“Because she’s a spoiled brat,” Tierney answered. “Valerie Gilland.” Tierney shook her head. “Boy! Was she ever a nightmare! I don’t think there’s ever been a woman that walked the earth that was as determined to ruin a man’s moral code as Valerie was to ruin Alec’s.”
“But surely…surely she knew Alec wasn’t a…you know…a gigolo, right?” Celeste asked. “So why then did she even try to…to, you know…what’s that word when you try to get a guy to…you know…”
“Seduce?” Tierney offered, smiling.
“Yeah! Why did she try to seduce him if he’s not even the kind of guy who would…you know…”
“Honestly?” Tierney began. “Because he’s handsome, and our parents are rich. She wanted him for his money…and for a trophy. I mean, you’ve heard of trophy wives, right?”
“Yeah,” Celeste affirmed.
“I think she wanted Alec simply for the money she thought he would inherit and because he cleans up well for parties and events,” Tierney finished answering.
Celeste’s smile faded, the light that had been sparkling in her gorgeous eyes lessening its luminance for a moment. “I know how that goes…unfortunately. When someone wants you for something besides who you are…like, just because you look good on his arm and stuff.” She paused a moment and then openly, and quite unexpectedly, confessed, “That’s why I want Alec. That’s why I’m so in love with him the way I am.”
Tierney felt her eyes widen with astonishment at the unexpected, brutally honest revelation of Rome’s sister.
“I think he likes me because I’m me…because I’m a total ditz and make him laugh…not because I can clean up well, as you put it.”
“So…so you’re admitting to me that you really do have strong feelings for Alec?” Tierney asked—just to be perfectly certain.
“Strong feelings? Strong feelings?” Celeste laughed. “I’m completely, unrecoverably in love with your brother, Tierney! I mean…do you want to know how in love with him I am?”
“Of course!” Tierney encouraged. Her heart was racing with gladness and joy. After all, Tierney knew just how much Alec was in love with Celeste—even if he was having difficulty letting himself charge ahead with winning her.
Leaning forward, Celeste’s beautiful eyes widened as she lowered her voice and said, “I am so in love with your brother…that I want to marry him, live with him, laugh with him…forever! And I want to be the girl that he finally does get pregnant!” Celeste blushed, adding, “I-I mean…after I marry him, of course.” Then exhaling another heavy sigh, Celeste leaned back against the hot tub, stretched her arms out on the rim on either side of her, and firmly stated, “That’s how much I’m in love with Alec.”
“Wow!” Tierney breathed.
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?” Celeste asked. “You think I’m just too…boring and dingbatty and young and for him and—”
“I think you’re perfect for him,” Tierney interrupted. “And I think you’ll be perfect together.”
Celeste smiled. “Really?”
“Really,” Tierney assured her. “I mean, once Alec gets up the nerve to actually, you know, officially pursue you…then you guys will be perfect together.”
But Celeste frowned. “What you mean…gets up the nerve to pursue me?”
Tierney laughed. Celeste was so much like her brother, Rome—somehow aware that she was attractive to others but unbelieving at the same time.
“Celeste,” Tierney began, “you look like a freaking Victoria’s Secret model! What guy isn’t going to have to work up the courage to pursue a Victoria’s Secret model?”
Celeste still frowned. “But I’m not a Victoria’s Secret model,” she grumbled unhappily.
Tierney smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with looking like a Victoria’s Secret model, Celeste. It’s just rare and really intimidating to guys…especially good guys like Alec.”
Celeste sighed, obviously unconvinced.
So Tierney ventured further with her encouragement and explanation. “Guys like my brother…they’re trying to stay gentlemen in a world where being a gentleman is considered a weakness rather than a strength.”
“You mean he’s not promiscuous when everyone thinks promiscuity now equals manliness,” Celeste offered. “I get it. Rome’s the same way.”
“Right,” Tierney said. “Therefore, Alec is intimidated by you…because…he does want to…you now…you know…”
“Sleep with me?” Celeste finished. “I know. Guys are guys. They’re made that way.”
