by Nikki Ashton
The stroppy, gobby side of me wanted to protest and tell him to stop ordering me about, but the mushy girly part of me started to melt. God, I liked bossy Roman in the bedroom.
My fingers interlaced with his, I led him to the bed and dragged him onto it with me. Roman pushed gently at my shoulders so that I lay back against his pillows, then pulled me down the bed with his hands at my waist.
‘You’ve been tantalising me for bloody ages,’ he said as he crawled backwards.
I smiled at his words. ’Really, is that so?’ I whispered.
‘Yep, since the first time I saw you, I’ve been thinking about what I want to do to you and that smart little mouth of yours.’
If his eyes hadn’t been twinkling and his lips slightly upturned, I would have thought he was angry.
‘Last chance, Summer,’ he said softly as he hooked his fingers into the sides of my knickers.
I nodded and then gasped as I was suddenly bare and felt the delicious scratch of Roman’s two-day scruff against the inside of my thighs.
‘Oh God,’ I cried.
‘Nah, just Roman,’ was the muffled response from between my legs.
Oh my goodness, I hoped my poor fandango would survive the night.
I stretched lazily, warmed by the sun peeking in through the open blinds, and then sighed. Last night had been quite simply wow! It was like one of the scenes from a raunchy novel, except it was all happening for real. Roman had surpassed every one of my fantasies. The sex had been hot, fast and, to quote an elderly American lady: ‘darn good’. Now I ached in all the right places and in all the right ways.
‘Morning,’ came a sexy growl beside me.
I turned to face a sleepy-eyed Roman. ‘Hey.’
‘You okay?’ he asked, running a finger down my nose and along my bottom lip.
‘Yeah, you?’ I breathed on a sigh.
Roman nodded, snaked his arm around my waist, and pulled me to him. He lowered his mouth and kissed me slowly and thoroughly. My heart thudded, not only because it was a bloody good kiss, but also because it meant he didn’t regret what we’d done.
‘Do you want some breakfast?’ he finally asked. ‘I’ve booked a meeting in our calendars with “a supplier” this morning, so we have plenty of time.’
He winked, and I sighed and snuggled against his chest. ‘That’s naughty, Mr. Hepburn, but that would be nice.’
‘I’ll make us some tea and toast, you stay here.’ Roman dropped a kiss to my head and rolled out of bed.
As he padded across the bedroom to his chest of drawers, I peeked above the duvet to watch him and sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the God of Bottoms at the sight of his toned arse and muscled thighs. He definitely worked out, and regularly, if his body was anything to judge by. I continued to stare as Roman opened a drawer and took out a pair of striped pyjama bottoms and pulled them on, just high enough that I could still see the two sexy dimples above his bum. He turned towards me and smiled when he saw me watching him.
‘You look pretty comfy in there,’ he said.
‘I am, it’s lovely and warm.’ I snuggled down further and closed my eyes. ‘I think I’ll have a little snooze while I wait for my breakfast.’
‘You do that.’
I felt Roman’s lips on mine and my heart did a little flutter.
I don’t know how long I had snoozed for, but when I woke, I could hear voices downstairs. I snatched up my mobile from the bedside table and saw it was almost eight-thirty, so I wondered if it was one of the lads from work. Cocking my head to one side, I listened again to the noise below. One of the voices was definitely Roman’s rumble and the other was distinctly female: that made my heart thud.
Bringing my knees up, I rested my head on them and waited, contemplating what I should do. Roman and I weren’t enough of a ‘thing’ for me to go down there and ask what the hell was so important that it disrupted a sexy man bringing me breakfast in bed, never mind that it was another woman. However, I couldn’t sit up here for hours while they talked. After another five minutes of muffled discussion, I heard the front door close and thought it was probably safe to go down and find Roman.
