Текст книги "Rome"

Автор книги: Jay Crownover

Соавторы: Jay Crownover
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The eyebrow under the scar went up. “Who?”

“The girl from last night.” He shrugged like he didn’t remember and tossed his shirt on the bed.

“Well, you and Rowdy looked like matching rock-and-roll wedding cake toppers. Both so blond, pretty, and all kinds of pierced and tattooed. If I had to stand there and watch him rub your neck or whisper in your ear one more second, it wasn’t going to be pretty.”

I felt my eyes pop wide and my heart started to speed up.

“Rowdy is like my brother.”

“And I don’t remember any chick in leather.”

We stood there in silence, staring at each other. I saw his pulse flutter in his neck and bit my bottom lip. It suddenly felt like we were the only two people in the world, like this room was standing still in time. I was starting to feel like what I thought perfect meant was absolutely boring and I was an idiot forever thinking that was what I wanted. Wild and unleashed seemed so much more exciting than steadfast and firmly planted. Now I just needed him to get on the same page as me with it.

“So here’s the deal. I don’t need you to figure my shit out, I can do it all on my own. I look at you like I want to lick you all over because I do. I don’t really know how to go about starting up something with a guy like you, but as long you promise not to lie to me, to not cheat on me, I want to.”

And I did. I wanted to start it and finish it and enjoy everything in between. He was so different from Jimmy, and honestly, troubled or not, I could see he was so much better. Rome Archer was a force to be reckoned with, a storm brewing of broken thoughts and dangerous demons, of misplaced responsibility and unknown future. I wasn’t sure, but I had a sinking suspicion I might be one of the few able to withstand the destruction left by that storm’s aftermath, and even though my old fear was there, it wasn’t as strong as the attraction I felt for this enigmatic man.

He didn’t respond, but I saw his chest rise and fall as he sucked in a deep breath.

“Cora.” I could hear the hesitation in his tone. “I don’t juggle women and I don’t think I could be any more honest with you than I already have been. But I’m still not the guy you’re looking for, and that hasn’t changed since the other morning. Perfect isn’t even in my vocabulary, even if you are cute enough to make me want to try and be.”

He tapped a finger to his temple, and I saw the shadow move over his eyes. He might not be one hundred percent, but I was starting to think any portion of Rome was better than most men operating at full capacity. I was good with words, could tell him that something about him just got to me, that I thought he was hotter than any guy should be, that I liked that he didn’t just back down from me. Instead I decided that since he was a man of action, I would just show him I knew what I was doing and knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted the last word in this and there really was only one surefire way to get it.

I grabbed the hem of my sundress and whipped it up and off over my head. The bright material landed in a heap on the floor and I was left in my yellow wedges and cute pink underwear. One thing about having small boobs was I didn’t have to really worry about a bra if I didn’t want to. Apparently Rome was a fan of small boobs, because his eyes lit up like a lighter flicking to life. Even in my chunky shoes, with him barefoot, when I made my way to where he was standing, stock-still, the top of my head barely reached his chin. I had to look up at him, and when I did, I put one hand on either side of his face so he couldn’t look away from me.

Those blue, blue eyes got heavy-lidded and dropped just a fraction, which made my blood get all warm and slippery under my skin.

“Don’t be scared, Captain No-Fun, we got this.”

He put his big hands on my naked waist and started to walk me back toward the bed in the center of the room. It would be so easy to be intimidated by a guy like him, only he was looking at me like I was something so unique and so precious that all I could feel was anticipation. That grin that was probably going to make me fall in love with him broke across his face, and I knew that whatever it was I was doing with this man, who was so the opposite of what I thought I wanted, was the right thing. He wasn’t steady, he was most definitely not a man content with his current circumstances, and I was pretty sure his idea of what being a partner to someone looked like was totally different from mine. I still didn’t know that he wanted to be all in with me or even with himself but the pull, the undeniable current of want and need that seemed to loop around us, was just too much to dismiss for a dream that had yet to come along.

