ROMAN (Lane Brothers Book 5) (13 page)

Melissa

My nerves are freaking raw. Roman, even after I gave him the go-ahead, did not want to leave me alone. I had to come on over to Mama and Pop’s rooms while he rushed out of the house like a fire was lit under his fine ass.

I am so mad and disgusted with it all that I can feel my organs trembling. Some animal coming after
me,
I can take, and I can even understand them wanting to hurt me to make Roman suffer for tearing down the Patriots organisation.

What I refuse to accept easily is the fact that they know I’m pregnant—God, half the state has congratulated me by now—and yet they still planned to pump me full of chemicals that could’ve hurt my kid.

For that reason, I’ve decided to just say screw it all and let Roman go on the warpath.

“Oh, honey! I just can’t believe…again! George, you need to do something about this baby. I can’t have these monsters just waltzing onto the estate where my babies are supposed to be safe.”

I cringe and give George a commiserating look, but he just winks and nods at his wife, crooning softly as she flings herself at him and renews her quiet sobbing.

“I will, my darlin’. I’ll get another team in here and the boys and I will personally find the point of entry. I swear it. Now hush up and stop crying, baby. You’re making me want to start hitting shit and my blood pressure’s rising.”

Mama chuckles with a sob and I see her snuggle closer.

“You say that every time, honey. At least wait till we’re alone again before you start flirting.”

Oh Jesus.

“Erm, I think I’m going to go downstairs and make some tea. I can get it all by myself. You both just stay here and…er, do what you…I’ll be back later.”

I leave to the sounds of their laughter and meet up with Wyatt and Ellie just as I hit the stairs.

“You okay, honey?”

“Sure. Just mad. Anyone want tea while we wait for Rambo One, Two, and Three to come back?”

Wyatt declines and leaves us in the kitchen to take up station at the door, and I go through the motions of making tea. I sit and wait as an hour passes.

Then the minutes start feeling like more hours.

By the time they all return, I’m about ready to jump on Roman with a few curses, but all he does is kiss me and push me down into a chair while Ellie serves them all coffee.

“We found one bootprint. That’s it. Even Miah’s cameras didn’t track their movements, so I’m thinking that whoever this is, it was the guy I was looking for. He’s military, I can guarantee that, and he and his friend were gone too fast and silently to be anything less than elite.”

The others agree and they start talking in a way that screams military code and a language that none of us women seem to understand, save for Tracy who looks about as happy as a death notice.

“Wait, I don’t get this, but I think I just got a part of what you were saying. That break they came in through on the perimeter is a well-guarded family secret? Are we talking about the spot…”

“Yes. The exact place I took you through the hedges, Mel.”

“But how did they know it was there? I would never have noticed it until Tracy showed me. Even then, that was from the inside. The outer hedge looks completely solid.”

“Exactly,” Miah mutters and I get the feeling they’re trying to keep something pertinent to themselves until all us little women go back to bed.

Which reminds me.

Where the hell am I going to sleep?

“Breathe. Just breathe and stop thinking about whatever it is you’re thinking,” I hear, and I refocus my gaze to see Roman crouching down in front of me, his blue eyes creased with concern.

My breaths are coming out all choppy and uneven, and I feel lightheaded and deflated all of a sudden.

“It’s just the adrenaline leaving your body. It’s okay. Breathe and don’t start thinking about that shit again. You’re staying here in the house and I’ll make sure Ma knows that we’re not headed for the chapel.”

The others are all trying to leave quietly when I finally take a good long look at Roman and feel myself accept things as they are.

“We’re friends?”

He sighs and smirks before pulling me up and starting for the stairs.

“Yeah we are, baby girl. If that’s all you have to give me right now, I can take it gladly and be happy with it. We both have a lot of thinking to do about where we want to be and where we’re headed, but I will always be yours. No matter what you decide or where we both are, I will always be yours. I will never be anyone else’s. Okay?”

We’re at his room by the time I stop biting my lip and nod, letting him know that I heard him.

“Okay.”

I’m sliding between the sheets and sighing when I see him strip down to his briefs and grab a pillow and blanket from the closet. The man has one tight butt.

