“I’m going to be a terrible mother,” Zoey cried, scrunching her face up.
“Aye.” Val reached for her.
Angie and Leo both sighed gratefully when he pulled Zoey off of the chair and onto her feet.
Val had his arm around her waist in seconds, keeping his palm held flat against her stomach as he circled around behind her, cradling her body delicately to his as he whispered in her ear. “What did I say about the words you choose to describe my wife?”
“I’m not your wife, yet.” Zoey pouted.
“You’re my heart. You’re my wife.” He spread his fingers against her belly, sneaking them under her tankini top, flattening his skin on hers. Against his will, Val’s eyes move to Angie, saw her looking back at him, and that dark feeling he’d been running from re-emerged. He closed his eyes, fought it back, and tried to remind himself of what really mattered. The woman in his arms, and the life growing inside of her. “We could elope tomorrow, and make it official.” He scared himself when he realized he wasn’t even joking.
“We can’t elope.” Zoey sniffled. “Not until Roman has made it right with Tony and Bette. The whole family has to be there, or no wedding!”
“That kind of defeats the purpose of eloping,” Val said.
“Then we wait. Until everything is set right.” Zoey let her head fall back against his shoulder.
“Are you having fun?” he asked, kissing the skin underneath her ear.
“Mmhm,” she purred. “I’ve only cried twice so far.”
“That’s my baby,” Val cooed, running his hand soothingly over her stomach. “Proud of you, Zo.”
“I’m proud of you, too.” She let her eyes flutter closed as they began a slow sway that didn’t fit with the upbeat hip-hop music booming through the air, but made complete sense to them.
Soon, they’d swayed completely away from Leo and Angie.
For that, Leo was grateful.
“Go somewhere with that,” he said, waving a hand.
His eyes watched Val and Zoey for a moment longer, cringing, before he moved his eyes over to Angie.
“How you doing, Angie Colt?” Leo smiled and scooted deeper into Zoey’s chair, closer to Angie. He leaned on his knees, and shot a look at Roman across the pool. Just like Leo knew he would be, Roman was watching them like a hawk. His eyes went back to Angie. “You look hot as hell tonight.”
Angie’s mouth dropped into a smile. “Thanks Leo. Zoey always did have a gift of slutting me up just right.”
“And what a gift it is.” Leo grinned. “I’d love to dance with you.”
From where she was eavesdropping a few feet away, still encircled in Val’s arms, Zoey’s eyebrows shot up. She immediately craned her neck to hear the conversation, eyeing Leo suspiciously.
“That is, if it’s okay with the ticking time bomb over here,” Leo said, nodding to Zoey.
Zoey looked to Angie, then back to Leo.
“Whatever,” Zoey said, wondering what Leo was up to.
Leo’s bright, golden eyes hit Angie, once more.
Something moved in her. She wondered, as she took Leo’s outstretched hand, if there was a single member of this family that wasn’t heart-stoppingly attractive. She squealed when he pulled her to her feet, giving more of his strength than was necessary, catching her with a laugh when she flew into his chest. To her amazement, he towered over her even more than Roman, something she’d been convinced wasn’t possible until that moment.
As Val left her to tend to the bbq, Zoey watched Leo as he led Angie to a small open area off to the side of the pool. A Latin song started, and they moved to the beat with a few feet of space between them. It was innocent enough, so Zoey’s eyes soon began to wander.
As luck would have it, her eyes landed right on Roman where he stood on the other side of the pool. He looked about two seconds from charging over to Leo, and killing him right where he stood.
Zoey looked back to Leo, and she realized what he was doing.
“Leave it to Leo,” she said to herself.
Leonardo Romanovsky had always been messy.
Tonight was apparently no exception.
12
“You’re house is so beautiful,” Angie said as Leo took her hand and guided her into a spin. She twirled with ease, catching on to the beat quickly. She allowed him to lead, following his steps and moving into his transitions without missing a beat.
The surprise in his eyes was apparent. “You’re a good dancer,” he said.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
He spun her, again, and then dipped her. When she took it all like a pro, tossing her straightened hair as she came back up, his eyes came alive.
“God damn,” he said, appreciatively.
Angie waved a hand, her smile widening when he touched her hip for the first time, running the tips of his fingers along them as they rotated. He moved his own hips in time. He was letting her lead now, his eyes roaming her body appreciatively as they moved together with a fluidity that only came when two dancers had a natural chemistry.