“Well, yeah…but that’s not exactly what I mean,” Tierney began to explain. “I know my brother, and I know he has so much respect for you…that even though he is a guy and all guys have that…you know…”
“Carnal desire,” Celeste prodded.
“Yeah. But Alec…he would never hurt you or take advantage of you or anything like that. And yet he’s having a hard time believing a beautiful Victoria’s Secret, Carmen Miranda type like you could ever really find anything in him worthy of loving and committing to.”
Celeste grinned. “You mean, kind of like the way you feel about Rome.”
It was Tierney’s turn to frown then. “What do you mean?” she asked—though she immediately understood the similarity.
“Oh, come on, Tierney!” Celeste giggled. “You don’t really think I buy that act of confidence you put on with Rome, do you? When he’s flirting with you and teasing you? Sure, you come right back at him—and bravo, by the way—but all the time, you’re waiting for the dream to end. You think that he stepped out of a big box and played your Latin lover for that moment—for those moments when you guys are flirting and stuff. But then you wait for him to walk away…like you don’t believe you could really hold his interest or something.” Celeste leaned forward, “Even after the way he apparently nearly ate you alive the other night in his pickup.” Tierney blushed, and Celeste nodded, saying, “Yeah, that’s right. I know him well enough to recognize when he’s—shall we say?—preoccupied.”
“H-he told you we…that we…” Tierney stammered.
“That he nearly devoured you? Yeah, he told me. I am his sister,” Celeste affirmed. “After all, you and Alec talk about stuff…obviously.”
“He didn’t nearly devour me,” Tierney said, blushing at the thrill the memory of kissing Rome sent racing through her. “I-I don’t think it could’ve been more than, like, maybe five minutes and—”
“My brother was born in Mexico City, Tierney,” Celeste reminded her. “He’s legitimately got Latin blood coursing through his veins. And being Latin myself, I can tell you we really do have the most passionate tendencies in the world!” She giggled as Tierney shook her head and continued to blush. “I know my brother as well as you know yours, and I’m telling you—East and South Leavenworth were probably lucky they got plowed out at all the other night!”
“Oh, he’s such a good kisser, you know?” Tierney sighed, finally confiding in Celeste.
“Well, I wouldn’t know, of course,” Celeste giggled. “But I’m sure that he is.”
“No, I mean…I mean he’s like…when he kisses me, it’s exactly like something out of a movie—only much, much better!” Tierney whispered. “I swear, every time he does it, I’m afraid I’ll pass out, and I can’t get over it afterward! I can’t sleep. I can’t think of anything else!”
“Oh, I want that with Alec so badly, Tierney!” Celeste whispered. Tierney studied her a moment, the expression of near agony on her face.
“Well…maybe you should take the initiative somehow, Celeste,” Tierney suggested—although she well knew she’d never have the guts to take the initiative with Rome!
“What you mean? Like, throw myself at him or be pushy?” Celeste asked. “I’m not like that, and I don’t think I could even fake that.”
“No, I know,” Tierney said. “But maybe there’s something you can do to, like, encourage him more or something.”
“You mean like flirt with
him the way Rome does with you?” Celeste asked. “Does that encourage you toward him when he does that? Does it give you a bit more bravery to then pursue Rome?”
“I-I suppose so,” Tierney admitted once she’d thought about it a moment. “I think that if Rome didn’t flirt with me the way he did, I don’t think I’d ever have the nerve to talk to him, let alone—”
“Maybe you’re right,” Celeste interrupted thoughtfully. “Maybe I’m not sending out the right vibes to Alec. Maybe he has no concept of how strongly I feel about him.”
“Yeah. Maybe you need to give him a few more obvious hints that you’re not going to scratch his eyes out or something if he, like, asks you on a date or plants a big, old passionate kiss on you.”
“I think you’ve got something there,” Celeste said. “So you’re comparing me to Rome—telling me that if Rome weren’t so drop-dead gorgeous, you’d be a lot more confident when it came to…um…stuff with him? Right?”
Tierney didn’t answer, for she was still pondering the question in her own mind.
