Page 47 of Red Hot Roaster

I found my words.

“Rose. Babe. I could stay like this forever. But so-help-me-god, if you don’t start movin’ soon, I’m gonna take matters into my own hands.”

At that, Rose opened her eyes and speared me with their green power.

“I got this, sweetheart,” she declared. She braced her hands on my hips and rose on her knees, releasing me almost the entire way. I started to protest, and she ground back down, fast and hard.

She did that again and again, and the friction was fucking incredible. I shut it and went along for the ride, although I couldn’t resist reaching up to palm her breasts. My grunts mixed with her moans. Her breathing went ragged. I knew she was there when she shouted, “Rafe!” and came down hard to stay as she throbbed around me.

I was thinkingmy turn now. Or maybe I wasn’t thinking at all. Maybe I just lost my mind.

I reared up, still deep in Rose, and wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hips. I rolled us over so I was on the top and she was on the bottom. She cried out, and I covered her mouth with my own, twisting her tongue with mine.

She shuddered and kissed me back. Thank fuck—I didn’t want to stop. But I would have.

I couldn’t hold back any longer and started to move, thrusting in, pulling out. Rose squeezed her knees on either side of me and lifted her hips to meet mine, setting a hard-to-break rhythm. We locked eyes and wouldn’t, couldn’t look away. Until, finally, I jammed mine shut when liquid fire surged through me—and I buried myself in her heat.

I finished with aroarand collapsed. For a minute. Then I realized what I’d done.

“Oh, shit. Sorry, sorry. I must be crushing you.”

I started to shift up and pull out…and she tugged me back down.

“Don’t move,” she said. “I’m savoring the moment.”

I stopped and raised an eyebrow.

Rose looked up at me with hazy, hooded eyes, before going on, “Yeah, like a creamy piece of dark chocolate. You know what I mean. Savoring.”

I smiled and sank back into her, resting some of my bulk on her and most of it on my forearms. We stayed that way for a time, a good long time, until I rolled us over on our sides. Still facing each other, still connected. Stillhome.

Later, much later, after Rose had dozed off, I got out of bed. I soaked a washcloth in warm water and liquid soap for the gentle cleanup and secured the covers around her to keep her warm. After hurrying downstairs to get the dogs from my place, we three together did our nightly perimeter check of the entire house—lights, doors, windows—the usual drill. No alarm system yet, but that was coming. The two trotted into the bedroom, noses held high at all the unfamiliar smells, and settled into Pirate’s bed with no fuss.

I slipped under the covers to gather a sleeping Rose into my arms…and nudged something…spiky…with my feet. She was still wearing the fucking (great) high heels. I debated whether to leave them on but decided to dive down and pull the things off. Figured my feet would keep hers warm…since I always ran hot.

Rose stayed asleep through all this, and I soon followed her.

Chapter 25

Rose

I’d been distracted this past week-and-a-half. And bydistractedI meant sidetracked from my usual customary and regimented life by this non-relationshipthingI had going with Rafe.

Athingthat involved not only body-and-mind-blowing sex but also thelittlethingsI didn’t know I’d been missing in my daily life.

Like starting the morning with a hot breakfast and a hotter kiss. Like hearing Rafe let loose and laugh like crazy when Pirate and Princess got the zoomies. Like handing out Halloween candy with Rafe agreeing—albeit grudgingly—to wear the angel halo headband while I stuck on the devil’s horns.

Like each of us claiming an end of the couch to sit and read—not talk, not kiss—just read (well, maybe a kiss here or there). Like taking the dogs out for that last walk before bedtime…and talking away as we headed to the park—or maybe I was doing the talking and Rafe was doing the listening.

Yeah, little things like that.

Yet still, I never expected that Jen and Mateo would take advantage of my distractedness to start the ball rolling on security systems for both the café and my house.

I should have suspected something this morning when I’d ducked under my bed to retrieve my stilettos—and discovered Dad’s bat was missing.

Was their partner-in-crime sharing my bed?

Sure, I’d been dragging my feet on getting a professional alarm system for the Chocolate Lab. Right after the break-in, I’d met with a couple of security companies Jen had recommended from her contacts in the real estate community. She knew people who knew people since she staged homes for sale.

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