Rome (Marked Men, #3)(66)

I pushed up so that I could get my Carhartts off and ditch my boots. I had every intention of just crawling over her and sinking down into her, but she urged me over onto my back and got on top of me. She looked at home up there. She put a hand on the base of my dick to hold it where she wanted it then sank all the way down. Her ready and willing slide had my breath catching in my throat. I crossed my arms under my head and settled in to watch her have her way with me. She traced the dividing lines between each of my abs and curved her hands over the dip on each side of my hipbones. She gave me a saucy grin and lifted herself up only to slide back down excruciatingly slow.

“You know you’re going to have to work twice as hard when that hood piercing comes out.”

I grunted my response because she was squeezing me with delicate flutters all along the inside. If it was possible, my cock got even harder and throbbed even more violently. I curved a hand over one of her breasts and tapped the puckered nipple none too gently with my thumb. I saw her suck in a breath and her pace picked up as she rocked back and forth on top of me.

“You can put it back in later, though, can’t you?” I swore loudly because she worked a hand between us and raked her nails lightly across my balls. Like I needed any more stimulation. I threaded my fingers in her hair and pulled her down so I could suck her bottom lip into my mouth.

“Like it, do you?” She whispered the words against my mouth and I chuckled back at her. Every guy should be able to find a girl who made him this happy in bed and out.

“I like everything about you.”

She arched her back and put her hands over mine where they were kneading the tender mounds of her breasts. She threw back her head and gasped my name, which turned into a moan as I moved my legs a little farther apart, stretching her out and giving her movements more friction. Sometimes the difference in our size totally worked to my advantage. Pulling her apart, filling her up, made it all the better for me and I could tell by the cloudy haze of desire in her eyes that it totally worked for her, too.

The drag and pull of soft and hard, the rubbing of her ring against turgid flesh, the flash of her flowers against my scarred skin was too much to hold out against and we both broke over the pinnacle together. I wanted to scream that I loved her, to tell her that she was the best thing to ever happen to me, but I didn’t want to scare her any more than I already had today. She collapsed on top of me and kissed the place on my chest where my heart was starting to settle into a steady rhythm. I rubbed a hand up and down her spine and felt her quiver along me.

“You’re trouble.” The laughter in her tone was contagious and I chuckled, which made both of us suck in a breath since we were still joined intimately together.

“I’m worth it.”

Her eyes flashed all those colors at me when she looked up at me. She dropped a bunch of little kisses along my jaw and hooked her pinkie finger in mine.

“It’s about time you realized it. Now tell exactly how you ended up owning the Bar.”

We stayed naked and sprawled together while I tried to explain Brite’s madness and my good fortune to have so many people determined to save me from myself. By the time we got around to dinner, it was ice cold but it was still the best thing I ever ate because she made it and because soon I was going to have her all to myself in a place all our own. Happiness wasn’t something I remembered bright and clear, but this feeling, it was powerful enough that I understood why men went to war over it, fought to the death for it.





CHAPTER 13



Cora


I was running late. I had already called the guys at the shop to let them know they would have to open the doors without me. I was scrambling to pull on a pair of cute, glittery flats and tame hair that was all spiked up and out of control from Rome’s hands. He had risen with the sun and gone running with Ayden. I don’t know how he did it, because after his startling declaration, a drab dinner, and about five minutes of TV, he had decided that was enough and took me back to bed for the rest of the night. I was sore, totally worked over, and scared out of my ever-loving mind.

He had taken Ayden up on an offer of a ride so that he didn’t have to wake me up. Well, that’s what he said, but I was pretty sure he would rather ride a mule to and from places than ride in the Cooper. It was just one of the things about him I was pretty sure I loved right back. I just couldn’t tell him that.

Love had broken me once. It gave me unrealistic expectations and had changed me on a raw and fundamental level. What I felt for Jimmy didn’t hold a candle to the emotions, the wealth of feeling, Rome Archer evoked in me. The big, gruff soldier had worked his way into places I didn’t even know existed. I was filled right up to the top with him and I was really afraid if I told him how I felt, all those emotions would overflow and neither one of us would know how to clean up the mess. I didn’t want to be without him, but I wasn’t ready to hand my heart over to him carte blanche either.

Having a man like Rome use the L-word was a heady thing. All the great things that made him who he was, his strengths, his loyalty, his care, his unwavering conviction that I was who he wanted for the rest of forever … it would be so easy to just give myself over to him completely. I was so scared about what would happen if it didn’t work out that I just couldn’t do it. I could only hope the big guy would be patient with me while I tried to unravel it all in my head. There was a lot going on up there—the baby, moving in together, him taking over the bar, and being totally sex drunk on him and his ridiculous body. A girl needed a minute to catch her breath; only I didn’t get one.