“Fuck,” he rasps. “Yeah.”
We both tremble for a long few minutes after he stops, and his forehead drops against mine. His warm breath tickles my mouth, and I tilt up, kissing him softly on the lips before he rolls off and pulls me into his arms.
“That was fucking awesome,” he says softly.
“Nothing like tent sex,” I whisper.
“Fuck yeah.”
I put a hand on his chest, and stroke my fingers over his skin. He runs his fingers through my hair, and we just lay there in silence for a while.
“Do you think this was how our story was meant to go?” I ask.
He stops stroking for a second, thinks, and then keeps going. “Yeah, I think so. I’ve met a lot of people in my life, had a few girlfriends, but never met anyone I felt like I was meant to have there the way I did with you. I don’t know what it was, but I do believe you were put in my path, and fuck knows we’ve gone through a bit in a short time, but look at us now.”
“I think we’re pretty awesome.”
“Fuck yeah we are.”
“As much as I hate what happened, I feel like how we are now is better than how we were before.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well before we had a lot of fun, joked, had sex, and honestly at the time I thought it was serious, but how we are now together, our conversations are deeper, more meaningful, it’s far more real. I do think maybe what we had a first was a rebound, but our connection was real, and it’s why we made it through and came back to each other.”
He thinks about it for a second, and then nods. “You’re probably right.”
“I think you had to go through what you did, as hard as it was at the time, I think if you didn’t, we wouldn’t be where we are now. You’d still be hanging on a line, not fully moving on with your life.”
He squeezes me tighter. “Yeah, again, I think you’re right. I was never going to move on until she fucked me over for a final time.”
“Do you still love her?”
He goes quiet and I regret asking him that, for a second at least, until he answers.
“Honestly, I wonder if I ever actually did or if what I felt was an attachment, or even a desperation of some sort. If she had ended it properly and just let me go, I think I would have moved on quite quickly, but it was the distance and the not knowing or understanding, I guess I became obsessed with it. She refused to give me closure, and without closure, it can be very hard to just shut a door.”
That makes sense.
“But you were right, there is no possible way that my love for her was genuine, because there is nothing good about her to love. She’s one of the worst people I know, I see that now. It still hurts sometimes, and there are days I feel shitty, but mostly I feel good. Mostly, I feel okay. I’ve accepted it and really, I’m so fucking glad I never went back.”
Me too.
God. Me. Too.
CHAPTER 26
“You be nice to him!” I warn my dad as Roman’s truck pulls up at the compound.
My father crosses his big arms and raises his brows at me. “I’ll do whatever I want. I’m your dad, I’m allowed.”
“Dad!” I whine. “Seriously. Don’t be an ass.”
He shoots me a glare and I give him a big, cheesy smile.
“Careful, darlin’, you’re not too old to go over my knee.”
I roll my eyes.
“Stop stirring him up, honey,” Mom says, nudging dad with her shoulder. “You know he’s like a big angry bear when poked.”
Dad gives her a look, and winks.
“Ew,” I mutter.
“Well, that’s what you get for being a smart ass,” he says to me, then his eyes flick back to Roman who is walking in confidently.
“Oh, he’s cute!” Mom says.
“Right?” I grin.
“Fuck sakes,” Dad mutters, walking forward to meet Roman.
Roman extends his hand straight away. “Maddox, nice to meet you. I’m Roman.”
Dad raises his brows, but takes Roman’s hand. They shake. There is no manly force; obviously, Dad is impressed by Roman’s hand shake. “Good to meet you. Heard a lot about you.”
Roman’s eyes flick to me, and he grins. “I’m sure most of it was good, half of it was probably fucking bad, I deserved all of it. But I can assure you, it’ll be all good from now onwards.”
Dad studies him, then asks, “You drink beer?”
Roman nods.
“You got ink,” Dad nods at Roman’s bicep, which looks fucking hot in the shirt he’s wearing. “You ride?”
