Roan's Fall

Chapter Seven

After both she and Roan had showered, they went downstairs. Ansley still couldn’t get over the size of the house, or the luxuriousness of it. She would never have guessed in a million years that Roan and his brothers lived in a mansion so tastefully decorated. From what she had seen of the house so far, it looked as if a professional interior designer had decorated it. Given the amount of money Roan and his family had to have to afford a house such like this, Ansley figured they probably had used an interior designer. When they reached the large front foyer with its black and white checked marble floor, Roan led Ansley toward the back of the house. Even before they reached the kitchen, she smelled the scent of food cooking. Her stomach rumbled. Arriving at the kitchen, Roan pushed Ansley toward the large kitchen table that sat in the middle of the big room. “Go sit down next to Saskia and Eli and I’ll get us some food.”

Much to her surprise, all of Roan’s brothers sat at the table calmly eating. She had thought they would be rowdy here same as they had been upstairs earlier. Taking the empty chair next to Saskia, she looked down the table. The men nodded their heads in her direction when she met each of their gazes, except for Dirk who hadn’t looked up from the financial section of the newspaper he read. Roan returned with two plates. Each held a very large omelet that completely filled the plate. He set a plate in front of her before he left to get the two cups of coffee she saw sitting on the counter. Ansley looked down at her plate. She was hungry, but she wasn’t that hungry.

Saskia leaned over and whispered in Ansley’s ear, “Don’t worry about it if you can’t eat all that. The guys tend to forgot that not everybody can eat like they do.”

“If I ate this much all the time I would be as big as a house,” Ansley said laughingly.

“Same here.”

Roan came back to the table and handed Ansley a cup of coffee. “I hope the two of you weren’t talking about me when I wasn’t here.”

Saskia rolled her eyes. “No. I just told Ansley that she didn’t have to feel obligated to eat all that food you gave her. You must think she eats like a horse like you do.”

“Sorry about that, Ansley.” Roan pushed his plate closer to hers. “You can put what you don’t want on my plate. I’ll eat it for you.”

Cutting the omelet in half with her knife, she pushed one half onto his plate. “That should be enough.” After Roan moved his plate back in front of him and started to dig into his food, Ansley turned back to Saskia. “So how long have you and Eli been married?”

“Just a little over a month.”

“So you’re still newlyweds then?”

“You could say that,” Eli said from Saskia’s other side. He gave his wife a heated look.

A muffin flew through the air and hit Eli dead center on his forehead. “Knock off the goo goo eyes, Eli,” Leif said. He sat across and a little down from Eli. “Take it to the bedroom so the rest of us don’t have to be subjected to it. We are trying to eat you know.”

Eli chucked the muffin back at Leif. “You’re just jealous that you don’t have what Saskia and I have.”

“Hell, no. I like being a free agent.”

“Your time will come. Take it from someone who once thought the same way you do.”

Ansley started to eat her omelet while Leif and Eli bantered back and forth. It was obvious Eli had been accepted as another brother. As she ate, Roan moved his chair closer to hers so their thighs were pressed against each other. He placed a hand on the top of her leg and squeezed. Such a simple gesture, but it made her body respond to Roan’s touch. She reached under the table and put her hand on his hard thigh while she continued to eat. Ansley had just taken a sip of coffee when Roan moved his hand to the inside of her thigh and gently brushed between her legs with his knuckles. She had to quickly swallow the liquid before she choked on it.

Taking a quick peek at Saskia to make sure she couldn’t see what took place under the table, Ansley stroked her hand up Roan’s thigh and skimmed her fingers over the bulge in his jeans. He stiffened for a fraction of a second before he rubbed her pussy with the side of his hand. It took all of Ansley’s concentration to act as if nothing was going on.

With more boldness than she thought she possessed, Ansley cupped Roan’s cock through his jeans and gave him a squeeze. His sharp indrawn breath told her she had to be getting to him same as he was getting to her. Another muffin hit Roan square in the chest. Ansley quickly pulled her hand off Roan.

She looked up to find Leif staring at her and Roan. “Would the pair of you cut it out? It’s bad enough we have to put up with Saskia and Eli. If you want to make a move on each other, please take it somewhere where I’m not. I can smell the pair of you all the way over here.”

Ansley shifted uncomfortably on her chair. She had no idea what had come over her. She usually didn’t do things like fondle a man while in the company of his family, and where anyone could see what they were up to. Embarrassed at being caught, she jerked her gaze down to her plate and kept it there. It also acted like a bucket of ice water on her arousal.

“You’re walking a fine line, Leif,” Roan snarled. “If you don’t like the smell, you can always leave.”

Ansley resisted the urge to turn her head, lift her arm and give her underarm a sniff. Since she’d just had a shower she didn’t think she smelled bad. She kept her head down and concentrated on finishing her food. Everyone around the table suddenly went silent. Ansley didn’t have to look up to know they all had turned their gazes her way.

“Ah, shit,” Leif said, breaking the silence. “I’m sorry, Ansley. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I only thought to give Roan a hard time. I know you and he don’t have any control over it.”

She had no idea what it was, but she decided it would be best to let it go. She looked up to meet Leif’s gaze. He wore an apologetic look on his face. “No need to apologize, Leif. To be honest, it doesn’t take much to make me feel embarrassed. I think I spend half my life being embarrassed, mostly from my own doing. My curse makes sure of that.”

“Your curse?” Roan asked with a chuckle.

Ansley turned to look at him. “Well, that is what I call it. You’ve already been subjected to it. There are times when I say pretty much whatever happens to be on my mind at the time. I tend to say things that, if I’d really thought about them, should have been kept to myself.”

