ROMAN (Lane Brothers Book 5) (92 page)

Dev

“Devon! Hun is upchucking again and Immie is running around without her clothes again!”

I chuckle at the panicked quality in Davy’s voice and end my conference call with a groan.

Imp has been so sick for the last week that I wake up early just to be prepared with ginger ale and a slice of dry toast before she wakes and sprints to the loo to hack up her stomach.

Immie, my little darling has taken to running around in the buff since she started potty training and learned that Davy and Ry go into hysterics when they see her that way.

Bloody feeble hearted, the lot of them.

“Immie, my little hoyden, why are you undressed again.” I ask, sweeping her up and taking her to get changed into the purple onesie imp had wrestled her into just moments ago.

“Mummy say go ir’tay Day and Wy.” She giggles, her big grey eyes filled with mischief and mayhem.

“Why did mummy tell you to do that?” I ask, making my way to out bedroom and wincing with every choked gargle that echoes through the door.

“Mummy say Day be baby and Wy need lesson.”

Since the sight of her mummy being sick upsets the little monster so much I rather think it was imp’s way of getting her out of the room before her morning sickness erupted again but I don’t say anything and instead sit on the bed and entertain the scamp while imp flushes the loo and rinses her mouth.

“I swear to God, this kid is going for broke in there.  And Day and Ry keep getting all persnickety every time I turn green.” She grumps coming over to kiss Immie before falling down beside us and snuggling into my neck.

“They just hate seeing you suffer imp.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Are you sure you’re up to a whole day of your family? I can call them and cancel and you can take a nap while I keep the little miss here entertained.”

She shakes her head and yawns and I want nothing more than to ring the whole lot of them and tell them to bugger off. Brand and mama are fine but Logan, Grey, Matt and Jet are all coming too. Along with Lila and the only child I’ve ever met who rivals Immie in mischief; Grey’s son Colt.

The child is a holy terror and so naughty he makes my little monster look like an angel, something that is no easy feat.

And then there’s Logan’s wife Arial and their adopted daughter Sky. She’s not bad but once she gets in with Colt and Immie it’s like watching chaos bloom and take hold.

Jet and  Matt are as yet unmarried but the pair of them are like freaking teenagers and their favourite pastime is teasing my imp and driving her starkers, so they’re currently not in my good graces.

“Imp, you look dreadful and-”

“Hey, watch it buddy or I’ll desac you and put a crimp in your baby making plans.” She warns, slapping my thigh with more force than she looks capable of, being as green as she is.

“Desac daddy!”

“Great. Good work imp. I’m sure your father will love hearing that. Especially when the little baby genius tells him everything word for word.” I grumble, feeling a migraine coming on at the thought of an entire day spent with Brand and her brood of overbearing brothers.

Immie wiggles to be let down and I give her a pat and a warning when she scampers out, yelling Davy’s name at the top of her lungs.

He hops to and I hear her giggle when he roars and starts playing with her, leaving me alone to tend to my sick mama bear.

“Are you really okay?”

The little brat pokes her head into my shoulder and lets out a breathy sigh before shoving me to my back and straddling me, her luscious curves conforming and flowing over me like a dream.

“I am now that you’re here.” She breathes, laying her head on my chest and purring when I bring a hand up to stroke at her clammy brow.

“Know what I keep thinking about?”

“What?”

“That damn horse shoe!” she giggles, making me laugh when I remember the look on Diane’s face and the resultant high five I’d seen Lila give her the next morning.

“Why?”

“I keep thinking that if I hadn’t clocked poor Di with that thing we wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be as happy as I am.”

I think on it a second before laughing so hard I have to roll her over onto the mattress or risk tossing her to the floor.

“That was one damned lucky horse shoe.” I chuckle before kissing the breath out of my lovely wife.

“You bet your ass it was.”

“I love you my little imp. Thank you for nearly killing a defenceless woman and giving me the in I’d so desperately needed to get in your pants.”

