Roman's Firecracker

by Rachelle Stevensen

  Cecilly grinned, “Amazing. Of course. His hair has gotten long. It showed under his hat and he had to brush it out of his eyes. He is so drool worthy mom. I really wish he would come into the salon to let me trim it. And he wore his hat backwards. Oh man. Sex on a stick for sure.”

  She fanned herself and her mom laughed again. Her older sister Kate came into the room, “What is so funny in here?”

  Cecilly told her sister everything that happened at the store. Kate laughed and hugged her.

  “Roman is pretty sexy isn’t he? His younger brother is just as yummy.”

  Cecilly laughed, “I haven’t seen Rhees much aside from when he gets his haircut. But no one is hotter than Roman to me. Sorry Katie.”

  Kate laughed. “I know. You can keep Roman. I want Rhees all for myself.”

  Kate was only 2 years older than her and the same age as Rhees.

  They even went to high school with each other for the last few months. But Rhees was just as closed off as Roman was. Even through school he never talked to many people if any people, and Katie loved it and hated it.

  Cecilly knew that Roman had graduated from high school young and was almost done with college when they first moved here.

  He was four years older than her, but it didn’t bother her in the least. She liked their age difference. The boys her age were just boys.

  And now that he was back from college and had worked for a few years in town he hadn’t changed much. Well aside from bulking up more with all his sexy muscles, which she appreciated to no end.

  His muscles would move and jump as he walked, she wanted to lick his stomach a little,- Okay a lot. It wasn’t her fault- and his ass? A thing of glory and perfection that she wanted to squeeze.

  She sighed and Kate laughed again. “Come on. Let’s get these put away and we can watch a movie.”

  “Can your old parents join? Or is it a girls only movie?” Melanie asked.

  “We could make it just girls only, but with you too! ”

  Their mom smiled, “Deal. I'll tell dad he and the boys have to fend for themselves tonight.”

  The girls all high fived and turned on some music while they put the groceries away. Then they went to their mom’s room and Cecilly brought her nail kit.

  She loved painting toes and doing nails, and her mom and sister were always happy to be her guinea pigs.

  Melanie pulled out a favorite movie of theirs and as they watched it, they talked and laughed.

  It made Cecilly so happy to be with her mom and sister. She loved their bond they had.

  She thought of Roman again and how she longed to be his.

  She could only hope that her plan to get Roman to notice her would actually work.

  She let out a small sigh and knew she just had to try.

  The next day, Cecilly had her plan in place.

  She was leaving for work a little earlier and was going to run by Roman’s house first on the way.

  She was going to give him a glass of strawberry lemonade that she made and ask him to the party.

  Or she would try at least. Whenever she was around him, she would get so nervous that she'd be tongue tied and usually made a fool of herself with the word vomit that fell from her mouth.

  Not this time. She refused to embarrass herself. Pulling up to his house, she got the cup of lemonade ready and gave herself a pep talk.

  “Okay. You can do this. He is it for you. Your man. Don’t screw this up. Don’t trip or drop anything and actually talk to him. You can do it.”

  She glared at herself in the mirror and then nodded.

  Then she got out of the car and walked up the path and up to his front door.

  Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

  A few moments later, Roman stood there. In just basketball shorts. No shirt in sight, and his skin dripped with sweat. One lone bead ran down his chest and into the valleys of his perfectly defined abs.

  She wanted to lick that drop off his skin so bad that she had to swallow, hard.

  And not that she minded he was without a shirt, but oh boy this was not helping her with forming actual words.

  She finally had to shut her eyes and held out the glass of lemonade to him.

  She was glad it was covered with a lid and that she had grabbed him a straw.

  “Um, hi. I hope I didn’t come at a bad time. I just wanted to give you this and ask if you would come to the Fourth of July bash my family and I put on every year. It’s tomorrow.”

  She peeked open one eye and then finally opened both. He was looking down at her with shock on his handsome face and she wanted to kick herself.

  “Well, um. I can see I came at a really bad time. Um, ha. Well. You have a good body.”

  When she realized what she said she squeaked in embarrassment, “I mean have a good day.”

  She turned and walked back to her car but cursed when she noticed the lemonade in her hand still.

  She would leave it on his porch or something. Turning, she went to put it down and ran into his massive body.

  The lid on the styrofoam cup held true and thankfully didn’t spill everywhere.

  But damn, she was squished against his body and oh man, did she like it. Way too much.

  Taking a step back from his skin that she wanted to lick, she practically shoved the lemonade cup in his hand and when she turned to leave, Roman caught her arm.

  “Wait, Cecilly, wait. I'm sorry, I was just shocked to see you here. I didn’t know you even knew where I lived.”

  She peeked up at him through her lashes and he gave her a small smile.

  “Uh, I um, well. I knew where you lived. I mean obviously. It’s not a big town. But I can see you're busy, and this isn’t a great time and I have to get to work.”

  His grip on her arm didn’t lessen and she looked up at him, “Roman, you have to let go of my arm so I can go to work.”

  He didn’t let her go and when she looked up into his handsome face, he was shaking his head.

