The warmth of the fire felt good on his front as Roman leaned his hands on the mantle. After Matty had surrendered the tub, there was just enough hot water leftover for him to take the quickest shower on record. He thought of the big tiled stall in his Tribeca loft. The one connected to a tankless water heater that gave him all the hot water he could ever need. Certainly enough for one kid, a small female and him.
That’s right. He was thinking in terms of moving Kelly and Matty into his place. Just to start. It was big enough for a small family, and yes, he knew what using that word meant.
After Matty’s bath and his shower, the little boy re-appeared in Roman’s face, all scrubbed, brushed and tucked neatly into a banging pair of dinosaur pajamas. He grabbed his hand, dragged him over to the kitchen table, and then made him sit at the head of the table. The dad spot.
Roman exchanged awkward glances with Kelly when a chair needed relocating for this honor.
Roman had no choice but to do as instructed when young master Matthew Liam James assigned the seating. So he lowered into the sacred spot while Matty beamed.
Then it was cookies and milk. And more whiplash conversation. Matty was smart. Real smart. He knew a lot about a lot and was eager to share. Roman was half a plate of cookies dunked into ice-cold milk in, when all of a sudden the kid crowed, “Kik! Roman likes goat milk too.”
Ah. He thought it tasted somewhat familiar. He assumed fresh dairy from local cows but learning it was goat milk didn’t faze him at all. Hell, he’d consumed his fair share and then some during his time in the middle east.
He caught Kelly’s tiny nod of approval when he didn’t miss a beat in his takedown of the cookie plate. It was easy to say nothing and stuff his face because Matty was full of information that his little kid motor mouth shared without thinking.
That’s how he found out that Kelly had never worn a dress. A fact she appeared mortified to hear spoken out loud.
He offered up a blow-by-blow account of Kelly building the goat shed in the backyard. Part of this tale involved pointing out a small jar on a shelf by the window. It was half full of pennies. Each time Kiki said a bad word, a penny was added to the jar. When it reached the top, she had to take him to the ice cream store.
More surprising than finding out Kelly was a prodigious fancier of swear words was learning where this ice cream parlor was. In a town called Fairley…where they went every two weeks to check their mailbox and do other stuff.
So much was starting to make sense. Not only had he been looking for the wrong alias of an alias, it turned out her only interactions in the little town where they lived were to take people’s money over a game of pool at Shorty’s, use the gas station, and from time to time some of the other small town businesses along the main street.
But it was Matty’s detailed lying out of their grand scheme to leave the woods that left him reeling. Not only did they have every intention of moving, but Kiki was also researching schools and looking at small apartments on Craig’s List. This thing was further along than he was comfortable with.
Kelly, for her part, said almost nothing as the boy rambled on—only occasionally stepping in with gentle reminders about manners and the right way to pronounce words.
Cookies and milk were followed by story time and for Matty that meant four or five stories. At the boy’s insistence, Roman joined them in his little bedroom, sitting on the floor and leaning against the bed, listening to Kelly’s exuberant storytelling.
The whole thing reeked of family. No wonder he was mentally moving the two into his home.
He left them after a high five to Matty and a promise to still be there in the morning. It did things to his emotions to see her stretched out on the boy’s bed, cradling him in her arms as she kissed his face and hummed a tune to help him drift off.
And now, here he was, hugging the fireplace and waiting somewhat impatiently for her to come to him. They needed a serious discussion about the sleeping arrangements. She had another thing coming for suggesting he cool his jets on the sofa.
Arms slid around his middle from behind. She held on tight and shimmied closer until there wasn’t any air between them. Roman covered her small hands with his. He could make out her cheek pressed against his back. Twice, she turned her face and kissed his torso.
When she peeked around his shoulder at the fire, he shifted to give her a better view.
“The heater is on low, so it’s okay for this to die down.”
She turned him physically and stared up into his face. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
It was killing him that she kept taking on the caretaking role. Believing that as the man, that was his job, it left him feeling out-of-sorts that Kelly was so naturally nurturing. Especially when that nurturing was directed at him. It was easier to hide from his emotions when he was in charge.
He cupped her face in his big hands. “You are uncommonly wonderful Ms. James.”
She beamed at his words and offered her lips. The kiss was short and sweet. Just like her.