“And you think that, because I’m supposedly this really pretty girl, Alec might be a little—”
“Intimidated, yeah,” Tierney finished. “Add to that a few bad experiences with women and voilà! You’ve hit the nail on the head as to why Alec is dragging his feet.” Reaching out and taking Celeste’s hands in hers, Tierney firmly told her, “I promise that if you can somehow break through Alec’s terror barrier in all this…he is not going to hurt you or break your heart or anything like that. I promise.”
“How can you be so sure?” Celeste asked as the expression of heartfelt agony returned to her face. “I mean, what if I reach out a little more bravely and Alec rejects me and—”
“Oh, ladies…”
Tierney and Celeste glanced toward the path leading from the house to the gazebo and hot tub to see none other than the subjects of their conversation sauntering toward them, donning nothing but board shorts and each carrying a towel.
Tierney’s heart nearly stopped and then instantly seemed to jump into her throat as she realized Rome was sauntering toward her, intent on joining them in the hot tub. His bronze, broad, brawny chest and washboard abs caused her nerves to begin jittering. She couldn’t sit in a hot tub with him! She couldn’t! Almost painfully she wished she looked like Celeste did in her bathing suit—like a Latin goddess modeling for a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot. But instead she suddenly knew just what Mrs. Novak had meant on Halloween when she’d said she and Mr. Novak were plain, white, and boring—for Tierney instantly felt the same way in comparison with Rome and Celeste.
“Oh my gosh! He’s going to see me in a bathing suit!” Tierney whispered in a panic.
But Celeste smiled. “Yeah, and you look great!” Celeste’s smile switched places with a frown suddenly as she said, “Now Alec is going to find out just how big my hips really are.”
It wasn’t fair! Tierney could tell by the way Rome and Alec were walking that they didn’t have one shred of worry about what Tierney and Celeste would think about how they looked in their bathing suits. Women, however, had so many body issues—even perfectly shaped women like Celeste, obviously. It wasn’t fair!
Determining she’d simply have to stay in the hot tub all night if she had to—or at least until Rome wasn’t around to see her exit it and find out how plain, white, and boring her body really was—Tierney sat down on the lowest seat in the hot tub, even though it meant she had to tip her head back to keep her chin above the water. Celeste did the same, and Tierney figured that if Celeste was nervous about Alec seeing her, then every woman must feel like she looked hideous in a bathing suit.
As the men stepped up onto the gazebo, Rome tossed his towel to the railing, stretched his massively muscular arms out at his sides, and teased, “Ladies…your entertainment for the evening has arrived.”
“Entertainment, eh?” Celeste asked. “What are you going to do to entertain us, boys? You’re already half undressed.”
Tierney smiled as Alec’s eyes widened with astonishment. She looked to Celeste and offered a nod of approval. Celeste was apparently going to jump right in flirting to encourage Alec.
“Ha-ha, Celeste,” Rome said dryly.
Tierney wished she could just disappear as she watched Rome ascend the steps leading to the lip of the hot tub, obviously intent on joining her and Celeste right away. Alec strode around to the other side of the tub and climbed the second set of steps.
“And how was your day, Miss Bootylicious?” Rome asked Tierney, sitting next to her in the hot tub. Before she could answer, he reached into the water, taking hold of her arm and pulling her up to sit on the higher bench he was sitting on.
“Um…it was fine,” Tierney answered. “Long but fine.”
“Oh, I hear you there,” He sighed, closing his eyes as he stretched his arms out, resting them on the hot tub lip. “I do hear you there.”
“Me too,” Alec agreed. “I’m hoping we have awhile before the next big storm.”
“Heidi asked about you again today, Romeo,” Celeste said to Rome—a rather naughty twinkle sparkling in her eyes.
“Great,” Rome mumbled. “Did you tell her I moved away or something?”
“No,” Celeste answered. “I just changed the subject.”
“Thanks,” Rome mumbled again.
“Oh, your mom told me she’ll bring the toffee out in a minute, Celeste, okay?” Alec said. “She was just finishing breaking it up.”
“Oh, good! I was afraid I’d have to go back on my promise that this would be a decadent night!” Celeste sighed. Looking to Tierney, she asked, “Decadent, right? That’s what you said, right?”
Rome opened his eyes, smiled at Tierney, and chuckled. “Wow! What exactly did you have in mind, sugar cookie? Whatever it is, I’m game.”