“My mother forced me to take salsa classes for the first twelve years of my life. I hated it so badly that she finally stopped making me go, but I guess it’s one of those things that’s like riding a bike.”
They spun around each other, moving to the music.
“Did you say you liked this house?” he asked, going back to her earlier comment.
“I love it. So beautiful. So relaxing.”
He touched her hips again, and the song changed. It was another salsa song. The DJ must have seen the small crowd that had formed around Leo and Angie, and decided to keep their show going a little longer. This time, Leo reclaimed the lead, guiding them into a different beat.
“You can come here any time you want. I mean that. My door is always open for any woman who can salsa.”
Angie beamed. “Thank you, Leo. I’ll definitely be taking you up on that. You’ll be kicking me out of here by the time it’s all over.”
“Never.” He matched her smile with one of his own. As their footwork grew more complicated, their flow grew tighter, and soon they were moving as if they were one, each knowing what the other was going to do before they even did it. Leo brought her in close, holding her to him as they rotated their hips. In the distance, he could hear whoops of appreciation at the sexy stance they’d taken, but his eyes held hers.
“I know you’re the reason my brother is here tonight.”
Angie let him spin her, gasping when he took her around the waist and brought her body back to his, even closer this time. Her hips swayed in time with his, arms going around his shoulders.
“The truth is, I only asked you to dance to piss Roman off,” he admitted.
She had to smile at that. If he only knew. Trying to make Roman jealous was a fool’s game. Fuck buddies didn’t get jealous when their fuck buddy danced with other people.
“I hate to break it to you, Leo, but you’re wasting your time,” she said.
He squinted with a grin. “Am I?”
For the first time, she looked away from Leo, away from the little dance world they’d allowed themselves to disappear into, and caught eyes with Roman. He was watching them from the other side of the pool. The look in his eyes told her he’d been watching for quite a while.
“Sometimes my older brother needs a little help opening his eyes.”
Angie’s eyes went back to Leo.
“He needs his family, he needs us, and you helped him see that.” He moved her into another spin, waiting until he had her body back against his to say his next words. His nose brushed hers, warm breath hitting her lips with every word he said. “So it’s only fair that I help him see how much he needs you, right?”
She instinctively locked her fingers around Leo’s neck, realizing a new appreciation for him. She’d always had him pegged as the cad of the bunch. The jokester. The one who kept people at arms length with sarcasm and mockery, protecting a fragile heart with quick wi
t and derision. She’d avoided him because of it, and was embarrassed to see that she’d judged him, not just unfairly, but prematurely. This was Leo in his purest form. For the first time, Angie saw him—really saw him--clear as day.
Her eyes went back to Roman.
Yep, he was still watching.
“Fair is fair, right?” Leo asked.
“He looks pissed.”
“Good. When his head is this far up his ass, anger is the only thing he responds to.” He shook her softly.
Angie looked back to him.
“Seriously. Thank you, Angie.” His golden eyes searched her face. “Thank you for bringing my brother home.”
Angie couldn’t respond. The emotion that she saw in Leo’s eyes had, alarmingly, all but flooded her body, as well. Her eyes went back to Roman, and a new fear ran through her.
She hadn’t just fallen in love with a man who only saw her as a friend.
She was quickly falling in love with his family, as well.
And she was, now more officially than ever, a dead woman.
***
At first Zoey had been confused about why Leo had come up to Angie and asked her to dance out of the blue. The two had always been civil to the bare minimum. Hello, how are you and goodbye had made up the bulk of Angie and Leo’s conversations in the ten years they’d known each other.
One look at Roman glowering on the other side of the pool, however, and Zoey had quickly realized what her messy brother Leo was up to.
She was eager to be apart of the messiness.
She moved to the other side of the pool and snuck up behind Roman, who was so busy watching Angie he didn’t even notice she was right behind him. She lingered for a long time, waiting for him to feel her heavy breathing on the back of his neck, the heat of her body hovering less than an inch away, anything.
He never moved his eyes from Angie and Leo, who were moving their bodies to the salsa music with such skill that a small crowd had begun to form around them. They smiled and laughed their way through each move. It seemed that the wider Angie and Leo’s smiles got, and the closer their bodies moved, the harder Roman’s chest heaved.