I looked around the room for my clothes and quickly gathered them together. Then the thought struck me that Roman might have other plans, seeing as he’d covered our morning. Feeling a little unsure, but going with it anyway, I snatched up Roman’s discarded shirt and pulled it on over my head. The sleeves hung below my hands and the length of it skimmed my thighs, so with a couple of buttons open to reveal some cleavage, I hoped, but thought it unlikely, that I looked like a sex kitten as I made my way downstairs. Following the sound of clattering plates and cups, I found Roman in the kitchen. His back was to me and the sight of it made me clench my thighs together.
‘Roman,’ I whispered to announce myself.
He spun around with a knife in his hand.
‘You’re up.’
‘Yeah, I heard a door close,’ I explained, deciding not to let on that I’d heard the exchange, part of me wanting to test whether he told me the truth.
‘Hmm, Caroline was here,’ Roman said, and turned back to buttering some toast.
‘Oh okay.’
I didn’t know what else to say, because whatever came out of my mouth would be bound to sound snippy and bitchy. What the hell was she doing here at eight-thirty in the morning when Roman would normally be at work? Did she do this often, just pop in?
As I watched him, I suddenly felt extremely awkward standing in my boss’s kitchen, in his shirt after we’d spent the night having epic sex. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea and I shouldn’t have agreed to stay.
‘I should probably go home to change and see you at the office,’ I said, and started to leave the kitchen.
‘Why?’ Roman’s voice was hard and loud.
‘Sorry?’
I turned back towards him to see him staring at me with the knife still in his hand.
‘Why should you go?’ he asked, confused. ‘I told you I’d sorted this morning. Everyone in the office thinks we’re at a meeting.’
‘But I need to get some fresh clothes, and you probably can’t afford to take the morning off. You must have things to do.’ I looked towards the hallway, as though whatever Roman had to do was waiting patiently in the doorway for him.
‘Summer, what’s changed in the last forty minutes?’ He put the knife down and took a long stride towards me. ‘You thought it was a great idea not long ago.’
He was so close now I could practically taste him and my thighs parted instinctively in anticipation. His hands were at his hips and his jaw was tight as he stared me down.
‘Nothing,’ I finally said, ‘I just thought …’
‘Is this because Caroline was here?’ he asked taking another step closer. ‘Because she only called to drop off some paperwork she needs me to sign, that’s all.’
He nodded to a pile of papers on the kitchen table.
‘She wants me to be Maisie’s legal guardian. Caroline’s parents are the only grandparents that Maisie has and are quite old. Caroline asked me so that I could help them, if the need arose.’
‘What about her father?’ I asked.
‘He’s dead.’ His eyes darkened and he let out a long exhale. ‘Maisie has no one if anything happens to Caroline. That’s actually why she called in to the office a couple of weeks ago.’
Call me the worst kind of bitch, but I hated that meant she’d have even more of a connection to Roman. There must be someone else who could care for Maisie, did she not have any other family? The way I was feeling about him was giving me a sour taste in my mouth. Caroline was simply trying to make sure her daughter was secure and I was feeling jealous about it.
‘Okay,’ I replied, not trusting myself to say anything else.
‘Come here,’ he said, indicating with his head for me to go to him.
Before I’d even taken one step, I was in his arms and he was kissing me with so much passion that my legs
literally began to shake. One of his hands grabbed my bum and squeezed it gently, while the other skimmed up my side, finally resting on my cheek.
‘Next time you decide to wear my shirt,’ he whispered against my mouth, ‘forget the damn knickers.’
The next thing I knew, he picked me up, his hands under my backside, and walked me back towards the stairs. I wrapped my legs around his waist and hung on for dear life as he kissed me all the way back to the bedroom.
‘So how are we going to do this?’ Roman asked as we sat at his breakfast bar eating fresh toast with huge dollops of strawberry jam on it.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, swallowing a mouthful of food.
‘Me and you, how do we do it? I mean how do we act at work?’
Roman reached across and wiped something from the corner of my mouth with his thumb, he then stuck it into his mouth and sucked on it as he watched me intently.
I almost moaned out loud as I felt the now familiar pulsing between my thighs. Shit, I’d never been so turned on, never had so much sex in such a short period of time, and had never wanted to lick up a man’s body so much in all my life.
