Cousins (Cousins #2) (13 page)

Jagger: You stood me up:(

I look quickly back up at Roman, and he's staring at my fingers resting on the letters of the keyboard of my phone. I look back down and quickly thumb type.

Me: So sorry. Something–

Before I can finish texting my lame excuse about why I left Jagger hanging in the restaurant with Sloan and her boy toy for the evening, Roman snatches the phone away and reads the texts.

"Give me my phone back!" I yell as I reach over to grab it from his hand. He raises his arm higher.

"Nope." He grins.

"Stop playing." I argue.

"Nope. Nada. Negative. Uh-uh."

"Roman!"

"I'm going to text him back that you're so sorry, but that you are being so well fucked by your cousin that there's no need to take this shit any further."

He raises his hand higher and out the window. My phone could literally drop on the sidewalk if he slips up, and my screen would shatter into little tiny pieces.
 

He's such a big dang kid.
 

"Roman, I'm not playing. Give me my phone back. You're such a child sometimes."

"No baby, I'm all man. You know that better than anyone."

I roll my eyes after he grips his junk.
 

"It's always sex with you isn't it?"

"What's not to like about sex?"

"It's just a shame that you're so one dimensional."

"What the fuck did you just say?"

It was an intentional jab, but it's the truth. All we have is this fierce sexual chemistry between us with zero substance, because he lacks the ability to think or talk about anything besides sex.

"All you think about is money and sex. Like some sort of rapper or ball player."

"First of all you're making some mighty ignorant and sweeping generalizations of two groups of people, which tells me,
nerd
, that you've had your head in your computer way too long. Secondly, you are very much wrong about me. I'm multi-dimensional and multi-layered. You just don't choose to see it."

"Is that so?"

"That is definitely so, Duchess."
 

Roman flashes me one of those panty dropping smiles of his that makes me want to spread eagle for him any time, any place, any where.

So annoying.

"In fact, once we spend the next hour or so taking a look at all of our retro computers, I want us to do something a little different today."

"Another job run?" I asked bored.

"Not this time."

"Well what then?"

"We're going to go do one of my favorite things."

"I think we've done that a few times already." I say drolly.
 

"I said one of them. Not my number one favorite thing."

We both laugh a little.
 

Then I stop.

Roman is staring at me with those coal black eyes like he can see straight inside my soul. I look down and away from him. I guess from embarrassment. I don't know what to make of it when he stares me down like this. Like I'm the only woman breathing. I almost want to believe that it really means something, when I already know that it doesn't.

"You look fucking sexy as hell today, Duchess. Did I tell you that?"

Nothing will come out of my mouth, so I shake my head no.

"I can't hear you baby. I said do you know how fucking sexy you are?"

"Roman." I say in hopes of quieting him.

"Lean over here a minute Duchess."

I close my eyes for a moment while I exhale. I don't lean over, because I know what's coming next. Right on this busy street inside his car. Either his mouth or his hands. I'm not sure which, but something.

His hands.

He takes one of his massive palms and wraps it around my neck while his thumb gently rubs the hollow point at the base of my throat.

"Since you don't know how to follow fucking directions, I'll help you out," he growls.

He pulls me over to the driver's side of the car with his hand and uses the other to reach inside and underneath my blazer. Caressing the side of my waist.

Like a Pavlovian dog's response, my mouth starts to water, and my breaths start to become quicker and shallower. I want him in the worst frackin' way. I just do. I always do when he touches me.

His grip around my neck is firm and territorial and screams of possession. And that's also exactly the way his kiss feels. His tongue begins a familiar slide inside of my mouth, exploring gently, coaxing me to respond to the rhythm of his dips and swirls.

I don't mean to do it, but a soft moan comes from somewhere inside of me which he seems to really like. I can tell that he is growing hard inside of his jeans. There's that Pavlovian thing again, because now that I know he's hard, I start imagining all sorts of things. Like how hard I would have to work to get that big thing inside of my mouth and work it properly.

Someone suddenly leans on their car horn and the noise scares the bejeezus out of me, and snaps me out of the total mind frack that Roman was putting me in.

"We need to stop." I say as I pull away from his grasp.

"You're right. Let's go inside."

I think Roman has plans on continuing where he left off inside Solstice, but I'm not going to let that happen. I'm here to possibly work, not play around with him all day.

"And give me my phone back."

"Let's come to an understanding first."

"I'm not negotiating with you about my phone. Give it back right the frack now."

"So here's the deal–" He begins. Completely ignoring my last statement.

"I'll give you your phone back under two conditions. Or I don't give you your phone back, and I go through all of your texts and emails and see what kind of mischief I can get into with all of your peeps."

"I'm going to tell Joseph on you."

I'm desperate at this point. I don't want to commit to any sort of compromise agreement with this Neanderthal.

"Go ahead." He leans back into the corner of his seat with a smirk across his face. "Tell him everything. Tell him how just five minutes ago you would have let me do any fucking thing to you in this car, in broad daylight, on one of the busiest streets in the city.

I can't stand him.

"What are the conditions asshole."

"Asshole? I love it! No weird nerd synonyms for that one huh? Just the good old fashioned ass and hole."

