by Piper Rayne
“Like you’re doing right now?” She widens her eyes.
“Just say yes.”
“Get up,” she says between clenched teeth.
“Not until you say yes.” I unbutton my chef’s jacket. It’s getting hot in here.
“You want to marry me?” She leans back in her chair, crossing her arms.
“Yes.” I nod.
“Why?” She’s so cool and calm.
“I just told you.” A crease forms between my eyebrows.
“No, you told me what you had to offer.”
I wipe my forehead and notice that all the people nearby are staring over at us.
“Okay.” I try to swallow even though my mouth is dry. “I love that you’re hard-headed and stubborn.”
“Really?” She laughs.
“I love the mother you are to Calista.”
Her head moves right and then left like she’s weighing that one, then she focuses on me, waiting for more.
“I love the way I asked you to stay and you did. How I know it’s not easy for you to accept help, but you did in order to stay.”
She smiles. Maybe I’m winning her over. Hopefully wherever that lawyer guy is, he knows I won this. I want to stand up, rip my shirt open, and say she’s mine. They are mine.
“And you love me?” she asks.
Shit. Why is she asking me that?
“I…”
I could lie. I mean I do love her as a person and as the mother of my child, but love love? I’d love to fuck her, but I don’t think that’s what she means. Do I even know what love is? I’ve never stuck around long enough with anyone else to know. I see the way Austin looks at Holly and the way Wyatt looks at Brooklyn, but I don’t think I look at Harley that way.
They look like a lost puppy who just found its owner. I look at Harley like I’m a stray dog who just got served a big juicy steak on a silver platter. I’m not sure they’re the same thing.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She stands and walks away, but not behind the bar, she heads toward the kitchen.
“You’re saying no?” I follow along behind her.
“Of course, I’m saying no,” she says, bypassing Colin and heading right into my office.
“Why?” I stop, but she continues until she’s in my office and spins around on the balls of her feet.
“Do you really have to ask? I asked you if you loved me and I’m pretty sure you had to swallow down the bile rising up your throat.” Her hands are on her hips and her eyebrows are so high you’d think she painted them on.
Colin looks to her and me and back to her.
Jesus, I’m not having this conversation in front of him.
I do what she wants me to do and I go into my office. “Colin give me ten minutes.” I shut the door.
I’m not even behind my desk before she opens the door back up and peeks her head out. “It’ll only take two minutes.” She spins around and closes the door again. “Rome, do you really want to marry me?”
“Yes.” I nod emphatically. She can’t take my daughter away from me.
“And if I told you that I declined my first offer of wedded bliss today?”
Oh, thank fuck. Relief washes through me and my muscles that were coiled so tightly a minute ago, begin to relax.
“Would you still want to marry me?”
“Well…” It’s not the worst idea. We have the chemistry. I have a feeling our bedroom would never grow cold.
“Exactly. Oh, you irrational man.” She chuckles and rounds my desk and leans her ass against the edge. I’ve yet to sit down, so my eyes fall over her short skirt and nylon covered legs.
“I just couldn’t have you marrying him.”
The jealousy that surged through me when he got down on one knee was almost too much to bear. I came to my office and paced until my plan was to beat the guy at his own game.
“Well, no worries. I told you I won’t take Calista away from you and I mean that. So, no need to act so impulsive.” She smiles up at me and my gaze falls to her slender neck since her hair is up. A few erratic blonde strands have fallen out and I want desperately to tuck them behind her ears.
“Harley,” I say, stepping closer.
“Nope.” She puts her hand up. “You were only worried about Calista leaving Lake Starlight. Do not transfer that onto me. You’re confusing the two.”
I take her hand and lower it down to the desk. “What if I’m not?” I whisper.
I can hardly believe it myself. Yeah, I don’t want to marry her but shit, I think I might want to do something. I definitely want to sleep with her, but Harley’s not a fling. Not with me anyway. If I cross that line, I have to be prepared for either the fallout or the follow through.
“You are. Trust me.” She looks away and stands up. “I need to get back to work.”
She rounds the desk and her hand is on the doorknob before she turns back to me. “Do me a favor and don’t ever propose to a girl again if you don’t love her. The love part is the sticky stuff that binds a marriage together. Without it, there’s no chance for a happily ever after.”
I say nothing and she leaves my office, shutting the door behind her.
I fall into my seat and run my hands through my hair. What the hell has happened to me?
Harley comes into the kitchen as Colin is finishing washing the dishes and I’m cleaning up the stove and floor.
“I put the closed sign up.”
“Thanks. Who has Calista?” I ask. I’d been hoping to get out of here early tonight, but with the whole proposal fiasco, I did what I do best, and I poured myself into cooking, so I didn’t have to think about what is or is not happening with Harley.
“Brooklyn and Wyatt are at Savannah’s. She had that business meeting in Idaho.”
I nod, vaguely remembering something being mentioned. Harley’s been the one in control of Calista’s schedule, even telling me when to come by.
“All done.” Colin dries his hands and stares between the two of us for a second. “Okay… well, I’ll see you two tomorrow.”
“Bye,” I say. “Thanks.”
