“He hasn’t guessed that we’re here together, has he?” Rome’s brow furrowed with concern.
Elise shook her head. “Nope. We’re all clear.”
A grin crossed his handsome face. “Good. You coming back to bed?” He patted the edge of the bed. “I’m keeping the blankets warm for you.”
She bit her lip but was unable to contain the smile spreading across her face. She grabbed a corner of the blankets and slipped back under them again, tucking them around her body. It felt strange to be crawling back into bed with him. She wanted to put her head back on his chest but she felt suddenly a little shy about things. Would it bother him if she did?
He leaned in and kissed her gently. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Elise smiled. “Great.”
“No regrets?”
“Not a single one.”
His lips brushed over her cheek, sending shivers down her spine. “So, this is your day today. How do you want to spend it?”
“My day?”
“Yup. Today, everything we do is all about you.”
She thought for a moment. Really, all she wanted to do was have him lie back in the bed so they could have sex again. But she couldn’t resist teasing him, just a little. “Well, I hear there’s a great yarn shop in the Strand.”
He paused, and then nodded seriously. “Okay.”
“And there’s a quilting store a few blocks over that I’d love to spend a few hours in.”
Bless the man, he was able to keep a straight face. “Whatever you want.”
A giggle escaped her and she impulsively threw her arms around his neck, bearing him down onto the bed. “Or we could spend the rest of the day here in bed.”
A look of relief crossed his face. “So the quilting and the yarn was a joke?”
She nodded, then leaned in and kissed his mouth, almost shyly.
“Thank god,” he groaned, and then put his hands in her hair, dragging her face to his when she tried to pull away. His kiss was hard and fierce, and oh so possessive. “Not that I wouldn’t look at yarn for you, but after seeing you prancing all over the room naked, the only thing I had in mind was more sex.”
“I guess the yarn can wait,” she teased, running her tongue along the stubble on his jaw. Really, stubble should not be that delicious on a man.
“I have unleashed an evil minx,” he mock-growled, rolling over in the bed and pinning her naked body under him. “An evil minx with a cruel sense of humor.”
She laughed wickedly, and her laughs were smothered by his kisses. And then suddenly, she wasn’t laughing anymore, because she loved being kissed by him. He made her feel so beautiful, so wanted.
When he reached for more condoms on the bedside table, she decided that staying in for the day would be a rather good thing after all.
• • •
At about two in the afternoon, Elise couldn’t ignore her stomach’s growl of protest any longer. She was exhausted from multiple rounds of sex and a subsequent nap, but she was loath to get out of the bed and leave their idyllic cocoon. “I think we might have burned too many calories to stay in bed,” she murmured to Rome, her cheek pillowed on his sweaty chest. “My stomach’s eating itself.”
He dragged his fingers through her hair, and she tried not to wince at the tangles he ran into, since she knew how much he loved touching her hair. “You want to go out and grab a late lunch?”
“Or a really really late breakfast,” she teased, sitting up and smiling at him. “We can carb-load and then come back.”
He grinned at her. “I do believe I’ve created a monster.”
She leaned in and nipped at his nipple in response. Mmm. “Nothing can possibly taste as good as you, though.”
He groaned and dragged her away from him. “If you start that, we’re never going to leave this room.”
That honestly didn’t sound so bad to Elise, but her stomach growled again, reminding her that they needed to eat. She dragged a hand through her tangled hair, wincing at the snarls. “Can I shower before we go out?”
“Only if you promise to save me some hot water.”
She brightened. “You can join me in the shower.”
He shook his head and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Not if we plan on getting anything done. I need to keep my hands off you to keep my sanity.”
Elise gave him a mock pout, but she climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, deliberately swaying her hips in case he was looking. Being with Rome made her feel so . . . pretty. So wanted. It was a heady, delicious feeling.
As she showered, Elise thought about the night they’d just spent together. Sex had been amazing. Okay, more than amazing. Mind-blowing. If sex was this good, she should have been having it years ago, shyness be damned. Then again, she suspected the partner had a lot to do with it, and there was no one more attractive to her than Rome. She loved his tattoos, his smile, his piercings, his gorgeous eyes, his laugh . . . everything about him. Even his personality seemed to hit her in all the right spots. He didn’t mind when she was quiet, and didn’t try to tease her about the things she was hung up on. He just accepted them, as if everyone had hang-ups and you just coped with them.
He was so patient and understanding. How on earth did she get so lucky?
True, she’d told him that she’d loved him last night and he hadn’t said it back to her. But—and maybe this was naive of her—she didn’t feel like he had to. He cared for her. It was in the tender way he held her when they first made love, waiting to see if he’d hurt her and looking down at her with agony in his eyes at the thought of causing her pain. It was in the way he touched her, his fingers dancing along her scar as if it were something that made her beautiful instead of strange. It was in the way he didn’t see the port-wine stain still faintly outlined on her cheek, and always treated her like she was a goddess. It was in the way he tried to protect her from everything that might somehow hurt her feelings.
If he wasn’t the type of guy to admit love and feelings, that was all right with her. He felt them. He didn’t have to verbalize them for her to feel adored.