“I told you last night you know better than anyone what my idea of fun entails.” His thumb brushed across the jewels dotting my side and trailed up over a nipple that was now straining and begging for attention. The back of my knees hit the bed, and before I knew it, I was on my back and he was looming over me all naked skin and glowing eyes. It was beautiful, he was beautiful, and no matter what happened after this point, I knew I was a lucky girl to be here with him.

“Are you actually going to talk to me this time?”

I put my hands in his short hair as he worked on getting my shoes off and the cute little underwear out of his way. I liked that he was kind of rough, a little impatient, but there was always reverence when his fingers brushed my skin. He kissed me once and dropped the towel.

“Probably not.”

He put his hands under my hips and moved me toward the edge of the bed. I slid my hands down to his shoulders and propped his chin up with the edge of my knuckle so that he was looking at me.

“Why not?”

He ran his hands down the length of one leg and situated me so that my legs were off the bed and he was standing at the apex of them. I was exposed, open to him, and should have felt vulnerable or maybe even shy, but it was impossible to feel anything but appreciated and sexy with the way those eyes burned when he looked at me. My breath got caught in my lungs and couldn’t escape when he touched that little tiny ring situated at the heart of me with just the tip of his index finger. Everything was slick and damp, and his touch just made it all burn hotter.

“Because I’m freaked out that whatever I say might be the wrong thing. And right now, being with you is the one thing that feels solid and real … You’re so full of color, so vibrant you never get lost in all the gray in my head. I don’t want to lose that.”

My heart caught. Those were words a woman would never forget a man saying to her, especially when they came from a man like this. I got my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss that I hoped conveyed how I felt. I arched up off the bed when his finger abandoned the jewelry and went in search of more intimate, deeper territory. I felt those thick digits slide through my folds, brush against quivering nerve endings, play with all the parts of me that were achy and greedy for his touch. He used his thumb to press down on my clit, which had the added benefit of rubbing the smooth edge of my piercing against all those tightly wound centers of pleasure. He knew just how to stroke me, to play me to get the best result.

I kissed him until neither of us could breathe, kissed him until he made me pant his name, kissed him until he got more fingers involved in what he was doing down there and I couldn’t keep it together anymore. I broke apart, felt him drop his head and kiss the side of my neck. I was clutching those broad shoulders like a lifeline. I felt like if I let him go, this thing we were building between us was going to disappear in a puff of smoke—it was just that magical and different. I think he might have even chuckled, but I was pretty sure he had just devastated what it meant to have sex for me.

He pulled me to him and I could feel that erection pulsing and throbbing at the apex of my core. My breasts flattened against the hard plane of his chest, and we were as close as two people could be without being joined. I could feel his stomach muscles tighten and contract against me. I ran a hand over the solid curve of his ass and blinked up at him lazily. I saw that he looked a little hesitant, which made me frown. I wanted all that rigid and ready flesh inside me, now.

“Did I hurt you last time?”

His voice was gruff, and I didn’t appreciate that he was too strong for me to just pull him down into where I wanted him to be. I retaliated by wrapping both legs around his lean waist and lifting myself up to him. I heard him swear, but it only took a fraction of a second before he got with the program and sank all the way down into me. I sighed at the sensation, the stretch and pull my body had to do to accommodate all that length and girth. I dug my hands into the thick muscles running across his neck. I wanted to groan but I tried to answer him instead because those blue eyes were on mine resolutely and he wasn’t moving.

“Noooo …” I couldn’t really form words as he bent his head and put a nipple in his mouth. The scrape of his teeth nearly made me lose it again and the way he lapped at the turgid skin with the flat of his tongue made it almost impossible to breathe. “It was awesome. You were awesome, so what if I had to be careful how I sat down for a week? Totally worth it.”

I choked out a laugh when he levered up on his arms to glare down at me. It was hard for him to look threatening when he shuddered as I squeezed him with my inner muscles.

“Not funny.”

