He shook her hand and chuckled. “Best critique I’ve ever had. Please feel free to use those exact words on Yelp.”
She gave a good laugh.
The captain saluted her and Roman. “Joking of course. But it doesn’t hurt to pander, right?”
“Mr. Bishop?”
A new voice joined the conversation. Everyone turned and looked at the same moment. It was the man in the business suit. Matty instantly took a few steps backward until he bumped into them. She put her hand on one shoulder, and Roman covered the other.
The pilot melted away. She studied the man with the formal bearing. He was older than her but not by much. His suit was slightly rumpled, and he had an odd way of standing. Not exactly full attention—it was something more along the lines of fist-clenched rigidness. There was an American flag pin on his lapel. He was looking directly at Roman.
Something clicked, and she knew two things. First, he was either an ex-cop or former military. And second? Roman was either his boss or someone with so much authority that the guy started sweating. She sensed an invisible salute. Oh, my.
“Conaway.”
She stood stock-still but swung her gaze to Roman when he used an authoritative voice she’d not heard before. He didn’t utter another sound, and she almost started to laugh. Power plays were so much fun to watch when it was other people.
“The luggage is handled, sir. When you’re ready, the car is across the tarmac.”
Roman nodded and patted Matty’s shoulder. The business suit guy never broke rank.
A tense few seconds ticked by in silence. Would Roman introduce them or was this guy too far down the ladder?
“Matthew,” Roman started with a gentleness that warmed Kelly’s heart. “Let me introduce you. This is John Conaway. Say hello.”
Tick tock. An uncomfortable minute passed. She knew what Roman was doing. By introducing Matty first, he declared the boy’s status. The gesture was so sweet she wanted to cry.
Finally, her brave little protector took one and a half very tentative steps away from her. With Roman’s hand still protectively perched upon his shoulder, he looked up at the big man. Roman nodded and smiled encouragingly.
He didn’t offer his hand, I mean, after all, the kid was only three. But he did use his words and in doing so sent waves of proud joy filling her up.
“Hello. I’m Matthew James.”
Kelly choked on a coughing laugh. Even an outsider would have to admit that the way the kid wielded his full name was funny as shit. He was the decider, thank you very much, about who was okay and who needed an eye kept on them. She had to talk to him about letting Roman off the hook. He’d more than earned a ticket to the Matty show.
John Conaway answered as formally as she knew he would.
“Good evening, Mr. James.”
Then, and only then, did he look at her. She forced her muscles to remain still when he subjected her to a visual once-over that, if they were at Shorty’s, would end with her smacking him across the face.
Roman’s reaction wasn’t pretty. And he didn’t introduce her. If she wasn’t sure what kind of man he was before now, all lingering questions were squashed when he ended the weird encounter with a terse bark of commands.
Snapping his fingers, Roman’s hand shot out, palm up. “Keys. You ride with the luggage.”
Oh fuck. Kicked to the curb like an old duffle bag. Whoa. Shockingly turned on by this new side to her lover, she admitted that if they were alone and it wasn’t the wrong time of the month, she’d be climbing him like a coconut tree.
Matty, who read the tea leaves better than a fake gypsy at the county fair, snickered when the business suit dutifully handed over the keys. The deep red flush on Conaway’s face told her he knew how badly he’d fucked up. She didn’t have to wonder what the conversation would be like when Roman tore this guy a new one. Whatever was said, it wasn’t going to be friendly.
When John Conaway scurried from the plane, Kelly knew they’d seen the last of him.
To his credit, Roman didn’t dwell. He had an interesting way of keeping them focused and moving forward. After dropping a few jokes that changed the subject, he shuffled them out of the plane, down the short steps and across the tarmac in a mad dash for the black SUV that roared to life at the click of a button on the key ring Roman clutched.
She scrambled into the passenger seat and shivered like crazy. The cold was bitter and cut straight through her clothes as if they weren’t there. Roman got Matty settled in the back seat.