“You’re not sleeping in the bed?”

“Not if you don’t want me to. You’ve had enough shit tonight. I do not need you being anxious about anything else right now. I can crash on the sofa till you’re feeling up to having me there with you.”

Oh God. Why does he have to be so darn sweet when I’m so freaking gruff and ornery and just plain mean at times.

“Come on, Lane, you can hold me till I fall asleep and go jerk off in the bathroom later.” I laugh, making him chuckle and dive for the bed with a roar of outrage.

“You think I do that shit anymore? That’s just plain insulting, woman,” he says, pulling me onto his chest and stroking my back gently.

“I’m not insulting you, Lane. All men do that stuff.”

“I haven’t touched my dick since the day I got inside you, and I won’t either. Unless that’s part of our foreplay. He’s yours, and if he wants a party, he’ll have to wait for a freaking invite.”

Just thinking about watching him that way has my sex shuddering in arousal, and I haven’t even thought of the fact that I’m sprawled over his chest with his very obvious erection pushing against his briefs.

I bite my lip when my hand inches down towards his briefs, pushing the fabric out of the way and feeling his thickness. I curl my fingers around his girth and stroke him.

He’s so big, it’s a wonder I can take him as easily as I do.

“You know, Lane, that invitation is an open one,” I purr, holding him in a firm, steady grip that has his hips shooting closer and thrusting into my palm.

He groans when I go lower and stroke his tight sac, and I feel the stress and everything else fall away when the pleasure of pleasuring him takes over.

“Baby girl, you don’t have to…” he chokes out, groaning when I shimmy beneath the sheet and take a good look at him before I lower my mouth.

“Ah, shit, don’t you dare fucking stop.” He groans loudly, gently cupping my cheeks.

I don’t stop. I keep sucking and licking at him till I feel the wet slide of my juices coating my thighs and he goes tense beneath me. I’m still enjoying the heck out of myself when he suddenly pulls me up and beneath him and pushes home with one mighty thrust that fills me in a single stroke.

“I love you, Melissa Dobson.”

Then he really starts moving above me, and I know that no matter what I decided, Roman Lane will always be the man for me.

***

“I need to go to work, Roman.”

“No.”

He goes back to his computer, cursing and scowling when he doesn’t get the results he’s looking for.

I’ve been trapped here in the house either tooling around aimlessly or being dogged by his shadow at every turn, and it’s starting to make me nuts.

I hate being idle and I really hate knowing that I’m a hostage here. Again. Just like I was at the cabin before I decided to go against His Highness’s orders.

It’s been three freaking days since I moved into his suite of rooms, and I’m starting to get cabin fever like you wouldn’t believe.

Now the bar is no hotspot of social byplay, but at least there I don’t have every Lane family member watching my every move with their alert eyes and coddling ways.

Even my Roman is starting to smother me, and that’s not something I ever thought he’d do.

He’s been this overprotective Neanderthal, and I’m about ready to start sniffing out a gun if he doesn’t quit it.

“I need to go to work, Roman. Being cooped up here is not healthy. Why, Tracy told me that Ellie actually used to be normal before your brother locked her away in her golden tower, and even Tracy is starting to ask about openings at the bar. This is too much.”

I see his shoulders tense before he turns and levels me with a steady gaze that has my nerves firing in all directions.

“You want to go to work?”

“Yes. Please. You know it’s safe there. I have my shotgun under the bar and Will watches me every second.”

That gets him riled and I roll my eyes with a curse.

“You know Will is like a brother. Or a weird cousin. Whatever. He’s family and he’ll keep me safe. And before you start digging your own grave, do not even think of saying that’s your job, because it isn’t. It’s mine and I aim to do my job well since I’m pregnant. Just please—”

“
Fine
. I’ll take you in and work from the bar. Just don’t say I didn’t try to warn you, Mel. If Will Sparrow starts flirting with you again—”

“You’ll ignore it because you’re my
friend
,” I hiss at him with narrowed eyes.

My words earn me a death glare and I hear him mutter beneath his breath about stubborn-ass females and the evils of pregnancy.

