Roman lifted his head to look at Garrett, surprised into it.
“He started marrying human women, over and over and over,” Garrett continued. “Yet he hid his real nature from them, thinking he was protecting them. But he was just making himself more and more unhappy until he tried to dive down a rabbit hole and not come out again.”
Roman sighed and sat back against the buffet and let his head roll back. “Some seduction this turned into. Thanks, Garrett. Now I feel like the world’s biggest loser. Fuck, I hate this sort of crap. It makes me want to pluck my eyes out or something.” He turned his head to look at Kate. “And he wonders why I only showed up every fifty years or so. I couldn’t take him in bigger doses.”
“Micheil told me you aren’t supposed to congregate. That you two are breaking the rules meeting as often as you do,” Kate said. “So you showing up at all means you couldn’t stay away.”
She cupped his cheek as Garrett chuckled at her comeback. Roman just looked into her eyes. He seemed tired, except she knew he couldn’t get tired. Defeated?
“I like that you couldn’t stay away,” she murmured.
Roman gave a tiny smile. “He’s in my blood, Kate. I have to warn you.”
“Warn me? Why a warning?”
His smile faded. “Because you’re in my blood, too.”
“Roman,” Garrett murmured. “Not here.”
Roman shook his head. “Why not here? Kate looks like royalty, she stood up tonight in front of millions of people and said we were hers in all but practice and now I’ve found my tongue. It’s time, Calum. It’s way past time. I’m done dodging this.”
Kate began to tremble. She held on to the edge of the table for support until she felt Garrett press up against her shoulder, giving her the steadiness she needed. His arm came around her waist, merely as a comforting weight.
Roman didn’t seem to mind, either. He picked up her hand and stroked the back of it. Then he smiled. “And now I’ve lost my tongue again. Christos.” He looked at her. “I’ve never said it before, Kate. I want to. It’s right there.”
“Never? Not once? Not even to Garrett?”
“Well, once, maybe.” He gave a laugh.
“That’s all?”
Garrett’s arm tightened around her waist.
“How many times does it need saying?” Roman muttered.
“Everyone needs to hear that you love them. Always. Often. And you’re Greek, Roman. You don’t even have the excuse of growing up in a repressed culture like the stuffy British!”
“Kate…” Garrett said in a warning tone.
Roman was watching her. Listening. He was hearing her, even if he wasn’t reacting.
“You can’t tell me that Byzantine society was so formalized you got all that hugging and kissing the Greeks do trained right out of you?” Kate demanded.
Garrett shook her. “Stop,” he demanded.
She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. “What?”
Garrett gave a tiny grimace. “I was just trying to stop you from making it worse.”
“Worse, how?”
“Roman was enslaved in fourteen fifty-three, when the Turks took Constantinople. He was sixteen and the rest of his family were executed.”
Kate whipped around to look at Roman. He was rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. But all she could think about was their lunch date, the day she had met Garrett, when she had spoken of buying Roman with hundred dollar bills and his gruff, angry response: No one buys or sells me. Of course they didn’t. Not anymore. He’d had his fill of it.
Guilt and sorrow touched her. “How do you put up with us humans stumbling all over your past the way we do?” she asked Roman. “How do you stand staying hidden, your long, long lives?”
Roman shrugged. “For a while, I couldn’t stand it. That rabbit hole, remember? I was all ready to take a long dive down that hole and not come back out again.”
“And if Nial gets his way, we won’t be hidden for much longer,” Garrett added.
“That’s why you’re all here. In L.A.?”
“Not just a pretty face,” Garrett murmured, sounding proud.
Kate studied Roman. “Will you mind very much? Having everyone know?”
He stroked her jaw with his finger. “Not now.” And he kissed her.
She caught her breath, for the kiss was much more powerful, with Garrett still pressed up against her bare shoulder. She felt him shift against her as Roman’s kiss lingered. His arm moved and his hand found her knee through the slit in her dress.
She moaned into Roman’s mouth as her body leapt with heat and wanting. It was no simple lust. This was far more complicated and much more powerful, with both of them there.
