Cousins (Cousins #2) (28 page)

She's it for me.
 

I love her. I'm in love with Elizabeth Hill.

My cousin.

"You know, Roman, we haven't talked about this whole thing regarding your mother and Joseph. You don't talk about her at all. I don't think it’s really healthy."

"Are you a mental health professional now?"

"I'm a Roman Masterson expert and he's certifiable … so I guess so."

I give her an extra hard push for that smart ass comment.

"Aaah!" She cries out. "Too high."

"I don't like to talk about my mother, Elizabeth."

"I know but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't."

"She left me alone a lot. She was unpredictable. I was a frightened little boy for much of the time, and then I turned into an angry teenager, and now I'm this. I blame her for much of that."

"But in spite of her selfishness and neglect,
this
turned out to be so frackin' magnificent, Roman."

I grab the swing by the sides of her hips and immediately stop it.

"What did you say?" I ask as I step around in front of her.

"I said you're magnificent Masterson, and good or bad, she's still your mother. I'm not saying you need to take her out to dinner and buy her flowers. I'm just saying, find out where she is, and if you want to take it a step further then do it. Go to her. Not for her but for you."

She places a palm on my chest.

"To maybe give some of what's inside here some closure. Some peace."

"You want that for me?"

"Of course I do."

"Because you love me?" I jest.

I pull her close to me and she wraps her legs around my waist.

"Yes Masterson," she says solemnly. Not backing down from the seriousness of the moment. "Because I love the frack out of you, and I want you to be happy."

I pull her in even tighter and kiss the side of her face while inhaling the scent of Jasmine seeping from her skin. She wraps her arms around my neck, and I lift her completely out of the swing and into my arms.

"I love you too, Duchess." I rumble in her ear.
 

She pulls back her face and makes my eyes the focal point of her attention. After a brief moment of silence between us a grin spreads across her face.

"I know you do."

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

ELIZABETH

"Today, Duchess, you've been nothing but a good girl and good girls don't get punished. They get rewarded."

My smile widens with anticipation. This is new territory the two of us are headed in. I can feel it.

While I love my orgasm bully and all of his little torturous bedroom games, I think that I'm going to enjoy this side of Roman too. The side that doesn't feel the need to control every single thing that happens between us sexually and making sure that I'm always orgasm drunk. The side that is sometimes fine with me taking the lead and making sure that he gets what he needs.

I begin with Roman's shirt. A tight fitting dark blue Henley that needs to come off right the frack now, because as soon as it's off I'm going to trace my tongue across all the swirls and curves of the intricate ink on Roman's back.

"That feels amazing, Duchess." He moans while sitting on the edge of the bed as I caress his back, neck and arms with my hands and my mouth.

"Now take off your pants." I order.

He flings open his belt buckle, unzips his jeans, and does his best to yank them off quickly with me still touching him.

 
I can already see his heavy erection bulging through his boxers, but right before he moves to slide them down, I stop him.

"Uh-uh. Leave them on for now."

He exhales in a mixture of want, need and frustration. I love it because it makes me feel powerful. Like he really wants me badly; like I'm the only one he'll ever want.

"Do you want me Masterson?" I ask as I wrap myself around his waist and he holds me steady with both hands under my ass.

"Hell fucking yes."

I slowly tongue kiss him.

"Do you want to fuck me or make love to me?"

"Both."

I giggle then I tongue kiss him again. Making sure to slowly tease him with my mouth the way that he loves so much.

"Which do you want to do first?" I ask.

He stalls for time I think by kissing me around my neck and my cleavage.

"Well?" I ask as I so obviously bend my neck to the side so he can have better access.

His head pops up and looks at me with a serious glare. "I just realized something baby. Every time I've been with you we've already been making love. I just didn't know it at the time."

I can see he means every single thing he just said. I know it in my heart and my gut, and it makes me feel like the most special woman on the planet.

I have on my very sexy and expensive gift from Roman. My mustard and black lingerie. This time complete with garters. I slip off the tiny lace thong that came with the set and throw it on the floor of Roman's bedroom as I slide somewhat gracefully up the length of his bed on my back. Staring at him the entire time.

I watch as he strokes himself harder and harder through his boxers. He's chomping at the bit. He wants me, but I want him more. He just doesn't know it.

"Will you keep the rest of it on?" He asks very politely with a plea in his eyes that would just be cruel to refuse.

"Of course Masterson. Would that make you happy?"

"Fuck. Yes." He exhales.

"Come here."

Roman obeys but of course puts his own little twist on my orders. He begins by kissing my toes and working himself slowly up my body. Rubbing my calves. Kissing me behind my knees (which tickles by the way).
 

Kneading my thighs. Kissing me on the sides of my hips. Licking the exposed skin of my waist between the garter belt and my bra over and over until I start panting. Making sure to elicit the reaction he craves. My desperate need for him.

Once he reaches my breasts, I'm drenched, my breaths are heavy and I'm pretty sure the tables have just turned.
 

"I love this nipple right here because it's so responsive. That puffy areola just pebbled into a tight and taut bundle of nerves as soon as I licked it."

