by Joanna Wylde
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” he said softly. “I missed you this morning. Last night got crazy. Let’s go somewhere and talk about it.”
He wanted to talk.
Right. Because talking was something all guys loved to do so much. No, this was about sex. Had to be. But was that really a bad thing? I felt his pull like a magnet. I wanted to lean forward against his chest and sniff him. Was he the wrong kind of man for me? Absolutely. That didn’t mean we couldn’t have some fun together…
If I had to give up my entire life to move back here, maybe I deserved a consolation prize.
Except it wasn’t fair to abandon Lexi—not when I’d be leaving again so soon. Even if I got a new job here right away, I’d have to work out my notice and pack everything up.
That brought me full circle to adulting and its associated bullshit.
“I’d like to,” I admitted. “And I’m sorry everything got weird. But I should stay and help my sister. My mom had an asthma attack this morning.”
“She okay?”
“She’s fine,” Lexi said from the living room. “She has them all the time. But I’m not fine. One of you destroyed my bra.”
“You think you could get over it if I paid you a hundred bucks?” Rome asked her. “My washing machine did the damage, so it’s kind of my fault.”
“Rome, you don’t need to do that,” I said, feeling guilty. I’d murdered Lexi’s bra, and I’d done it knowingly. My intentions had been good, but I hadn’t realized how upset she would be. Now I felt like a bitch.
“Shut up, Randi. You’re not the one whose stuff got ruined,” Lexi snapped, coming back to the door. She crossed her arms, meeting his gaze head on. “I had to order it online. And it’s not just the list price, you know—you have to pay for shipping, too.”
Rome nodded seriously, then pulled a wallet out of his back pocket, opening it. “How about this? I give you a hundred and fifty, and you let your sister off the hook long enough for us to talk about last night. I’ll have her back to you in a couple of hours.”
“Her virtue is priceless,” Lexi countered, her gaze calculating.
“Two hundred.”
“You have to take her somewhere nice this time,” she said slowly. “And no more fights.”
“Do I get a say in this?” I asked.
“No.” They both replied at the same time, Lexi flipping me off and Rome smirking. Smug bastard.
I couldn’t decide if I was flattered or insulted. Then Rome started counting out bills and Lexi’s mask slipped—her face was full of that same excited joy she’d had as a little girl. I decided to be okay with it. It wasn’t like money was plentiful around here.
My weekend visit had gotten way too serious, way too fast.
It was a lot to take in—I needed to think. And it wasn’t like I was abandoning my family to run off with a random stranger, right? We’d already spent the night together and he’d been a perfect gentleman. Well, aside from grinding me to orgasm against a bar wall before wading into a fight.
Denial. Denial was the best way to process that particular incident.
“I’ll grab my bag,” I said, pushing past my sister.
Rome finished counting out his bribe, then Lexi asked, “Can you wait outside for a minute? I need to talk to Randi before she goes.”
“Sure,” Rome said, obviously trying not to laugh. He stepped out, and Lexi shut the door behind him. Then she turned to me, and I caught a flash of guilt on her face.
“Being around him makes you stupid,” she said. “And now I feel sort of like a pimp.”
“That’s because you just sold me to a man for money,” I pointed out gently.
“I think it’s more like babysitting. He’s paying me to watch Mom so that you can go out on a date.”
“Except Mom isn’t a child.”
“Well, someone still has to babysit her,” Lexi replied, obviously suffering from an attack of conscience, even as she fondled her wad of cash. I was the one who should feel guilty, though. How had I missed seeing what was really happening here?
Because you didn’t want to see it. You wanted to have your own life.
“Look, you don’t have to go with him. You know that, right?”
“Of course I know that,” I told her. “I think the more important question is whether you’re okay with it. You’re the one stuck in the trenches, and I’m headed to the reunion tonight. Maybe we should spend the afternoon together. I can’t pay you two hundred bucks, though.”
“No, you want to go with him,” she said, fingers tightening on the stack of twenties. “It’s okay so long as you still have dinner with me and Kayden.”
“Special macaroni and cheese?”
“Is there any other kind?”
“No,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s a date.”
“Then get your ass out of here and don’t be stupid.”
Leaning forward, I rubbed my nose against hers and stepped out of the apartment.
“Rome—”
He pounced, catching my arm as he shut the door behind me. Then he wrapped one hand around the back of my head and pulled me in for a deep, hungry kiss. My mind went gloriously blank. He backed me into the wall, pinning me as his tongue invaded my mouth. Desire exploded between my legs and I suddenly remembered just how amazing last night had been before things fell to shit.
The man had a talent.
Wanting more, I wrapped my arms around him, my fingers digging deep into the hard muscles of his back, kneading him like a cat. He flinched, pausing for just a second. Something was wrong. Rome’s mouth covered mine again, but I pushed against him, stopping him.
“What happened to your back?” I asked, concerned. Rome focused on my lips, clearly distracted.
“It’s nothing.”
“No, it’s not,” I insisted. He shrugged.
