She rolled over onto her back and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. Not knowing exactly where Roan had gone, and not wanting to run into one of his brothers or sister if she went in search of him, Ansley decided she would just stay in bed until he came back. When the minutes ticked by and Roan still hadn’t returned, she began to wonder if she shouldn’t get dressed and go look for him after all. About to get out of bed, the bedroom door slammed open. Ansley let out a small shriek and pulled the covers up to her chin when she saw Leif enter the room. He gave her a smile and lifted his arm to show her he carried her overnight bag, which she had left downstairs the day before.
“I thought I would bring this up to you,” Leif said while he placed it on the floor next to the bed. He gave her a smile that Ansley felt sure more than one woman had found hard to resist.
Keeping a stranglehold on the sheets, Ansley gave Leif a tentative smile. “Ah, thanks.”
Leif made no move to leave. “Did you and Roan have a chance to talk during the night, or did he keep you too … busy … for conversation?”
Ansley felt her cheeks heat as she blushed. How was she supposed to answer that question? No way in hell she was going to tell Roan’s brother that Roan had been too busy screwing her brains out to have had any kind of conversation during the night. “Um
… well…”
Leif chuckled. “I’m going to take that for a no.”
A loud growl suddenly filled the room. Much to Ansley’s relief, she looked over in the direction the growl had come from to find Roan framed in the doorway. His brow grew thunderous when his gaze landed on Leif. With two long strides, he crossed the room to his brother and grabbed Leif by the back of his t-shirt. Roan then took hold of the back of Leif’s jeans and literally threw Leif out of the room. Ansley cringed when she heard Leif hit the opposite wall outside in the hallway. Leif’s loud cursing told her Roan had been far from gentle. Of course the sound of the ruckus drew the rest of the occupants of the house to Roan’s bedroom door, which still stood wide open. Naked under the sheets, Ansley wondered if the situation could get any worse. It did. When Roan’s brothers found out what all the commotion had been about, they all started telling Leif off. Somehow, while they talked loudly over each other, Jager, Skylar and Dirk ended up inside the bedroom with Roan, while Leif and Kye stayed outside in the hallway. Luckily for Ansley, they had their backs to her and hadn’t noticed her in the bed.
A long, shrill whistle soon cut through the men’s voices. The men fell silent. They covered their ears with their hands until the whistle stopped. From her position on the bed, Ansley watched a woman accompanied by another man walk into the middle of the gathered men. Ansley figured this had to be Roan’s sister. She gave each of her brothers a look that said she’d heard more than enough. She then took charge of the situation. Roan’s sister pointed at Leif. “You should have known better. Going into Roan’s bedroom while Roan wasn’t there, you were only asking for trouble. And well you know it.” She turned to Kye. “Make sure Leif goes downstairs and stays there until we come down for breakfast.” Kye nodded then waited for Leif to walk past him before he too left. She turned to the rest of her brothers. “Jager, Skylar and Dirk, get the hell out of Roan’s bedroom unless you want to be thrown out the same way he threw Leif out.”
Each man looked around as if they noticed for the first time where they were. None of them turned to look at her. They filed out one by one until only Roan’s sister, the man who had arrived with her, and Roan remained. Ansley found herself in awe of his sister. She had managed to rein in all her brothers with very little effort on her part, which Ansley thought had to be no small feat. Even though Roan’s sister was tall for a woman, her brothers still towered over her, and had three times the muscle mass. His sister cinched the belt of her housecoat tighter around her waist. She walked into the bedroom and made her way over to the bed. Her long light blonde hair looked a little mussed as if she’d just gotten out of bed. She smiled at Ansley. “We haven’t been properly introduced yet. I’m Saskia York.” She nodded her head in the direction of the hallway. “Over there is my husband, Eli.”
Ansley nodded at Eli, then returned Saskia’s smile. “I’m Ansley Conry. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Sorry about that. Leif tends to be a bit of a knucklehead at times. He’s harmless. He just wanted to yank Roan’s chain.”
“Which he succeeded in doing,” Roan said drolly. He moved over to the bed and sat down next to Ansley. He turned to her. “I hope he didn’t bother you too much before I threw him out.”
Ansley shook her head. “No, he didn’t. He just brought up my overnight bag and asked if you and I had a chance to talk yet.” Roan and Saskia exchanged a meaningful look. Ansley could only guess what it meant.
“I’ll go have a chat with Leif,” Saskia said to Roan. “He had no right to ask that. I’ll make sure he keeps his nose out of where it doesn’t belong.”
Roan got up and kissed Saskia on the cheek. “Thanks. Now if you don’t mind, I’m sure Ansley would like to get up.”
Saskia nodded. “I’ll see the two of you downstairs shortly.” She went back out into the hallway to her husband. Eli wrapped an arm around Saskia’s shoulders. “Just don’t take too long or you’ll end up with nothing to eat for breakfast. The food supply is starting to get a little low. For punishment, I think I’ll send Leif out to do the grocery shopping.”
As the other couple walked away, Roan shut the bedroom door. He then came back to the bed and lay down on top of the sheets next to Ansley. “If I had known Leif would pull a stunt like that I wouldn’t have left you alone.”