“Used to own a Harley,” Roman adds.
“You’re in then, let’s go.”
I giggle and walk over to Roman, who puts an arm around my shoulder as we follow them back into the club. Matilda comes running out before we’ve even made it to the house, and squeals Roman’s name happily. “Finally, he’s here, I’m so excited.”
“Hey, Matilda.” Roman chuckles.
“Oh, this is so good. I like him, he’s a good one, right?” she says to Dad, wiggling her brows.
“I don’t know how I produced you, sweetheart.” Dad grins at her. “But fuck you have way too much energy.”
She rolls her eyes and takes Roman’s arm. “Let’s go inside and meet everyone else. We’re playing Twister.”
“Sweet Jesus,” I groan. “Not again.”
“Shut up. She loves it,” Matilda says to Roman.
“I know,” Roman responds and I shove him.
“Ohh, kinky, you two are up next then!”
We walk into the club house and I walk Roman through all the introductions, the poor guy shakes about twenty hands, but he does it with ease. He’s not at all intimidated by the bikers, and I love that about him. When we’re done, I join Jack, Phoenix, Quinn, Diesel, Mercedes, and Kaylee in the room where they’re drinking, playing twister and generally being pains in the asses.
“Guys,” I say when we walk in.
“Oh. He’s here!” Phoenix says, launching out of his chair. “Finally. She’s told us so many raunchy sex stories about you.”
I look to Roman and he raises his brows. “I totally have not.”
“Yep, she told us about that time in the tent,” Quinn says, shaking Roman’s hand. “Nice work, brother.”
My face flushes. “How the hell did you know about that?”
His eyes swing to Matilda and she giggles.
“You’re a terrible secret keeper!” I say, picking up a Cheeto and throwing it across the room at her.
“Jack,” Jack says, stepping up to Roman and sizing him up. Then he extends his hand.
“Roman. Good to meet you.”
They stare at each other a few minutes, neither breaking eye contact, then Jack looks to me with a grin. “He wasn’t afraid of my death stare, he’s in.”
Roman laughs and Jack thrusts him a beer.
I roll my eyes. “Nobody is afraid of your death stare, Jack. It’s terrible.”
Jack looks to Roman. “Was it terrible?”
“Fuckin’ terrible.”
Jack sighs. “I gotta work on that.”
I finish all the introductions, with Diesel being the most reserved. He’s just like Mack, he always sits back and inspects people before making a decision about them.
“How are you two?” I ask him and Mercy when we’re all sitting down, drinking.
“Good,” she says, throwing her leg onto Diesel’s lap.
“What have I told you about the legs on my lap, babe,” he says to her, giving her a gorgeous grin.
“What was my response, honey? Oh, that’s right, I don’t care.”
Roman chuckles.
“You’ll get used to Mercedes and Diesel,” I say. “She’s a pain in his ass, but he loves her.”
“He really does,” Mercy grins. “He loves the shit out of me.”
Diesel grunts.
“That’s a grunt of love,” she informs us.
Diesel sighs.
“That??
?s a sigh of satisfaction.”
Diesel looks to us. “Do you see what I have to fucking put up with?”
She leans over and grabs his face, kissing him.
I smile.
Roman takes my hand.
Everything is fucking awesome.
Finally.
~*~*~*~
With bleary eyes, I open the door and stare blankly at the man standing in my doorway.
Michael.
He has some nerve coming back here after what he did, but, it would appear he has no brains because here he is, standing on my doorstep in the middle of the night. I rub my eyes and then mumble, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“You need to tell those bikers to back off.”
I shake my head. “Seriously, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I swear, they’re fucking following me. I left you alone, I did what that fucking idiot wanted, but I know they’re still watching me.”
Paranoid much?
“Honestly, Michael, you’re losing it. They’re not following you. Trust me, if they wanted to hurt you, they would have done it. Move on, I have.”