“Bye Colin.” Harley’s finger runs a figure eight on the stainless steel counter while she bites her lip.
The energy in the room feels charged and somewhat awkward. I need for it to disappear if only to clear my head for two seconds.
“Are you hungry?” I ask her once I hear the backdoor open and close.
“I’ll grab something at home.”
“Here, I have some leftover pasta. I can heat it up quick. I haven’t eaten either.” I open the fridge, thankful it’s working once again so it can reduce the heat level rising inside me.
“Rome,” Harley says, but she’s closer now. “This whole awkwardness between us... I hate it.”
I shut the fridge door to find her leaning against the counter, having slipped one shoe off and running her foot along the other leg. Is she trying to seduce me?
“You’re the one who told me I was confusing my feelings.” I place the pasta on the counter behind her and step to her side.
“I know.” Her eyes dip to my lips. “I should go relieve Brooklyn and Wyatt,” she says, but she doesn’t move.
“What are we doing?” I ask, my neck bending ever so slightly toward her.
“Something really stupid,” she says, leaning forward a bit.
“This could destroy everything we’ve built.”
Her lips are millimeters from mine, and I can smell the lemon from the water she uses as garnish during her shifts.
“It could. It probably will.” She nods.
I stop before breaching the final distance. “Is that a no?”
She sighs. “I’m not sure.”
I pull back and grab the pasta to plate and heat up. “Then we’re not doing it.”
“What? I thought we were speaking our minds, putting our worries out there?” She comes up behind me, her chest pressing to my back, her hands sliding in front of me, stopping me from putting the
I’m not sure I’m in any frame of mind to answer. My dick is a straight rod in my pants, begging me to put my conscience aside and fulfill its wish of coming deep inside her.
I turn and place my hand on her cheek. “No, but I also don’t know what will happen. I mean I can promise you the world right now, but I’ve never had a relationship, Harley. I’ve never even tried to have one. Usually I lose interest, or I’m too scared to care.”
Her hand covers mine on her cheek. “That makes two of us. I had Shane and a few boyfriends over the years, but no one who could destroy my life as much as you could. I mean we have a daughter, that means this has to be about more than just sex.”
“But?” I say because there has to be a but, because there’s one for me.
“Is there a but for you?”
“I asked first,” I say, and she laughs, her head falling back and my thumb tracing down her neck. I can’t wait to lick that soft skin.
“But I do want to give it a try. I’ve spent the entire shift debating it in my head and I was ready to say goodnight and leave, but then I looked at you and it was game over.”
I lean down to seal our declarations with a kiss. Neither one of us knows what we want after this, but we’re definitely on the same page for tonight.
“Wait. What’s your but?” She rears back, dodging my lips.
“My but is that I want you so fucking bad and more than any other woman who’s ever been in my life. I can promise you this, I’ll be honest with you. I won’t run.”
“Okay,” she says, staring up at me with heavy-lidded eyes.
“Okay.”
And finally, my lips descend and press to hers and I get to taste her again. All those worries vanish and it’s just the two of us like it was the first time.
Twenty-One
Harley
The kiss I shared with Rome two years ago has lingered within me. I tried to forget the way he perfected the soft and gentle touch mixed with firm lips. I knew then that I was one of many in his life because a guy isn’t born knowing how to kiss like that, he learns it from practice. But the minute his lips hit mine I don’t feel like one of many—I feel like his.
He pushes me back toward the counter, his thigh separating my legs, sliding my skirt higher up my thighs. My fingers fumble with the buttons of his chef jacket. He tastes like the bourbon sauce he kept sampling through the night, and I take the initiative to deepen our kiss. Rome doesn’t hold back, his hands gripping my hips so hard he might leave a mark. I revel in his touch, every finger indent a small revelation of how much he wants me.
My mind transports me back to that night outside his hotel room when he stopped us right before sliding in his keycard. My back was planted against the wall and his thigh exactly where it is now. There have been times when I’m walking through a cologne section of a department store and his smell would wrap around me, stopping me in my tracks. That night was one of pure passion, one like I’d never, still to this day, had with anyone else. Thoughts of his hands, his lips, his tender touch and demanding tongue, all of it would rush to the forefront of my mind demanding attention.
This isn’t like then. Back then I had no strings, no attachments to him and I thought that’s what I loved about it. A stranger in bed who would disappear the next morning. Until the plus sign showed up on the stick two months later.
But now he’s the father of my daughter. My boss and for some reason, it all feels like too much…
“Stop thinking,” he murmurs along my lips, his hand brushing the hair off my neck.
“Are we being stupid?” My head rolls back when his tongue slides up my neck.
“We’re human.” His mouth takes my chin and his thumb caresses my jawline.
He’s different tonight. I need to stop comparing this to the last time I had him.
Our relationship is different. This isn’t a one-night stand, this is… well, whatever it is, I’ll be seeing him tomorrow morning and every day after that.
Rome is right though, we decided to do this, and it all feels too good to turn back now. Damn the consequences. We’re adults. We’ll handle it.