Putting a finger to her lips, she murmured softly, “Shh,” and took his hand. Both of them were only wearing socks, which made tiptoeing silently past Matty’s door easier. He caught the faint sound of classical music as they passed.
At her room, she opened the door, flicked on the overhead light, led him inside and then pushed him against the door she noiselessly closed. He expected a kiss at the very least, but she leaned into him and whispered, “No noise. He can hear everything. The walls are paper thin. Nod if you understand.”
Roman nodded.
Pushing off of him, she hurried to the bed and waved him over. Without words, she gestured with her hands until he finally understood what she wanted.
In tandem, they lifted the mattress carefully off the creaky bed and lay it on the floor. All the pillows and blankets followed and got hurled into a pile.
An amusing pantomime ensued as each gesture was mined for maximum entertainment value. Before long, they were bouncing around the room doing absurdly exaggerated slapstick moves for the sheer purpose of trying to make each other laugh.
Kelly’s silent, belly-holding guffaw could only have been made better if she was dressed as Santa. He opted for the toes turned in shy giggle with a wrinkled nose and two fingers on his lips. They were a regular comedy duo, and he couldn’t remember when he’d last had so much fun. Probably something to do with Rhi, but this? Man, this was different.
At some point in their goofing around, they switched to every damsel in distress physical parody they could think of. Kelly on her knees pleading like a silent movie actress while he towered over her twirling his villain’s mustache was almost their downfall when not laughing out loud became just too difficult. At the peak of their silliness, she buried her face in his thighs and held on for dear life while muffling a string of giggles that he felt right through his jeans.
Attempting to recover her composure, she sat back on her feet and waved him off with her head down. If she so much as peeked at him, the giggling started again.
Their playful interlude sparked a volley of disjointed thoughts that got his motor running in a surprising way.
Up until this very actual moment, you’d be more likely to find him stripped to the waist covered in sweat, wielding anything from a bullwhip to a leather flogger in some high-class sex dungeon than smiling his ass off with a giggling elf and fighting off a hard-on that was robbing his brain of oxygen.
Jesus Christ. Talk about opposites. It was exhilarating too. Kelly freed him somehow. Being with her was joyful, challenging, and fantastically primal. But instead of feeding his sexual hunger with unrealistic control fantasies big enough for him to hide behind, he found his thoughts and desires going off in a different direction.
She was gathering her hair together and had produced a tie from who knows where. He observed her unhurried actions and chuckled softly when this endeavor ended with her sporting a half-assed mess of a tail. The women he knew tended to be annoyingly concerned with how they looked all the time. The naughty pixie who was captivating his soul didn’t appear to give a rat’s ass about any of that. He liked that about her. Her default setting wasn’t fake.
While he’d been enjoying just looking at her, she’d crawled closer. Close enough to rise up on her knees and attack his belt buckle with sure fingers intent on…
Intent on what?
Pulling the belt through the loops on his pants with deliberate slowness, she played with the leather for a minute and rather audaciously eyed his crotch. Vapor locking was a real possibility when she wound the leather belt around one wrist and looked him straight in the eye.
He knew what she was thinking, but he wasn’t having it. Not this soon.
When the belt was tossed aside, and she reached for the button on his jeans, shit got real.
Danger zone! Incoming alert! Pull back!
He took her wrists and gently pushed her back. Kelly’s eyes immediately shot to his. Shaking his head, he let her know that her sweet, seductive mouth would have to wait.
She pouted. Actually, god damn pursed lips and frowning. She also sat back on her feet with an angry huff.
The adorably hot way she glowered up at him caused a momentary lapse of reason. Feeding his thumb into her mouth Roman encouraged her with a grunt and then worried for his sanity when she sucked, licked and generally simulated a blowjob with a bit more lusty gusto than his libido could handle. She was quite literally reducing him to a grunting, growling animal when what he’d been trying to do was keep the upper hand.
So what did he do? He grabbed her by the neck in a very predatory and unmistakably commanding way. The soft, warm skin of the dainty column and feeling her heartbeat tested his control in a big way.
This petite young woman was stealing his heart. He was the one who struggled, not her. She went still in his grip, her amazing eyes telling erotic stories he longed to explore.
Well, good, because he had one particular sensual delight in mind and it wasn’t going to be what she seemed to be expecting.
