Genetic Attraction (13 page)

Outside, Roan led her to a private car complete with black-uniformed driver.

“My, my.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“Having the car makes sure I get places on time.”

He gave the name of a restaurant to the driver, held the door for her, and then slipped in beside her. His finger tipped up her chin. That perfect mouth closed over hers. Soft, persuasive, so different from the more aggressive assault of Jake"s kiss, but both were incredibly sexy in their own way. She sighed into his mouth and sucked his tongue hard. Oh God, she"d missed him so much.

His hands came up to cup her breast, and then he pulled back with a groan.

He released her mouth and chuckled a little. “I so want to do a lot of this, but must confess the noise you hear in the background is my stomach growling. I better behave if I expect to actually consume food rather than fuck you right here.”

She smiled, “Of course that would be more entertaining for our driver.” She shrugged more seriously. “And I guess we probably better talk before we go too much further.”

“Eating and talking?” He made it sound like the whine of an eight-year-old.

Then he laughed and smoothed his hand down the big bulge in his slim trousers.

“Down boy.”

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Chapter Sixteen

The restaurant was surprisingly low-key, a real family place specializing in

“gourmet down-home favorites.” She looked up at this chicer-than-chic man and tried to picture him as a meatloaf and mac-and-cheese guy.

“Now, why would I never have picked this as your kind of place?”

“Actually the food is fantastic. Plus, it"s such a neighborhood place, it throws off the paparazzi. They expect to find me somewhere more upscale, I guess.” He dipped his head a little shyly as if it was embarrassing and silly that he had to worry about photographers following him. God, he was a charmer. It was easy to see why Jake loved him. Hell, it was easy to see why she loved him.

The owner greeted him enthusiastically by name and led them to a back booth.

Roan barely looked at the menu; obviously he came here often, and then, in fact, ordered mac and cheese. Of course, this down-home favorite featured imported blue cheese and truffles.
That
was Roan. What the heck. She followed suit and also joined him in his choice of a brut champagne.

When they sat with their glasses of bubbly, he reached for her hand. “God, I"ve missed you.”

She stared down for a moment and tightened her fingers around his. “Me too.”

“Oh, sweetheart, don"t be so upset. We"ll make this all work out somehow.”

She looked up into the green gaze. “Have you talked to Jake?”

“Yeah, I think he"s told me pretty much everything.”

“Where is he? Why isn"t he here in New York with you?”

Roan looked a little sheepish. “He"s spending the weekend with his brother.”

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Tara Lain

“Caleb?”

“Yeah. He"s always good support for Jake. Our boy"s just a little out of his head, I"d say.”

She dropped her forehead to her hands then looked back up. “But why, Roan?

You don"t seem to be angry and disappointed with me because I won"t throw away my whole life to move in with you guys!”

“I know.” He stroked her hand. “But I also haven"t spent every day of the last two years dreaming about you. I just met you.” He gave her a little leer. “I figure I"ve got time to convince you that you can"t live without me. Jake feels like he can"t live another day without you.”

“Shit.” The unshed tears of several days backed up and burned her throat. “He sure as hell had me in the bathroom at my fellow professor"s house with Kovak just down the stairs! And then he turned on me and accused me of horrible things.”

The waiter arrived then with their exotic mac and cheese, and romaine salads.

She blew her nose. When the man left, Roan leaned forward and stroked her hand.

“I know what he said. I reamed him a new one for saying you only wanted us for sex.”

She couldn"t keep the plea out of her voice. “You don"t believe that"s true?”

“No, sweetheart, I think we all enjoy sex with one another, and we use it as a way of showing our love. But more important is what you believe.” He took a bite while Em stared at her food.

“What I believe? I believe I"ve loved Jake impossibly for most of the last two years, and I"ve fallen in love with you, my darling. But I also know I"m not twenty-five. I don"t have a whole life ahead of me like you two do. I"ve worked hard and given my heart and soul to this work, and I think it"s important. I can"t just walk away from it.”