He licks it again.

"See."

His hand moves underneath me and he expertly unhooks my bra. Something he's clearly had a tremendous amount of practice doing, but never the less an image I need to shake clear from my head. He tosses it somewhere in the room and then starts licking and sucking my other breast.

"Spread your legs Duchess."
 

I immediately spread my legs apart.

"Wider."

I again follow directions and grow wetter with each passing moment.

"Let me inside baby where I belong. Where I want to stay forever."

And he swiftly thrusts inside of me then slowly slides back out to the tip, then deeply back in again. Again and again as my grip on his back becomes tighter.

"Wider baby." He pants. "In fact, let's put those legs over my shoulders so you can really feel how much I love your pretty ass."

And deeper he goes.

Eventually sending me into an orgasm oblivion that rocks me to my core.

"I love you." I say in a breathless daze.
 

"I know you do." He smiles.

We make love again.
 

This time in a spoon position. His fingers on my clit, rubbing me rhythmically, while he plunges inside me from behind. This time he can't help himself and whispers a few little dirty things to me in my ear. I guess there's something primal about fracking me from behind me that gets my man going.

"You like it when I go in deep don't you, Duchess?"

"Yes Masterson."

"You like it when I talk to you like this don't you? You tell me to shut up all the time, but I think you're lying. You like this dick all up in you don't you? You want it all the time don't you?"

"Masterson–" I pant.

"See." He laughs. "You like it so much you're about to come all over me right the fuck now aren't you?"

He continues to work in between my legs with his fingers and his cock, and before I know it I come again.

Hard.

Then he follows right behind me. Grunting several unintelligible words.

"You're not a good listener." I say out of breath while he plays with my hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Somehow you turned things around. This was supposed to be my show."

"It was baby. It was all you. You were the producer, the director and the star."

"I don't know, Roman, I feel like I just got bamboozled. My reward was supposed to be me dictating what goes on in the bedroom today."

"And you did. Expertly I might add. I can definitely get use to all of this
making love
we do if the end result is sticky sheets."

"Ugh! You're hopeless."

"Come here."

"No."

He ignores my half-hearted refusal and then lifts me up on top of him.
 

"There's no better control a woman can have than riding her man. You dictate everything. I just lay back and enjoy the ride if that's what you want."

I sit up while Roman bends his knees with his feet flat on the bed, so that I can use his thighs to lean back on.

"When did you first know you loved me?" I ask him.

"When I saw you on the dance floor of The Lotus. Dancing like nobody was watching."

"I don't believe that."

"It's true." He says while massaging my breasts.
 

"When did you know you first loved me?" He counters.

"When you flew out to the Bahamas and tried your very best not to kill my ex. Only a man in love would do that." I kid.

"You know what, it doesn't matter when we thought we knew. We know now. I know that I'll never fucking let you go, Duchess. I know that I'll move heaven and earth to make you happy in the bedroom and out. I know that you make me laugh, you inspire me, you motivate me, and you're good for me. There's no doubting that. You were made for me baby."

Tears stream down my face, and why wouldn't they? Masterson is an onion. A man with many layers like he said. And so of course I'd be moved to tears as he peels each layer back for me, one by one, revealing all the wonderful layers of the man that he is.

My man.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ELIZABETH

As I stretch out like a lazy cat across my bed, I love how my new home is already buzzing with a vibrant energy that I've never experienced before.
 

Outside there are cars whizzing by, horns beeping without restraint, pedestrians walking with purpose, trucks making deliveries and an assortment of other city centric sounds.

Inside there is just as much energy but of a different sort. Sloan has taken it upon herself to measure and re-measure all of my large, commercial sized windows for window treatments. I love how the sunlight pours into the windows during the day and the moonlight at night, but even I have to admit that it doesn't make for the easiest working conditions during the day. There's glare and distractions; not to mention all the people that can peep inside and take a look at what we're doing on their way to the bus stop … and do.
 

I watch from my loft area as she pulls out her heavy duty measuring tape and goes about measuring the width and length of each window, as well as the length of each entire wall. Making sure to jot down her measurements on a small notepad, then worrying that she wrote down the wrong ones for the wrong window, and starting the entire process all over again. All this while Cutter King watches her with the curiosity of a stealth-like cat. I've never seen him this quiet or this calculated before.

It's … interesting.

Sitting at my new dining room table (that I love), which is basically a large slab of reclaimed wood that's been buffed and polished into a smooth shine, are Camden and Jade. I have no idea what those two are talking about down there, but whatever it is has Jade laughing hysterically. Which is not something that I can say I've seen a lot from her. She's always so serious. I think that I like that it's Camden who's putting those smiles and giggles inside of that tiny powerhouse.
 

I can see from up here that my office is empty, but that the door is open and the office light is on in the second office, which lets me know that Roman is here and working.
 

It's pretty much his office now.
 

I ended up not hiring a full-time local coder, but decided it was more cost efficient and made more sense to continue to contract the work out to the most qualified coders wherever they lived. Plus Roman needed somewhere to meet and work since he and the King brothers have completely severed business ties with Joseph.