She laughs and shakes her head, gazing at me with all the love I could ever have hoped or dreamed of.

“You’re welcome asshole. Now kiss me and show me how lucky that horse shoe really was.”

I do. I pour every ounce of my love into that meeting of lips and more, thanking God that my wife is one of the clumsiest, spaciest beings I’d ever met.

That piece of metal, the piece I’d salvaged after the fact and still have locked in my downstairs safe has given me everything I could have imagined and so much more.

Maybe I’ll give it to one of the boys one day and it’ll land them their own woman.

Or maybe not. No telling what type of woman will be off her nut enough to fall for those smooth talking wankers.

###

“So tell me,
intern,
” Thomas said, leaning forward and locking his piercing, blue eyes on Sasha’s notebook. “What does it say about me in there? That I’m an arse? Oh, sorry, how do you Americans say it? Ass?”

Sasha pulled the book to her chest. Her mind darted back to her briefing in the boardroom earlier. Kelly, the editor of Atomic Magazine, thought it would be hilarious to send Sasha to interview the notoriously prickly English actor, Thomas Lloyd, because, at only twenty-three years old, she had missed the actor’s heyday and could not, in fact, recall even one of his blockbuster films. “Just read the questions,” Kelly had said. “Everything you say will offend him. Hell, if you asked that man what his favorite ice cream flavor was he’d find a way to be insulted by it.”

With only a taxi journey in which to prepare, and desperate not to ruin her chance to impress, Sasha had tried to find out about the interviewee from her employer. However, Kelly’s response as she’d bustled her out the door was, “There’s only one thing you need to know about Thomas Lloyd. His ego’s as big as his dick.”

That was it. No more information.

Daunted, Sasha had arrived at the interview in the honeymoon suite of Chicago’s Hilton Hotel with little more than a sheet of questions with the word
dick
scrawled at the top.

She squirmed in her seat under Thomas Lloyd’s relentless glare. “Something like that.”

Thomas threw his head back and laughed, shaking his dark, Hollywood-glossy hair. “How refreshing to hear,” he chuckled. Then he regained his composure and fixed his gaze on her again. “Now tell me…”—he paused and read the name tag above her right breast—“…Sasha, where is Alicia? Whenever I’m interviewed by Atomic, she’s usually the one to do it. I’d been looking forward to...seeing her again.” He adjusted his pants as he spoke, revealing a large bulge and confirming, in one motion, the truth of Kelly’s statement.

“She’s not well,” Sasha said, grimacing as she remembered Alicia’s cascading pink vomit at lunch caused by a dodgy prawn cocktail sandwich.

“And they sent the
intern
?” Thomas scoffed. As he spoke, his eyes roved over the electric blue dress she was wearing.

Sasha felt suddenly very hot. “Yes…I hope that’s okay?”

He smirked. “Okay?” He muttered under his breath, “It’s a bloody miracle.”

Sasha’s heart galloped beneath the thin material. “I’m sorry?”

The man just smiled slyly and pursed his lips. They were plump, almost perfectly symmetrical. There was a thin layer of stubble surrounding them. Thomas Lloyd was impossibly handsome. Handsome in a way that made Sasha want things she’d never realized she wanted.

“Don’t you have a question to ask me?” Thomas said playfully, breaking her from her reverie.

Sasha straightened up in her chair and cleared her throat. “Yes…yes, of course.” She scanned the questions on the page, trying to focus, to clear her fuzzy head. “Your new movie—”

“Film,” he interrupted. “We call them
films
in England.”

Boy,
Sasha thought,
Kelly was right.

“Film then,” she said, trying to smile cordially. “It’s a bit of a departure from your usual roles.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Do you think so, intern?” he said smoothly, folding his arms. “In what way?”

Heat crept into Sasha’s neck. “Well, I… um…”

“...haven’t even watched it.” Thomas finished for her.

Uh-oh.

Sasha dropped her gaze, too nervous to make eye contact with the English actor. “I was told to do the interview at very short notice and didn’t have as much time to prepare as I would have liked, and—”

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” Thomas interrupted.