  “You don’t have work for another hour. Do you want to come in?”

  Wait, how the heck did he know that? Still she shook her head frantically. “I forgot that I got called in early and I don’t want to intrude. I shouldn’t have even come here.”

  His face dropped and he gazed down at her. “Why shouldn’t you have come here? I, well, I would love to come to your party.”

  “Really? I know you don’t really like crowds or people.”

  She blushed again, “Dang it, I didn't mean to say that. Cheese and crackers, you make me nervous.”

  He raised one eyebrow, “I make you nervous? Why?”

  “Oh my gosh. My mouth just won’t stop! I just word vomit everywhere when I see you. Why do you have to be so hot?”

  He grinned at her and she put her head in her hands, groaning. “Okay, well this was fun. Super awesome really. I need to go before I keep talking and say something even more embarrassing.”

  She pulled her arm from his grasp and started down the walk again, but he pulled her to a stop.

  “Don’t leave. Please Cecilly. I like talking to you and hearing your thoughts. I have wanted to hear them for a long time.”

  “What?”

  He nodded and she could feel her mouth drop open.

  “What do you mean?”

  He went a little red and she shut her mouth, waiting for him to continue. “Well, see the thing is, I like you Cecily, I like you a lot and have for a while."

  She could feel her mouth drop open again and he smiled. And her ovaries exploded. Why did he have to be so dang handsome? Why?

  “Cecilly? Are you okay?”

  She shook her head and he laughed. It was deep and rich and so sexy that it was going to be a problem for her panties. Oh lord she was not going to survive this.

  “Come in for a second, okay? I can put this down and maybe get a shirt on?”

  “Don’t put one on, on my account.”

  She covered her mouth and eyes. And there was her mouth a
gain. When she looked over at him, he laughed again and flexed his muscles.

  Her mouth went dry. He grabbed her hand and led her in his house.

  Chapter Three

  Roman

  She was here. In his house, in his space. The place no one else was allowed.

  But here she stood. Cecilly Thompson. And he didn’t hate it. In fact, it felt right. She was shifting from foot to foot and the blush on her cheeks was still evident.

  He loved her mouth. How she just said whatever she wanted. No filter in place at all.

  It was refreshing and made him want to be bold and do the same. So he did.

  Telling her about his feelings was something he never would have done before.

  But he was glad he did. It helped knowing she at least found him attractive. He could only hope she felt the same intense feelings that he had for her.

  He put the glass of lemonade down after taking a big drink of it first and then turned to her.

  She was studying his living room and he suddenly wished that he had let his mom decorate more.

  He cleared his throat and she jumped a little. She was nervous and he loved it.

  Walking up to her he held both of her hands in his. “Tell me what you are thinking. I want to hear it.”

  She sighed, “I shouldn’t. You heard me outside. I don’t shut up and talk too much and my brain just spits out too many things. Things I should never say.”

  He laughed and pulled her hand to his mouth. “Tell me. Please Cecilly.”

  She bit her lip and then said, “I have feelings for you too. Since I saw you the first time. I knew you were it for me. That you were mine. And I was hoping that if I came here, I could get you to see that. See me. To know that I am all grown up and not a child.”

  He grinned down at her, “Oh, believe me Cecilly. I know you aren’t a child. When I first saw you, I knew you were too young for me. But I did notice you. And since then, I've seen you change and grow into the gorgeous woman you are now. I just didn’t know how to approach you. You make me nervous too.”

  “I do? You are you. Sexy and so just, yum.”

  He burst out laughing. “Sexy and yum? I like that.”

  “Oh my gosh. What is wrong with me?”

  He leaned down close to her, “Nothing. You are perfect. And all mine.”

  She went to say something and he silenced her with a kiss.

  Her words turned into a groan and he loved the sound.

  Just giving her soft, sweet kisses was wonderful and when he licked the seam of her mouth and she opened for him?

  Absolute bliss. She tasted like the lemonade he just drank. The tart of the drink and her was a lethal combination.

  He pulled her tighter into his body. Her arms had gone around his neck and her fingers were buried in his hair.

  He had one hand buried in her hair as well, and one hand on her lower back.

  He tilted her head the way he wanted it to go and deepened the kiss more.

  He could feel the hardness of his cock in his thin basketball shorts and when she lifted her leg to get closer, she ground against him in the best way for a few scant moments.

  She gasped and pulled away, dropping her hands from his hair and backing out of his embrace.

  Her lips were swollen and shiny and damn, that was a sight.

  “Wow. Just wow. Oh man, I never knew a kiss could be like that. I want more of that, but I really need to get to work.”

  He pulled her to him one more time and kissed her, hard.

  “Come over for dinner tonight?” He asked after finally lifting his head from hers.

  She nodded, “I can’t until after 8. I'm helping make treats and sides for the party. Is that too late?”

  He shook his head and then kissed her again.

  “I can’t wait.”

  She nodded, “Me either. Can I bring anything?”

  He shook his head, “Just your gorgeous self.”

