The muffled buzzing in her head had a strangely cold quality that gave her a shiver.
Not her name. Of course not. Why would it be?
An angry blast of hurt engulfed her soul. Her mother was an even more fucked up unit than she ever imagined. Same for Kelly’s biological other who manipulated and destroyed everything—with Deb’s complicit consent. The two of them. Ugh.
She reached up and threaded shaking fingers through her hair, pushing the whole mess away from her face. He was only asking for the whole story, and she wanted to let it all out. God knows she did. But with every minute she was reminded of how little she knew.
The name thing for instance. An old memory, a conversation with Debbie sprang to life in her head. It was the year she turned sixteen, and all she wanted, all she cared about, was getting a driver’s license. Such a simple thing in her young mind but holy crap Deb reacted like a driver’s license was a threat to mankind. She’d worn her down and eventually got permission to go through the fuss and bother.
Needing a certificate of some kind to prove who she was, Kelly had been astonished when her mother produced an Oklahoma I.D. and social security card. Only the name was Kay James. Her explanation at the time was that somehow her initials, K and A, morphed into Kay and became the name on record. As far as the state was concerned, she was Kay James which also explained why she called her brand K.A. James. If Roman or anyone was searching for her as Kelly, they were gonna come up empty.
Everything was such a mess and starting to feel like a boulder picking up speed and damage potential as it hurtled downhill. For the very first time in her life that she could recall, Kelly felt a worrisome tingling in her nose as hot tears gathered in her eyes.
Was this her breaking point? Shit. A week ago she knew who she was, what she faced, and had a plan for the future all mapped out. Now she had a supposed older brother, an unexpected lover, her name wasn’t hers, and the unsettling feeling she had never been or would never be anything except a pawn in someone else’s game.
“Come here,” Roman growled. She was being lifted out of her chair before she knew what was happening. He carried her to the sofa and sat down with her on his lap. “Better?”
Feeling like a kid without their security blanket, she was grateful for his presence and strength. He rubbed her back and shifted until they were both comfortable.
“I know this is hard, Carina.”
When he called her by the sweet endearment, she snuggled onto his broad chest and lay her head on a comforting shoulder.
“If you need a trail to follow, try Kay James. Date of birth May 11th.”
“But you were born on the twelfth.”
That was it. That was the last straw. Unless she was also a virgin birth or had been left in a space capsule by aliens, what the fuck else could possibly be left to scramble her brain even more? The struggle became too much, and a river of hot tears spilled from her eyes.
“Oh my god,” she sobbed. “Anything else? How old am I?”
“Shhh. Take a deep breath. You’re twenty-three. It’s going to be okay, Kelly. I know what your mother was doing, honey. She stayed close to the facts but added a few detours and dead ends. She was hiding you. But that’s all done with now. I’m here, and I swear on all that’s holy that I’ll protect you.”
She pushed off his chest and rubbed a hand under her nose. Tears and snot were making a mess on her face. “Why?” she wailed as misery swamped her emotions. “Why all the drama? Roman,” she cried. “You don’t know what else she did. My birthday, oh my god. How could she?”
He used the end of his sleeve to dry her tears. “What about your birthday?”
It took her a good minute or two to find the composure to respond. “I never spent birthdays with her. She’d take off and be gone for days. Every damn year. It was him,” she griped. “Like clockwork—every six months and always, always for my birthday.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“I think that’s where the money came from. Cash. Do you think he used her like a prostitute and then left a wad of bills on the dresser?” It was horrifying to hear her secret shame spoken out loud.
“I’m going to fucking kill that piece of shit,” Roman roared.
The soft, warm comfort his body gave transformed to something hard and unyielding.
“Oh my god,” she groaned. “He’s still alive? I thought he was dead and that’s why you’re here.”
“Liam, your brother,” he added for emphasis, “he says the old bastard is half a step from the grave. Him knocking on death’s door at the same time that we found you is a coincidence. And so you understand where your brother is coming from, you are his priority, honey. Not that cow turd who fathered you.”
“Can we stop talking about him? Please.”
“Your father?’
“No. The other. My, uh brother.” Choking the word out was all kinds of hard.
“Kelly,” he began with a frown and an equally grave sounding tone.