Tierney blushed as she felt his arm move from the lip of the hot tub to encircle her shoulders. She could feel the muscle definition of his bicep and forearm against her skin but tried to ignore it.
“Decadent…as in the toffee sounded perfectly decadent,” she explained.
“Oh, sure,” Rome teased. Leaning toward her, however, she felt him tug at her earlobe with his teeth a moment before he whispered, “And like I said…whatever you had in mind, I’m game.”
Tierney wanted to get up and get out of the hot tub so badly! First of all, she was already feeling overly warm because of the water—actually thankful that Rome had moved her up a bit so that at least her shoulders were out and in the cool air. But his flirting had raised her temperature to an almost feverish height, and she knew she’d begin to perspire if she didn’t cool off. And yet she wasn’t about to stand up and let Rome see her plain, white, boring-in-a-bathing-suit self.
“You better watch out, Romeo,” Alec chuckled. “My sister ain’t no shrinking violet. She’s liable to come up with something you’d have to step up to one day.”
“Well, I certainly hope so,” Rome said. “And if you call me Romeo one more time, I’ll bust out your pretty front teeth.”
“Alec,” Celeste began then, slowly moving from the bottom bench of the hot tub to sit higher and very close next to Alec. Tierney smiled as she saw Alec gulp with nervousness mingled with desire.
“Yeah?” he managed.
“How come you’ve never asked me out?” Celeste’s expression was purely that of a pouty, alluring seductress, and Tierney smiled and bit her lip to keep from giggling as Alec’s face flushed red as a beet.
“What the hell’s going on?” Rome whispered into Tierney’s ear. “She’s never been so forward like that with him.”
“I know,” Tierney breathed with delight.
“Well…I-I…well, what do you mean?” Alec stammered.
“I mean, why haven’t you ever asked me out…like on a date?” Celeste repeated, playfully resting one arm on Alec’s shoulder.
“W-well…I-I didn’t think you wanted me to,” Alec managed.
“Well, I do,” Celes
te brazenly confessed. “So will you? Ask me out on a date sometime, I mean?”
“Sure,” Alec answered. “Sure. Just let me…think of something to do with you, and I will.”
But Celeste smiled. “Oh, I’m certain you can think of something to do with me, Alec,” she flirted.
“Dude!” Rome exclaimed with amusement. “You gotta come back at that one, man! Go on. Do it.”
Alec gulped again. Then, exhaling a sigh, he smiled at Celeste and said, “Oh, I can think of a lot of things to do with you, Celeste. But it’s already too hot in the hot tub, so we’ll need to wait until a bit later, all right?”
Celeste giggled with sheer and observable pleasure. Linking her arms around Alec’s arms, she nestled against him and said, “All right. I’ll wait.”
Rome looked to Tierney, frowning and grinning at the same time. Did you say something to her? he mouthed.
But Tierney shook her head, feigning ignorance.
“It’s ready!” Mrs. Novak called as she stepped up onto the gazebo seemingly out of nowhere. She was wearing an old-fashioned apron made from fabric smattered with vintage‑style images of turkeys and pumpkins, cranberries and gravy boats.
“Thanks so much, Mom,” Celeste greeted as Nikki offered the plate of toffee to each hot-tubber in turn. “There’s nothing like eating Mom’s toffee while relaxing in the hot tub.”
Tierney took a piece of toffee from the plate and said, “Thank you, Mrs.—I mean Nikki.” As she took a bite, every salivary gland in her mouth was suddenly alive with pure pleasure! It was the best piece of toffee Tierney had ever eaten, and she couldn’t help but mumble, “Mmm!”
“You’re welcome, Tierney,” Nikki said. “I’ll just set this plate right here and leave you kids to your visiting.” She set the plate on the stairs near Celeste and waved good-bye, saying, “You kids have fun!” as she hurried back up the path toward the house.
“Mmmm!” Alec sort of moaned. “I swear, Celeste, your mom’s toffee is the best in the world!”
“I know, right?” Celeste said, reaching back to take another piece from the plate.
One Classic Latin Lover, Please Page 14
