She rubbed her hands over the sides of my head where my hair was short and reached up to smooth down some of the strands that were still sticking up all wild and out of control on the top of my head.
“Not that I’m ever going to complain about being thoroughly ravished by a blond sex god, but maybe you can explain to me what brought that all on so I can be more prepared for it next time.”
I rubbed my forehead against hers as I shook my head and made her laugh when I pulled her off the door and stumbled to the couch still holding her in my arms. My pants were still undone and half off of my ass, so when her damp core hit my lower belly my traitorous dick twitched in awareness. I wondered if I was ever going to get enough of her.
She braced her hands on my shoulders and asked me in a very serious tone, “Rowdy, what happened?”
I thought maybe I could get through spilling my guts easier if I had something else to focus on, so I stripped her cool T-shirt off of her and reached behind her to pop open the clasp on her bra. She rolled her eyes at me and told me I had a one-track mind. I didn’t argue and instead pulled my own shirt off over my head and pulled her to my chest so that our hearts were pressed together and beating in time. There was nothing sexier than the slide of metal across my skin as her nipples brushed my tattooed skin. She was the hottest thing in the world.
“You know the lawyer?”
She tucked her head under my chin as she trailed her fingers up and down my ribs.
“Sayer? The one that works down by the LoDo shop?”
“She’s the one.” I could hear bitterness creeping into my tone as the unbelievability of her claims made my body go tense even though Salem was petting me and rubbing me down like I was a rabid wolf. After the way I had gone after her without any warning it was no wonder she was treading lightly with me.
“What about her? Did she finally work up the nerve to get a tattoo?”
I barked out a choked laugh and decided I needed her all the way naked before I could go on. I urged her up so that she was standing in front of me and pulled her now-wrinkled skirt off of her and settled her back across my lap so that she was straddling me. Everything below my waist took immediate notice of all my favorite parts of her hovering naked and close by.
“No, but she finally worked up the nerve to tell me that she’s here in Denver because of me.”
“What!”
Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say to the naked woman on my lap but my brain was tired and my cock was getting hard again.
“Not like that. She claims she’s my half sister. She said my dad”—I made air quotes in air around the word “dad”—“died last year, and when she went through his estate she was stunned to find out he had left half of everything to a long-lost son . . . me. What in hell am I supposed to do with that?”
“Wow.” It was just a puff of sound. “That’s insane and intense.”
“That’s what I said. I told her to leave me alone and that I have zero interest in any part of it.”
“Oh, Rowdy.” She curled her hand around my neck and kissed me right in the center of my chest. “You can’t mean that. I don’t know Sayer at all but she seems nice and if she uprooted her entire life to come here and get to know you that means something.” She lifted her head to look at me. “Believe me I know, because I did the exact same thing.”
I stared at her hard. “I was left alone.”
She huffed out a disgruntled noise. “So why would you deny someone that is reaching out to you and trying to get to know you? Wouldn’t having a sister mean you would never, ever have to worry about being alone again?”
Her words and her take on the whole thing were making me really uncomfortable. I would have much preferred her saying something like, “Don’t you know that now you have me you won’t ever have to be alone again,” but instead she was looking at me like I had somehow disappointed her.
“I don’t need a family, Salem. I went out and found my own and they will never leave me or abandon me.” It was an unnecessary dig at her and she didn’t miss it. Her dark eyes narrowed and she went to move off of me but I wouldn’t let her. I grasped her around her waist and grumbled, “I’m sorry. I’m in a nasty mood.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Are you scared of having another blood relative?”
I recoiled and threw my head back on the couch cushions. “Why would you ask me that?”
She shrugged a smooth, caramel-colored shoulder and leaned forward to kiss me on the end of my nose.
“The only family you knew died in a horrible way and started you on a very rocky journey to find the family you have now. It might be terrifying to let someone else in after suffering that kind of loss. Sayer seems like a good person, Rowdy. She helps kids, and even though she obviously comes from a different walk of life than you and I, she never seems judgmental or stuck-up about it. Just consider that letting her in, just a little, might not be a terrible thing. That’s a wonderful surprise to have offered up to you.”