Rome: A Marked Men Novel

by Jay Crownover

  “So here’s the deal. I don’t need you to figure my shit out, I can do it all on my own. I look at you like I want to lick you all over because I do. I don’t really know how to go about starting up something with a guy like you, but as long you promise not to lie to me, to not cheat on me, I want to.”

  And I did. I wanted to start it and finish it and enjoy everything in between. He was so different from Jimmy, and honestly, troubled or not, I could see he was so much better. Rome Archer was a force to be reckoned with, a storm brewing of broken thoughts and dangerous demons, of misplaced responsibility and unknown future. I wasn’t sure, but I had a sinking suspicion I might be one of the few able to withstand the destruction left by that storm’s aftermath, and even though my old fear was there, it wasn’t as strong as the attraction I felt for this enigmatic man.

  He didn’t respond, but I saw his chest rise and fall as he sucked in a deep breath.

  “Cora.” I could hear the hesitation in his tone. “I don’t juggle women and I don’t think I could be any more honest with you than I already have been. But I’m still not the guy you’re looking for, and that hasn’t changed since the other morning. Perfect isn’t even in my vocabulary, even if you are cute enough to make me want to try and be.”

  He tapped a finger to his temple, and I saw the shadow move over his eyes. He might not be one hundred percent, but I was starting to think any portion of Rome was better than most men operating at full capacity. I was good with words, could tell him that something about him just got to me, that I thought he was hotter than any guy should be, that I liked that he didn’t just back down from me. Instead I decided that since he was a man of action, I would just show him I knew what I was doing and knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted the last word in this and there really was only one surefire way to get it.

  I grabbed the hem of my sundress and whipped it up and off over my head. The bright material landed in a heap on the floor and I was left in my yellow wedges and cute pink underwear. One thing about having small boobs was I didn’t have to really worry about a bra if I didn’t want to. Apparently Rome was a fan of small boobs, because his eyes lit up like a lighter flicking to life. Even in my chunky shoes, with him barefoot, when I made my way to where he was standing, stock-still, the top of my head barely reached his chin. I had to look up at him, and when I did, I put one hand on either side of his face so he couldn’t look away from me.

  Those blue, blue eyes got heavy-lidded and dropped just a fraction, which made my blood get all warm and slippery under my skin.

  “Don’t be scared, Captain No-Fun, we got this.”

  He put his big hands on my naked waist and started to walk me back toward the bed in the center of the room. It would be so easy to be intimidated by a guy like him, only he was looking at me like I was something so unique and so precious that all I could feel was anticipation. That grin that was probably going to make me fall in love with him broke across his face, and I knew that whatever it was I was doing with this man, who was so the opposite of what I thought I wanted, was the right thing. He wasn’t steady, he was most definitely not a man content with his current circumstances, and I was pretty sure his idea of what being a partner to someone looked like was totally different from mine. I still didn’t know that he wanted to be all in with me or even with himself but the pull, the undeniable current of want and need that seemed to loop around us, was just too much to dismiss for a dream that had yet to come along.

  “I told you last night you know better than anyone what my idea of fun entails.” His thumb brushed across the jewels dotting my side and trailed up over a nipple that was now straining and begging for attention. The back of my knees hit the bed, and before I knew it, I was on my back and he was looming over me all naked skin and glowing eyes. It was beautiful, he was beautiful, and no matter what happened after this point, I knew I was a lucky girl to be here with him.

  “Are you actually going to talk to me this time?”

  I put my hands in his short hair as he worked on getting my shoes off and the cute little underwear out of his way. I liked that he was kind of rough, a little impatient, but there was always reverence when his fingers brushed my skin. He kissed me once and dropped the towel.

  “Probably not.”

  He put his hands under my hips and moved me toward the edge of the bed. I slid my hands down to his shoulders and propped his chin up with the edge of my knuckle so that he was looking at me.

  “Why not?”

  He ran his hands down the length of one leg and situated me so that my legs were off the bed and he was standing at the apex of them. I was exposed, open to him, and should have felt vulnerable or maybe even shy, but it was impossible to feel anything but appreciated and sexy with the way those eyes burned when he looked at me. My breath got caught in my lungs and couldn’t escape when he touched that little tiny ring situated at the heart of me with just the tip of his index finger. Everything was slick and damp, and his touch just made it all burn hotter.

  “Because I’m freaked out that whatever I say might be the wrong thing. And right now, being with you is the one thing that feels solid and real … You’re so full of color, so vibrant you never get lost in all the gray in my head. I don’t want to lose that.”

  My heart caught. Those were words a woman would never forget a man saying to her, especially when they came from a man like this. I got my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss that I hoped conveyed how I felt. I arched up off the bed when his finger abandoned the jewelry and went in search of more intimate, deeper territory. I felt those thick digits slide through my folds, brush against quivering nerve endings, play with all the parts of me that were achy and greedy for his touch. He used his thumb to press down on my clit, which had the added benefit of rubbing the smooth edge of my piercing against all those tightly wound centers of pleasure. He knew just how to stroke me, to play me to get the best result.