He released her and gestured her to remain where she was. The fucking glare from the overhead was harsh and put the shit storm condition of her room in the spotlight. Not exactly romantic. Spying a flexible, gooseneck lamp on her little worktable, he tapped it on and then hit the wall switch, sending the cramped room into blackness broken up into shadows from the small light.
Perfect.
He put out his hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. Leading her to the bed, he maneuvered a spot at the headboard and put her hands on the brass in a silent command to hold on. Then he pulled her feet back until she was stretched out and slightly bent from the waist. She wasn’t restrained in any way, but he sure did enjoy the way she responded to the invisible bindings with enthusiasm.
He ran his hand up and down her back. She arched even more. Damn. Maybe what he planned would have to wait.
Forcing his dominant proclivities to stick with the program and not be such a distraction, he kept up the slow stroking, eventually claiming her lovely denim clad ass.
She was starting to quiver, and small, hushed moans kept breaking loose. If staying quiet was on the menu, he’d have to either gag her or keep his tongue down her throat to absorb her cries. Both thoughts held a certain appeal.
Roman grabbed her hips and stepped in close. Mmm, nice fit. He eyed up the angle he’d need to take her from behind and moved her around in a practice run that had him grinding his hard bulge into her curves.
Resting his confined cock firmly at the juncture of her legs, he reached around and undid the button of her jeans. The zipper was next. He reached inside her pants and slid his hand in until he was cupping her heated mound.
She shuddered, and his hand detected a flash of heat. It excited him knowing that by the time they got to the main event, her pussy would be dripping.
Sliding the jeans off wasn’t a cakewalk, and he wasn’t going to win any awards for expertise. Not after he got into a hand-to-hand battle between her ass and the tight denim that ended with a mighty grunt when the damn fabric finally gave way.
Dropping down behind her, he helped her lift each foot so he could remove her socks and each pants leg. The view quite frankly was ah-maze-ing. He found her sultry curves and petite stature a huge turn on. Same for the plain cotton panties.
He bit her ass because he could. She hardly complained and, in fact, repeatedly wiggled, offering the other cheek. What was he supposed to do? He sank his teeth in with a deep growl.
Rising to his feet, he ran his fingers up her legs. Goosebumps appeared. This time when he reached around, it was to flick open the buttons on her shirt. His eyes roamed over the charmingly submissive pose she maintained with her hand’s white-knuckled grip on the antique brass. It was a damn shame to let her move, but the shirt wasn’t coming off until she stood up. And he needed the shirt to join her jeans in a heap on the floor. Kelly had magnificent breasts. Full, deliciously round, and with nipples that begged for his touch.
Taking both big globes into his hands, he pulled her up until she let go of the bed and he smashed her against his chest. She yelped when he bit her earlobe but quickly muffled the sound when he growled low and dangerously.
Massaging the mounds, he marveled at how a bra made for practical purposes was as seductive if not more so than anything Victoria’s Secret made He pinched her nipples through the flimsy barely supportive garment that in his mind in no way qualified as lingerie. The practical, bare bones life she led was driven by practicality. It was going to be his pleasure to introduce his sexy paramour to the delights of naughty lingerie.
Momentarily abandoning his gentlemanly seduction, he ripped the unsexy flannel down her arms and grunted with displeasure when he had to stop and unbutton the cuffs.
When she was wearing the plain underwear and nothing else, he used the tangled, messy tail of her hair like a rein and moved her head to the side. He licked her exposed neck. She quivered and whimpered so sweetly that he licked her again.
Her hand covered his as he enjoyed the fullness of her breasts. He started to rip her bra in two but stopped. There was a time and place for underwear torn to shreds. This wasn’t one of those times.
Unhooking the worthless bra, her breasts spilled out into his waiting hands. Growling his pleasure into her ear, he massaged, stroked, pinched and squeezed until she was writhing against him.
He guessed she let him call the shots as long as she could and then the feral lioness he tussled with last night took over. She whipped around and frantically tore at his shirt trying to divest him of his clothing with eager, shaking hands.
The smile on his face had a decidedly lecherous feel to it. He was amused by Kelly’s inability to control her passions. She was, he concluded, a five minute submissive. An FMS. Why such a snarky thought would make his cock surge confounded him.