Then Garrett’s lips slid over the nape of her neck and she knew she was in heaven.
Roman released her.
“Don’t stop,” she begged, her voice hoarse.
“If I don’t we’ll end up on the front page of Variety or in jail,” Roman told her.
“Or both,” Garrett murmured, his lips brushing against her neck. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”
“My place,” Kate said.
“Everyone knows your address,” Garrett pointed out. “Including the entire Hollywood press corp.”
“My place,” Roman said. “Garrett only has a hotel and that’s too easy to penetrate. I have security.”
“I’ll have the car pull around,” Kate said, reaching for her phone.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kate raised the privacy screen as soon as the car pulled into traffic. Garrett and Roman had contrived to sit her between them again, which suited her just fine. Now she looked at them. “Kiss me. Both of you. I want to see if it’s as good the second time around.”
Roman glanced at Garrett. “The first time was off the charts,” he said.
“I’m sure I can improve on that.” Garrett bent and kissed her. At the same time, his hand smoothed its way along the inside of her knee, up along her thigh.
Roman didn’t sit back and watch. His hand captured her other leg and began to tease her inner thigh, while his mouth nibbled and feasted on her shoulder.
She oozed further down onto the seat, a warm pile of nerves and pleasure. How could she not have thought of this weeks ago? Why had she held back? The pleasure she had been missing out on…
When Garrett finally lifted his mouth from hers, she was panting. He didn’t pull away very far. Just enough to look at her. “You’re right. It’s much better this way. By a factor much more than simply two.”
Roman lifted his lips from the upper slope of her breast. “I’ve wasted a lot of time being pissed at you for nothing.”
“Had to go through it to get here,” Garrett said philosophically. He smiled at Kate. “And it had its compensations.”
She smiled back at him.
Roman caught Garrett’s head in his hand and drew him closer and Kate caught her breath, her amusement vanishing. Her whole body caught fire as she realized they were going to kiss, not just in her imagination but right there in front of her. Inches away from her.
Her genitals throbbed in hard blooming beats, in time with her heart, as she watched their mouths touch. They were tentative and she knew it was because of her. They were old time lovers. Kissing should have been as comfortable as slipping on gloves. But she was the new cog in the equation. As their mouths pressed together, as the kiss deepened, her breath caught. She couldn’t help it. A small explosion of pleasure swept through her.
It was the most erotic thing she had ever seen. And this was only the preview. The main attraction was coming up.
Garrett groaned and Kate thought she would die. Roman was making him groan. Her clit pulsed with excitement and Garrett’s fingers tightened on her thigh. He pulled away from Roman and looked at her. “There’s no need to wonder if ye’ like what ye see or not. I can feel the heat pouring off ye.”
Kate licked her lips. “You’re not exactly reluctant, either, Mi
cheil.”
He glided his fingers up a little higher, until they brushed her bare pussy. “If I had my way I’d’ve ripped every shred off ye the moment we stepped in the car. Don’t tempt me.”
“And what would you have done with Roman?”
Roman grinned. “She’s discovered a taste for strong entertainment.” He looked at Garrett as he ran his fingertips over the top of her dress and along the deep vee between her breasts, tickling and teasing. He looked at Garrett. “What would you have done with me?”
Garrett looked down at her. “What would you like me to do?” His eyes were dark blue, almost black, the way they turned when he was deeply aroused. His thumb was stroking her inner thigh in restless little circles, making her body twitch.
“Take off his shirt,” Kate whispered, wondering how far they would obey her.
Roman sat up away from her, giving Garrett access. Garrett slid his hand out from between her thighs and leaned over her to slide Roman’s tuxedo jacket off.
“Mmm….now you really do smell like her,” Roman murmured.
“So do you, idiot.” Garrett dropped the jacket over the back of the car seat and stripped Roman of his tie and cufflinks. Kate opened her purse and Garrett dumped them in. “Thank you.”