I moved my hands so that I could trace the tight line of his rib cage, pausing a little when I got to the part that was just recently healing. I liked the way he felt, liked the way he moved. I liked that he was so big and strong, yet able to admit he was struggling and human enough to have weakness. The fact of the matter was I just liked him, and even if it meant we had to get used to the size difference, it was a learning curve I had no trouble being a part of. My body wanted him, it was my head and all things I had told myself I was waiting for that had been my stumbling block up to this point. Looking up at him looking down at me like he had never seen anything he wanted more, I realized all the parts were on the same page right now. I kissed him on the center of his breastbone and worked on pulling him back down where all of that straining and aching flesh did the most good. I liked feeling surrounded by him, engulfed in all his maleness.

“It’s fine. Now move or I’ll have to hurt you.”

He grunted his agreement and got back to business. He stroked along my legs until I bent them up along by his sides. One of his hands tangled up in the top of my short hair and all that lovely, sinewy muscle started heaving and pushing against me. With each thrust, each retreat, his eyes got hotter and burned brighter. I couldn’t look away. It was even better, more intense than the first time. He didn’t leave any part of me untouched. My mouth, my neck, my breasts, the part where I was open and sliding along him. His hands, his mouth … they did everything they could to pull me back apart.

He said my name, I’m pretty sure I screamed his when he reached down between the two of us, and right before he pushed me over the edge again started playing with that damn hoop. His thick fingers were so light, so gentle, but I was too gone, too ready to let go, so it just took a brush of skin and the slight tug of metal in aroused flesh to make me come unglued and throw my head back and arch up against him hard enough that he got an arm under my back. Holding me that way, he plunged into me with renewed vigor and less care for my well-being. It was awesome. I felt him shudder his own release, felt him flick his tongue along the cord of my neck that was throbbing in time to his heartbeat, and then he rolled over so that both of us had our backs on the bed and our legs dangling over the side. I swore that if he was that good at getting me off with just his hands, I was never going to survive if he ever worked his way to getting his mouth down there. He was dangerous in a whole different way now.

We were both breathing hard and silent. I was pretty sure that Rome was the best cure for a hangover I had ever come across. He picked up one of my much smaller hands in his own and trailed a thumb across my neon-painted nails.

“So you gonna let me take you on a date or something, Cora Lewis?”

I turned my head to look at him and had to bite back a laugh. He actually looked concerned about my answer.

“Do you want to take me on a date, Rome Archer?”

“Yeah, I think I do. Don’t get me wrong. If you just want me to take you to bed anytime you feel up to it, I’m game for that as well, but I like you, so yeah, I would like to take you on a date.”

I went to push up on my elbows so I could look him in the eye, when I realized we were both really naked and there was a whole lot of non-after-sex stuff happening. I felt my eyes get huge in my face and I must have looked panicked because he frowned.

“Seriously we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Uh … The date is fine, but we have a problem.”

He scratched his chest and yawned. “The guys?”

I smacked him on the arm. “No, well yeah, maybe, but something more serious than that.”

He copied my pose. “What?”

“I’m not on the pill.”

We stared at each other for what felt like five minutes without talking. I was smarter than this, always had been. I couldn’t believe I let something as basic as safe sex get away from me. Finally he flopped back down on the bed and threw his arm across his eyes.

“I knew I felt like I forgot something the last time.”

Well, crap, I hadn’t even considered the time before. I cleared my throat.

“And?”

He just shrugged a big shoulder. “It’s not like we can go back and un-have sex.”

I growled a little at him and narrowed my eyes. “What if the result is a baby?”

“Then we deal with it.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. Don’t freak out yet.”

Oh, this wasn’t even close to freaking out, but he didn’t know me well enough to know that, which really was the entire problem with the possibility of getting knocked up by a virtual stranger. I was going to start hyperventilating, start spazzing out, but before I could, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down so that I was lying on top of him. I felt his lips brush the top of my head and felt that wide chest start to rise and fall in a steady rhythm. The jackass was going to fall asleep on me while I was having a major crisis.

“Cora.” I put my head down over his heart and tried to calm down. “Don’t worry, Half-Pint, we got this.”

And then he was asleep and I was left wondering how such an obviously imperfect guy had invaded my world so thoroughly and how right Rowdy had been, sideways. Everything was most definitely sideways and right now I had no clue which way was up.