Maybe because she was all about the feels. If playing submissive felt sexy, then she was all in. Right now, ripping his shirt off fueled her feels, and he was perfectly fine with it.
There was no mistaking how much she liked his torso. About as much as he liked her curvy ass and stupendous tits. She had wicked fingers. And they were fast too. In no time at all she had his chest mapped and stroked. When her claws came out, he took her hands in his, but that didn’t quell her ardor one bit.
Switching gears she went from exploring his chest with her fingers to a thorough GPS-like scan using her nipples. On tip toes, swaying side to side and up and down, the hard nubs tantalized his flesh. Didn’t take long for him to be the one quivering.
Because he had control of her hands, he moved them to his pants. It was time for more skin.
She got his jeans off far quicker and a thousand times smoother than his ham-handed exploits, and she would have kept going if he hadn’t stopped her. Keeping his briefs on, for now, was an absolute necessity for what he had in mind.
He lay down on his back in the center of the narrow mattress and had her straddle him. Roman closed his eyes and counted back from twenty when the scorching heat from her center settled on his stomach. Kelly stroked his chest. Her eyelids drooped, and she took a shaky breath.
With a hand on her back, he urged her forward until her beautiful boobs swung above his face. He chased a swaying orb and caught her nipple in his mouth. Drawing deeply, he sucked the end of one glorious tit into his mouth and fed their mutual lust with an animalistic offensive.
She was writhing, gasping, and mewling softly. It was beautiful.
The things he did to her tits tested his control. She was receptive and urged him on, so he showed her how to let him know what excited her. There was a moment when he had his hands on her ass as he suckled both nipples going back and forth between them, as Kelly led the action with one globe in each hand, when he took a memory selfie. He wanted to hold the decadently sexy moment in his mind’s eye forever.
Holding her still was impossible. Even with his hands firmly on her butt, she managed to hump him with increasing desperation. If he didn’t slow her down, she would come before he got into her panties.
Roman lifted her slightly and carefully rolled until she was under him. The kiss that followed was of unparalleled perfection. He wasn’t surprised when she got frantic right away, but he was ready for her and slowly took his sweet inexperienced lover on a journey to the type of all-encompassing seduction that promised everything.
She was shaking when he ended the kiss. He rose up and looked at her. If it was possible to swoon lying down, that’s what she was doing. He removed her panties. The scrap of white held the fragrant, damp proof of her desire.
Grasping his forearms when he spread her thighs wide, she whimpered as he pushed her legs back. With a gentle push, he silently demanded she hold them up and open.
After her willing but desire-sluggish response, it was his great pleasure to turn all of his attention on worshipping her gorgeous pussy. Despite the dim light, he had no problem finding the silky liquid proof of her desire. Lightly running his finger along her slit, he dipped into the warm wetness and delighted in what he found. She was gushing with arousal.
Roman licked his lips, anticipating the feast to come.
He leaned over her to study her face as he tickled and teased her vulnerable flesh. Each time she gasped, he put his mouth on hers and swallowed the moan that followed.
Her low, feral sounding growl when he pushed a finger deep into her pussy turned his already hard cock to marble.
Shoving his hands under her ass, he lifted her and tilted her pelvis to accept his tongue. The second he licked, she put her fist into her mouth. The desperate attempt to mute her pleasure-wracked grunts was barely successful, but he couldn’t think about that right now. Not when her dripping pussy and sweet, swollen clit demanded his attention.
She tasted sweet and warm, like honey mixed with her unique essence. The combination was delicious. He ate her with passionate abandon. His cock swelled when she shook.
Sucking on her sweet nub, she bucked into his mouth and groaned. The more he dished out, the more she quivered. Was anything sexier?
Lashing her pretty clit with his tongue, he slid a single finger slowly forward and swirled it inside the hot wet velvet sheath of her sex. The softness around his finger tightened. He felt her muscles clench and release.
Kissing her clit, he eased back and let his thumb take over, rubbing as he fingered her deeply. Roman liked being close to her pussy when she came. Liked watching what her body went through as he milked a strong, mesmerizing orgasm from her sweet body.
When she barely finished pulsing he removed his finger and parted her pussy lips with both hands. The visual seared his brain. Her hole was pulsing, and a trickle of creamy white nectar dripped out and into the crack of her ass. It was fucking beautiful.
