“I imagine they’re always hungry.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there myself,” Rome mused, and tossed another fry out onto the sand. “Feels good to feed someone else’s belly.”
One cawing seagull got too close to her and she squealed, moving closer to him.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said with a laugh. “They’re just birds.”
“They’re not just birds. They’re scavengers,” she protested, laughing and taking a few steps back. “They’re filthy and nasty and all they do is wait for a handout. Normal birds don’t do that. Normal birds get their own food.”
For some reason, he looked at her for a long, long moment and she wondered if she’d said something wrong. Then he looked away and tossed the rest of the fries on the sand. “Come on.”
Timidly, she slipped her hand in his, wondering if he was somehow mad at her. She didn’t know what to think. What had she just missed here? Her free hand touched his arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head again. “Just thinking.”
“Want to share?”
“Nope.” He grinned down at her and gestured down the Strand. “I think I saw a sex shop in that direction. You wanna go?”
“What?” she squealed, and she could feel her face turning beet red. “No!”
Rome laughed and wrapped his arms around her. “Come on. I’ll buy you a nice dildo. Maybe a couple of plugs for when you’re lonely.”
She pounded on his arm with a playful fist. “I don’t want anything but you.”
His laughter died and a serious look crossed his face.
Elise held her breath, waiting in his arms. Had she said something wrong again? But Rome only cupped her face in his hands and tenderly, sweetly kissed her.
And he didn’t need to say the words. Elise felt loved, regardless. She smiled up at him.
“Would I be a bad boyfriend,” he murmured, lips brushing against hers, “if I dragged you back to our room and made love to you?”
Her entire body tingled with awareness, her ni**les taut. “I think you’d be a bad boyfriend if you didn’t.”
FOURTEEN
Elise was a little sad to return to Bluebonnet on Sunday night. It had been so lovely in their cozy little nest all weekend. She’d fielded a few calls from her concerned brother, sure, and a text or two from Brenna, but she’d called and asked Emily to go along with her cover story, and Em was doing a great job of keeping everyone off of her trail. She’d had time to relax and enjoy just being with Rome.
And god, she loved being with Rome.
They’d spent most of Saturday alternating between bouts of lovemaking and a few more walks on the beach, just holding hands and enjoying each other’s company. They talked about work; she talked about photo layouts and adding emotion to her pictures, and her old college roommate, Crissy, who had the job that Elise wanted. Or the job Elise thought she wanted. It occurred to her that Crissy was working long hours for low pay, hoping to get ahead at her job, and she hadn’t dated anyone seriously in a long time because she was constantly at work. Elise glanced over at Rome, trying to picture him in New York City. He could probably make it, she reasoned, though jobs were probably hard to come by for a guy like Rome. He’d confessed that he had no college education and barely any high school, no degree. But Rome was charismatic enough; the question was, would someone like Elise be able to make it in a city like New York?
She used to think so. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Being in Bluebonnet made her appreciate the slow lifestyle and the fact that she could get wherever she wanted with a rental car. In New York, she’d probably have to take the subway everywhere and live in a teeny tiny apartment with hundreds of other people in the same building, and eat out every night.
That . . . didn’t sound like the way she wanted to live her life. Elise wondered if she needed to rethink her goals.
Rome was rather quiet when she talked about career and choices, and whenever she asked him something, he always turned the topic back onto her. It was like he loved hearing about her, but didn’t want to talk about himself. There were still big gaps in her knowledge of Rome Lozada, but she resolved she’d fill them in with time.
And between conversations and walking on the beach, they made love over and over again. Elise waffled between sheer exhaustion and glorying in his body. She loved touching Rome, and discovered new parts of his body to admire every time. His belly button, for the sleek tautness of the muscles around it. His thighs, for their strength and the way they flexed when she put her mouth on his cock. She’d given him a b**w j*b earlier that day—something she’d wanted to knock off her sexual bucket list—and had immensely enjoyed his reaction to it. Her mouth on him had made her feel sexy and powerful.
It was clearly something she’d have to do for him often.
But now they were driving back to Bluebonnet, with Elise behind the wheel, and Rome had gone from mostly silent to completely and utterly pensive. She glanced over at him as she drove. “Are you okay?”
He looked over at her and smiled, his hand touching her hair and then her cheek in a quick, affectionate gesture. “I’m fine. Just a little tired and thinking about work, that’s all.”
She smiled at him and lightly bit his thumb when it grazed her mouth. “We’re almost back at the ranch. I could park the car out on the road again and go with you to your cabin and distract you for a bit.”
He grinned at her mischievous smile but shook his head. “Actually, you should get back so Emily doesn’t think I’ve carried you off into the wild.”
“Emily wants me to get out there and date. I don’t think she minds a bit.”
Rome grew quiet again, and she chewed on her lip in frustration. It was like the closer they got to Bluebonnet, the more distant he got. She took the exit for the Daughtry Ranch, but pulled over instead of turning down the farm road that would lead to the parking lot of Wilderness Survival Expeditions.
She parked the car. Then she turned and looked at him. “You’re not regretting this weekend, are you?”
He shook his head slowly, his blue eyes gleaming. Rome reached out and cupped her cheek again, his fingers infinitely tender on her face. “I can honestly say it was the best weekend of my life.”
“Me too.” Her hands covered his and she kissed his palm. “When can I see you again?”