CHAPTER 8

Rome

I was sprawled out under the pool table, trying to get the stupid thing level, when several pairs of worn motorcycle boots were suddenly the only things I could see through the legs I had jacked up off the floor. It was early afternoon, so the bar was dead and Brite had taken off to run some errands. I guess that left me sort of in charge, and if a bunch of bikers were going to show up and trash all the hard work I had put in to this place over the last few weeks, it was going to get unpleasant really fast. I took a quick count, noting that there appeared to be five of them, before I slid out from under the table and wiped my hands down on my jeans.

Bikers looked like bikers, but these guys were clearly the top branch of the club. I knew badass when I saw it, could feel the don’t fuck with me coming off this crew. These guys were no prospects, no sidewalk bikers looking for a little action. These dudes were the real deal, and if they wanted a piece of me, I was going to have to work way harder at staying alive than I had the last time I tangled with a bunch of bikers.

The guy that was clearly the leader of the crew took a step toward me and I had to stiffen up to avoid taking an automatic step back. I lifted the eyebrow with the scar in it and crossed my arms over my chest. I could do badass as well as the next guy if I had to.

“You Archer?”

I nodded slightly and kept an eye on the other four guys who spread out to flank the man talking to me.

“Brite told me some of the newbies came in here and fucked shit up. Tried to start some business with you and then looked like little punks when you finished it. That true?”

I just nodded again. I wasn’t sure what this was all about, and I didn’t know if more detail would help or hurt my case at this point in time.

The guy shared a look with one of the other guys over my shoulder and moved to pull up the edge of his sleeve. I blinked in surprise when I noticed he had the exact same tattoo Brite wore on his forearm.

“Brothers-in-arms, kiddo. That shit don’t fly with me and it don’t fly with the Sons of Sorrow. The club knows the Bar is off-limits and that anyone who did service deserves respect. That little ass-wipe is getting his rocker cut off. We will not have prospects or anyone around us who can’t abide by the rules and show proper respect.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what getting a rocker cut off meant, but it sounded like it was all in my favor, so I nodded once more and pushed off the table.

“Thanks. I’m just glad nobody got hurt any worse or the bar didn’t end up even more trashed.”

“Brite likes you. Thinks you’re a good kid with a lot of potential. That means you’re good people in my book. We look out for good people.”

I wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. I knew from Cora that Asa was still in a cast from a beat-down by a Southern chapter of the SoS, but I guess as long as they didn’t want to start anything up with me, I couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I shook the guy’s hand but didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until every last one of them trekked back out the front door. I went up the bar to where Darcy had stuck her head out of the kitchen to keep an eye on things.

“That was intense.”

She nodded and handed me a glass of water from the other side of the bar. “Brite ran around with them when he got back after his first deployment. He was into all kinds of bad stuff. That was why wife number one left.”

“I could see that. Those are some scary-ass dudes.”

“Brite was just as scary. Still can be when he puts his mind to it. You’re lucky you remind him so much of himself when he was around your age.”

I was starting to agree with her. I was thinking more and more that even though I was at some serious loose ends, I really was a lucky guy. I liked hanging out in the bar and all my diligent work had it looking less like a hole in the wall and more like an actual, respectable establishment. I was learning the regulars, learning their stories, and it made me feel less alone the longer I spent here. I had spent the last week with Cora, either at her place or mine, and the more time I spent in her company, the harder it was to want to be away from her.

She let me take her out to dinner and a movie and we ended the night back at my place. The following night she surprised me by showing up at the bar and demanding that I let her take me out. I had never in my life had that happen before, but I let her have her way because she was so damn cute and I could tell underneath her usually sassy attitude she was really freaking out about the unprotected-sex thing. I probably should be more concerned about it than I was, but I made sure I was prepared now and I just tried to do my best to stay calm about it since she seemed to be worried about it enough for the both of us.

My brother was not stoked at the newest development in my love life and I had been subjected to no less than five lectures from him, Nash, Shaw, Ayden, and Rowdy; even Asa had given me the what for about all the bad things that would befall me should I leave her high and dry or decide that her big mouth was too much to handle. I was sure Jet would have gotten in on the rake Rome over the coals action as well if he had been in town. I didn’t even want to know what would happen if they found out she was worried about a possible unplanned pregnancy.