“This is so cool,” she heard him murmur. Flipping around to see what was happening she was startled to find him strapped into a very sophisticated looking safety seat. Complete with cup and snack holders.
“Kiki,” he cooed with childlike wonder. “Can you get one of these for the Bandit?”
She didn’t know how to tell him that the Bandit was a thing of the past. A lump formed in her throat.
After checking to be sure she was adequately seat-belted, Roman joined them, buckled in, adjusted the heat settings, clapped his hands and announced, “Okay M’lady and young Master James. Welcome to New York City. Keep your hands and feet safely inside the vehicle at all times.”
Matty cracked up giggling.
“Approximate travel time is who the hell knows, so sit back and enjoy the nighttime view. Next stop, Tribeca. Ready?”
“Ready,” Matty shouted enthusiastically from the back seat.
Roman’s head swiveled, and he pinned her with a look. “Ready?”
His body language was sending loud signals. With his hands off the wheel and resting on his thighs, he was making a major statement. He kept insisting nothing happened without her consent. Even now he was giving her a choice.
“Ready,” she said in a hushed murmur.
His answering smile was filled with admiration. She wasn’t so sure she deserved the response. At this point, she was in wing and a prayer territory.
Hearing the low rumble of his growling stomach, Roman gave a comical grimace and a hasty apology.
“Sorry. Us growing boys need a slab of protein every few hours, right Matthew?”
Matty stopped jumping up and down long enough to fix Roman with a serious look. “Kiki says it’s up to me.”
“What is?” he asked.
“You can call me Matty if ya’ want,” the precocious youngster informed him and Kelly. His blasé shrug was fucking adorable.
Being waved through to the inner circle by a preschool aged kid was a novel experience. Roman afforded the unexpected compliment all the seriousness it deserved.
“Thank you, Matty,” he replied. “I won’t let you down.”
He wasn’t sure why he said that last thing but what can ya’ do?
The elevator doors opened. They stepped into the car. After inserting a key card, the lift started upward.
Kelly was shivering from the cold. The five minutes of exposure, when they went from parking to the elevator, gave the bitterly frigid temperatures a chance to grab hold. He had to admit that it was freezing. New Yorkers didn’t ordinarily bitch about such things. It was a waste of time, but the extreme cold pushed the city to the limit.
With Matty on one side holding his hand, he swung the other arm around Kelly’s shoulder. He liked the feeling of family. This is what was missing from his life. This was what changed his Justice brother friends out in the Arizona desert. This is what transformed Liam Ashforth.
The elevator door swung open, and home filled his view. Familiar sights, sounds and smells welcomed as he ushered them into what for now at least was home base for their new life.
The lights were on. He recognized a tune playing softly in the background. From the small foyer they stepped into the den. A modest flower arrangement in a Mason jar sat on the small round table against the wall that separated the kitchen and dining area on one side of the apartment from the living room on the other.
A sense of pride filled him up. This was his home. He wanted them to like i
t and be comfortable.
From the kitchen, he smelled the aroma of coffee, and on the far edge of his peripheral vision, he noted that the fireplace was blazing.
He chuckled and wondered how close Rhi cut it. She probably paced back and forth in front of the fire, waiting to hear his plane landed. It would be exactly what he’d expect of her too. To obsess over the details. The fine print.
She understood the importance of a first impression. It was good to know he had a partner in this unusual situation. A partner equally as invested in everyone’s happiness as he was.
The nickel tour followed. His apartment wasn’t huge. It was larger than most New York condos, but nothing like the modern, spacious penthouse Liam and Rhiann had.
Matty lost his shit when they entered his new room. Emotion clawed at Roman’s heart. What greeted them wasn’t Rhiann’s doing. It was one hundred percent Liam, and he seriously wanted to cry.