Ansley turned to her side and brushed her lips against his. “No harm done, but I can think of a way for you to make it up to me,” she said in a husky voice. Roan chuckled. “After last night, I thought you would have had enough of me by now.”
She lifted herself up on her elbow and let her gaze run down Roan’s body. He only wore a pair of jeans and nothing else. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”
He reached over and slapped her on the butt. “Insatiable, aren’t you?”
“Only when it comes to you.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, but I think you’d better get up before I never let you out of here. For one thing you must be starved. I know I am. And Saskia wasn’t kidding when she said we had better not take too long. There is a good chance my brothers will eat all the food before we get down there if we aren’t lucky. You can have the bathroom first.” Roan pointed to the en suite bathroom. “There’s a shower in there too. So help yourself.”
At first, Ansley thought maybe she could persuade Roan to change his mind, but then her stomach started to growl. Considering Roan and she had not once left his bedroom last night, not even to eat supper, Ansley knew she had to be running on fumes. With a sigh of regret, she slipped out of bed and grabbed her overnight bag on her way to the bathroom. She felt Roan’s gaze follow her as she stepped inside and shut the door. Ansley decided she would satisfy her hunger for food, then she would satisfy her other hunger.
Chapter Seven
After both she and Roan had showered, they went downstairs. Ansley still couldn’t get over the size of the house, or the luxuriousness of it. She would never have guessed in a million years that Roan and his brothers lived in a mansion so tastefully decorated. From what she had seen of the house so far, it looked as if a professional interior designer had decorated it. Given the amount of money Roan and his family had to have to afford a house such like this, Ansley figured they probably had used an interior designer. When they reached the large front foyer with its black and white checked marble floor, Roan led Ansley toward the back of the house. Even before they reached the kitchen, she smelled the scent of food cooking. Her stomach rumbled. Arriving at the kitchen, Roan pushed Ansley toward the large kitchen table that sat in the middle of the big room. “Go sit down next to Saskia and Eli and I’ll get us some food.”
Much to her surpr
ise, all of Roan’s brothers sat at the table calmly eating. She had thought they would be rowdy here same as they had been upstairs earlier. Taking the empty chair next to Saskia, she looked down the table. The men nodded their heads in her direction when she met each of their gazes, except for Dirk who hadn’t looked up from the financial section of the newspaper he read. Roan returned with two plates. Each held a very large omelet that completely filled the plate. He set a plate in front of her before he left to get the two cups of coffee she saw sitting on the counter. Ansley looked down at her plate. She was hungry, but she wasn’t that hungry.
Saskia leaned over and whispered in Ansley’s ear, “Don’t worry about it if you can’t eat all that. The guys tend to forgot that not everybody can eat like they do.”
“If I ate this much all the time I would be as big as a house,” Ansley said laughingly.
“Same here.”
Roan came back to the table and handed Ansley a cup of coffee. “I hope the two of you weren’t talking about me when I wasn’t here.”
Saskia rolled her eyes. “No. I just told Ansley that she didn’t have to feel obligated to eat all that food you gave her. You must think she eats like a horse like you do.”
“Sorry about that, Ansley.” Roan pushed his plate closer to hers. “You can put what you don’t want on my plate. I’ll eat it for you.”
Cutting the omelet in half with her knife, she pushed one half onto his plate. “That should be enough.” After Roan moved his plate back in front of him and started to dig into his food, Ansley turned back to Saskia. “So how long have you and Eli been married?”
“Just a little over a month.”
“So you’re still newlyweds then?”
“You could say that,” Eli said from Saskia’s other side. He gave his wife a heated look.
A muffin flew through the air and hit Eli dead center on his forehead. “Knock off the goo goo eyes, Eli,” Leif said. He sat across and a little down from Eli. “Take it to the bedroom so the rest of us don’t have to be subjected to it. We are trying to eat you know.”
Eli chucked the muffin back at Leif. “You’re just jealous that you don’t have what Saskia and I have.”
“Hell, no. I like being a free agent.”
“Your time will come. Take it from someone who once thought the same way you do.”
Ansley started to eat her omelet while Leif and Eli bantered back and forth. It was obvious Eli had been accepted as another brother. As she ate, Roan moved his chair closer to hers so their thighs were pressed against each other. He placed a hand on the top of her leg and squeezed. Such a simple gesture, but it made her body respond to Roan’s touch. She reached under the table and put her hand on his hard thigh while she continued to eat. Ansley had just taken a sip of coffee when Roan moved his hand to the inside of her thigh and gently brushed between her legs with his knuckles. She had to quickly swallow the liquid before she choked on it.
Taking a quick peek at Saskia to make sure she couldn’t see what took place under the table, Ansley stroked her hand up Roan’s thigh and skimmed her fingers over the bulge in his jeans. He stiffened for a fraction of a second before he rubbed her pussy with the side of his hand. It took all of Ansley’s concentration to act as if nothing was going on.