Satisfied that she was sated for the moment, he removed his briefs and crawled near her head. Putting a hand under her neck, he lifted slightly. Her eyes flickered open, and he was taken aback by the fiery lust in her gaze. With his other hand, he fed the tip of his cock between her parted lips. She went from satisfied to voracious in a heartbeat. Opening her mouth, she licked the plump head of his cock and drew it into her mouth with grunts and suckling noises that pushed all his buttons.
He let her suck him for a minute or two and gave in twice when she tried to take more than she should. The sensation when she gagged on his thick shaft was a powerful turn on.
There was only so much he could take. Her eager mouth and wicked tongue would need training, but he knew without a doubt she shared this particular desire.
As quietly as he could Roman growled, “Are you ready to be fucked, Carina? Is your pussy aching for my cock?”
She surrendered his cock and nodded. In the darkness, her eyes sparkled. He liked seeing the fiery lust in her expression.
He moved into position. Her eager hands were everywhere on his body. She took hold of his meaty staff and guided him home. He closed his eyes, and his arms shook from the effort of holding himself up when he felt her fingers spreading her lips open to aid his possession.
Goddamnit. There was no way to ease into her slowly. Or was there? Drawing on every scrap of experience and control he had, Roman entered her with slow motion precision. Her fingers on his cock as he slid deep got his heart thumping. She had a tactile seductiveness that turned his sense to mindless jibber jabber.
When he was fully seated, her fingers remained, teasing his flesh where he stretched her opening. Grunting fiercely, his hips bucked. She pulled her knees back so he could penetrate her as deeply as possible. He tried not to be aggressive, but sometimes he had to.
Sensing she didn’t want him to go easy, he withdrew slightly and slammed in deeper with a mighty, grunting thrust. Wet heat scalded his cock as her pussy flooded. She got sopping wet as he stroked in and out. Her hands moved to his ass. On each powerful downward thrust, she whimpered and dug her nails into his flesh.
The carnal pleasure was intoxicating. He really could fuck her forever, and it would never be enough. Her pussy did things to his cock he had never experienced before. It excited the fuck out of him that she responded to his mighty possession with dripping wet surrender.
He leaned close and nuzzled into her neck. Whispering filthy words into her ear, he told her how good her pussy felt, encouraged her to squeeze the shit out of him with her muscles and delivered a crude narration of their fuck that made his cock pulse and led to her pussy spasming with fierce contractions that stole his breath.
He bit her earlobe. “Ah, Carina. My beauty. Yes. Come on my cock sweet love. Fuck me, baby. Fuck me till you’re empty.”
She did just that. Fucked him. Fiercely. Till the contractions became sweet pulses.
“And now,” he whispered hoarsely after a punishing kiss, “now comes your reward. Don’t worry baby. It’s all yours.”
He let loose. Each aggressive thrust caused a lewd sound as he sank into her come-flooded pussy with abandon. She met him stroke for stroke. Passion glazed eyes met his. She made soft grunting sounds on every thrust.
Ecstasy nipped at his heels. All the blood in his big body detoured to his sex. His cock grew impossibly larger. There was no more holding back. His orgasm was loaded and ready to fire off.
The closer he got the more she squeezed his cock with the sexiest grip imaginable. He shook. His body heaved. The sensation of his cock pulsing through a never ending string of explosions that sent his seed spurting into her unprotected womb brought Roman to the brink of consciousness.
She was wriggling under him making desperate circles with her hips, grinding his cock as deep as she could get it. Unless he was hallucinating, another climax rippled through her.
When they finished, and he’d collapsed on top of her, she held him tight and wouldn’t let him move away. Roman hated pulling out of her. When he looked down and saw his glistening cock, the sight of their mixed fluids leaking from her body was more erotically satisfying than he was comfortable admitting. Matter of fact, the unsettling emotions had pig-ish overtones. It wasn’t okay to feel this arrogantly proud, was it?
Kelly didn’t give him time to ponder anything at all except her petite body and delicious curves cuddling into him. He found the corner of a blanket with his fingers and pulled it up and over them. She murmured against his chest as the cover floated down and wrapped them in soft warmth.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop. I’m not a child.”
Aw, come on. Seriously? Did the orgasm connection include a channel into his thoughts? That wasn’t exactly fair. Not fair at all, because he was fucking baffled more than half the time about what went on in her head.