He picks me up and puts me on the counter, his hands running up my inner thighs parting them for him. Finally, I have all the buttons on his chef jacket open and I slide the fabric over his shoulders where it falls to the floor. I groan seeing him still clothed in a white shirt, which only makes him laugh and he grabs the hem and pulls it off his body.
My mouth salivates as I watch each ab in his stomach contract with his movements. Without warning, he rips open my blouse and his lips crash to mine.
Oh my God, that was hot.
“Screw this.” He tears his lips from mine, slides me off the counter, and takes me to his office, kicking the door shut behind us. My skirt is up around my waist now.
“I know.” Keeping me in his arms, he takes one hand and swipes everything off half his desk, his computer still sitting in the opposite corner. “I need you right fucking now.”
He unbuttons his pants, his eyes smoldering like kindling before the log pops and explodes. His pants stay open and he molds his hand on my cheek, his thumb brushing my bottom lip. “Undress for me?”
I smile, my fingers pulling my ripped shirt further apart. I lick my bottom lip and he takes the opportunity to push his thumb into my mouth as I twirl my tongue around it, showing him exactly how I’ll suck him off when the time comes.
I let the fabric of my shirt fall down my arms and his gaze dips, his hand sliding down my body until he takes the cup of my bra and pulls it down, his wet thumb running a circle around my nipple. Reaching behind me, I unclasp my bra and the straps fall down my arms until it lands in my lap.
Rome pushes his pants down, stepping out of them and sits down on his office chair.
Our eyes haven’t left one another for a second and I slide off the desk, unzipping my skirt from behind and letting it fall to the floor along with his pants. I remove my nylons and I’m about to have my panties follow but Rome wheels his chair closer to me, stopping me.
“I’m barely hanging on, if you take those off now, it’s over.”
I smile, loving the effect I have on him. He’s not shy to reveal his desire and that’s making me wetter.
“Straddle me, baby.” He taps his legs.
I slide my legs on either side of him, his boxer briefs and my silk panties the only barrier to keep him from sliding into me. He wastes no time, taking my nipple into his mouth. I use his shoulders as an anchor and arch my back to give him full access to both my breasts.
A moan escapes as he kneads and sucks the flesh into his hot mouth. His hands explore, his thumb running along my throat, his tongue following every nip and bite to my eager breast.
I grind against the rigid length beneath me and my brain wants my hand to descend to get me off, but I don’t because I know Rome will get us there. We’ve been here before. I’m growing impatient, the more his tongue glides across my skin and his groans and growls set fire to my libido because he can’t get enough of me. Me. This gorgeous man wants me.
My gaze catches his as he looks up at me, sliding his tongue along my peaked nipple. I’m done. It’s over. I’ll never recover from him this time. It’s ten times better this time around because I know him. He’s not the hot guy at the bar who turned me on with his alluring eyes and flirtatious smirk. It’s Rome. The father of my baby. The chef who took a chance and opened a fancy restaurant. The middle Bailey child who lost his parents too young. The crazy twin whose rebellious teenage self left a lasting impression on everyone in this town. A reputation he seems to want to dispel. The man who moved back here to be close to his family.
“Please,” I moan, and his hands slide to the nape of my neck, pulling me down to him.
“Top drawer,” he says right before he catches me in another soul-searching, suck-all-the-air-from-my-lungs, leave-me-gasping kiss.
I mindlessly open the drawer with his lips still attached to mine, touch and feel past pens and note pads and a ruler. Hmm, that could be fun. Another time. When the foil packet slips between my two fingers, I want to sing halleluiah.
I draw back and Rome plucks it from my grasp. “Let’s hope it works how it’s supposed to this time around.” He laughs.
My forehead lands on his watching him pull himself out of his boxers and sliding the latex down his hard length.
“We have a failsafe this time,” I say.
He stares up at me clearly confused.
“I’ve been on the pill since she was born.”
“Double protection this time. Perfect.” He shoots me that panty disintegrate smile and I could just melt into a puddle right here and now.
His masterful fingers slide the fabric of my soaked panties to the side and I rise up to get him underneath before slipping his length into me.
We both groan from the pleasure of him filling me.
“Shit. You feel so fucking good,” he says, brushing my hair from my forehead.
How can he be so tender and so demanding all at once? Like he’s got the whole thing under control and all I have to do is follow his lead.
He glides his hands down the sides of my ribcage and goose bumps follow their path like an avalanche.
“You okay?” he asks. This time he tucks my hair behind my ear.
“I’m perfect.”
His lips once again take mine, but they’re slow and methodic and dare I say, loving.
I rise up on his length and his hands run up and down my thighs, his thumbs sliding along my inner thighs while I shift my hips up and back. The friction across my clit is amazing. His thumbs grow closer and closer to my core every time I move until they’re there, lightly brushing my clit each time I come down.
Our kiss ends and our foreheads rest on one another’s as we each focus between us, watching me move over him.
His hands skim over my skin like silk until he grabs my ass, widening me and slowly takes over the rhythm, increasing the pace until we’re both panting, and our bodies are slicked with the sheen of sweat. With him taking control, I pull my hands off the arms of the chair and wrap them around his neck.
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