  She laughed and he couldn’t help but kiss her again.

  Then he led her to the door and walked her to her car.

  “I am glad you came over today Cecilly. I needed to get over my nerves and finally talk to you. Thank you for helping me get past that.”

  She grinned at him. “You're welcome. I can come over here and be awkward anytime you need it.”

  He laughed and kissed her again. After watching her back out of his driveway, he went back inside to finish his workout.

  With a big smile on his face, he did the rest of his weight lifts and then took a shower.

  He knew what to make for Cecilly tonight and couldn’t wait.

  When his doorbell rang at 7:57 that night he grinned.

  His candle was here. She was bright and light keeping the darkness at bay with her smile, her happiness.

  It was the perfect nickname for her.

  He loved that about her. He knew he was drab and boring and liked things a certain way.

  Hell, his house was painted in shades of brown and white. There was no color on his walls, no color in his life.

  But Cecilly was all bright colors. Even her hair had bright colors hidden in the long brown strands.

  He couldn’t wait to see how his boring and lonely life would be with her in it.

  He even told Rhees and his mom about her coming over.

  His mom was shocked that he was allowing someone into his private space, but she was glad he was coming out of his shell a little.

  She told him to not be afraid and to finally live. Which he was going to do. With her.

  He opened the door and there she was. A grin covering her face, wearing a bright pink sundress and white high heeled sandals on her feet.

  Her toenails were painted hot pink and damn if they weren’t cute.

  He smiled and pulled her into his house, where he immediately kissed her.

  “I missed you all day.”

  She smiled at him and kissed him again. “I missed you too.”

  “Come on candle. I need to get some food into you.”

  She grinned up at him, “Candle? I haven’t heard that one before. Oh! Is it because you are Roman? So, I’m like a firework or something?”

  Roman smiled, “Well, there is that. You are so sparkly and bright you should be a firecracker. But no. Really, what it means to me is that you chase the darkness away and light up my life.”

  She melted into him, “Okay. Yep. I love it. So much. Call me whatever you want. Whenever you want to.”

  He laughed and led her into his kitchen, sitting her at the table.

  “You cooked this for me?” She said, looking at the spread of food he had.

  He nodded, “I didn’t have as much work today as I normally do and wanted to show off for my girl.”

  She blushed and it matched her dress. He wanted to know what she looked like under that dress.

  They ate, talking and laughing as they did and by the time, they finished cleaning the kitchen together, Roman knew 100 percent that she was the girl for him.

  She didn’t laugh at his weird quirks and appreciated that he was so OCD. She also made him not want to be so introverted. It was hard to do that when you had someone so bubbly and full of life.

  He pulled her into the living room and looked at his television.

  “So, do you want to watch a movie, or, um. Actually no. A movie is good.”

  She turned to him and put her hands on her hips. “What were you going to say?”

  He shook his head and she raised her eyebrow. “Don’t you lie to me Roman.”

  He sighed, “Fine. But I knew it was too fast. This was just our first date. I didn’t want to rush you or our relationship. But I know you are it for me. That won’t change in the next day or in 10 years from now. So, let’s just watch a movie and we can take that next step soon. Or not soon. Whatever you want.”

  She bit her lip and her eyes twinkled up at him. “You are so sweet Roman. I love that.”

  He gave her a quick kiss and then went to his bookshel
f that held his movies.

  “Anything in particular you want to watch?”

  She shook her head and he picked out a random movie.

  But they didn’t watch it. Just talked and laughed. Kissed every once in a while, and Roman was pretty damn glad that Cecilly had come to see him today.

  Chapter Four

  Cecilly

  After the movie was over, she knew she needed to get home.

  Roman reluctantly let her leave and walked her out to her car, his fingers linked with hers, and he kissed her until they were breathless.

  As she drove home, she thought about their evening together.

  She loved how much she had gotten to know him, how he opened up to her. He told her about all of his quirks and his penchant for being OCD and why things bothered him. She found it endearing.

  She was always kind of messy, but when she told him, he didn’t seem to care.

  He talked about his job and college and how he had Facebook and Instagram stalked her.

  He even showed her the most recent picture he had printed out of her after she had graduated and had done a photoshoot with Katie.

  It had warmed her deep inside and if she wasn’t already in love with him, that would have done it.

  She told him about growing up here, and how she would tell Katie every time she would see him in town or Katie would tell her every time she saw him in town.

  Roman had thrown his head back laughing and hugged her close.

  “I guess neither one of us are very subtle. Rhees kept track of you for me. He made sure to get as much information on you that he could, to get to know you a little for me when he got his haircut.”

  Cecilly laughed, “Rhees is one of my regulars. I hope he doesn’t stop coming to me now that you can just ask me yourself what you want to know. And are you finally going to let me cut your hair now? I have been dying to get my hands in it again.”

  She laughed when he raised his eyebrows and wiggled them at her. “I mean to cut it. But who knew that my fingers would automatically go there when we kissed? Not me. I would've thought they would have grabbed your sexy arms or maybe ran down that nice stomach of yours. They have a mind of their own.”