body to flash to the walls of the shower stall steadying him as his body clenched and jerked in response. “Lauren! What the hell are you doing?” he barked out.
She ignored him and reattached both hands to his erection. Suddenly her lips let go of his chest and she melted to her knees. Romeo only had time to look down in amazement as she held his cock securely between both hands and fed it into her mouth. Her lips sealed around him as her hot, wet little tongue slithered across and down. Gulping desperately, he watched her head start to move. The firm suction she applied with each pull removed all coherent thought from his brain. He braced bulging arms more firmly against the walls and hung on.
Her fists worked the thick root of him as she slurped over his inflamed head with increasing speed and pressure. The fire of release streaked up his body with white-hot explosions, she drew the fluid from his soul as her greedy mouth pulled and swallowed every drop that erupted out of him. She worked him hard ‘til he slumped back against the wall in trembling shock, drawing his cock from her mouth.
He gazed down at her blankly as she regarded him from her knees. Slowly she rose while he slid down the wall. When he sat on the floor of the shower looking up, she calmly stated, “Don’t challenge me in the morning. I told you I was cranky.” She raised one brow and stepped out of the shower.
Romeo Page 5