Sasha picked up on a cruel accusation in his tone. Her gaze travelled up. When she finally made eye contact with Thomas, her breath stuck in her lungs. The look he was giving her was so intense it made bolts of electricity race through her.

“Well?” he snapped. “You’ve never seen a single film of mine, have you?”

Sasha’s stomach plummeted. She’d blown it. All those years of hard work to get to this position and it was all going up in smoke. She couldn’t help the tears from creeping up.

“Well… I…I...”

Thomas suddenly tipped his head back and moaned. He grasped his knees, making the fabric bunch up. It was such a bizarre thing to do; Sasha snapped her notebook shut immediately and stood so fast her chair almost tipped backwards.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve clearly offended you. I’ll go.”

She bolted for the hotel door. But before she had a chance to haul it open, Thomas had leaped up and was right there beside her.

“Offended me?” he cried, grasping her arm and swirling her to face him. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve met someone who didn’t already know every detail about me? Who hasn’t already Googled my entire life?”

His face was contorted with emotion, and his fingers were squeezing her wrist, causing a sensation to pulse through her veins, travelling down the length of her body and settling deep within her. Her heartbeat was racing, and not just because of Thomas’s fit of passion.

Her gaze fell to her thin, pale wrist wrapped in his thick, strong fingers. He followed her gaze and let go quickly, then turned and paced away.

Sasha let out the breath she’d been holding. As the space lengthened between them, she became suddenly overly aware of their hotel room setting, of the plush, cream-colored silk sheets on the four-poster bed. An image flashed into her mind of a naked Thomas flinging her onto the bed, pressing his mouth against her breasts, and running the length of his enormous erection along her thigh.

“You don’t want me to leave?” she said, trying not to sound too desperate.

Thomas turned back to face her quickly. “No. I want to give you an opportunity.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

Thomas consulted his watch. “You have almost an hour before the next journalist arrives. One hour to get the material to write the article that will make your career.”

Sasha’s hand hovered over the door handle. “You want to help me?”

“Don’t question it,” Thomas said abruptly. “I’m giving you the opportunity of your career. Use it, intern.” He sat back in his chair and motioned for her to do the same. “Come on. Sit. Let’s start from the top.”

Sasha shifted uncomfortably, as Thomas stared at her intently. Without even knowing why, she paced back to the chair. Something was compelling her to sit, something more than the promise of a career boost. There was a magnetism about Thomas Lloyd, a pull that made her want to be in his company for as long as possible. It was more than just attraction; it was something primal.

He’s an actor,
she reminded herself as she took her chair again.
He’s meant to make you feel like that.

As she cleared her throat, Sasha glanced down at the list of questions provided by Kelly. “So, in this
film,
you’re playing a recovering alcoholic…”

But before she had a chance to fully ask the question, Thomas ripped the paper from her hands.

“None of this rubbish!” he cried, throwing it to the floor. “After you, I have three more interviews. They’re all going to ask the same thing. What are
you
going to ask me? What do
you
want to know? How are you going to impress your boss back in the office? Huh? Tell me.”

Sasha shrunk back, alarmed by Thomas’s passionate outburst. However, something about it exhilarated her at the same time.

“Don’t shy away from me!” he cried, grasping her shoulders.

Sasha felt the bite of his fingernails in her flesh and bit her lip. The sensation of his touch against her was even more powerful the second time. It was as if a switch had been flicked inside her. She didn’t just
want
Thomas to touch her, she
needed
him to.

“You’re sitting in front of one of Hollywood’s finest actors!” he shouted at her, his voice oozing with arrogance. “You, a nobody, an unknown, unpaid intern!”

Sasha wrenched herself away. “How dare you?”

“How dare I what?” Thomas spat.

“Call me a nobody. I’m more than just an intern!”

“Are you? Prove it!” He jabbed a finger aggressively against the notepad resting in her lap. “Be a journalist. Do it. Be more than just a lackey!”