I really liked spending time with her. She was spunky, said what was on her mind, and had no trouble letting me know if I was drifting off on her, getting too lost in my own head. We didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, but she made me want to laugh, and looking at her made me smile. Not to mention I couldn’t keep my hands and mouth off of her. She was just so sweet and so easy to get to respond. I had never been with anyone like her before. She was all glittery and shiny, so I had no difficulty finding her in the dark that sometimes clouded my vision, and so far I had been lucky. With her sprawled on top of me, I somehow managed to sleep through the night. Not a single nightmare, no incidents of waking up to bloodcurdling screams. It was a really nice change of pace and reason alone to keep her around.

I was going to ask Darcy if she would make me something to snack on for dinner before I headed over to the shop to grab Cora for the night, when the chair next to me suddenly pulled out and was occupied by the last person I would’ve expected to see in the bar. Eyes that matched my own looked back at me and it floored me how old my dad looked after nearly a year of no contact. We had similar dark hair and the same blue eyes; his were paler, more like Rule’s, and he was tall and broad, but not nearly as tall as I was. He was always a sturdy, steady guy, but clearly since the last time I had been home, things had taken a toll on him. He looked almost as much like a stranger to me as I thought I would look to him after all this time. Today was apparently my day for unwanted visitors.

“What are you doing here?”

He sighed and asked Darcy for a cup of coffee. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

“That’s all you have to say to me after ignoring me and your mother for a year?”

“How did you know where to find me?” I lifted an eyebrow and then answered my own question. “Shaw. That little girl can’t stop trying to pull this family together.”

“Rome.” He sighed so heavily I felt it weigh across my own shoulders. I had always wanted to make my folks proud of me. They had never really been excited about my choice to enlist when I was younger, but as time went on they grew to understand my motivation, my drive to help others, be active in making the world a safer place for my brothers and for them. It bothered me to see the disappointment in his eyes and marked on his face.

“This has to stop at some point. I fought to bring Rule back into the fold, told your mother it was this family or I was done. I’m not going to let another one of my boys go, not without one hell of a fight. I let you stew, let you and Rule act like it was a personal affront we never talked about Remy as a family, but the time for that is done. We need to figure out how to move forward from this point on. End of story.”

I felt like a little kid getting scolded for getting his clothes dirty while out playing. I rubbed a hard hand across the back of my neck and looked down at the bar I still needed to strip and refinish.

“It’s more than just Remy and the secrets. It’s the way Mom treated Rule, it’s the way everyone just let Remy use Shaw. It’s the fact I don’t feel at all like the same guy I was when I left last time. I don’t know how to fit into this family anymore. I don’t know what role I’m supposed to be filling.”

I didn’t have the nerve or the right words to try to explain to him that I didn’t know how I would make it through having him and Mom look at me like they didn’t know who I was anymore. Disappointment I could handle, dismissal I could not, so instead I was hiding and avoiding it altogether.

He swore softly and reached out to clap me on the shoulder. “There is no fitting in. You’re our son, no matter what; that role is yours until the end of time. That’s what I finally had to get across to your mother about Rule and what we should have let Remy know before it was too late. We take you any way you come, Rome, even if it isn’t the same way you always were. The life you lived, son, that changes a man. I understand that and so does your mother.”

He cleared his throat and pushed the bar stool back so that he was standing next to me.

“Come to brunch on Sunday. Shaw said you’re seeing one of her girlfriends, bring her along. I work very hard every week to make sure your brother and that girl of his know how much I love them. We all owe Shaw more than we can ever repay as a family. She’s done more for both those boys than we can probably imagine. Come spend time with your family, Rome.”