Roan put his arm along the back of her chair and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Then you and Jager should get along famously. He says whatever he has on his mind too. But unlike you, he doesn’t give a shit how people react to it.”

She turned her head in Jager’s direction at the end of the table. He shrugged. “What can I say? I like to be direct and to the point. It’s what makes me so lovable.”

Everyone but Ansley broke out in laughter. Skylar, who sat closest to Jager, punched him in the arm. “Yeah, you’re about as lovable as a rattlesnake when you’re in one of your moods. You get pissed off and you make damn sure everyone around you knows about it and why.”

Jager crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Nothing wrong with being out in the open about how you feel.”

Roan pushed back his chair and stood up. He held his hand out to her. Ansley took it and allowed him to pull her up. He then spoke to the room at large. “Now that Ansley has finished eating, she and I are going out for a bit. I promised I would take her to get her car. We’ll be back later.” He turned to Saskia. “If you don’t have other plans for me that is.”

Saskia waved them away. “Go. Roxie will understand, not that she feels she needs us there anyway. Eli and I will go with Jager and Dirk.”

“Then Ansley and I are out of here.”

Ansley let Roan walk her out of the kitchen. Leif’s words about her and Roan not having any control over it played through her head. She couldn’t help but think this it would somehow be connected to the talk Roan had originally wanted to have with her before they had ended up in bed together at her apartment. Maybe if they kept their hands off each other long enough, Roan and she could have that talk sometime soon. But Ansley wasn’t going to bet on it.

After they collected her car from the salon’s parking lot, Roan and Ansley went to her apartment. Determined to prove she could be around Roan and not think about hot, sweaty sex, Ansley threw her overnight bag on her bed and returned to the living room to sit on the couch next to Roan. She sat sideways so she faced him and crossed her legs in front of her. Roan put his arm on the back of the couch and turned his body toward her.

“You know you don’t have to sit so far away,” he said in a husky voice. “There’s plenty of room over here.”

“I’m staying right where I am. I thought maybe we would talk for a bit, get to know each other better. I know if I get any closer to you the last thing we’ll do is talk.”

Roan gave her a crooked grin. “I can guarantee it will be more fun than talking.”

Ansley rolled her eyes. She shook her head. “Talk first then maybe I’ll let you have your way with me.”

“Fine. Have it your way. What do you want to talk about?”

Even though Ansley promised herself she wouldn’t touch Roan until after they’d had their chat, she couldn’t stop her gaze from running over his body. Telling herself to stop it, Ansley jerked her gaze back up to his face. “I don’t know. There was something you wanted to say to me yesterday before…” She let her words trail away. Ansley didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring the subject of sex into the conversation. “Why don’t we start there?”

Roan seemed to stiffen for a second before he inched a little closer. “How about we talk about you instead? You know more about me than I do about you.”

“Okay. What do you want to know?”

He reached across the couch and started to play with the ends of her hair that fell over her shoulder. “Let’s see. Something easy to start with. How old are you?”

Having Roan play with her hair like that, Ansley found it harder to concentrate. “I’m twenty-six. What about you? How old are you?”

“I’m a lot older than I look.” Ansley wondered if Roan had been deliberately vague on purpose when he quickly added, “We’re supposed be talking about you, not me. What about family?”

Ansley didn’t usually like to talk about her parents, mostly because she never knew them. Since Roan had introduced her to his family she figured she might as well tell him why he would never be in a position to meet hers. “I don’t have any family.”

“How old were you when you lost your parents?”

She took a deep breath. “As far as I know, both my parents are alive and well.”

Roan gave her a confused look. “I don’t understand.”

“Both my parents were teenagers when I was born. They both chose to give me up for adoption shortly after my birth. They also signed papers that they didn’t want me to have any contact with them once I reached my maturity.”

“What about adoptive parents?”

She shook her head. “I grew up in an orphanage.”

Roan’s hand shifted from her hair to the upper part of her arm. He rubbed it with comforting strokes. “So you basically have been alone all your life?”

“You could say that.”

He gathered her close and put her on his lap. “Well, you don’t have to be alone anymore.” Roan nuzzled the side of her neck.

Ansley shivered when he pressed feather light kisses against her skin. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “We talked about me, now it’s your turn. Are you finally going to tell me what you wanted to say, or do I have to force it out of you?” Roan pushed her off him so fast Ansley ended up on the couch in an undignified heap. “What did you do that for?”

He ignored her question, stood and turned to face her. “Why don’t you pack some more clothes, then I’ll take you out for some coffee or something before we head back to my place.”

Given Roan’s reaction, Ansley got the distinct impression he now wanted to avoid this talk he had wanted to have with her. She had no idea why, but she decided not to press the issue. She sat up on the couch and looked at Roan. “You want me to stay over at your place again?”

He gave her a sexy smile. “Of course I do. Actually why don’t you pack enough clothes for the week?”

“Are you sure, Roan? Not that I’m complaining, but don’t you think you’re taking things a little fast? The last boyfriend I had, we didn’t reach the stage of staying overnight at each other’s places until we had dated for a month.”

Roan picked her off the couch and kissed her until her toes curled. He pulled back and crushed her to him. “Let’s get one thing straight here. I’m not like your other boyfriend. I’m much more than just a boyfriend. Never forget that.” He kissed her breathless again. “Go pack your clothes. I’ll wait out here for you.”

He slowly let her slide down his body until she stood on her feet. Ansley tried to slow her rapidly beating heart as she went to her bedroom to pack. If Roan wanted her to stay at his place for the week, she would stay for the week. She just prayed to God that during that time she didn’t do or say something to screw it up.