A finger touched her cheek. “But I"m not sure I understand why you think you have to choose.” She started to answer, and he held up a hand. “Oh, I know about Genetic Attraction

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the conservatism of the university and Kovak and all the rest. But Jake says you own the patents. There could be other sources of funding, other avenues for your research that you might love even more.”

“That would mean starting all over again!”

He flashed that crooked tooth at her. “But maybe then you could have us too.

That is, if you really want us.”

She gave him a little half-laugh. “Spoken like a supremely confident twenty-four-year-old.”

“Not even slightly confident, Em. But hopeful.”

He was so fucking amazing. It had to be some wild combination of gentleness, intelligence, and pure ego that allowed him to be the young god that he was.

She reached up and fingered the gold loop in his nose. “How come I"ve never seen this before?”

“I pretty much save it for the job. They expect me to be cool, not some down-home hick from Iowa.”

“Iowa"s not a happy subject.”

He shook that beautiful head. “Nothing wrong with Iowa. It"s the family life associated with it that"s not happy.”

“Tell me.”

“It"s a bit long and miserable, but in a nutshell, my father never believed I was his, and tried to beat the devil out of me most of my youth. When he found out I was gay, I knew I"d never survive the beating, so I left. I was seventeen. Fortunately, I"d met a guy at a gay bar in the city who said he could make me a model. Despite all expectations, he turned out to be on the level. I"ve never been back to Iowa.”

“School?”

“Never finished. I"ve studied on my own my whole life. Funny I should end up with two lovers who are PhDs.”

“Your wisdom puts us both to shame, darling.”

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Tara Lain

“Thank you, Em, that"s very kind.”

She couldn"t resist. “Roan, tell me about your engagement to that woman.”

He gave an unreadable little smile. “Yeah, Alexandra Shields.”

“You told me she sort of forced Jake"s hand. Did you leave her for Jake?”

“No, we separated a while back. She was smart enough to know I was just too gay to live in a monogamous relationship with a woman. She wanted us to have other partners, but I"m pretty faithful.” He reached out and touched her cheek. “You could say I"m a one-man and one-woman guy.”

She turned her head and gave his hand a little kiss. “Did you love her, Roan?”

“I was fond of her but not love. She didn"t love me either.”

“But you slept with her?”

“Not much sleeping involved, but we had great sex. That"s what kept us together for part of a year.”

“Wow. So when you said you sometimes get a thing for a woman, you weren"t kidding. She was one of those.”

“One of the few, but you"re the first woman I"ve ever truly loved.”

Her head was shaking before she could stop it. “Roan, you just said you"re faithful. You have Jake; you don"t need me. I would just get in your way.” Just the thought ripped her heart out.

“Hey, silly.” He lifted her chin with his finger and gazed into her eyes. “Is that what you"ve been thinking? We love you, Em. I love you, and Jake loves you, no matter what happens. We"ll always love you.”

She wiped at her eyes. “I love you too.”

Despite the intensity of the conversation, he"d managed to eat a good bit of his food. She moved hers around on the plate. He reached across and dug his fork into her macaroni. Very slowly he wafted the morsel beneath her nose and then gently prodded it against her lips. She opened, and he slipped the delicious gourmet Genetic Attraction

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creation into her mouth. As she chewed, he repeated the process, crafting another bite and then offering it.

Yum
. She licked the noodles languidly, then sucked them in. He gave a little groan, and this time picked up a single piece of pasta and slipped it between her lips. His fingers lingered inside her mouth. An invitation.

She sucked those slender fingers and then began to pull them in and out, licking with her tongue. Roan closed his eyes for a moment, then pulled his fingers from her mouth and grabbed her head, dragging her to him for a hungry kiss.

Already in a sucking mood, she sucked his tongue deep into her throat as her arms reached for him.

A flash went off right in front of her face.

What the fuck
? She jumped back, gasping. Another flash lit up their booth.

Roan was already half out of the seat and grabbing for the camera of the man who was hopping backward to escape.