She didn’t want to hear it.
“No,” she interrupted. “Please Roman. I can only take on so much.” Her whole body started to vibrate with anxiety. “I need Matty,” she blurted out.
“Okay, easy, love. We’ve talked enough for now.”
He hugged her close and said a bunch of soothing stuff while gently stroking her back. It reminded her of being in his arms last night. She’d never slept better. He’d made her feel safe, something she hadn’t known was missing.
“And don’t worry about Matty. They’re on their way. Sam called while you were outside. He said it’d take a while because he was pretty sure he’d be plowing the whole way.”
She sat up at this news and gave him a wobbly smile. He glanced at his watch. “Maybe half an hour?”
“You talked to Sam?” she asked. “How’d that go?”
Roman shook his head at her like she was all kinds of naughty and smirked. “You could have saved some time by telling me Sam and Ginny are like grandparents. Walked face first into him threatening the snot out of me if I harmed a hair on your head.”
Kelly ran her fingers along several very visible claw marks on his neck. “Looks to me like you were the one who got harmed.”
“Says the wanton virgin who is showing some impressive maul marks of her own.”
Slapping her hand on her neck with a wink and a giggle, all the upset of earlier vanished when she turned flirty and suggestively announced, “Oh those? Pfft. That’s nothing. You should see the dirty pictures your teeth left in hickeys on my boobs.”
He teased her by trying to peek through the space between the buttons on her flannel shirt. She playfully slapped him away and laughed.
He acted put out by her refusal. “Aw, come on! No show and tell? You’re no fun.”
“I’d show you plenty of fun fancy man if not for the fact Sam is plowing his way here. Don’t think he’d react well to a replay of our greatest hits.”
“Oh. Didn’t you get the memo?” he asked. His leering smirk melted her bones. “No nookie for you today little miss.”
“What?” she shrieked. “Why? Did I do it wrong?”
“Ah, Carina,” he answered in a husky, seductive growl. “You did everything right. And there is so much more I plan to teach you, but this?” he said as his hand slid between her thighs and gently caressed her denim covered mound. “My lady needs a rest. Recovery time, to put it another way. We weren’t exactly uh, restrained.”
Oh. He was right. She was a little tender down there, but nothing short of a gaping wound or stitches were enough to dampen her desire.
“Don’t look so disappointed,” Roman snickered. “My cock isn’t going anywhere.”
Well, thank god. Which reminded her. If he was gonna take intercourse off the menu maybe she could ask for a different kind of lesson. He hadn’t allowed much more than some tentative touching last night, and she was eager to explore him in other ways. Other tasty ways.
She didn’t want this interlude to end, but it was clear that time wasn’t going to be her friend, so she asked one last question and did it fearfully because she wasn’t so sure the answer was anything she wanted to hear.
“So…what happens now? What happens after you meet Matty and talk to Sam and Ginny? I’m asking nicely, and you’ll never know how hard that is, so please do not Chinese water torture me. Drip, drip, drip will not end well. For you and everyone else.”
It took a long time for him to voice an answer. The thoughtfulness was reassuring. He wasn’t going to blow her off with a calculated reply. Gosh. She liked him more and more every minute.
“Is it up to me? What happens? Because my answer, in that case, has very little to do with the backstory and everything to do with what we discussed last night. We took it to an eleven, and you know it. That much unprotected sex can lead to consequences.”
Kelly examined her conscience. Yeah, they’d been incredibly cavalier about the details. In her case, she was driven by passions and desires that shed practical concerns like a dog shaking off water.
Would she behave the same way and make the same decisions now that the light of a new day calmed the tenacious urges of her previously dormant sex drive? Oh god, yes. And if that made her a bit too uncomfortably like her mother, well…so be it. Whatever the future held she couldn’t say she wasn’t aware of the fire she played with.
Plucking absently at the buttons on the Henley shirt it would be fun to tear off, she attempted one of those flirty pouts all the celebrities and models did. Though it wasn’t natural, she didn’t miss Roman’s immediate response. She felt it on her bottom. The bottom resting on his lap.
Seriously? Her inner voice erupted with laughter. Oh lord, this was priceless. So guys really did lose their shit over some female nonsense? Well, well. Perhaps this was something she should check out.