“Oh no, sugar, this,” I say, indicating my fine self, “is all me. You knew that before we got together and you know it now, so don’t go blaming the baby juice for my nasty tongue. Now come on, I’m going to be late.”

We get to the bar a good ten minutes late and I hear him make a vile reference to blonds when I walk in and Will starts smiling like a loon.

“Darlin’, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes. Come on over here and give me some sugar,” he coos, opening his arms wide for a hug.

“If by sugar you mean a kick to the gonads, I am so there, William,” I coo back, enjoying Roman’s evil chuckle and the sound of Will’s disgruntled sighing.

“Fine then. Oh hey, Lane. Good to see you again, man.”

Roman grunts for the millionths time since we left the house and I feel my eye twitch when he gives me a pointed look and turns to Will.

“The feeling could be mutual, Sparrow, if you keep your nasty ass away from my…friend,” he warns.

“Huh?”

“Oh for God’s sake. William, stay on your side of the bar and leave Roman alone, and Roman, you just simmer down or I’ll have Lonnie take you out back for a good hose down. Now stop standing around like two gorillas and take a seat, gentlemen. I have a job to pretend to do and I don’t want another fight or I’m loading that shotgun for real this time.”

Roman

The woman is back in full swing after the last few days of enforced isolation, a plan I played to perfection when she woke up the morning after the best sex of my life, looking like someone pissed in her milk.

I hate that fucking look she gets and I hate even more when she can’t tell me what she’s feeling because she’s so new to this sharing stuff that she can’t quite name or place her emotions.

All I know is that when Mel is happy, she’s the most insulting goddess I ever met. When she isn’t she’s practically mute. So I did the only thing I could think of to get her out of her funk. I pissed her off.

This Mel may be full of piss and vinegar and as nasty as a cattle prod to the ass, but she’s my ornery princess and she’s perfect just the way she is.

Believe me, after the things she did to me two nights ago, there isn’t a thing she can do wrong that would change my perspective. Ever.

And now here we are, back in her element, and it’s so good to see that I don’t even mind tolerating Will’s perpetually grinning mug.

“So, she’s okay after that last attempt?” Will asks, joining me at the bar for a beer while I sip at water and try to keep an eye on my girl without her catching me.

“As okay as she can be, I guess. She threatened to de-ball me this morning, so I’m pretty sure she’s not suffering any lingering effects.”

He chuckles beneath his breath and looks at her with so much affection, I would hit him if not for the brotherly way it’s coming through.

“That’s my darlin’, always quick with her tongue and ready to do violence.”

“
My darlin’
, asshole. Mine,” I snarl, letting my possessive beast come out.

But only now that she’s out of earshot and not cutting limes with that nasty-looking hunting knife she loves so dearly.

“Yeah? You got your ring on her finger yet, son?” he taunts, making my teeth crack.

“When she’s ready.”

Will considers me for a few minutes and eyes the bar patrons before leaning in and swigging his beer.

“That brother of yours, the one you had following your crazy aunt?”

“Case?”

“That’s the one.”

“What about Case? He’s missing and we’re still looking. Miah’s got men on the hunt and Jared—”

“He’s in town,” Will interjects, finishing his brew and reaching over the bar for another while Mel’s back is turned.

“I saw that! Reach over my bar again and you’ll lose a hand, Sparrow,” Mel threatens from the other end of the bar while keeping her back turned.

“How the hell does she do that? It’s just damn unnatural,” he mutters.

“Will.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it soon enough, Lane. You know I called in a few brothers from another chapter to keep an eye on things, what with the shit my darlin'’s been through lately.”

Like I could miss it. The place is crawling in leather and bike fumes and I’ve seen enough old ladies grinning and swooning to curdle my damn stomach.

“Yeah. So?”

“So some of my brothers are of your ilk and they’re mighty observant, fellas. They do funny things like take pictures and keep track of faces and such, and one of those faces my boy Gravel took note of two nights ago was a man who not only looks like Case, but also of an old lady who has a bad dye job and an even nastier attitude,” he drawls with a smirk.