“You weren’t the only one who got beat up last night,” he admitted. “I think someone slammed a chair across my back. Right at the beginning of the fight. No serious injuries, but it’s looking nasty this morning.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, so I slid under his arm and around his back, then started tugging on his shirt. I pushed it and his vest up out of the way to find a large bruise shaped like a three-sided rectangle. Raising my hand, I traced the skin gently, wondering how much it must’ve hurt.
It looked awful. I drew my fingers back and forth, wishing I could take away the pain. After a few seconds his muscles tightened and something rumbled deep in his throat.
“Usually I like a girl to buy me a drink before she rips off my clothes in public,” he said lightly, but there was a hint of strain in his voice. I dropped his shirt abruptly, stepping back.
“I’m sorry,” I said, embarrassed.
Rome pulled me back to him, catching and holding my gaze. “Randi, I like you touching me. In fact, I’d really like you to touch me some more.”
“What happened to talking?” I asked, biting back a laugh.
Rome raised a brow. “I’m excellent at multi-tasking. Let’s go for a ride. There’s somewhere I’d like to show you.”
“Would this somewhere be public or private?” I asked, slowly running my hand down the front of his shirt. He caught it right above his belt, and I laughed.
“Does it matter?” he asked, eyes dancing. “You didn’t seem to mind last night.”
“About that…” I said, feeling my cheeks heat up. “For the record, I don’t normally do stuff like that.”
I waited for him to say he didn’t, either. Instead he just laughed. I smacked him, and he laughed harder.
“Enough. We should get going—I can’t be gone for more than a couple hours. We have an early dinner planned, and I still have to get ready for the reunion.”
“No worries,” he said. “I’m covering a shift tonight anyway. Ambulance crew. I’ll get you home in plenty of time.”
Chapter Eight
For the third time in twenty-four hours, I found myself riding through t
he hills with Rome. We’d gone south this time. He still wouldn’t say where we were headed, just that it was a surprise.
That worked for me.
The wind cleared my head, and I kept thinking how dark and depressing Mom’s apartment felt. Kayden and Lexi deserved light and clean air. There had to be a better place, although with mom’s housing subsidy, her options were limited. Maybe Tinker had something available in the apartment building she’d inherited from her dad. The place was small and relatively old, which meant most of the units had windows on three sides.
That’d be almost like living in a real house.
I’d talk to her about before I left town, I decided.
It wasn’t long before Rome pulled off the main highway. We turned onto a side road that wound its way up through foothills peppered with evergreens, many of them showing fire damage. Then we took a left onto a gravel road, passing a large ranch-style house before pulling off in front of an old wooden barn.
It was like something out of a movie.
The roof was steep and slanting, with a high peak in the front that poked out almost like a horn over the hayloft. The wood was dark brown and weathered. A line of green marked a little stream not far away, shaded by a massive willow.
He turned off the motorcycle and quiet descended.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, hopping off and handing him my helmet.
“It’s the original family homestead,” he said. “We passed my folks’ place on the way in. The old farmhouse was a mess—built without a foundation. The historical society hauled it away before I was born. We still use the barn, though. It’s in good shape. Come and see.”
Wow. He’d talked about his family last night, but I hadn’t realized the McGuires were original settlers. Somehow I’d never considered him the settling down type. I wondered if he planned to live on this land someday, too.
Catching my hand, he pulled me toward the big sliding door, which was padlocked. It didn’t take long for him to unlock and then he was pushing it to the side. He reached for a cord, turning on a series of shop lights.
The whole place was full of motorcycles.
Or rather, it was full of parts of motorcycles, all in different stages of restoration and repair. There was a trailer, too, and a big hoist hanging up high on the cathedral-like ceiling. A second level ran around the sides of the barn, open in the middle. A loft. In the back corner I saw something that looked almost like a giant shower curtain, mounted on metal tracks.
“What is all this?” I asked.
“It’s my shop,” he said, pulling me in close. I fit under his arm perfectly. “This is what I do when I’m not working EMS. My dad taught me. He’s got arthritis now, so it’s all mine. Motorcycles, fighting fire, jumping out of planes… McGuire men are adrenaline junkies.”
“So it’s your hobby?” I asked, although the minute I said it, I felt stupid. Clearly this wasn’t a hobby—this was a passion.
“No, it’s actually how I make most of my money,” he replied, looking pleased with himself. “I love the work, and people pay top dollar for a good restoration.”
“Wow,” I said, impressed. “I had no idea. Have you ever considered leaving fire and rescue to do it full time?”
“No fuckin’ way. I love my job,” he said, then his face sobered. “Well, I love it most of the time. Not the accidents.”
We fell silent, and I thought about the kinds of things he must see as a first responder. Children in who’d been in car crashes. I knew there’d been a real bad one about six months back. One of the boys in Lexi’s class had been killed, along with his dad and little brother. She’d called me that night, crying. I wondered if he’d been working that night… Reaching up, I rubbed Rome’s back, feeling the tension wound up inside.
“Want to see the hayloft?” he finally asked.
“Sure. Are we planning to talk up there, or…?”
He answered my question with a hard kiss. I opened for him, hoping to distract him from whatever dark memory had just run through his head. The kiss deepened quickly, growing almost desperate in its intensity. Then he pulled away, panting, and whispered in a low, throaty voice, “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this, Randi.”