  I kissed him until neither of us could breathe, kissed him until he made me pant his name, kissed him until he got more fingers involved in what he was doing down there and I couldn’t keep it together anymore. I broke apart, felt him drop his head and kiss the side of my neck. I was clutching those broad shoulders like a lifeline. I felt like if I let him go, this thing we were building between us was going to disappear in a puff of smoke—it was just that magical and different. I think he might have even chuckled, but I was pretty sure he had just devastated what it meant to have sex for me.

  He pulled me to him and I could feel that erection pulsing and throbbing at the apex of my core. My breasts flattened against the hard plane of his chest, and we were as close as two people could be without being joined. I could feel his stomach muscles tighten and contract against me. I ran a hand over the solid curve of his ass and blinked up at him lazily. I saw that he looked a little hesitant, which made me frown. I wanted all that rigid and ready flesh inside me, now.

  “Did I hurt you last time?”

  His voice was gruff, and I didn’t appreciate that he was too strong for me to just pull him down into where I wanted him to be. I retaliated by wrapping both legs around his lean waist and lifting myself up to him. I heard him swear, but it only took a fraction of a second before he got with the program and sank all the way down into me. I sighed at the sensation, the stretch and pull my body had to do to accommodate all that length and girth. I dug my hands into the thick muscles running across his neck. I wanted to groan but I tried to answer him instead because those blue eyes were on mine resolutely and he wasn’t moving.

  “Noooo …” I couldn’t really form words as he bent his head and put a nipple in his mouth. The scrape of his teeth nearly made me lose it again and the way he lapped at the turgid skin with the flat of his tongue made it almost impossible to breathe. “It was awesome. You were awesome, so what if I had to be careful how I sat down for a week? Totally worth it.”

  I choked out a laugh when he levered up on his arms to glare down at me. It was hard
for him to look threatening when he shuddered as I squeezed him with my inner muscles.

  “Not funny.”

  I moved my hands so that I could trace the tight line of his rib cage, pausing a little when I got to the part that was just recently healing. I liked the way he felt, liked the way he moved. I liked that he was so big and strong, yet able to admit he was struggling and human enough to have weakness. The fact of the matter was I just liked him, and even if it meant we had to get used to the size difference, it was a learning curve I had no trouble being a part of. My body wanted him, it was my head and all things I had told myself I was waiting for that had been my stumbling block up to this point. Looking up at him looking down at me like he had never seen anything he wanted more, I realized all the parts were on the same page right now. I kissed him on the center of his breastbone and worked on pulling him back down where all of that straining and aching flesh did the most good. I liked feeling surrounded by him, engulfed in all his maleness.

  “It’s fine. Now move or I’ll have to hurt you.”

  He grunted his agreement and got back to business. He stroked along my legs until I bent them up along by his sides. One of his hands tangled up in the top of my short hair and all that lovely, sinewy muscle started heaving and pushing against me. With each thrust, each retreat, his eyes got hotter and burned brighter. I couldn’t look away. It was even better, more intense than the first time. He didn’t leave any part of me untouched. My mouth, my neck, my breasts, the part where I was open and sliding along him. His hands, his mouth … they did everything they could to pull me back apart.

  He said my name, I’m pretty sure I screamed his when he reached down between the two of us, and right before he pushed me over the edge again started playing with that damn hoop. His thick fingers were so light, so gentle, but I was too gone, too ready to let go, so it just took a brush of skin and the slight tug of metal in aroused flesh to make me come unglued and throw my head back and arch up against him hard enough that he got an arm under my back. Holding me that way, he plunged into me with renewed vigor and less care for my well-being. It was awesome. I felt him shudder his own release, felt him flick his tongue along the cord of my neck that was throbbing in time to his heartbeat, and then he rolled over so that both of us had our backs on the bed and our legs dangling over the side. I swore that if he was that good at getting me off with just his hands, I was never going to survive if he ever worked his way to getting his mouth down there. He was dangerous in a whole different way now.

  We were both breathing hard and silent. I was pretty sure that Rome was the best cure for a hangover I had ever come across. He picked up one of my much smaller hands in his own and trailed a thumb across my neon-painted nails.

  “So you gonna let me take you on a date or something, Cora Lewis?”

  I turned my head to look at him and had to bite back a laugh. He actually looked concerned about my answer.

  “Do you want to take me on a date, Rome Archer?”

  “Yeah, I think I do. Don’t get me wrong. If you just want me to take you to bed anytime you feel up to it, I’m game for that as well, but I like you, so yeah, I would like to take you on a date.”

  I went to push up on my elbows so I could look him in the eye, when I realized we were both really naked and there was a whole lot of non-after-sex stuff happening. I felt my eyes get huge in my face and I must have looked panicked because he frowned.

  “Seriously we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “Uh … The date is fine, but we have a problem.”

  He scratched his chest and yawned. “The guys?”

  I smacked him on the arm. “No, well yeah, maybe, but something more serious than that.”

  He copied my pose. “What?”

  “I’m not on the pill.”

