"My brother and his wife are coming for their only daughter's birthday. I haven't seen them in ages. I just want everything to be perfect. Do you have a problem with that Joseph Michael Masterson?"
"Oh so you're using my middle name now?" He chuckles. "I better watch it."
"That's right you better!" She says as she gives him a quick kiss on the lips. A gesture that seems to placate my uncle, because he gives her a quick swat on the ass in return and then walks back into his office with a smile.
They're so adorable.
"I think you have Uncle Joseph wrapped around your little finger." I acknowledge respectfully, because I can't figure out for the life of me how she does it.
How do you control a Masterson man? Or maybe I'm dealing with the younger, wilder version of Uncle Joseph. Perhaps Roman will calm down in about twenty years.
I laugh to myself.
Probably not.
"We've been together a long time sweetie. Each of us is wrapped around the other's finger," she says while wiping down the kitchen counters.
"Was it always like that between you two or was it something that grew?"
Juliette drops the antibacterial wipe she was using in the trashcan and turns towards me.
"It's your birthday, Elizabeth, so you can't lie. Are you asking me about Joseph or are you asking me about Roman?"
I'm not sure where my crazy aunt gets these rules of hers; of course I can lie on my own frackin' birthday.
"Obviously I'm talking about Uncle Joseph." I respond with a look of feigned mortification.
She grins. "You came in pretty early this morning."
"Birthday celebration." I respond a little too quickly.
"What did you do?"
"Hung out with some of Sloan's work friends."
"Oh? I've never heard you mention anyone really but Sloan and that other girl. The one who's a little on the chunky side."
"That's Tiny."
"Interesting name."
"Yeah." I giggle.
My heart jumps at the double knock coming from the front door. Juliette's checking on some sort of pie in the oven, so I offer to grab the door.
"I'll get it."
"Thanks honey."
I open the door to a grinning Roman.
"Happy birthday, Duchess."
Seeing him standing there in all his badass glory just makes me relive the last twelve hours, and I can't help but smile in response.
"Thank you, Roman."
"Roman is it now?" He asks in an amused tone while walking through the threshold.
I roll my eyes back at him playfully.
I think I may have called out his last name about a hundred times last night. That's how unbelievable the sex was between us. That's how passionate it always is. And I know I don't have much past experience to pull from, but something tells me that this isn't common or typical. Not if I go by some of the stories Sloan tells me about her sexcapades. Sure, she has a lot of fun, but there's never been a man that's ruined her for all the others.
That is what Roman is to me. Someone who's ruined the possibility for any others to come after him.
"I'm here to take you out for the day."
"I can't." I respond looking confused. Didn't Juliette tell him?
"Why?"
"My parents are coming for dinner. Juliette's been baking all morning. Didn't she tell you?"
"What time?"
"Seven."
"I'll have you back way before then."
"Roman, is that you?" Juliette calls from the kitchen.
"Yes gorgeous."
"I swear I don't understand why you never use your key."
"Just trying to be respectful of your privacy. Never know what you and the old man could be doing in here." He jests.
I knock him on the shoulder with my fist.
"You're so gross," I say.
"Yeah, Roman, you're so gross." My uncle rumbles suddenly as he enters the room.
"Whatever Joseph. Listen I'm taking the birthday girl out for an hour or so."
"Is that right? Juliette come out here please."
Juliette walks in the living room while wiping her hands on a kitchen cloth.
"What is it?"
"I'm taking Elizabeth out for a few hours. I'll bring her back in time for your little family dinner." Roman emphasizes the words little and family with disdain.
A look of shame crosses my aunt's face then irritation.
"Joseph, honey, didn't you invite Roman to the dinner tonight?"
"Did you tell me to?"
"I thought it was understood." She says curtly. "You talk to him every other day about business, I thought you'd mention it in passing."
"Oh, I thought you would have texted him or something. Roman and I don't talk about personal stuff when we're meeting about business. But you're more than welcome to join us, Roman. Elizabeth's parents will be here for the night. Should be lots of fun."
There's no mistaking from the tone of his voice that he'd rather pull splinters from underneath his fingernails than break bread with my father.
"Well he doesn't have to–" I start saying to give Roman an out. I don't know if I want him here to witness the carnage that may take place over dinner. Not after I made such a stink the other night about all the Masterson dysfunction.
"What time should we be back for dinner?" He asks with a steely look in his eyes.
"Dinner starts at seven, but my brother is always early, so maybe you two should be back here by no later then six." Juliette says.
"No problem. We'll be here. You ready Elizabeth?"
"Um ... where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
"Do I need to change?"
All I have on is a crisp white v-neck T-shirt and a pair of my favorite jeans. Luckily I did make sure to style my hair and put on a little make-up.
"Nope. You're fine."
"All right." I look at Juliette and Joseph. I can't read their faces right now, but I don't think it's good. "I'll be back on time. I swear." I assure them.
"Mm-hmm." My uncle mutters.
"You better." Juliette says right after that.
***
"Why is Mr. Tibbs in the car?"