He didn’t give me a chance to say “we’ll see” or “no thanks”; he just turned around and went back the way he came. Being an Archer was never exactly easy, but it was like a badge of honor to be one and survive it. I really wished I could just slide behind that bar and mix a drink, but I was doing a pretty solid job of staying sober and just beating back all the crazy stuff going on in my head with force of will alone. I didn’t want to mess that up just because I was being a sissy and couldn’t handle getting told off by my dad. It was hard to keep my head buried in the sand when he had single-handedly just annihilated all my misplaced fears about going home and facing them.

I asked Darcy for that sandwich finally and went to finish getting the pool table leveled. Brite was back by the time I was done and headed out. I told him about the guys from the Sons of Sorrow and he just snorted and told me the kid that attacked me was nothing but a young prick. He told me that I better watch my back, because getting a rocker stripped from a biker’s cut was apparently a really big deal and the scrawny guy was likely to be pissed as all hell that it was happening. It meant there was no way in hell he was ever going to be a member of any motorcycle club, at least not here in Denver, and likely anywhere else. I blew the warning off, figuring it was all said and done, and besides, I was used to watching my six anyway.

What wasn’t as easy to blow off was the conversation that he leveled at me after Darcy ratted me out about the awkward conversation she had witnessed between me and my dad. I was on my way out the door to get my little punk-rock pixie, but he followed me out to where the Harley was parked. I threw a leg over the bike and looked up at him.

“What’s up?”

He ran a hand down the length of his beard, a gesture I was getting used to. It typically meant he was going to say something to me that he really wanted me to hear.

“Your old man came by looking for you today?”

I nodded. “He found me.”

He crossed his thick arms over his burly chest and tilted his chin down at me.

“You know that Darce and I have a girl?”

I shook my head in the negative. Neither had ever mentioned a daughter to me.

“She’s younger than you. Just turned twenty and is a handful and a half. She didn’t take it well when her mom and I split. I can barely get her to spend five minutes alone in the same room with me before she’s at my throat about this or that.”

I picked the bike up off the stand and balanced the heavy weight between my legs.

“That sucks, but what does it have to do with me?”

“Nothing. I just know as a parent, we make mistakes. We aren’t perfect but that doesn’t mean we don’t love our kids. You’ve got a lot of stuff going on in your life right now, Rome. Don’t let the things and people that have always been there slip away.”

I just stared at him because I didn’t know what to say to that. I liked Brite a lot, looked up to him, was starting to really view him as a mentor, but I didn’t need him trying to fix every aspect of my life. I was going to turn the engine on and take off but he put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“I’ve got some stuff going on over the next few weeks, and I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on the bar and the guys while I’m in and out. I can pay you for it.”

“I don’t know anything about bartending, Brite.”

“I said keep an eye on it, not mix drinks. Darcy can tend bar, or you can find someone to help you out until the end of the month. Granted the tips aren’t anything to write home about right now, but you’re getting the place cleaned up real nice so that might change in the near future.”

“So what exactly do you want me to keep an eye on?”

“The crowd in the evening. The regulars. Make sure the guys aren’t going off the rails. Make sure everyone acts right and gets home safe. I appreciate all the work you’ve put into the place, and I figure you’re not in any hurry to see it all messed up. I’ll ask Darce to show you how I do the cash out at the end of the night and how to drop the deposit.”

“I guess I can manage all of that. Just for a couple weeks?”

I thought I saw him grin at me but with all that facial hair it was kind of hard to tell.

“For now. Don’t write your folks off forever, son. They need you just as much as you need them.”

I wondered if that was true. They used to need me to keep Rule in line and act as a buffer, then they needed me to hold it all together when everyone vanished into a cloud of grief. Now I didn’t really know how I fit into the fold other than as the troubled oldest son, and that was a big part of what made it so much easier for me to stay away.

I started the Harley and pulled out of the lot. It only took ten minutes to make it to Capitol Hill. I usually just left the bike or the truck at the apartment and walked to the shop since parking in the area sucked. Plus I refused to ride in that little neon clown car Cora drove, so we usually had to do some switching off on how we got from one house to another. I pushed open the door and walked up to the counter. She wasn’t behind it, which was unusual, but my brother was leaning against the desk talking to Rowdy.

“Hey.”

He tilted his chin up in greeting and motioned toward the closed door that was off to one side of the shop.