Roman stilled for a moment, his chest heaving against her back as he fought for control. Then he began to move in smooth, confident thrusts that stoked her passion steadily higher until she shuddered and cried out, spasming around him in overwhelming muscular waves.
Roman let out a low growl and slipped his hand over her soft belly and down between her thighs, finding her clit with his fingers. As he upped the pace of his thrusts, driving into her with a series of harsh groans, he rubbed her to climax, locking his arm hard around her waist as she crested again. He thrust into her with mindless abandon, burying his face in the hair at the nape of her neck, shouting out his release as he came explosively inside her, his whole body shuddering and sheened with sweat.
Chapter Sixteen
“Those kids are gonna be back any minute,” Chelsea sighed, lying there in his arms.
“I know. We need a proper house; there’s no damn privacy around here,” Roman said, his fingers tangling in her hair.
“A house? Aren’t you allergic to those?” she asked.
Roman shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, they make caravan houses…” He buried his face in her hair. “You could stay with us, you know. Travel. It’s never boring. And the pack loves you, despite the fact that you keep trying to arrest me. Or maybe because of it.”
The pack loved her. Not him.
This was a man who moved on all the time.
And for that matter, he didn’t know everything about her. She’d left out one important fact, and it was the one that tended to set men running. Well, it set everyone running, really.
Chelsea swallowed hard.
“I want to settle down,” she said. “I want a home. With a regular pack, where I could hope to start a family someday.”
There was a long silence.
“I see,” he said. “I understand that. It makes perfect sense.”
But he didn’t say what she longed to hear. What she needed to hear.
He didn’t say, me too. He didn’t say, I’ve changed. I want a family too. I want to settle down.
She felt a cold, dark loneliness descend on her. As if sensing it, he tightened his arms around her and pulled her close, but it wasn’t enough. She was with him now, but for how long?
They could hear the voices of the kids coming through the forest; they were headed back. With a sigh, she sat up and began pulling on her clothes.
* * * * *
Roman thrashed on his bed, then sat bolt upright, breathing hard. Chelsea was already sitting up, watching him.
“You all right?” she asked him.
He nodded abruptly, sweat beading on his forehead.
Images flashed through his mind. His father showing up drunk to his mother’s funeral… The day Roman’s mother had died of an undiagnosed heart defect had been the last day he’d ever seen his father sober.
Images from the wreck… Roman’s father, drunk and driving a pickup truck, had plowed in to a van returning from a shopping trip and killed the entire family inside as well as himself.
Bodies scattered across the ground. Pack members looking at Roman, who was the spitting image of his father, with hatred in their eyes.
His mother’s pack had offered to take him in, but he’d refused. Roman hadn’t wanted to be near anyone or anything that reminded him of family.
Breathing hard, he looked at Chelsea. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he choked out. She laid her hands on his arm, and he felt the panic and pain start to subside.
“You’ll be all right.” Her voice was calm and soothing, like balm on burned flesh.
“I’m not all right, that’s the problem. I’m just… You’re good. I care about you. I don’t want to hurt you,” he groaned. “That’s why I can’t have a family. I’m not strong enough for it.”
And he didn’t want her to hurt him. What if something happened to her? Could he survive the loss of his mate? His father hadn’t.
She looked him in the eyes.
“Roman Kincaid, you are stronger than you know, and I don’t just mean physical strength. You fear nothing. You care about your pack. You may bitch about what a pain in the ass they are, but you love them like family. So you do have a family. Whether you’re with me or not, you’ll be okay, because you’re the kind of person who carries on to protect what he cares about.”
“Thank you,” he whispered hoarsely. His heartbeat was returning to normal. He’d never calmed down that quickly after a nightmare before.
He lay down and pulled her up against him, and within minutes, amazingly, he drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Seventeen
Chelsea sat up and yawned and stretched, working out the pleasant aches in her muscles. She could hear the happy chatter of children outside, and she scrambled to get dressed so she could go out and join them.