But, apparently, given his reaction, it was something I should utilize more with him in bed.
Because the second the words were out of my lips, he had somehow freed his cock and slammed it deep inside me.
My arm went back around his neck as his arm anchored around my belly, both of us holding on, both of us knowing there would be nothing slow or soft or sweet about this. We were both too desperate for it, too far gone to try to make it last. We just wanted to find oblivion together as quickly as possible.
And so we did, both of us watching each other's reflection in the mirror as the orgasms slammed through our systems, stealing the air from our lungs, the sound from our throats, both of us coming oddly silently save for a hiss of breath, a sharp exhale.
He slid out of me slowly, pressing a kiss to my neck before moving away, grabbing a washcloth, cleaning us both off before sliding my panties back up my thighs, settling them over my ass.
"We're late," I declared, looking down at my cell on the edge of the sink.
"And yet you aren't freaking out about it," he told me, giving my ass a small pat before moving off so I could finish getting ready.
All said and done, we were twenty minutes late, walking up past a driveway full of cars, hearing raised voices even as we walked up the front path of the bungalow Roderick had bought for his mother, a thought that made my heart swell in my chest a bit.
A good man.
That was what he was.
A good fucking man.
Cam aside, I had all but forgotten that they existed.
But they did.
He did.
And his hand slipped down to lace into mine as his hand reached for the handle.
Seeming to sense my surprise, he gave me a small smile. "It's not my house, but it will always be home," he explained a concept I didn't understand myself. "You don't ring the bell at home," he added, bringing out hands up to press a kiss to the back of mine.
I took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly as the door pushed open, as the voices inside came to a deafening silence, all heads swiveling in our direction.
Roderick had told me a lot about his sisters, about their ages, interests, talents, jobs.
He had left out one little thing about them.
They were all just stupidly, unnecessarily gorgeous. Which was no surprise because standing in the middle of them all was an older woman - their mother - and she was just as stunning.
They all had Roderick's perfect caramel skin, his inky black hair. Some had eyes as dark as his, others a lighter almost hazel brown that his mother seemed to possess. And as soon as their gazes fell on us, their smiles curved up in a very familiar way, all white teeth and, yep, dimples.
Christ.
It was like a goddamn beauty pageant in this house. Only there would never be a winner since each woman was as pretty as the last.
"Oh, mija," his mother declared, moving forward, arms outstretched, hands going up to frame my face. "I'm so happy you could make it."
And because Astrid had texted me about just being myself, the next words out of my lips were not as practiced, as refined as maybe would have been more proper.
"I don't believe there was much of a choice."
I could feel the smile freezing and falling as soon as the words were out of my mouth, but his mother's smile only widened as her hand patted my cheek.
"There wasn't," she agreed. "We knew as soon as we heard that Roderick - of all people - had himself a woman that we had to meet this creature that could make him see there is more to life than screwing around."
"And that is my mother for you," Roderick told me, giving my hand a squeeze. "Livvy, this is my mom, Grace. Mom, this is Livianna."
"It's so nice to meet you," his mom said, throwing her arms around me.
"You too," I agreed, realizing as she patted my back how long it had been since I had felt a hug from a maternal figure.
"Okay, okay, so... we have Mia and Zoe," Grace said, waving at the twins who were nearly identical except for the fact that Zoe had a nose ring. I wondered if maybe she got it for the sole purpose of it distinguishing her from her sister. "And here is Ana," she went on, waving to the middle sister who was curvier than all her other sisters. "Then there is Elisa over there by the couch. And that is Leala over there by the window," she concluded, and I couldn't help but seek out the scar on her forehead.
"So, we hear you're a gun runner," Mia declared into a somewhat awkward silence following the introductions.