With more boldness than she thought she possessed, Ansley cupped Roan’s cock through his jeans and gave him a squeeze. His sharp indrawn breath told her she had to be getting to him same as he was getting to her. Another muffin hit Roan square in the chest. Ansley quickly pulled her hand off Roan.
She looked up to find Leif staring at her and Roan. “Would the pair of you cut it out? It’s bad enough we have to put up with Saskia and Eli. If you want to make a move on each other, please take it somewhere where I’m not. I can smell the pair of you all the way over here.”
Ansley shifted uncomfortably on her chair. She had no idea what had come over her. She usually didn’t do things like fondle a man while in the company of his family, and where anyone could see what they were up to. Embarrassed at being caught, she jerked her gaze down to her plate and kept it there. It also acted like a bucket of ice water on her arousal.
“You’re walking a fine line, Leif,” Roan snarled. “If you don’t like the smell, you can always leave.”
Ansley resisted the urge to turn her head, lift her arm and give her underarm a sniff. Since she’d just had a shower she didn’t think she smelled bad. She kept her head down and concentrated on finishing her food. Everyone around the table suddenly went silent. Ansley didn’t have to look up to know they all had turned their gazes her way.
“Ah, shit,” Leif said, breaking the silence. “I’m sorry, Ansley. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I only thought to give Roan a hard time. I know you and he don’t have any control over it.”
She had no idea what it was, but she decided it would be best to let it go. She looked up to meet Leif’s gaze. He wore an apologetic look on his face. “No need to apologize, Leif. To be honest, it doesn’t take much to make me feel embarrassed. I think I spend half my life being embarrassed, mostly from my own doing. My curse makes sure of that.”
“Your curse?” Roan asked with a chuckle.
Ansley turned to look at him. “Well, that is what I call it. You’ve already been subjected to it. There are times when I say pretty much whatever happens to be on my mind at the time. I tend to say things that, if I’d really thought about them, should have been kept to myself.”
Roan put his arm along the back of her chair and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Then you and Jager should get along famously. He says whatever he has on his mind too. But unlike you, he doesn’t give a shit how people react to it.”
She turned her head in Jager’s direction at the end of the table. He shrugged. “What can I say? I like to be direct and to the point. It’s what makes me so lovable.”
Everyone but Ansley broke out in laughter. Skylar, who sat closest to Jager, punched him in the arm. “Yeah, you’re about as lovable as a rattlesnake when you’re in one of your moods. You get pissed off and you make damn sure everyone around you knows about it and why.”
Jager crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Nothing wrong with being out in the open about how you feel.”
Roan pushed back his chair and stood up. He held his hand out to her. Ansley took it and allowed him to pull her up. He then spoke to the room at large. “Now that Ansley has finished eating, she and I are going out for a bit. I promised I would take her to get her car. We’ll be back later.” He turned to Saskia. “If you don’t have other plans for me that is.”
Saskia waved them away. “Go. Roxie will understand, not that she feels she needs us there anyway. Eli and I will go with Jager and Dirk.”
“Then Ansley and I are out of here.”
Ansley let Roan walk her out of the kitchen. Leif’s words about her and Roan not having any control over it played through her head. She couldn’t help but think this it would somehow be connected to the talk Roan had originally wanted to have with her before they had ended up in bed together at her apartment. Maybe if they kept their hands off each other long enough, Roan and she could have that talk sometime soon. But Ansley wasn’t going to bet on it.
* * *
After they collected her car from the salon’s parking lot, Roan and Ansley went to her apartment. Determined to prove she could be around Roan and not think about hot, sweaty sex, Ansley threw her overnight bag on her bed and returned to the living room to sit on the couch next to Roan. She sat sideways so she faced him and crossed her legs in front of her. Roan put his arm on the back of the couch and turned his body toward her.
“You know you don’t have to sit so far away,” he said in a husky voice. “There’s plenty of room over here.”
“I’m staying right where I am. I thought maybe we would talk for a bit, get to know each other better. I know if I get any closer to you the last thing we’ll do is talk.”
Roan gave her a crooked grin. “I can guar
antee it will be more fun than talking.”
Ansley rolled her eyes. She shook her head. “Talk first then maybe I’ll let you have your way with me.”
“Fine. Have it your way. What do you want to talk about?”
Even though Ansley promised herself she wouldn’t touch Roan until after they’d had their chat, she couldn’t stop her gaze from running over his body. Telling herself to stop it, Ansley jerked her gaze back up to his face. “I don’t know. There was something you wanted to say to me yesterday before…” She let her words trail away. Ansley didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring the subject of sex into the conversation. “Why don’t we start there?”
Roan seemed to stiffen for a second before he inched a little closer. “How about we talk about you instead? You know more about me than I do about you.”
“Okay. What do you want to know?”
He reached across the couch and started to play with the ends of her hair that fell over her shoulder. “Let’s see. Something easy to start with. How old are you?”
Having Roan play with her hair like that, Ansley found it harder to concentrate. “I’m twenty-six. What about you? How old are you?”
“I’m a lot older than I look.” Ansley wondered if Roan had been deliberately vague on purpose when he quickly added, “We’re supposed be talking about you, not me. What about family?”
Roan's Fall rp-1 Page 6