Was it all kinds of crazy and wrong that she suddenly had no problem wielding this newly discovered talent? Mmm, eh…no. She wasn’t a total moron, though. Some flirty pouts and calculated sexiness weren’t going to shift the balance of power. He was the m-a-n and hell yeah she was fine with that.
“Not all of that unprotected sex was a problem,” she purred.
He fell for it. Of course he did. No way could she remind him of some of the highlights from last night without getting a swift reaction. If they couldn’t lose their pants and take a quick walk on the wild side, then she at least wanted some wicked sparring.
He grabbed a fistful of hair and firmly pulled her head back. She liked the zing of excitement she felt each time he played the caveman. Eyes reflecting filthy scenarios that made her tummy quiver stared into hers.
“I saw how much you liked that, Carina.” His lusty growl turned her blood to liquid fire. “But you’ll have to enlighten me a bit. Was it having my come dripping from your beautiful tits that turned you on, or watching me handle my cock?”
Not answering wasn’t even an option. It was exhilarating to feel so free and open with Roman. He was asking so she tried her best to share what she felt.
“Honestly? It was all hot. Watching. Yes. I liked that very much. And the moment when you came?” She shuddered involuntarily from memory. “Seeing what until then I’d only felt while you were inside me? Roman, you have no idea what that does to me, but the best part?”
She paused and searched his face. A slight flush highlighted his cheekbones. He was getting as fired up as she was on this topic, but there was one more thing to add.
“When you pulled out of me and wrapped your hand around it?” His knowing leer made her inwardly sigh. “I was amazed how much wet clung to your cock. That was incredibly hot. And sexy.”
“That was all you, love.”
“No,” she quickly corrected with another smaller pout. “That was what you do to me, fancy man.”
Roman chuckled and kissed the end of her nose. “Don’t frown. It’s a compliment, and I like how wet you get. I like it very much.”
Her eyes drifted across the clock on the wall. They really needed to move on to other things or else face the potential embarrassment of being caught in the act.
He was a wicked, wicked man, though—not that she minded in the least—and damn him if he didn’t push the envelope.
He let go of her hair and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck. Then he pulled her closer as he met her halfway and began nuzzling her neck. His lips, teeth, and tongue did outrageous things to a few inches of skin and reduced her to a drooling wanton in no time.
Hot breath singed her ear. “Are you wet right now, Carina?”
Through the thickening fog of skin prickling lust he drew from her, she thought about the question for a second and almost laughed. He was kidding, right? She’d been a gooey mess from the first moment her fingers touched his chest. It was a wonder she hadn’t completely dehydrated by now.
Did he want an answer? Fine. Let’s see where this got her. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”
If she shocked him he didn’t show it, but Kelly was pretty certain she surprised him with virtually every word she uttered and every reaction she had. What happened next made her question her sanity.
“Stand up.”
Huh? She had no time to react as Roman pushed her off his lap. She barely saved herself from tumbling to the floor and awkwardly struggled to her feet. What the hell?
He sat back on the sofa and got comfortable. The way he moved reminded her of a man who was used to commanding everything in his orbit.
“Now take your jeans off. And do it quickly unless you want to enter the danger zone and drag things out.”
Her eyes darted to the front door. The latch was on. Good. But the back door was unlocked. The only saving grace at the moment was knowing they’d hear Sam’s truck and the snow plow long before anyone reached either door. Her jeans came off with astonishing speed.
“Leave the panties on. Now come here,” he demanded with a crooking finger. Performing a bit of a man spread, his legs slid further apart, and he patted his thigh. “Plant your ass, honey. Straddle me until your knees are on the sofa and spread really wide.”
Smacking her hands together with lusty glee, she barked, “Yes!” and did as he instructed. He did nothing to aid her, mostly he just sat there and grinned. When she was settled, and sure she wasn’t gonna fall off or end on the floor, she took his hands and put them on her flannel covered boobs. “You were saying?”
She yelped when he tugged quite hard on her nipples right through the shirt. “Sorry babe. No time for play. This is straight pussy action.” He pulled up a hand and consulted his watch. “Countdown clock, check.” He pushed a button or something and a timer appeared. “Proceed to orgasm.”