"He missed you."
"Seriously? He hates me. I think he wants to eat me."
"No I want to eat you," he teases. "Unbutton those jeans right now."
"What!"
"I need to do a spot check."
"You are ridiculous and in front of Mr. Tibbs no less." I complain as I actually do the ridiculous and unbutton my jeans in the middle of broad daylight in his Range Rover.
"He likes to watch."
Roman is parked a few cars away from the house, so even if Juliette peeked out the window, she wouldn't see us, but plenty of her neighbors definitely would. Neighbors that she's quite friendly with.
I stress about it for literally only ten more seconds, until Roman slides his right hand down and inside the front of my jeans. He uses four of his fingers to spread my thighs apart and his middle one to slide and dip inside of me.
"Warm and wet. Tell me, Duchess, did you get wet the moment you saw me at the door? Or was it something I said after that?"
He continues to slide and dip deeper inside of me and I can feel every ridge on the rough pads of his fingers.
"Shit." I mumble and moan simultaneously under my breath.
"What's that?"
"The moment I saw you at the door."
"I see."
I'm getting braver the more I'm with Roman and his fingers feel so good right now, I slide my hand over and grab in between his legs. His cock is brick hard, and I start wondering the same thing about him.
"Has your dick been this hard since I answered the door or was it something I said?" I ask breathlessly as he continues to rapidly move his finger across my clit.
"My dick stays hard for you twenty-four seven, Duchess." He growls. "That's it baby. Fuck you're still tight as shit. I must not be working
this pussy hard enough."
"Masterson." I exhale harshly from his dirty words and his fancy finger work. One of my hands is gripping the handle on the side of the door tightly, the other is holding on to his massive bulge for dear life.
"Come for me baby."
My muscles start trembling and the turbulence of my increased heart rate is either going to kill me or ... kill me.
I pop my eyes open and look straight into his shiny ink black ones and when he says the word, "Now."
I scream.
And then I shudder and tumble down into what it feels like to come slowly down off of a Masterson orgasm. There's a distinct afterglow. With his lips, his hands, or his cock ... it doesn't matter. It all feels absolutely spectacular before, during and after.
"Happy birthday baby." He chuckles while sucking me off of his fingers.
So frackin' nasty.
"Thanks." I say fixing my hair and my clothes in a daze. "Is this why you came to kidnap me today?"
"Are you complaining?"
"No but–"
"Don't worry, I didn't just bring you out for this, but I can't lie, Duchess. I love to watch you come. It's one of my favorite things to do."
I smile. "So where are you taking me?"
I turn my head towards the backseat to check on Mr. Tibbs. He's completely knocked out or severely unimpressed with our performance.
"Well I have a little celebration of my own."
"Yeah?"
"Remember that big client I told you I was working on?"
"The basketball player?"
"Baseball."
"Right baseball. His name was ... Mendez."
"That's right. Well his interview went off without a hitch, so we finally got paid."
"Oh that's great, Roman! Was it a lot of money?"
"Yes. An obscene amount of money. So don't bug the fuck out when I show you your birthday gift. Remember that I can afford it. Remember that you're worth it."
I can't imagine what this nut ball has gone and bought me now, but I can tell by the lead up that I'm probably not going to like it very much.
While Roman starts driving towards our destination, he turns his palm up and lays it flat on the arm rest in between our two seats. It's the first time he's ever done this; and I'm pretty sure it's his way of asking me to hold his hand. I stare at him a bit blankly, and he gives me a quick return glance then another to his hand, so I place mine inside of his. And then he clasps our fingers together and smirks.
This is definitely headed into serious relationship territory, and I don't think I could stop myself even if I wanted to. It just feels too damn good. He feels too good.
After about fifteen minutes of driving in traffic, Roman pulls into the lot of a small commercial property near South Street.
"We're here."
"What's this?"
"This is a building I just bought."
"Umm ... that's nice, but how is this a birthday gift for me?" I ask pausing to consider the look on his face.
"Come on inside."
I hold onto the the leather leash, as both Mr. Tibbs and I stand quietly by while Roman uses about three different keys to unlock the storm door and then a second heavy metal door behind it. I walk in and am amazed by the space. Like many commercial spaces in this area, you don't know how spectacular it really is until you get inside.
There's a huge open space with a massive loft area that spans the entire width of the building. There are also two separate moderately sized offices, as well as a third smaller room off to the side. There is a full bathroom complete with stone floors and tile. It's absolutely gorgeous. But I'm still confused.
"You like it?" He asks.
"It's amazing Roman."
"Well I'm glad you think so, because it's the new headquarters of School Bucks."
I damn near choke on my own saliva.
"What!"
"An office for you, the other office for your full-time coder, the loft space you can use as your bedroom; and maybe you can use the smaller room as a closet or something."
I'm stunned speechless and I decide to think really carefully about what I'm going to say next. I know he did this as a gesture of affection, and not just because he likes to throw his money around, because that's not him. But accepting a huge gift like this from him means a lot of things. Particularly that I'm going against the very thing I said I'd never do. Funding and building my business completely on my own.