"UGH!" I scream in frustration.

"All right, Duchess. Calm your pretty little ass down. Here's the deal. I want you to go out on a date with me tonight. A real one. After we do some work today, I want to take you back home, then I want you to shower and get all fucking pretty, and let me take you out.
 

"Second, I want you to call pretty boy and break it to him hard, break it to him gently; hell, I don't give a shit. Just break it to that dickhead that you are not available for late night phone calls and FaceTime chats, for swim meets, for dinner, and for whatever else the fuck that kid wants to do with you. And tell him with me in the room when you do it."

"You must be losing your ever loving mind."

"What?" He shrugs his shoulders.

"You're making the demands of a boyfriend. Or of someone that wants to be my boyfriend, which we know very well that you are not nor ever will be."

"Did I say I wanted to be your boyfriend?"

Now I'm embarrassed. Did I overreact?

"No, but I can't give you what you're asking."

"Why?"

"I can't go on a date with my own frackin' cousin, Roman!"

"So that's the part of this deal that's bothering you?"

"Hell yeah."

"It's not a date then. I just want to take you to see one of my favorite spots in the city. We'll talk. Then we can grab something to eat or we can go home. We're just hanging out. No fucking around."

"No sex?"

"I won't touch you. Plus I want to get tested and assure you that I’m clean before I have you again. Have you the way I really want to. With nothing between us."

"So no sex really?"

"You sound disappointed." He chuckles.

"No … I'm very much fine with that arrangement."

"Okay, good. And the swimmer?"

I exhale slowly before I respond. It's actually pretty cruel for me to keep stringing Jagger along as if I'm really interested in him. I mean I like him a lot, but if I'm going to be really honest with myself, I need to get Roman totally out of my system before I commit to a good guy like Jagger. I don't want to hurt him.

"I'll talk to Jagger, but not on the phone, and not with you in the room. I'm going to meet with him and tell him. He's my friend. Not just some random dude."

"Give me one last kiss since I'm not getting anymore tonight, and I'll agree to that."

This time when we kiss, Roman's hand reaches back inside my blazer and down the back of my jeans. It's a very tight fit, but he manages to shove his hand down there and squeeze one of my butt cheeks.

The minute he squeezes is the minute I feel the gush between my legs.

"Masterson." I whisper.

"Yes baby?"

"You're confusing the frack out of me."

"I know."

As I continue kissing him, I begin rubbing my hands across his head, because I know he loves this. That's the crazy part about this whole thing. I want to please him. I enjoy it. I'm not sure when that started either.

Then he pulls back and breaks contact.

I'm shocked at first, because I'm always the one to stop (if we stop).
 

"Let's go inside." He smiles as he motions to exit the truck. "We've got work to do."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ROMAN

I know what I said the other day about doing all that I had to do to keep Elizabeth moaning my name yada, yada, yada; but truthfully I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Wait, scratch that. I know what the fuck I'm doing; I just don't really understand why I'm doing it.

What's my end game?

It was never my plan or intention to take Elizabeth out on a date.
 

Ever.
 

I don't even go on dates. Who has time for that shit? And up until now it hasn't been an issue. There are plenty of women out here who appreciate a good fuck, just like me and don't want to be tied down. I find them all the time for the most part. Sure there may be a few clingy Carols every once in a while, but you're bound to run into a few bad apples here and there.
 

So the fact that I'm sitting here plotting and planning a night out to woo my cousin is somewhat laughable. No let me rephrase that. It's insane.

We spent the greater part of today visiting all five of the spots Joseph (and I now) own in Philly, and we also called management of the two we own in Manhattan and the one in Miami.

I got brick fucking hard just watching Elizabeth get busy in her element. Inspecting the old ass desktops, asking the manager's questions about the databases and them staring at her like she was speaking another language. It was all some very smarty pants, sexy shit. And it smelled very much like foreplay to me. If I thought she would have been down for it, I would have fucked her silly in every back room of every location we dropped by today.
 

Maybe I still will.

That little shit Jade hung up on me today. Maybe I pay her too much money. Maybe she isn't desperate enough for a job. That girl needs an attitude adjustment or a month on the unemployment line. That will straighten her ass out real quick. All I did was call her and ask for her help to plan my non-date, and needless to say she wasn't too happy about the request.

"You can't honestly be considering taking Elizabeth out on a date? See this is what I'm talking about when it comes to rich people. You all make so much money that you have no idea what to do with yourselves. You fuck so many random bitches that you're bored, and so now you want to date your own cousin? For what, to spice things up?"

"Simmer the fuck down munchkin."
I warned her.
 

Of course she wasn't affected at all by my warning. Jade might be one of the only people who isn't intimidated by me. Well her and Elizabeth.

"Then you call me asking me for personal favors and crap. Not asking me about a lick of business. Just more shiznit about Elizabeth. Your couzzzzin."
 

She exaggerated the word cousin as if I didn't already know how backwater fucked up this is.
 

"Do I have to explain any further how crazy you sound, Roman?"
 

I really wanted to reach through the phone and kill her little spitfire ass or at least send Camden to do it, since I suspect that he has some sort of thing for her. He's always staring at her when she isn't looking.