She was giggling when he grabbed her face and forcefully took her lips in a passionate kiss that left nothing on the table. She was whimpering when he finished.
“Hands on my shoulders and eyes on me.”
Swaying from the effects of the ferocious desire he awakened, she did as he asked and almost lost it completely when he wasted no time, running the flat of his hand down her belly, under the elastic of her panties, and went straight to her opening.
“Sweet baby Jesus,” he groaned when his fingers found out exactly how wet she was.
She winced just once when his knowing fingers explored the anatomy of her swollen pussy.
“Is this okay?” he asked gently.
“Yes, oh yes.” She locked eyes with his and wiggled as the desperate needs he unleashed broke free.
There was something naughty and yet deeply erotic about him reaching into her panties. She understood why he asked her to leave them on.
One thick finger slid into her passage. She gasped, froze, and then undulated on his lap. The finger withdrew. She moaned her need. Two fingers were next, and this time he didn’t withdraw. No, this time he pumped her with shallow thrusts, hitting her vulnerable clit with each insertion.
She was losing it in record time and gripped his shoulders with desperate hands. The flood of wet he drew from her body made them both grunt.
“By the way,” she heard him growl.
Huh? What? The way he built her excitement pushed her perilously close to the edge in record time.
“This?” he said with a deep thrust for emphasis. Kelly shuddered from head to toe. “This belongs to me.”
Was that somehow in doubt? She couldn’t think. Ruthlessly calling an orgasm from her body, she was teetering on the edge, bucking her hips into his touch and wondering if this was what falling off the edge of the world felt like.
“Come on, Carina,” Roman growled. His expression was possessive, fierce and very pleased. “Show me what ya’ got, baby.”
She did. Practically on command. With a wild cry, her hips started jerking uncontrollably. His knowing eyes bored into hers as ecstasy ricocheted through her body.
She fell into the seductive, possessive lure of his gaze.
He grunted. “That’s it, luv. Come on my fingers. Don’t hold back.”
So she didn’t. It was wild and raunchy, and she wanted to do it again and again and again and…
Shit. The sound of Sam’s monster truck interrupted her ravished euphoria. He lifted her off his lap with two fingers still buried in her pussy. Before withdrawing, her fancy man with the knowing leer used his thumb to circle her still throbbing clit. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, and she shook her head, no.
“Mine. If I want you to come again, right now, you will. Don’t forget it.”
She was trembling like crazy when he finally withdrew. The climax was one thing. The realization that he spoke the truth shook her up a whole lot more.
The possessive way he patted her through the dampened panties sealed her fate. She was his. All this other shit? Background noise.
Kelly slid from his lap and hurriedly grabbed her jeans, wiggling into them with clumsy speed.
“Let me help you.”
He tugged the pants into place and zipped them up. With a fast flick, he had the button done too.
She was frantically pushing her hair into some semblance of order when he grabbed her chin and stared her down.
“What do you say when your man gets you off?”
Right then and there she didn’t care who walked through the door. With all the insolence she could gather, and with a dollop of in-your-face, she wrinkled her nose and sweetly replied, “Thank you. May I have another?”
Roman’s happy laugh made her smile. He kissed her quickly and gave her a once over. “You look fine. Before we get invaded, what are you going to tell Matty? About me.”
Her answer was immediate, firm and in no way wishy-washy. “I’ll never lie to Matty. Or keep secrets. There’s been enough of that already.”
“So, that means what, exactly?”
Hmph. Good question. What did she mean?
“Nobody’s going to be fooled,” he murmured quietly. “Not the adults, anyway.”
He was right. Being fully dressed didn’t hide the freshly-mauled look they were both giving off. She wasn’t an expert on these things by any means, but she knew enough to realize the cat was clawing its way out of the bag.
“And besides, we’re getting married,” he insisted somewhat belligerently. “Maybe that’s the place to start.”
She wasn’t about to get into a debate with him about the ridiculous notions he had swirling in his head, so she shrugged.
“Jesus Roman. Even Monopoly starts with a first move. He’s a boy, not an adult with knowledge and understanding of grown up things. Matty doesn’t warm up to people easily. Let me handle him, and you just follow my lead.”