Taking advantage of the fourteen-foot ceilings, a jaw-dropping custom bunk bed sitting atop a desk and workspace area with sturdy ladder access and adequate side rails sat on one of the long walls. One end of the wood structure was fashioned into a bookshelf. A bookshelf filled with all sorts of books and dinosaur models. On the red brick wall hung a huge lifelike canvas of some exceptionally friendly-looking dinosaurs. Two low dressers sat end to end with a chair and small ottoman next to the closet doors. It was night, so the shades had been drawn on the huge oversized window at the end of the room.
It was his jaw’s turn to hit the floor. Wasn’t this every boy’s dream room? There was nothing he would do differently if it were up to him.
He quickly calmed Matty down when the kid went off like a firecracker, rapturously expressing his thanks. No way was he taking credit for this.
“Hey,” he said with a big laugh to draw the kid’s attention. “I’m just as surprised as you. You know what?” he barked. “I bet this was my friend. The guy Kelly told you about. I might have mentioned that you’re a dino-buff. He is too.”
Roman shrugged and smiled at Matty’s astonished expression and Kelly’s scowl.
The doorbell chimed. He glanced at his watch.
“That will be our bags. Why don’t you two poke around and make yourselves at home? This is your place now, okay?”
He didn’t wait for a response. He just put a hand around Kelly’s neck and pulled her in for a quick, wet kiss. Then he marched off to activate the security camera, send the elevator down and crossed his fingers hoping that Liam hadn’t inadvertently stepped in it.
Who knew a bubble bath could be so…heavenly?
With a long, drawn-out sigh, Kelly scooted lower in the nickel-plated cast-iron soaking tub. She felt decadent. Like a kept woman in a classy bordello.
Laughing at the fanciful thought, she closed her eyes and willed the tenacious tension to take a hike. The water soothed her nerves and let the jumble of thoughts bouncing in her head settle down.
It happened. They left the woods and now here they were in what had to be the most famous of cities, the Big Apple. N-Y-C.
And they hadn’t been consumed by flames when they stepped off the plane, held up at gunpoint, or been sold into slavery.
Dramatic? Hell, yeah.
Something she should feel guilty about?
No.
She could do this. Right?
Scooping handfuls of warm water over her shoulders, out loud she murmured, “Maybe.”
She thought about Roman mediating a battle of wills that broke out earlier between her and Matty. When she tried calling him out of his room to eat something, he’d dug in his heels, and refused to budge. It was the big man and his stern, no-nonsense swagger that got the unusually belligerent boy in line.
If things got any weirder, well…
There was a light knock as Roman called through the door. She detected warmth and amusement in his voice.
“Honey? Are you in the tub?”
No. She was knitting a sweater! Sheesh. Of course she was in the tub.
“Are there bubbles? Please tell me there are.”
She laughed. “Seriously, Roman. What is wrong with you?”
“Yeah, we’ve covered that already. Back to the bubbles,” he chuckled. “May I peek? Please, please, please.”
Was he serious? Befuddled, she called back, “Whatever for?”
“Well first of all,” he drawled. “This is the first time the tub’s been used. I’m a shower guy. And more importantly, there’s never been a sexy sprite draped in bubbles sitting in my bathroom before. I’d say that warrants a peek, don’t you?”
“Never?”
“Cross my heart. Never. Things you need to know…”
She held her breath.
“There hasn’t been anyone seriously in my life since…well, in a very long time. Every step we take, we take together. This is all new to me too.”
“Hold on,” she answered. “Give me a sec.”
Turning the water on full blast and letting some out at the same time, she squirted a huge glob of bubble bath directly into the churning stream and created a poofy cloud of fragrant, glistening suds.
She scooted around, sloshing water almost over the sides and assumed what she hoped was a sexy pose. Only the ambient lights were on, and at one end of the tub alcove, a thick pillar candle flickered from an arched niche in the wall.
A giggle shot from nowhere. Oh my god. She was role-playing her woman in a bordello fantasy. How damn funny was that?
“You can peek now,” she purred in a breathy voice.