"I know what you're thinking, Elizabeth, but listen. It's still on you to find the money to pay the coder and anyone else you hire. It's still on you to pay the taxes and upkeep on this place. And if it really is fucking with you; you can buy me out when the business starts turning a profit."
Roman walks up behind me and encircles me in his embrace.
"Until then, just accept this for what it is, a gift for my girl."
I squeeze my eyes tightly, not completely understanding, why I'm fighting back tears that are threatening to flow.
Do I love this man?
"Thank you, Roman." I turn inside his embrace and tilt my head up to face him. "This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. No wait, sweet isn't the right word. I just–"
"I get it, Duchess."
His mouth begins to kiss the salty tears away from around my eyes.
"Will you accept my gift?" He asks solemnly, and I know for sure that it's a loaded question.
Will I accept this building?
Will I accept him?
Will I accept everything that comes with ... loving Roman Masterson?
I tug on his T-shirt and pull him in closer to me. We begin kissing slowly, leisurely, silently. His tongue exploring my mouth as if it's searching for an answer to his question. When I think he's about to start asking me again, I slowly slide one of my fingers inside his mouth to shut him up and instinctively he pulls and sucks on it.
With my free hand I slide it under his shirt, running my fingers over his taut washboard abs and his chiseled pecs, sending what I think is a slight chill through his body. He enjoys my touch just as much as I crave his.
My finger pops out of his mouth and he pulls his shirt up and over his head. Then mine. He quickly unfastens my jeans and yanks them down.
"Step out." He orders.
I step out of my jeans, kick them to the side, then wrap my arms around his neck as he lifts me up and against one of the walls in this vast empty space. I decide to do the honors and slide my bra straps off my shoulders so that he has easy to access to my breasts. He swiftly lifts me a smidgen higher and encloses his very warm and delicious mouth on my left breast and pulls hard.
I gasp.
"The only fucking sounds I want to hear out of your mouth are the words I accept. No moaning, no screaming, and definitely no coming until I say so. Are we clear, Duchess?"
I nod quietly.
"Good job baby. Now hold on. I can't fucking wait to get inside you."
I hold onto Roman's neck and waist tightly with my arms and legs while he unfastens his jeans and slides them and his pair of black boxers down.
"My test results finally came in this morning. I'm clean. Can we skip the rubber?" He asks in a thick, heavy voice that's almost impossible to resist. Lucky for both of us, I want him inside me bareback just as much as he does.
I grin and nod in agreement. His eyes start to dance like I've given him the best present ever on Christmas morning.
He kicks his clothes to the side, slightly bends his knees, then lowers me slowly onto the thick, wide tip of his cock. Something about the angle of this position makes me feel extra full and it takes every ounce of strength the good Lord gave me not to yelp out his name in vain.
He continues to ram up inside me over and over while I bury my face in the side of his neck to muffle my sounds of pleasure; and while I love how he's making me feel, I also want to kick his bossy ass for this bullshit quiet rule he's laid down. I guess I didn't realize how sex without a condom was going to make things feel
better times frackin' infinity.
"I can't!" I scream.
"You can't what." Roman grunts as he continues to bang my brains out against the wall of what I think is now my new home.
"I. Can't. Be. Frackin. Quiet."
Roman pulls his head back and grins with smug satisfaction. "I know. So say the shit I need to hear."
"I–"
He thrusts up and deep and it knocks the wind out of me for a moment. I try speaking again.
"I ... accept."
"Finally." He grunts.
"Now can I come, Masterson?" I practically beg.
"Yes baby. Right the frack now."
And for the first time ever, Mr. Tibbs and I have a mutual meeting of the minds, and we both howl over the next few minutes in tandem.
I'm howling in utter ecstasy.
He's probably telling me to shut up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ELIZABETH
I'm in a house with a variety of characters. Two men that look like they'd rather be anywhere but here. One man that I'm sitting next to who keeps looking at me like a piece of chicken. And two women that keep bringing out enough dishes and desserts that could they feed a third world country.
Everyone is trying to be on their best behavior especially Roman. I can tell that he's trying to make a good impression on my parents, and I love him more for the effort, although I fear that it's all in vain. My father is still staring at him suspiciously out of the side of his eyes.
"Dinner was delicious as usual, Juliette." Roman says.
"Thanks sweetie. Would anyone like coffee?"
"Oh I'll help you with that." My mother offers.
But the minute the two of them leave, something in the air quickly alters.
"So, Elizabeth, where did Roman take you for your birthday today?" Joseph asks.
I'm a little taken aback by the question. It came out of nowhere and after he says it, I notice the change in Roman's entire posture. Based on the timing of the question, it's almost as if Joseph is picking a fight for my father's benefit or maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe he's just genuinely curious.
"Umm ... well." I swallow thickly.
"I took her to her new house."
"New house?" My father asks.
"Well–"
"How is that a birthday activity?" Uncle Joseph interrupts.
The Cousins Series Boxed Set Page 35
