“Sorry about that. Was just going to ask if you wanted to take some photos here at the ranch today? No business stuff. Thought it might be cute to have pics of me and Brenna for engagement announcements or something.”
Today? Pictures? Seriously? She wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed with Rome and lick his tattoos. Her mouth watered at the thought. “Uh . . . can it wait a few days?”
“Yeah, no problem. You okay?”
She blinked for a minute, thinking of an excuse. “Um. Just a migraine.”
“You do sound kind of out of it,” he said, sympathy in his voice. “You want me to bring some soup or something?”
“No, no,” Elise said quickly, eyes widening at the thought. “Emily will take good care of me,” she told him. “I’m just going to stay in bed and pull the covers over my head.” She looked at Rome and crossed her fingers, hoping that her brother would take the bait on the lie.
“Okay,” he told her. “Take it easy. You gotta take care of yourself.”
Her annoyance softened at her brother’s concern. “I know. Thanks, Grant. I’ll call you if I need anything, okay?” She felt guilty at deceiving him—her brother thought she was ill and she was really just running off and having an irresponsible weekend with her lover.
Her lover. Elise glanced over at Rome again and felt a surge of excitement thrumming in her veins. God, he looked delicious right now.
This irresponsible weekend with her lover was pretty much a dream come true. She wanted to crawl back into bed with Rome. Heck, what was stopping her? “I’ll talk to you later, Grant,” she mumbled, doing her best to sound sick, and then hung up, tossing the phone back in her purse.
Rome sat up, a frown on his face. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. He was just checking up on me.” She crossed her arms over her na**d br**sts and shrugged her shoulders, trying to seem casual about the fact that she was totally naked. “Being a big brother and all.”
“He hasn’t guessed that we’re here together, has he?” Rome’s brow furrowed with concern.
Elise shook her head. “Nope. We’re all clear.”
A grin crossed his handsome face. “Good. You coming back to bed?” He patted the edge of the bed. “I’m keeping the blankets warm for you.”
She bit her lip but was unable to contain the smile spreading across her face. She grabbed a corner of the blankets and slipped back under them again, tucking them around her body. It felt strange to be crawling back into bed with him. She wanted to put her head back on his chest but she felt suddenly a little shy about things. Would it bother him if she did?
He leaned in and kissed her gently. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Elise smiled. “Great.”
“No regrets?”
“Not a single one.”
His lips brushed over her cheek, sending shivers down her spine. “So, this is your day today. How do you want to spend it?”
“My day?”
“Yup. Today, everything we do is all about you.”
She thought for a moment. Really, all she wanted to do was have him lie back in the bed so they could have sex again. But she couldn’t resist teasing him, just a little. “Well, I hear there’s a great yarn shop in the Strand.”
He paused, and then nodded seriously. “Okay.”
“And there’s a quilting store a few blocks over that I’d love to spend a few hours in.”
Bless the man, he was able to keep a straight face. “Whatever you want.”
A giggle escaped her and she impulsively threw her arms around his neck, bearing him down onto the bed. “Or we could spend the rest of the day here in bed.”
A look of relief crossed his face. “So the quilting and the yarn was a joke?”
She nodded, then leaned in and kissed his mouth, almost shyly.
“Thank god,” he groaned, and then put his hands in her hair, dragging her face to his when she tried to pull away. His kiss was hard and fierce, and oh so possessive. “Not that I wouldn’t look at yarn for you, but after seeing you prancing all over the room naked, the only thing I had in mind was more sex.”
“I guess the yarn can wait,” she teased, running her tongue along the stubble on his jaw. Really, stubble should not be that delicious on a man.
“I have unleashed an evil minx,” he mock-growled, rolling over in the bed and pinning her na**d body under him. “An evil minx with a cruel sense of humor.”
She laughed wickedly, and her laughs were smothered by his kisses. And then suddenly, she wasn’t laughing anymore, because she loved being kissed by him. He made her feel so beautiful, so wanted.
When he reached for more condoms on the bedside table, she decided that staying in for the day would be a rather good thing after all.
• • •
At about two in the afternoon, Elise couldn’t ignore her stomach’s growl of protest any longer. She was exhausted from multiple rounds of sex and a subsequent nap, but she was loath to get out of the bed and leave their idyllic cocoon. “I think we might have burned too many calories to stay in bed,” she murmured to Rome, her cheek pillowed on his sweaty chest. “My stomach’s eating itself.”
He dragged his fingers through her hair, and she tried not to wince at the tangles he ran into, since she knew how much he loved touching her hair. “You want to go out and grab a late lunch?”
“Or a really really late breakfast,” she teased, sitting up and smiling at him. “We can carb-load and then come back.”
He grinned at her. “I do believe I’ve created a monster.”
She leaned in and nipped at his nipple in response. Mmm. “Nothing can possibly taste as good as you, though.”
He groaned and dragged her away from him. “If you start that, we’re never going to leave this room.”
That honestly didn’t sound so bad to Elise, but her stomach growled again, reminding her that they needed to eat. She dragged a hand through her tangled hair, wincing at the snarls. “Can I shower before we go out?”
“Only if you promise to save me some hot water.”
She brightened. “You can join me in the shower.”
He shook his head and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Not if we plan on getting anything done. I need to keep my hands off you to keep my sanity.”
Elise gave him a mock pout, but she climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, deliberately swaying her h*ps in case he was looking. Being with Rome made her feel so . . . pretty. So wanted. It was a heady, delicious feeling.