“Fine!” Sasha snapped. “Tell me how a man with an ego as large as yours is ever truly satisfied?” She panted, feeling the anger thrumming in her chest.

Thomas fell silent. The passionate expression on his face melted away. He slumped back into his chair. After a long pause, he turned a mischievous gaze to meet hers.

“Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you break the rules?” he said finally.

Sasha’s gaze snapped up with surprise. “What?”

Thomas leaned forward. “Didn’t it make you feel good? Just for a second?” His voice had changed to a whisper, hot against her skin. “To not be a suck up? To say what you wanted to? To
demand
what you felt you deserved?”

Sasha’s throat went suddenly dry as Thomas’s eyes bore into her. This was not how she’d expected the interview to go at all. Yet, she knew she didn’t want it to stop. She never wanted his intense gaze to leave her. She never wanted to stop squirming under his scrutiny. She was caught somewhere between discomfort and excitement...and she loved it.

Then, all at once, Thomas leaned back, lengthening the space between them in a way that made Sasha gasp.

“‘How is a man with an ego as large as mine ever truly satisfied?’” he repeated, as if she’d only just asked the question, as if he hadn’t just told her she was sexy. Then he flapped a dismissive hand. “The answer is rarely. People never live up to my expectations. They bore me. They’re predictable. Always trying to please.” His eyes flashed with mischief.

Sasha coughed. Did he really just say that? If this man’s ego could get any bigger he’d explode. But then, what was it that made him so compelling to her? So fascinating? Maybe it was his candor. There was something uncomplicated about a man who just told it as he saw it. No mind games. Just take it or leave it.

And she realized then that she wanted to take it.

“Well,” she said, straightening up confidently. “You said people bore you. What about women?”

If Thomas Lloyd didn’t want sugarcoated questions or a giggling interviewer fawning over him, she sure as hell wasn’t going to be one. He wanted her to challenge him, and she wanted to challenge him in turn.

Thomas let out one of his bark-laughs. “Women. Women. Do they bore me? The women I end up in bed with do.”

Sasha narrowed her eyes. “You do realize I’m going to write an article about what a misogynist you are?”

“Why don’t you spend the night with me so I can prove you wrong?”

The question caught her off guard. “What?”

“You heard me,
intern
. Let me show you how I really feel about women.”

Sasha felt her body grow hot. Had Kelly planned this? Did she know that Thomas Lloyd would come on to her? Was she sent as bait, a way to get an interesting article for the magazine?

“I…,” she began, but her voice disappeared.

“I want you to fuck me,” Thomas said.

Sasha was so shocked she couldn’t speak.

She’d only ever had sex with one man, her boyfriend before college, Chris. They’d had a soppy sort of love, a cutesy romance. Something told her that sex with Thomas would be anything but. The idea scared and thrilled her in equal measure.

But Sasha wasn’t that kind of girl, was she? She was the sort of girl who’d break up with a boyfriend who adored her to focus on her studies, the sort of girl who’d move away from all her family and friends to make sure she got in the best journalism program in America. She was the girl who never went to parties, never missed a class, and never had a one-night stand. There was no way she could act dirty or play a sexy dominatrix! Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t go from three years of chastity to sex with a Hollywood heartthrob!

And even if she could, how would she satisfy a well-experienced man like Thomas Lloyd? He’d probably bedded a thousand women, beautiful women, accomplished women. Sleeping with him would put her job in jeopardy, leave her embarrassed...and leave him disappointed.

“I’m leaving now,” she said, standing.

“Why?” Thomas challenged her, the passion she’d glimpsed before returning to his voice. “I’m offering myself to you. I want to give you a career-defining interview! A life-changing orgasm!”

She laughed and slung her notepad into her satchel. “How very generous of you. But I don’t need to sleep with you to progress in my career.”

She strode to the door, but Thomas was suddenly on his feet. He wedged his hand against the door to stop her from opening it. “You don’t think you deserve it. You don’t think you’re good enough.”