Just being with Rome made her feel wanted and special.
When she got out of the shower, she wrapped herself in one of the towels and made her way out, then gave him a fierce kiss when he headed in, to let him know she was thinking about him. He groaned and muttered something that sounded like “Lord have mercy” before heading in for his own shower.
By the time he came out, she was dressed in her clothes again, her wet hair pulled up into a loose bun at the back of her head. Rome dressed quickly, too, and then they linked hands and headed out for a walk on the Strand to find something to eat.
The air was crisp and smelled of the ocean, and Elise couldn’t resist tugging Rome in that direction. “Can we grab something portable and walk on the beach?”
“You bet,” he said, and steered her toward a burger stand in the distance.
They walked up and stared at the printed menu, trying to decide what to eat. Rome pulled out his wallet and began to count dollars, and Elise tilted her head, studying the sign on the burger stand when she felt an uncomfortable prickle on her neck. She glanced around and saw the guy at the counter was staring at her. Or rather, he wasn’t trying to, but his gaze kept flicking to her face and then flicking away.
She touched her cheek, self-conscious. The sun was bright today, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup to even out her skin. Given the fact that she’d been rubbing her face all over Rome’s beard stubble for the past twelve hours, her face was probably flushed and the stain more noticeable than usual. Ill at ease, she stepped behind Rome, carefully using him as a shield from the man’s gaze. She was sure he didn’t mean to make her feel . . . small. But she did. He was probably wondering what a girl like her was doing with someone as gorgeous and confident as Rome. Her hand reached for her hair to pull it across her cheek, but it was in a bun.
“What do you want to eat?” Rome asked.
> She shrugged, staring down. Her hand went to the band in her hair and she tugged it free, not caring that her hair was still wet, and began to drag it across her cheek in an effort to conceal the stain. “Just order me something,” she mumbled.
Rome’s fingers touched her chin and he angled her face up, making her look at him. “Hey.” His blue eyes searched her face. “What’s wrong, Bo Peep?”
She shrugged. “That guy was staring at my face.”
Rome leaned in and kissed her. “This beautiful face?”
A hot flush crept up her cheeks. “It’s the only one I’ve got.”
He grinned at her, and her heart thumped. “You want me to go growl at him and scare him?”
She shook her head, but she was smiling.
He winked at her. “You wait here and I’ll take care of food, baby.”
She nodded and sat down on a nearby bench, letting her wet hair flutter in the wind. She tried not to look over, but Rome seemed to be having a rather intense conversation with the man behind the counter, who looked terrified.
Rome returned a few minutes later with a paper tray, two burgers and fries, and a large drink. The guy behind the counter had disappeared. Rome set the tray down on the bench between the two of them.
“What did you say to him?” Elise asked.
Rome handed her one of the cardboard cups of fries. “I told him if I caught him checking out my girl again, I was going to make him sorry.”
Her eyes went wide. “Rome . . . he wasn’t checking me out.”
“You said he was staring at your face.”
“Yeah.” She touched her cheek self-consciously. “Because it’s . . . weird.”
Rome shook his head and offered her one of his fries, as if she didn’t have a cupful of her own at the moment. But she took it from his fingers with her lips, and tried not to feel absurdly pleased at the small gesture. “Baby, the only thing weird about me and you is why a sweet, classy girl like you got mixed up with a tatted-up loser like me.”
She made a sound of protest, only to have him shove another fry at her mouth. This time she glared at him. “Are you trying to shut me up?”
“Maybe?” He gave her a mischievous look. “Maybe I just like shoving things into your mouth.”
Her face went scarlet, a reminder of that morning.
They ate together, enjoying a quick bite on the bench, and then Rome gestured at their leftover fries. “Come on. Let’s go feed these to the seagulls.”
It seemed like such a mischievous little-boy thing to do, how could she refuse? Elise smiled and got to her feet. They linked hands again, Rome carrying the cup of leftover fries. They headed toward the beach and the water, and as soon as they got close, seagulls began to circle, crying out.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Elise said, shielding her face with a hand as the birds swooped overhead. Everywhere she turned, more and more seagulls were coming.
“Nah, it’s all good,” Rome said, and began to toss fries out onto the sand. He grinned when the birds dove for them, and looked back to her impishly. “They’re hungry.”
“I imagine they’re always hungry.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there myself,” Rome mused, and tossed another fry out onto the sand. “Feels good to feed someone else’s belly.”
One cawing seagull got too close to her and she squealed, moving closer to him.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said with a laugh. “They’re just birds.”
“They’re not just birds. They’re scavengers,” she protested, laughing and taking a few steps back. “They’re filthy and nasty and all they do is wait for a handout. Normal birds don’t do that. Normal birds get their own food.”
For some reason, he looked at her for a long, long moment and she wondered if she’d said something wrong. Then he looked away and tossed the rest of the fries on the sand. “Come on.”
Timidly, she slipped her hand in his, wondering if he was somehow mad at her. She didn’t know what to think. What had she just missed here? Her free hand touched his arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head again. “Just thinking.”