“Dammit, Blackball, get out of my face, you asshole!”

The guy just laughed and gave a little salute. “Gotcha, pretty boy. Next time, try Brooklyn. I hear they"ve got great restaurants.” The guy turned and ran for the front door.

Roan slipped back into the booth and reached for her. She huddled against the banquette, trying to stop gasping. “I"m so sorry, sweetheart. I"m one of that guy"s special projects. He loves to try and figure out where I"m going to be and show up there.”

The restaurant owner hurried over. “I"m so sorry, Mister Black. I didn"t see his camera until it was too late.”

“No problem, John. I"m used to it, but I think he really shocked Dr. Silvay.”

“Can I get you anything?” The man hovered, clearly not wanting one of his best customers to take offense.

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Tara Lain

She tried to catch her breath. “No, it"s okay.” She patted her chest lightly.

“Just a little new to me.”

The owner slipped away as Roan held her and petted her soothingly.

“Blackball is really an asshole. He must have a trunkload of photos of me by now.

But, man, he"s nothing compared to the paparazzi in London…” He amused her with tales of relentless photographers while she got her heart rate back to normal.

When he saw she was actually listening again, he leaned in and whispered, “Let"s go, my darling. It"s been almost a week since I had my cock in you, and I"m having trouble fitting in these pants.”

Instant heat. In one sentence she was ready to lay him out on the table and ride him, paparazzi be damned.

He left actual cash money on the table and guided her out to the curb where the car was waiting. She noticed the privacy panel separated the backseat from the driver, which fit right into her mood. She was a wild woman in the city.

They made the short ride to the hotel with his hands up her skirt and hers in his pants, not saying a word, just feeling and kissing each other until they were both dripping. As they pulled up to the hotel, he stuffed himself back into his pants and tried to adjust his jacket down over his massive erection. She just pulled off her wet thong, stuffed it in her purse, and stepped out of the car commando. By the time they got to the elevator, they were both giggling and wild to fuck.

An obviously well-heeled elderly couple rode the elevator with them, and Em tried to behave, but Roan kept reaching down and licking her neck and ear. She"d slap at him but couldn"t stop giggling. When the older couple got to their floor, the lady looked back at Em, winked, and said sweetly, “Have a nice night.”

She and Roan burst out laughing as the doors closed, and then they attacked each other while the elevator continued to the penthouse. Roan picked her up, so she could wrap her legs around him and grind her bare, throbbing pussy against that enormous bulge. Oh God, after all the emotional turmoil, it felt like heaven to Genetic Attraction

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just get lost in sex. She rode up and down on him, probably ruining that beautiful suit, but God it felt good.

On the top floor they staggered out of the elevator and straight into Roan"s suite. She was vaguely aware that it was beautiful and overlooked the whole city.

He carried her straight to the bedroom, panting in her ear.

“Oh baby, I want to fuck you so bad.” He tossed her on the bed. Her full skirt wound up around her waist, baring her naked pussy. The sight seemed to enthrall him, so she spread her legs, making the very wet lips gape. She was still wearing her heels.

Roan groaned while ripping off his belt and pulling the slim trousers down, revealing tight black boxer briefs that were grossly distorted by his enormous erection. Somewhere he had toed off his loafers. He pulled off socks and shoved the briefs down and off, freeing that indescribable cock to stick out under his still-buttoned shirt.

In one move he was on the bed, and shoving that huge rod into her soaked vagina.

Oh God, she"d almost forgotten what that much cock felt like. Real, serious friction. Just this side of pain, she felt so full, so stretched—so complete.

He thrust and thrust, head thrown back, eyes shut tight. She wrapped her legs around him, letting the heels of her pumps press into his flexing ass. A little pain with his pleasure?

He screamed. “Oh, shit, yes!”

The huge pumping cock hit against her womb in one out of three strokes. He was too far gone to stop, and she was too far gone to care, strapped to him with arms and legs like a monkey, pounding her hips up onto his cock, eager to take all of him as he ground against her clit.