Then he tackled the shirt buttons swiftly. But instead of just pulling the shirt open and off Roman’s shoulders and tossing it aside, Garrett slipped his hands inside the open shirt and laid them on Roman’s chest. He opened the shirt by sliding his hands up to his wide shoulders, caressing the flesh.
Roman drew in a deep, heavy breath, controlling his breathing.
Kate knew what he meant. She was back to throbbing all over.
Garrett slid the shirt down his arms and tugged it free of his dress pants. The shirt came adrift and landed on Kate’s lap.
Her excitement raised another notch as she stared at Roman in the dim interior lights. Occasional street lamps flashed by, illuminating his flawless flesh, the two ancient symbols writhing on each rounded shoulder and the belt of his pants, now resting low on his hips.
Garret was studying him, too.
Roman looked back, his eyes half-closed. His chest was rising and falling gently. “Damn, but I’ve even lost control over my pulse,” he muttered.
“Two of us,” Garrett said, his voice hoarse.
“I’d say three, but I never had control in the first place,” Kate said. “Roman, you need to at least even the score.”
“At least?” He raised a brow at her. “Good thing we’re heading all the way out to the Hills.” He grabbed the back of Garrett’s jacket at the neck and tugged. The jacket slid off and crumpled to the seat. He didn’t wait for it to land. He had already moved on. The tie and cufflinks were dropped into Kate’s purse with heavy clinks. But Roman didn’t bother with the buttons. He grabbed the front of the shirt and ripped it open.
Garrett shook his head. “Impatient sod.”
“Yep,” Roman agreed. He tossed the shredded shirt into Kate’s lap. “He knows I’ll buy him another one.”
“You’d better. That was imported Japanese silk.”
“Listen to him,” Roman said, reaching for Garrett’s belt buckle. “You’d never know the fussy bugger was one of the best sword fighters the Bruce clan had ever seen. He used to stand over his conquests and take them on two at a time, blood up to his eyeballs and a curse for every newcomer.”
The belt slid undone with a soft sound of leather on metal that made Kate’s heart flutter. She was listening to Roman, but her gaze and her heart was pinned to his fingers and what they were doing.
She thought her heart might explode with just a little more pressure…and Roman wasn’t stopping. He slid the fastener undone, then the zipper. Then he pushed his hand inside.
Garrett gave a choked groan, his eyes closing.
Kate caught at Roman’s wrist, feeling the tendons moving. “I want to see,” she whispered.
Roman kissed her, hard and fierce. His eyes were glittering. “Not here,” he said, withdrawing his hand. He nodded toward the window. “We’re almost there.”
Garrett grabbed the back of the seat, steadying himself. “Just as well,” he muttered.
* * * * *
Roman threw his keys onto a completely clutter-free and pristine kitchen counter as Kate and Garrett looked around.
It was a two floor condo at the top of a small, exclusive development tucked away in a cull de sac about five minutes from Kate’s house. But this was a much newer development than hers. Kate remembered when it had opened for sale by auction. The opening bids on the apartments had started at two million and that had been ten years ago. Of course now, with the real estate bust, the value might have dropped somewhat, but she didn’t think so. The Hollywood Hills were one area that tended to maintain their price unless the owner was in a hurry to sell.
The place was gorgeous. She could see why Roman had been drawn to it. She had spent six weeks in Turkey and three magical weeks in Athens, once. Combining the two, along with her research for the script, gave her a rough idea of what Constantinople might have been like when Roman had been growing up. He had created a pared-down version of it here.
The main floor, here, was a mix of terracotta tiles and mosaics for accents around the edges and features. The mosaics flowed up along the walls, too.
Beautiful Bokhara carpets were spread across the floor, softening it for bare feet and adding warmth. They should have competed with the colourful mosaics, but they didn’t. The two stippled collections of colour complimented each other.
This floor was dedicated to pursuits of the mind. A whole white-washed wall was taken up with a huge flat panel TV and shelves of electronic equipment that serviced it. There was a remote keyboard on the table in front of the sofa, which meant the TV was used for internet surfing and computing, too. This was a thinking man’s monitor, not just a sports enthusiast’s mindless surfing screen.