Tempting as it was in the sated aftermath of their serious love-making to burrow deeper and dial back a post mortem of their unorthodox and risky activities, Roman ignored what he knew from experience was an emotional trap. Not speaking one’s truth, no matter how uncomfortable or fucked up at the time, chipped away at a relationship and since he and Kelly were most definitely embarking on an intimate liaison fraught with sober ramifications, holding his tongue wasn’t an option.
She felt so good in his arms. He held tighter and kissed the top of her head. “I know you think you know what you’re doing, luv, but…”
“What?” she whisper-snapped. “You’re older? And wiser? Cut me a break Roman.”
When she got pissed off her whole body tightened. It didn’t matter how little of the world she knew. Her fire and determination came from within.
The fierceness is strong with this one. Must be a family trait, he thought.
“Don’t be upset because I’m worried. About you. These things have consequences. I don’t want you hurt in any way, Kelly. You getting hurt is a deal breaker.”
She crawled onto his chest and captured his eyes with hers. “I know we’re taking chances and I can’t explain why, but I’m not afraid. Some things you just know. You have to trust me, fancy man.”
No shouted conversation could have shaken him up more than this grim whisper.
“Is that your way of saying shut up and go with the flow?”
“Yep.”
Sharp fangs of darkness nipped at his feet. Ugly shadows from the past blew through his mind. He knew what lay in the gloom. Knew that his public persona hid a savage inner core, tested by war, compounded by a black fury, the result of the bastard twins, terror, and loss.
“Kelly.”
She smirked. “Give it a rest Roman. We both have shit to deal with. In here,” she murmured before dropping a soft kiss over his heart. “And here.” Her fingers brushed against his temples. “I’m serious, big guy. You have to trust that I know what’s best for me. And Matty. Right now, that’s you. What’s that obnoxious saying? Borrowing trouble is stupid? Yeah, that.”
She cut him off so neatly he was stunned into silence. Trust me. Jesus. Wasn’t that supposed to be his line?
Getting into anything right now was counterproductive. Between them, they were juggling several different realities. Remembering that he left Rhiann to drop the Matty bombshell sparked a flurry of random, fragmented thoughts. He knew Liam. Adding a half-brother to the situation was going to stir up the guy’s inner demons.
Maybe the best way for him to protect Kelly was with information. Her legal status was a shit show, and Matty? Fuck me, but who the hell knows where that breadcrumb trail would lead. He needed to speak with Cameron Justice. Roman knew Cam dealt with his own background legal bullshit over the years and could probably steer him in the right direction so he could take control of cleaning this shit up.
Yeah. That’s what he’d do. He didn’t want to hurt Liam any more than he could deal with Kelly being hurt. Or Matty. That sorta’ meant it was up to him to keep track of the dozen or so balls up in the air at any given moment.
And right now the ball in the air was his lover’s state of mind. She was too fucking wonderful for words, and he was a dick for not showering her with romantic care.
It was clearly important that her autonomy be acknowledged and respected. Not only did he understand, he practically wrote the damn book on the subject. So he gave her what she needed and in doing so felt a peacefulness in his soul that he hadn’t been able to access in a very long time.
“I trust you, Carina.” He kissed her nose. “But go easy on me, okay? My heart is involved.”
She was blushing and the pouty smile making her lips quiver held amusement and delight.
“Did you just tell me to be gentle with you, Mr. Bishop?”
And this ladies and gentlemen, he mentally shouted. This right here is why I’m a fucking goner.
“Nah,” he quietly scoffed. “I can take a beating.”
“Said my ass to your hand,” she giggled.
“Keep it up, Carina,” he teased as his hands went on a seek and destroy tickle maneuver that got her wiggling frantically. “And we’ll find out just how much your sweet sexy ass can take.”
She swatted his hands away and crawled back to lying at his side. A quiet yawn blew across his skin.
“Yeah, yeah. Promises, promises,” she murmured with a sleepy sigh and just like that drifted into a deep sleep.
Quieting his thoughts wasn’t easy, but somehow he managed to let go of everything and concentrate on the now. It’d been forever since he slept with a woman. Slept. Not fucked. And yet here he was for night two, on a shitty single size mattress on the floor with a sexy wanton elf curled around him. It was just the most perfect moment, he thought, as sleep claimed him too.