“I won’t fucking move on!” he barks. “Fucking you was the worst mistake of my life, I can’t believe I got involved with you, now I’ve got crazy people watching my every move.”
“Firstly,” I snap. “If crazy people are watching your every move it’s because you’ve done something to make them. It isn’t my family. Secondly, believe me when I say fucking you was the worst mistake I’ve ever made, too.”
“Fuck you, Molly.”
He steps forward, and a dark, angry voice comes from behind me. “Take another step, I will break your fucking legs.”
Roman is here.
Michael didn’t know that.
“Who the fuck is that?” Michael asks.
“That’s the man who picked me up when you left me broken on the ground, he’s also the man I’m seeing. Now, if you don’t mind, Michael, I’d appreciate if you leave.”
“Did you tell him?” Michael demands as Roman appears beside me at the door, his face hard and angry. “Is it you who is fucking following me? I didn’t mean to hit her. I was drunk. Fuck, I made one mistake.”
“What?” Roman says, his voice icy.
“I ...” Michael’s eyes widen, and flicker to me.
“He hit you?” Roman asks, looking down at me.
Uh oh.
“It was a while ago and—” I begin, but my words are cut off.
Roman takes a step forward and he punches Michael so hard he stumbles backwards and falls down the front steps. I gasp, pressing a hand to my mouth. Roman steps out the front door and glances down at Michael, who is groaning and holding his nose, which is spurting with blood.
“Get the fuck away from her house, and believe me, if you come here again, you really will have someone following your filthy fuckin’ ass. Get lost. Do not fucking come back.”
Roman is scary when he’s mad.
And hot.
Holy fucking hot.
Michael nods, stammering a sorry, and scrambles down the front path. Roman turns to me and opens his mouth to speak, but I launch at him. He catches me and takes two steps back until his back hits a pole on the front porch. I smash my lips against his and kiss him so hard we’re both left breathless.
“Wha—” he says, but I don’t let him stop.
I unhook my legs, grab his shirt, and pull him towards me until my back presses against the wall of the house. Then I kiss him again, while reaching down and jerking his pants down just enough to free his cock.
“Molly,” he growls. “We’re out the front still.”
“Don’t care,” I murmur. “That was so fucking hot. I need you, right now.”
He groans when I curl my hand around his dick, squeezing.
“He hit you,” he rasps as I lift my nightie and pull my panties aside.
“Shhh.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
I guide his cock to my entrance and his hand falls to my hip. “Stop talking and fuck me while you’re wound up and angry.”
“You’re in trouble for not telling me,” he growls, grabbing my leg and putting it around his hip.
“Then punish me right now.”
He thrusts inside me in one, fluid stroke. I gasp, he grunts, and then he punishes me. Right there against the wall. My back scraping, his fingers digging into my hips, my body arching for him, his cock driving into me.
Yes, he punishes me all right.
And it’s fucking incredible.
~*~*~*~
“One two three four, I declare a thumb war!”
Roman pushes his thumb down over mine right away, coffee in one hand, shirtless perfection standing in my kitchen the next morning.
“You’re failing, again, Spoosie.”
“I will win. One day, one day ...” I wiggle my finger in his face and spread my legs when he steps up to where I’m sitting on the counter. He nestles between them and leans forward, pressing a kiss to my lips.
“No, you won’t,” he says.
“Fuck you, I will so.”
“Fuck you, you will not.”
I bite his bottom lip, and he chuckles, grabbing my hip and squeezing.
“You’re a tosser,” I say snatching his coffee and taking a sip.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Sometimes I wonder how we ever became friends, you have such a shitty attitude.”
He grins and flicks the end of my nose. “Whatever. You love my attitude. You’re the one who is an emotional little butterfly.”
I roll my eyes. “I am not an emotional little butterfly.”
“Yeah, beautiful, you are.”
I grunt. “Am. Not.”
“Are. So.”
He steps away and crooks a finger at me.