There weren’t any books lying around, which meant Roman read electronically, or they were stored somewhere else. Kate refused to believe he didn’t read at all.
Garrett was looking around with interest. “Nothing’s changed,” he decided, pushing up the sleeves of his jacket. His chest was bare beneath, just as Roman’s was under his.
Roman shoved his hands in his pants pockets. His jacket was open, which did interesting things to Kate’s insides as it spread apart with the movement of his arms. “What hasn’t changed?”
Garrett waved his hand around the room. “Mind here.” He pointed to the ceiling. “Body there.”
“What’s up there?” Kate asked curiously.
Roman shrugged. “Bedroom.”
“You don’t sleep.”
He smiled. “There are other things to do in a bedroom beside sleep.”
Garrett picked up her hand. “Let’s see what else he’s hiding up there.”
“Good, because I need the bathroom. And one of you is going to have to help me out of this dress.”
They both stared at her.
“I’m sewn into it,” she explained. “You’re literally going to have to unpick stitches to get it off me.”
Garrett looked stricken. “Roman – you worked for that tailor…”
“I did his books! Fuck, don’t melt, Calum. They’re tiny threads.” Roman waved him away. “Show her the bedroom. I’ll scare up some scissors.”
Kate giggled as Garrett pulled her up the stairs. “Clearly, you’re better with a blade the size of a broadsword than a little pair of scissors.”
Garrett looked about at the top of the stairs, spotted the bedroom and led her into it. “Roman’s more used to domestic stuff than me. He’s been married. I never got there.”
“Not once? Not even living with someone?”
Garrett shrugged. “Roman, on and off, but living with a man is different. You share accommodation and go on your usual way. Living with a woman changes you. I’ve watched it happen to Roman. After Mary I wouldn’t bring that sort of risk to a
nother woman, so I suppose you could say I never got domesticated.”
Kate stared at him in horror. Five hundred years, alone?
But he wasn’t looking at her. He was glancing around the bedroom. “Well, he’s still a Byzantine at heart.”
Kate pulled her attention away from Garrett and looked around herself.
It wasn’t gilded the way the Hagia Sophia was, but there was no doubt where this room got its inspiration. Rich tapestries, glowing colours, silks, satins, embroidery, filigree and tassels adorned the bedding, the cushions, the rugs, pillows and furnishing, even the canopy over the giant bed and the curtains across the windows, turning the room into a decadent chamber.
She spotted the door to the bathroom. “Relief,” she murmured and hurried in and used it. It took time to reassemble the yards of material about her legs, so when she emerged, Roman had arrived, bearing scissors.
She turned her back to him, and pointed to the waist and sides. “I lost weight, so he took in tucks over the zip. You have to unstitch them to undo the zip.” She straightened up her spine. “Try really hard not to cut the material, huh?”
“So I should cut you, instead, if I need to make the choice?” Roman asked.
Garrett laughed and sat on the bed to watch.
“At least he’s trying, highlander. You turned white around the gills at the idea,” Kate accused him, as Roman snipped at the back of her dress.
“And I get my hands on you first, too,” Roman said. “I wasn’t born yesterday,” he added in a wise tone.
She pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh.
“Stop shaking,” Roman told her.
“Sorry. Can’t help it.”
He stood and stepped around in front of her, the scissors in one hand. With the other, he grabbed her chin and kissed her. It stole her breath and vaporized any need to laugh under a white hot jet of want that whooshed through her. Roman’s tongue thrust deep into her mouth, sliding against hers.
His hand traced down from her chin, her throat, to her shoulder, to fall from there to the back of her waist in a series of little featherweight touches along her spine. Then he pressed her up hard against him and Kate caught at his shoulders for balance. She felt flesh and silk under her fingers and stroked the sensuous mix. The flesh felt nicer and she pushed her hands under the lapels of the jacket and traced the rounded contours of his pecs, down to where her breasts were pushed against him, then along his sides, to his hips and around to his ass. She stroked, delighted by the shape.
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