‘Summer!’
I shook my head to banish the porno pictures that were flashing in my dirty mind.
‘Sorry. Well, I guess it’s up to you,’ I replied trying to gather myself into some semblance of composure. ‘I mean if you want to keep it quiet about what’s happened, then that’s fine. I totally understand.’
Roman looked at me silently; he picked up his mug of tea and started to drink from it, staring out through the window that overlooked the large garden. I fidgeted in my seat, wondering whether I should say something. Finally, Roman put his mug down and turned back to me.
‘I think that maybe we should keep it quiet at work.’
‘Okay,’ I whispered. ‘That’s fine with me.’
And it was. I totally understood, but a little bit of me felt deflated. I still had a bit of hope that this could have been something more than a one-night fling with Roman. Shit, who wouldn’t when they’d had as many orgasms as I’d had in twelve hours?
‘Obviously my family are going to absolutely shit a brick,’ Roman grumbled, interrupting my thoughts. ‘And having met my mother, you know she’s going to freak out about this.’
My head shot up from contemplating the leftover crusts on my plate.
‘Sorry?’
‘My mother. She is going to freak when she realises that we’re seeing each other, especially when it’s you—“my destiny”.’ He wiggled his eyebrows and laughed.
I almost choked on the gasp that I swallowed back. Coughing I looked at Roman with wide, watery eyes.
‘You okay?’ he asked with a grin.
‘Aha. Toast. Wrong way,’ I spluttered, pointing at my throat.
‘So it wasn’t my sexy eyebrow wiggle, or maybe calling you “my destiny”, or even the thought of telling Twinkle about us?’
Roman chewed at the corner of his mouth, and I could see that he was trying hard not to laugh.
‘What’s happened to miserable Roman?’ I asked, taking a sip of my tea.
‘Told you,’ he said dragging my bar stool closer to his. ‘Life’s too short to be miserable.’
‘But ever since I’ve worked for you, you’ve been …’
‘A miserable bastard,’ Roman finished for me. ‘Yep, I know.’
He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair.
‘I wasn’t always a misery, Summer. I used to be quite funny, you know.’
‘Hah, really?’ I laughed, earning me a pouty frown. ‘Don’t believe it.’
‘I swear I was. Then I wasn’t,’ he sighed. ‘Before I came back to town, I’d been in a dark place for a long time.’
‘What like Stoke-on-Trent?’ I sniggered.
‘You are so not funny.’
‘But I so am,’ I giggled.
‘What I mean, Summer,’ he said pointedly, ‘is that, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t drag myself out of it. But I’m looking at things differently now, and part of that is me going back to being my absolutely bloody hilarious self.’
I traced a finger down his forearm and then linked my fingers with his.
‘Do you want to tell me what made life so dark for you?’
He took a deep breath and then slowly blew it out.
‘It was when I … lost Michael.’
‘Michael?’
‘Caroline’s boyfriend,’ Roman explained. ‘Maisie’s dad. We met when we were just ten years old—we started at a local boxing club at the same time. We hit it off straight away, we both loved boxing and were both driven. Michael, though,’ he said with a hint of a smile, ‘well, he was much more competitive than I was. Always wanted to do more push-ups than me, run further than I did, hit his sparring partner harder than me. He just loved to tell me how much better he was than me. But, I still loved him like a brother and we were pretty inseparable for years, until he and Caroline moved down South.’
I nodded slowly, contemplating yet again his connection with Caroline, but understanding his desire to help with Maisie.
‘How long ago was it?’ I asked. ‘That Michael died?’
‘It’s been over five years, but I still miss him.’
‘How did he die?’
‘I can’t … it’s—’
‘No. It’s fine, you don’t need to tell me.’ I realised it must have been Michael in the photographs I found in the bottom of his wardrobe the day I picked up his shirt. His death hurt so much, Roman couldn’t even bare to look at his picture. ‘It must have been hard,’ I said softly. ‘I can’t imagine how I’d feel if anything happened to Emma.’