The news makes my whole body freeze, and I narrow my eyes at him when all he does is grin again and take a swig of his beer.

“Don’t make me ask.”

“Oh I won’t brother. I’m just waiting for at least two of your brothers to walk through the door so I don’t have to repeat every word again.” He chuckles, laughing outright when the door swings open and Jared comes stalking in with thunder on his face.

Christ. I hate it when this asshole is right.

“You’re going to have Miah up your ass if you do this shit on the regular,” Jared snarls, leaning over the bar to grab a beer.

“Your beer is on the left, Jared!”

We all freeze and I see Jared grin when Will snarls and just shakes his head.

“Not cool.”

“What can I say, man? My sister loves me.”

“Quit it and tell us everything,” I growl, keeping my eyes pinned to Mel as Will repeats what he just told me and drops yet another bombshell.

“His appearance, with a woman I know y’all have been looking for, made me think that maybe he’s not so much her guard as her…associate, shall we say. So I did a little digging and you want to know what I found out?”

Jared is about ready to chew nails and I’m not feeling all that charitable myself when he just smiles and waits for one of us to explode.

“Will.”

“Well it seems that your aunty Lynn went away years ago before she met her dear husband Jerry and produced the spawn of Satan.”

I like that. Miah will like it even more, and I almost choke when I catch Jared texting him while Will keeps stringing us along.

“Good one, be all impressed with yourself already and cut to the chase. She left when she was in college to go tour Europe. I remember Pop saying she was headstrong and wanted to see the world before she settled down.”

“Yeah, well
settled down
is a bit of an understatement. She got pregnant there and extended her stay or some shit. She came back to the US in her third trimester and gave birth to a little boy at St. Mary’s Presbyterian, an orphanage.”

I know what he’s alluding to, but I don’t want to believe it.

“Are you telling me that Case…”

“Yup, Jared, old pal. He’s her kid and it seems that he found Mama about five years ago and the two of them have been going strong ever since. He even started looking for that other little bastard of hers. By the way, tell Miah I could use his talents if he’s ever looking to fill some time. That bastard is cold to the core and I respect that.”

“Stop shitting around and finish already,” Jared snarls and I see Mel turn and make her way to us, her lip gripped between her teeth.

“Wait. Did I just hear that right? Is Case, the same man who helped you this whole time, Lynn freaking Conrad’s son?”

Will groans and I just shake my head when Mel narrows her eyes.

“Darlin’, how the hell did you hear us all the way from over there?”

“Miah gave me a few of those bug thingies and this nifty earpiece. I can hear
everything
that happens around here, even if I’m in the ladies room. Now stop gawking and answer me.”

That means she heard my whole caveman spiel and she’s saving her wrath until later. In private where there will be no witnesses.

“He’s it. He’s military. He knows all about your movements, and he knows about that break in your perimeter line. It all adds up,” Will says darkly, lifting a brow. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“No. Hell no. She is not freaking bait,” I roar, grabbing hold of Jared’s shirt when he tries to dive over me to get to Will.

We’re all three pretty much half killing each other when I hear the ominous click of a shotgun being pumped and we all freeze to look up at a grinning Mel.

“I warned y’all about fighting in my safe place, assholes. Now sit back down, drink your shit, and stop acting like a pack of animals. Will, honey pie, you want to tell me why you would consider using me as bait when you know for a damn fact Roman will want to murder you right here in front of witnesses?”

“Oh shit. She’s got that sweet tone in her voice,” Will croaks, chugging his beer like a condemned man.

Jared starts laughing his fool head off again and I go to slap him, only to have the muzzle of the shotgun hit my chest.

“My patience is pretty thin today.”

“Dammit, baby girl.”

“No, dammit,
y’all
. I’ve been abandoned, had a bounty put on my ass, and had your Mama waxing me because she thinks I’m a test subject what with all the free time I’ve had since
you
kept me at home like a prisoner. My life is a freaking mess right now, and I can’t take this not knowing. And now I get to hear that y’all are discussing one of your friends. And this one,” she snarls, swinging the muzzle over to Will, “seems to think I’m a bait worm or something. I want to know what the heck you’re planning or I swear I’ll pull the trigger on both of you and you’d better believe this thing is loaded this time.”