His hands came down, catching my ass and lifting me up and into his hips. The move put me off balance, and I’d have fallen over if he wasn’t holding me. He nipped the side of my neck before opening his mouth, sucking and kissing like he planned to eat me alive. His dick was hard and ready against my stomach. It pulsed, reminding me that while I’d gotten off at the Starkwood, he’d never finished.
“I’m gonna fuck you so deep you’ll have trouble walking tonight.”
His intensity startled me, and I felt suddenly nervous. Rome’s body surrounded me, keeping me from finding my balance. It felt like his hands were everywhere and his cock demanded attention. I had no doubt he was telling the truth about the walking thing. That shouldn’t have been a problem. I wanted to do this. There were condoms in my purse—I’d come here planning to have sex.
But this was moving really fast.
Grinding against a guy in a dark bar while half drunk was one thing. Taking off your clothes in broad daylight for someone who’d just declared you wouldn’t be able to walk afterward was another.
“Rome—”
“Don’t worry, babe. I may be a horny bastard, but I’ll take care of you first.”
“Rome, slow down,” I gasped, closing my eyes. “You’re scaring me.” Would he be mad? I wasn’t trying to tease him, but this was happening too fast.
His entire body stiffened, and his arms tightened around me. I realized how alone we were. How easy it would be for him to take what he wanted.
What I’d already made clear he could have.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, hoping I wouldn’t do something stupid, like cry. “I’m not trying to tease you. I just got a little overwhelmed.”
He shuddered, then lowered me, letting me find my balance. For a minute we stood there, both of us breathing hard, and as I studied his face, I wondered what happened next. I really did like him. I wanted to kiss him and pet him, and then I wanted to let him inside me. But not until I was ready.
“You shouldn’t be sorry,” he said finally, taking a step back. “I’m a fuckin’ asshole.”
But he wasn’t, and the fact that he’d stopped was the proof. For a moment, he’d gotten caught up in something dark. Then I’d offered him a distraction, and he’d taken it.
Sort of like I’d been planning to do with him. I’d come here with him because I wanted to get away from the apartment and the problems I’d found there.
If Rome was an asshole, he wasn’t the only one.
“Can we start over?” I asked. He reached out, catching my hair and tucking it behind my ear. Then his finger traced the edge of my black eye.
“I don’t know,” he replied, his face serious. “Can we?”
I took a deep breath, raising my hand to lay it on his chest. His heart pounded, and I could feel how much he still wanted me. But he wasn’t scaring me, not anymore. My own desire flared back to life, and my legs felt suddenly weak.
“Yes.”
He nodded, then turned away for a second, running a hand through his hair. When he turned back, he was smiling again. The smile seemed a little strained, but it was definitely there.
“Let’s go up and check out the hay loft,” he said, reaching out his hand. I took it, feeling the spark of sexual tension that still hummed between us as he guided me across the shop to a set of stairs in the back.
They were more of a ladder than steps, I realized. I started up, torn between nerves and excitement. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I thought it would be good. Maybe we’d talk, maybe we’d roll around in the hay. Either way, Rome had listened. He wasn’t mad, and I had the feeling that even if we didn’t have sex today, he wouldn’t treat me like shit the next time he saw me in the grocery store.
And he would see me,
I realized. Because I was moving back to town as soon as I found a job.
That would complicate things. But we were here now, and I wanted to be here and maybe I didn’t need to worry about the rest until later. Maybe I should just enjoy the moment.
The loft surprised me. I don’t know what I expected—hay bales and dusty streams of sunlight, probably. What I found was an open gallery that might have held hay decades ago but was mostly held dust now. There was storage along both sides, but toward the back sat a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and an old TV.
“Is this your man cave?” I asked, giving him a shy smile.
“I don’t think I can answer,” he replied lightly, coming to stand next to me. “I’m still recovering from watching your ass go up the stairs in those jeans.”
“Maybe I should’ve made you climb up first,” I said, feeling daring.
“Climbing those stairs may be the highlight of my day. I have no regrets,” he announced, and I laughed, looking around.
“How did you get this stuff up here?”
“Me and my brother used the old block and tackle that they hauled the hay up with. Back in high school.”
I walked over to the couch, which had a comfortable, broken-in look to it. There were a few blankets, too. I half expected to find a bong on the table. “Party place?”
Rome didn’t answer for a moment, and I wondered if I’d said something wrong. Then he caught my hand, swinging me around to wrap me in his arms. Must’ve imagined it.
“Sometimes. We pulled a lot of shit and the folks took it in stride, but I don’t think any of us were brave enough to throw a real party here. There’s a lot of valuable equipment downstairs, and the wood is old and dry. The whole place is a fire trap.”
I tilted my head up and looked at him, trying to decide how brave I was feeling. Brave enough to kiss him again, I realized. Putting my hands on his shoulders, I rose up on my toes and touched my lips to his neck. Rome stood still for a few seconds, his muscles hard. My tongue darted out against his skin, the invitation clear. He groaned, hands reaching down to cup my butt, and I felt his length swell against my stomach.