His hand tightened in mine. ‘He was my best friend, so, yep, it was hard. I had some counselling and things got better. And,’ he said leaning in to kiss me, ‘you’ve helped.’
‘I have?’ I exclaimed, my heart swelling.
‘Yeah, baby, you have. It’s been great fun seeing how much I can wind you up every day.’
As my hand went to slap him, Roman ducked and caught hold of my wrist.
‘I’m joking,’ he laughed.
‘Hmm, I’m not so sure,’ I replied, sulkily.
‘Really? I am.’
He shook his head and pulled me in for a long kiss.
‘Leave the smart mouth for better purposes,’ he whispered. So,’ he said after a few beats of silence. ‘We’ll keep it between us for now?’
I nodded and sighed. ‘Yeah, okay, if we must.’
Roman smiled and kissed me, with his hands on my bottom, gently squeezing my bum cheeks. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Let’s do this; we’ll just take each day as it come.’
He held his hand out to me and we shook on it, and I thought it was possibly the best meeting that I’d ever been to.
The weekend had been perfect, with Roman and I spending most of it together. I’d gone to the club with Emma on Saturday night, and then gone home with Roman. He’d cherished pretty much every part of my body until we’d eventually fallen asleep, tired but very, very satisfied. Yes, it had been perfect.
The next morning I woke to the fact that Roman’s side of the bed was empty. I glanced at the clock: it was only eight-thirty. Not too early, but it was Sunday, and I’d hoped that we would get to snuggle in bed this morning. But, as Roman was really worried about losing the France job and The Palisades not starting, I guessed that he hadn’t been able to sleep.
Thinking about the problems the business was having, an idea suddenly came into my head. Believing it was the best idea ever, I reached to the bedside table, and snatched up my mobile.
I punched a number into my phone, and with one ear cocked for Roman returning, I waited for an answer. After a couple of rings, a sweet, happy voice answered.
‘Holly Robertson.’
‘Oh hey, Holly, it’s Summer.’
‘Hi, Summer,’ she replied cheerfully. ‘What a nice surprise.’
‘Yeah, I’m sorry to call you on
a Sunday morning, but do you have a few minutes? I’m not disturbing your routine with Ava, am I?’
Holly let out a laugh. ‘God no, that child is a night owl. Keeps us awake most of the night babbling and gurgling to herself, then sleeps all damn morning. She’s fast asleep on Liam’s chest at the moment, although how, with him snoring down her damn ear, I have no idea.’
My chest twinged at the vision Holly was conjuring up, and I wondered whether I’d ever get that: a man who loved me, with our child sleeping on his chest.
‘Ah, that’s so sweet.’
‘I know,’ Holly sighed. ‘Just looking at him makes me want to make another one.’
‘Well, before you do, can I ask you something first?’ I joked.
‘Yes, of course you can. What is it you want to know?’
‘The extension and refurb at the hotel that Liam wants Roman to do?’
‘Ooh yes, I’m so glad he’s finally agreed.’
‘I need to ask you a favour, if you can manage it.’
Ten minutes later, and I was feeling optimistic. Holly had said she would speak to Liam, and their business partner, Mark, about starting the work on the hotel as soon as possible. As far as Holly was concerned, she was desperate for the work to start: it was just a case of whether they had the money available. Which was where Mark came in, as he was their accountant too.
She also promised not to say anything about my call to her. I trusted Holly, so I had told her everything about Alan Cromwell and The Palisades, and she was extremely sympathetic. The hotel had suffered badly before Liam had started to help her run it, so she knew exactly how stressful business could be.
I had just finished the call, when the bedroom door opened, and Roman walked in.
‘Morning baby,’ he said, holding out a steaming mug of tea to me.
‘Morning.’ I took the tea from him and smiled. ‘Hmm lovely, thanks.’
Roman chucked me under my chin in acknowledgment, and then walked towards his wardrobe. He flung open the doors and pulled out a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and what looked like one of his flannel work shirts.