“What?”
“Shower time.”
I cross my arms. “Nope.”
“Get over here, or it’ll hurt,” he warns, but his eyes are dancing.
“Make me.”
He takes a step towards me, and I launch off the counter and run out of the kitchen. He comes after me right away, and squealing, I duck around a corner but his long legs make it impossible to get away from him. He catches me around the waist and launches us onto the couch. We land with a laugh, him over top of me, grinning down at me.
“You don’t play fair, you have those long legs.”
He winks at me and presses a kiss to my lips. “Now, we can play this the nice way or the hard way. Are you going to be a good girl and get up and let me take you to the shower, where I will proceed to wash and fuck you, or are you going to play hard to get, in which case, I’ll smack your ass, and then take you to the shower and wash and fuck you.”
“Okay, let me up,” I say, inwardly grinning.
He lets me up, and I launch off running again.
“I vote hard to get!”
He bursts out laughing, and chases me.
I laugh all the way to the bathroom.
I keep laughing, even when he gets hold of me, and his hand makes my ass burn.
I don’t laugh when he fucks me in the shower.
Nice and slow.
Perfect.
EPILOGUE
“That is not how a damned egg rolls, woman!” Roman laughs.
I lay flat on my back, trying to pull my knees to my chest. “Come off it, it is so.”
“It is fucking not, that’s the worst egg roll I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“What would you know?” Matilda yells, trying to do it, too. “You have never seen an egg roll until you met us.”
“And you’re doing a poor job and showing me how it goes,” Roman throws back.
“Just because my sister likes you, Roman, doesn’t mean I won’t come over there and box you in the ears.”
We all burst out laughing.
“Honestly, Matilda,” Jack snorts. “Box his ears? How old are you?”
Matilda grun
ts, trying to get her legs back to her chest. “Shut up, Jack. I’ll dick punch you.”
“Now that I’d like to see,” Phoenix laughs, throwing back another shot.
“Me too,” I say, leaping to my feet.
“How did that egg rolling go?” Roman asks, winking at me.
“Shut it, spunky, I will hurt you.”
He laughs and takes my arm, pulling me down onto his lap.
He wraps an arm around my waist and I smile, feeling so damned good inside. It’s been two months since the night we decided to go slowly, and things have been awesome. We spend most of our time together, he’s healing, I’m healed, and it feels natural. Nothing is pressured this time, there is no ex in the picture, and we’re both happy as we can be.
I think I’m falling in love with him.
I’m certain he feels the same.
It’s incredible.
“Look,” Matilda says, finally getting the egg roll. “Look!”
We all look to her, and then burst out laughing.
“Is that how ridiculous I look?” I ask Roman.
He squeezes me. “Worse.”
I curse to myself. “God. It’s a wonder you’re still talking to me.”
“I don’t really get a choice. You’ll stalk me if I don’t.”
I laugh. “Whatever. Spooser.”
He kisses my neck. “Mmmmhmmmm.”
“God, get a room!” Quinn mumbles.
“Don’t be jealous because you’re not getting any,” Jack throws at him.
“Neither are you, dickhead.”
Jack winks. “Workin’ on it, bro. She’s coming around.”
“Baylee?” I ask.
“Yeah. She said hello to me the other day, and I just nodded and kept walking.”
“Jack!” I cry, laughing. “Poor girl probably thinks you have a mental disorder.”
“Probably.” He chuckles. “But it’s working.”
“Nice work,” I nod. “Now if you can just get her phone number, you’ll be one step closer to actually having a conversation.”
He flips me the bird. “Shut up, Mol. Not all of us put our stalking skills out there to attract our men.”
“Not sure if you insulted me or her then.” Roman laughs.
“I think both of us,” I add. “But he doesn’t understand the powerful and incredible effects of stalking.”
“No,” Roman agrees. “There is nothing like waking up, looking out your window, and seeing a girl sleeping on the ground.”