The soft snick of the doorknob turning upped her excitement level. The anticipation was spine tingling. Slowly, like in a movie, the door swung open. Roman appeared, his large presence filling the space.
He stepped further into the bathroom, staying in the shadows beyond the tub alcove—moving side to side, taking in every angle, and devouring her with his eyes.
“Carina.” His voice was smoky and seductive. “If seeing you like this gives me a heart attack, I’m dying a happy man.”
She swirled her hands beneath the suds and smiled. Taking a handful of bubbles, she made a production out of draping them across her bobbing breasts.
His sultry growl did funny things to her body when he let out an amused sound. “God damn. I didn’t think the tub was worth the expense until now.”
Licking her lips led to a little pout that drew his gaze. Ah. Right. His complete fascination with her mouth. Hmm. Her mind started clicking. Maybe she could turn his fascination into something.
Waving him closer with a suds-covered hand, she slyly whispered, “Things you need to know.”
His eyes flared briefly and held her in place by the strength of his powerful gaze.
“I can’t help it.”
“Help what?” he asked while stepping even closer to hear her barely audible response.
“Checking out your uh…” she reached for him and caressed the always present bulge with a hand dripping in bubbles.
He swatted her away, took two steps back and growled, “Nope, nope.”
“Aw, come on,” she pouted. When that didn’t work she went straight to whining. “You’re being mean to me.”
“That is not true, Carina. I’m being sensible. Taking a break every couple of weeks isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
“Says you.”
He laughed, put his hands at his waist and shook his head. “I am so fucked where you’re concerned.”
“Well, I’m glad somebody gets fucked in this scenario.”
He gasped and acted shocked by her naughty mouth. “Don’t make me teach you a lesson.”
“Go away now. I’m mad at you.”
First he laughed, but when she scowled, and half ignored him, he stopped. “Oh, I see how it is,” he snickered. “This is where you do wicked things with your mouth and make me question my sanity.”
“Wicked things like what?”
“Like make that damn pouty face. And bite your lip. And show me your tong
ue. You are either very brave, little one, or foolish.”
She had him. What a dope!
“And those things make your sanity an issue?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Why?” She made sure to bat her eyelashes innocently. Thank you, Mom, for those trashy old romance books.
“Because when you do those things, I’m not paying attention. All I can think of is sinking my cock into your mouth. Sliding across your tongue to nudge the back of your throat. Until you gag.”
Oh, my. If he thought that would scare her off, he had a wake-up call coming.
“What if I don’t gag?”
“Excuse me?”
She swirled her hands some more in the water and struggled not to laugh. “What if I like it?”
“Like what?”
Oh my god. He was so freakin’ cute with the puzzled expression and searching questions.
“Sucking your cock. What if I like it? The gagging and everything?”
He gaped at her for the longest time then muttered, “How the hell did I lose control of the conversation?”
She smirked and gave a half shrug. “You came through the door.”
“Doomed by my own horniness.”
Okay, hmmm. She had to think. So the seductive bubble posing didn’t work. Change in tactic. She sloshed around and ended up with her arms draped across the edge of the tub with her chin resting on her hands. The pose forced her to peer up at him through lashes she took pains to bat. The angle of her gaze afforded Kelly a quick and adoring pit-stop when his groin came into view.
“Where’s my damn squirt gun when I need it?” he quipped.
Her answering smile was slow and deliberately naughty. She had no idea till right now how much fun it was to push his buttons, and she sensed he wasn’t used to the insolence. Or the challenge.
She had him pegged pretty quickly. Beneath the well-groomed, cultured gentleman lurked other things. He thought he was keeping all that warrior stuff in a box, but she saw plenty of his errant quirks and warrior behaviors. Some of his needs she assumed grew from those times.
Control wasn’t nearly adequate to describe or explain what she felt rolling off him in waves. It was something else that she just couldn’t put her finger on. It confused her a little, because the way she read his vibe didn’t make sense.
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