“Baby girl, I have no intention of letting him use you as—”

“Well hold on now! I wasn’t going to do that. I was just suggesting we leave a little gossip trail suggesting the two of you are on the outs and she’s moving in with me and the crew. If that friend of yours decides to come knocking at my door…well he’ll get what trespassers deserve.”

“Now wait a minute. He went after my…Mel, and he’s been two-timing my family. He’s mine.”

“No. He was my friend. I watched him flirt with my mother for God’s sake. He’s mine,” Jared snarls.

A whistle shreds my eardrums and I look back at Mel to see her smiling darkly.

“You’re all idiots and you know it. Case is too smart to fall for something that easy. I say we set up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he won’t help but want a chance at.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah.”

I’m thinking the way she keeps smiling is not a good sign for any of us. Especially not Case. I feel my spine stiffen when she grabs the phone and starts yapping into it a mile a minute before throwing us a wink.

“Did she just call Ma?” Jared wheezes.

“Shit.”

***

Melissa

The problem with letting men run everything is that they overcomplicate things on one end and then go and try to oversimplify them at the other. No moderation with that gender, and God help me, I now understand why the dear Lord gave us women the responsibility of birthing and rearing the children.

Men are just not equipped.

For instance, they get so riled about things and take it all so personally that they should know that nothing grabs the attention of a crazy-ass stalker bent on killing you like a social event with security risks.

Now, Mama is my kind of woman because the minute I filled her in, she jumped on that bandwagon and even helped me out by suggesting an event that will likely blow the top right off poor Roman’s head like a freaking firecracker.

That’s right, I’m not only baiting these assholes right in, I’m going for the whole enchilada and giving them an opportunity they can’t help but notice.

“Oh, Mel honey, you’re such a gem in that gown. Please tell me you’ll wear this one when the time is right,” Mama begs.

My aim here is to wear something that no one will miss, and I think I’ve achieved that with the ballgown wedding dress leaded with more Swarovski crystals than a woman should have to carry around on her frame.

The dress is magnificent, though, and I can so see myself marrying my Roman in this thing. After I catch my prey, of course.

“I will, Mama, I swear. Now stop crying, for Pete’s sake, and let’s go over the last-minute prep. I don’t want anything going wrong tomorrow night, and I’d hate for poor Pop to get into hot water with the boys because he’s helping us.”

“Hmm well, let’s see. Tracy has the security handled with all those ex-FBI buddies she flew in, and Ellie’s got the caterers and flowers locked down. Clari, where are we on the invitation issue?”

At that, Clari starts smiling and I see the devious glee written all over her face.

“My friend Prissy is at the hair salon with Crow-Face Conrad and she’s going to “forget” her purse with the invitation on the chair beside Lynn’s. If all goes well, she should nab it before Prissy goes back for her purse.”

“Now you’re sure this will work?” I ask, feeling my whole future hinging on this one integral part of our plan.

“Sweetie, Prissy is a Broadway star and one of the best actresses you’ll ever meet. She’ll reel that bitch in like a dead fish, don’t you worry. I put that tracker Bronx gave us on the invite, and Ronny had her girl Maybelle following them. It’s all taken care of. All we have to do is sit back and wait,” she says, accepting everyone’s praise with a smile that makes my nipples try to invert.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a civilized, logical female does her part to keep her man alive.

We’ve planned the event of the century and coaxed Lynn our way with a masquerade ball rumored to celebrate the end of a long-trying family feud and all the recent marriages that have taken place.

Little Josh and Al are being spirited away by Bronx and Ronny for some “parenting practice,” Bronx says, while Ronny just rolls her eyes and makes as if she’s locking up her vagina.

Everything is planned and on schedule. Now all I have to do is hope and pray that it works, because according to Tracy, the boys may just be planning to shoot them both on the street and plead duress if things don’t happen very soon.

Apparently Case is some sort of super assassin or something, and none of them are okay with him hanging around without having eyes on him.