“Want to share?”
“Nope.” He grinned down at her and gestured down the Strand. “I think I saw a sex shop in that direction. You wanna go?”
“What?” she squealed, and she could feel her face turning beet red. “No!”
Rome laughed and wrapped his arms around her. “Come on. I’ll buy you a nice dildo. Maybe a couple of plugs for when you’re lonely.”
She pounded on his arm with a playful fist. “I don’t want anything but you.”
His laughter died and a serious look crossed his face.
Elise held her breath, waiting in his arms. Had she said something wrong again? But Rome only cupped her face in his hands and tenderly, sweetly kissed her.
And he didn’t need to say the words. Elise felt loved, regardless. She smiled up at him.
“Would I be a bad boyfriend,” he murmured, lips brushing against hers, “if I dragged you back to our room and made love to you?”
Her entire body tingled with awareness, her nipples taut. “I think you’d be a bad boyfriend if you didn’t.”
FOURTEEN
Elise was a little sad to return to Bluebonnet on Sunday night. It had been so lovely in their cozy little nest all weekend. She’d fielded a few calls from her concerned brother, sure, and a text or two from Brenna, but she’d called and asked Emily to go along with her cover story, and Em was doing a great job of keeping everyone off of her trail. She’d had time to relax and enjoy just being with Rome.
And god, she loved being with Rome.
They’d spent most of Saturday alternating between bouts of lovemaking and a few more walks on the beach, just holding hands and enjoying each other’s company. They talked about work; she talked about photo layouts and adding emotion to her pictures, and her old college roommate, Crissy, who had the job that Elise wanted. Or the job Elise thought she wanted. It occurred to her that Crissy was working long hours for low pay, hoping to get ahead at her job, and she hadn’t dated anyone seriously in a long time because she was constantly at work. Elise glanced over at Rome, trying to picture him in New York City. He could probably make it, she reasoned, though jobs were probably hard to come by for a guy like Rome. He’d confessed that he had no college education and barely any high school, no degree. But Rome was charismatic enough; the question was, would someone like Elise be able to make it in a city like New York?
She used to think so. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Being in Bluebonnet made her appreciate the slow lifestyle and the fact that she could get wherever she wanted with a rental car. In New York, she’d probably have to take the subway everywhere and live in a teeny tiny apartment with hundreds of other people in the same building, and eat out every night.
That . . . didn’t sound like the way she wanted to live her life. Elise wondered if she needed to rethink her goals.
Rome was rather quiet when she talked about career and choices, and whenever she asked him something, he always turned the topic back onto her. It was like he loved hearing about her, but didn’t want to talk about himself. There were still big gaps in her knowledge of Rome Lozada, but she resolved she’d fill them in with time.
And between conversations and walking on the beach, they made love over and over again. Elise waffled between sheer exhaustion and glorying in his body. She loved touching Rome, and discovered new parts of his body to admire every time. His belly button, for the sleek tautness of the muscles around it. His thighs, for their strength and the way they flexed when she put her mouth on his cock. She’d given him a blow job earlier that day—something she’d wanted to knock off her sexual bucket list—and had immensely enjoyed his reaction to it. Her mouth on him had made her feel sexy and powerful.
It was clearly something she’d have to do for him often.
But now they were driving back to Bluebonnet,
with Elise behind the wheel, and Rome had gone from mostly silent to completely and utterly pensive. She glanced over at him as she drove. “Are you okay?”
He looked over at her and smiled, his hand touching her hair and then her cheek in a quick, affectionate gesture. “I’m fine. Just a little tired and thinking about work, that’s all.”
She smiled at him and lightly bit his thumb when it grazed her mouth. “We’re almost back at the ranch. I could park the car out on the road again and go with you to your cabin and distract you for a bit.”
He grinned at her mischievous smile but shook his head. “Actually, you should get back so Emily doesn’t think I’ve carried you off into the wild.”
“Emily wants me to get out there and date. I don’t think she minds a bit.”
Rome grew quiet again, and she chewed on her lip in frustration. It was like the closer they got to Bluebonnet, the more distant he got. She took the exit for the Daughtry Ranch, but pulled over instead of turning down the farm road that would lead to the parking lot of Wilderness Survival Expeditions.
She parked the car. Then she turned and looked at him. “You’re not regretting this weekend, are you?”
He shook his head slowly, his blue eyes gleaming. Rome reached out and cupped her cheek again, his fingers infinitely tender on her face. “I can honestly say it was the best weekend of my life.”
“Me too.” Her hands covered his and she kissed his palm. “When can I see you again?”
He grimaced, considering it. “This week’s going to be a little crazy with the opening of the paintball course. Brenna’s already booked several groups, and I don’t know what my hours will be, so don’t get scared if I can’t call you right away, okay? I’ll text you and let you know what my schedule’s going to be like once I have it figured out.”
She smiled at him. “That’s fine.” Heck, she’d just swing by the ranch and hang out if nothing else. Just getting to watch him work would be a pleasure, and she could make up some excuse about photos and more action shots or something if Grant hassled her.
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