  We stared at each other for what felt like five minutes without talking. I was smarter than this, always had been. I couldn’t believe I let something as basic as safe sex get away from me. Finally he flopped back down on the bed and threw his arm across his eyes.

  “I knew I felt like I forgot something the last time.”

  Well, crap, I hadn’t even considered the time before. I cleared my throat.

  “And?”

  He just shrugged a big shoulder. “It’s not like we can go back and un-have sex.”

  I growled a little at him and narrowed my eyes. “What if the result is a baby?”

  “Then we deal with it.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that. Don’t freak out yet.”

  Oh, this wasn’t even close to freaking out, but he didn’t know me well enough to know that, which really was the entire problem with the possibility of getting knocked up by a virtual stranger. I was going to start hyperventilating, start spazzing out, but before I could, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down so that I was lying on top of him. I felt his lips brush the top of my head and felt that wide chest start to rise and fall in a steady rhythm. The jackass was going to fall asleep on me while I was having a major crisis.

  “Cora.” I put my head down over his heart and tried to calm down. “Don’t worry, Half-Pint, we got this.”

  And then he was asleep and I was left wondering how such an obviously imperfect guy had invaded my world so thoroughly and how right Rowdy had been, sideways. Everything was most definitely sideways and right now I had no clue which way was up.

  CHAPTER 8

  Rome

  I was sprawled out under the pool table, trying to get the stupid thing level, when several pairs of worn motorcycle boots were suddenly the only things I could see through the legs I had jacked up off the floor. It was early afternoon, so the bar was dead and Brite had taken off to run some errands. I guess that left me sort of in charge, and if a bunch of bikers were going to show up and trash all the hard work I had put in to this place over the last few weeks, it was going to get unpleasant really fast. I took a quick count, noting that there appeared to be five of them, before I slid out from under the table and wiped my hands down on my jeans.

  Bikers looked like bikers, but these guys were clearly the top branch of the club. I knew badass when I saw it, could feel the don’t fuck with me coming off this crew. These guys were no prospects, no sidewalk bikers looking for a little action. These dudes were the real deal, and if they wanted a piece of me, I was going to have to work way harder at staying alive than I had the last time I tangled with a bunch of bikers.

  The guy that was clearly the leader of the crew took a step toward me and I had to stiffen up to avoid taking an automatic step back. I lifted the eyebrow with the scar in it and crossed my arms over my chest. I could do badass as well as the next guy if I had to.

  “You Archer?”

  I nodded slightly and kept an eye on the other four guys who spread out to flank the man talking to me.

  “Brite told me some of the newbies came in here and fucked shit up. Tried to start some business with you and then looked like little punks when you finished it. That true?”

  I just nodded again. I wasn’t sure what this was all about, and I didn’t know if more detail would help or hurt my case at this point in time.

  The guy shared a look with one of the other guys over my shoulder and moved to pull up the edge of his sleeve. I blinked in surprise when I noticed he had the exact same tattoo Brite wore on his forearm.

  “Brothers-in-arms, kiddo. That shit don’t fly with me and it don’t fly with the Sons of Sorrow. The club knows the Bar is off-limits and that anyone who did service deserves respect. That little ass-wipe is getting his rocker cut off. We will not have prospects or anyone around us who can’t abide by the rules and show proper respect.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure what getting a rocker cut off meant, but it sounded like it was all in my favor, so I nodded once more and pushed off the table.

  “Thanks. I’m just glad nobody got hurt any worse or the bar didn’t end up even more trashed.”

  “Brite l
ikes you. Thinks you’re a good kid with a lot of potential. That means you’re good people in my book. We look out for good people.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. I knew from Cora that Asa was still in a cast from a beat-down by a Southern chapter of the SoS, but I guess as long as they didn’t want to start anything up with me, I couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I shook the guy’s hand but didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until every last one of them trekked back out the front door. I went up the bar to where Darcy had stuck her head out of the kitchen to keep an eye on things.

  “That was intense.”

  She nodded and handed me a glass of water from the other side of the bar. “Brite ran around with them when he got back after his first deployment. He was into all kinds of bad stuff. That was why wife number one left.”

  “I could see that. Those are some scary-ass dudes.”

  “Brite was just as scary. Still can be when he puts his mind to it. You’re lucky you remind him so much of himself when he was around your age.”

  I was starting to agree with her. I was thinking more and more that even though I was at some serious loose ends, I really was a lucky guy. I liked hanging out in the bar and all my diligent work had it looking less like a hole in the wall and more like an actual, respectable establishment. I was learning the regulars, learning their stories, and it made me feel less alone the longer I spent here. I had spent the last week with Cora, either at her place or mine, and the more time I spent in her company, the harder it was to want to be away from her.

  She let me take her out to dinner and a movie and we ended the night back at my place. The following night she surprised me by showing up at the bar and demanding that I let her take me out. I had never in my life had that happen before, but I let her have her way because she was so damn cute and I could tell underneath her usually sassy attitude she was really freaking out about the unprotected-sex thing. I probably should be more concerned about it than I was, but I made sure I was prepared now and I just tried to do my best to stay calm about it since she seemed to be worried about it enough for the both of us.