Rowdy (Marked Men #5)(52)

“What about her? Did she finally work up the nerve to get a tattoo?”

I barked out a choked laugh and decided I needed her all the way na**d before I could go on. I urged her up so that she was standing in front of me and pulled her now-wrinkled skirt off of her and settled her back across my lap so that she was straddling me. Everything below my waist took immediate notice of all my favorite parts of her hovering na**d and close by.

“No, but she finally worked up the nerve to tell me that she’s here in Denver because of me.”

“What!”

Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say to the na**d woman on my lap but my brain was tired and my c**k was getting hard again.

“Not like that. She claims she’s my half sister. She said my dad”—I made air quotes in air around the word “dad”—“died last year, and when she went through his estate she was stunned to find out he had left half of everything to a long-lost son . . . me. What in hell am I supposed to do with that?”

“Wow.” It was just a puff of sound. “That’s insane and intense.”

“That’s what I said. I told her to leave me alone and that I have zero interest in any part of it.”

“Oh, Rowdy.” She curled her hand around my neck and kissed me right in the center of my chest. “You can’t mean that. I don’t know Sayer at all but she seems nice and if she uprooted her entire life to come here and get to know you that means something.” She lifted her head to look at me. “Believe me I know, because I did the exact same thing.”

I stared at her hard. “I was left alone.”

She huffed out a disgruntled noise. “So why would you deny someone that is reaching out to you and trying to get to know you? Wouldn’t having a sister mean you would never, ever have to worry about being alone again?”

Her words and her take on the whole thing were making me really uncomfortable. I would have much preferred her saying something like, “Don’t you know that now you have me you won’t ever have to be alone again,” but instead she was looking at me like I had somehow disappointed her.

“I don’t need a family, Salem. I went out and found my own and they will never leave me or abandon me.” It was an unnecessary dig at her and she didn’t miss it. Her dark eyes narrowed and she went to move off of me but I wouldn’t let her. I grasped her around her waist and grumbled, “I’m sorry. I’m in a nasty mood.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Are you scared of having another blood relative?”

I recoiled and threw my head back on the couch cushions. “Why would you ask me that?”

She shrugged a smooth, caramel-colored shoulder and leaned forward to kiss me on the end of my nose.

“The only family you knew died in a horrible way and started you on a very rocky journey to find the family you have now. It might be terrifying to let someone else in after suffering that kind of loss. Sayer seems like a good person, Rowdy. She helps kids, and even though she obviously comes from a different walk of life than you and I, she never seems judgmental or stuck-up about it. Just consider that letting her in, just a little, might not be a terrible thing. That’s a wonderful surprise to have offered up to you.”

“If you suddenly had some dude knock on your door and tell you he was your brother, you would just welcome him in with open arms?”

She looked like she was considering it and then she shrugged again. “Maybe not open arms, but I sure wouldn’t slam the door closed in his face and then throw the locks.” She suddenly giggled a little and rubbed her palms over my chest. “I kept thinking she looked really familiar for some reason. You have the same eyes and the same hair color. She’s beautiful and totally looks like your sister.”

I swore and it made her laugh. “She said her dad was married when my mom got pregnant.”

Salem made a sound of sympathy and leaned forward to kiss me again. “There is a story there. Don’t you want to know what it is?”

“I guess . . . maybe.”

“No one is going to make you do anything you don’t want to, so that means it’s up to you to make the right choice.”

I lifted both my eyebrows up and grinned at her. I decided I was done talking about Sayer and what the right or the wrong thing to do about her might be.

“So it matters that you came here to get to know me?”

She curled her arms around my neck and scooted closer to me so that she was right over my waist. The very tip of my pierced c**k dragged through her folds and it made my eyes twitch in response.

“Of course it matters. You have always mattered, you big moron.”

I would have answered but she set herself over my erection and any blood that was left floating around for rational thought shot right to my groin.

“You matter, too, Salem.”

I had to say it just in case she didn’t know.

“Be quiet, Rowdy . . . my turn to ravish you.”

Any time of any day in any place she could think of. I groaned as she started to move over me and just let my eyes drift closed as she instantly made everything seem better just by being.

CHAPTER 12

Salem

WE SPENT ALL DAY in bed on Sunday. I could tell Rowdy was still struggling with learning about Sayer and the fact he had a father that had left him out in the cold . He was not particularly talkative, which went so far against his affable nature that I simply let him sulk and tried to support him in the best way I knew how. I made sure he understood I was there to talk it out with, but I also didn’t mind his strong, silent act as long as the results were so delicious and made my body burn. I knew he was going to have to face Sayer and the past sooner or later but I wasn’t going to push him into it.