It was obvious to Zoey that her oldest brother had it bad for Angie, whether he knew it or not. What she found even more amusing was that Roman wasn’t even watching Angie. He was watching every other man who was watching Angie.
He was watching Leo.
Zoey gave herself a pat on the back for what an amazing job she’d done making Angie look hot tonight. Not only did Angie feel good about herself, but every man had their eye on her, and in extension, were driving Roman to the brink. He looked like he wanted to beat the daylights out of every eye on Angie’s petite little body, but couldn’t, because no one had yet to provoke him appropriately. She and Leo were just dancing, after all, and the people watching them were enjoying the show immensely. Of course Roman couldn’t step in and clock his brother in the nose. He would have looked like a complete psychopath.
What he didn’t seem to realize was that staring at her from across the pool was making him look pretty crazy, as well.
“I see you watching every guy that even breathes near her,” Zoey finally said, coming up to her toes as she spoke into his ear from over his shoulder. “You seem mad. And jealous.”
Roman didn’t even look at her, not breaking his eyes away from Leo for a moment.
Realizing what a genius Leo was, and how perfectly his plan was working, Zoey provoked Roman even more. “You look about two seconds from rearranging Leo’s face. He’s your baby brother.”
Roman finally responded. “You don’t know men. Do you see the way he’s touching her?”
“They’re dancing salsa, touching her is kinda the whole point.”
Roman shook his head rapidly, as if trying to shoo away an annoying fly, and didn’t respond.
“As if you haven’t been staring at her ass all night long,” Zoey said. “I’ve been watching you.”
Roman finally craned his head and looked at her. “It’s different with me.”
She came up next to him. “How? You have the nerve to get jealous over a woman you’re treating like a fuck buddy? You can’t have your cake and eat it, too, Prince Charming. Unless you don’t really see her as a fuck buddy, at all…”
“Mind your business.” He looked back to Angie and Leo, taking a sip of his beer. The frown on his face seemed to have been permanently etched there.
“You like Angie,” Zoey sang, her voice going higher with every word she sang.
“Zoey. Mind your business.”
Zoey shot a look at Angie, who had somehow found herself squeezed in between Leo and Gary, all three looking like they were having the time of their lives.
Zoey couldn’t help a devious smile. Now Gary was in on the plan, as well.
Roman’s head looked on the brink of explosion, his breathing picking up exponentially.
“They’re just having fun,” Zoey objected.
Since Roman couldn’t direct his apparent anger at the people he really wanted to, he turned to Zoey. “Why do you care so much about whether or not I’m looking at Angie? You’re the one acting like some scorned lover.”
Zoey cocked her head back. “Um, Angie and I are practically lovers, Sir. Seriously. We’re one drunken night away from starting a lesbian partnership.”
Roman couldn’t help the slow smile that spread across his face.
When his smile grew into a laugh that shook his shoulders, Zoey couldn’t help but smile back, even as she attempted to maintain a serious expression.
Their laughter came to a halt when Angie suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.
They looked over just in time to see Gary shoving Leo and Angie both into the pool. Neither of them had seen the push coming, because they both screamed the whole way down, a huge splash flying up from the pool as they disappeared underneath.
Angie came up for air, still screaming, and Leo came up shortly after, laughing heartily.
Zoey’s eyes went to Roman, clapping a hand on his shoulder when she saw the annoyance in his eyes.
She, literally, felt like she had to hold him back.
Nudging him once more, Zoey lowered her voice. “Now you know good and well her tits are way too small to be a blip on Leo’s radar, and she and Gary have hated each other, pretty much, since the moment they met. Maybe you should spend less time daydreaming about the various ways you want to murder your two brothers right now, and start thinking about why you care this much about who your “friends with benefits” is dancing with.” Zoey threw her hands up when Roman cut a look at her. “I’m just saying.”
He shrugged her hand off his shoulder and moved away.
Zoey watched Roman go. She waited until he’d disappeared inside the house before she looked to Leo and gave him a thumbs up and an obvious wink.
Rubbing the water away from his face, Leo stuck his tongue out and trapped it between his smiling teeth, giving her a thumbs up, as well.
“A mess,” Zoey whispered, dropping her hand and looking back toward the house.
They all recognized that Roman was fighting a battle that he didn’t have to fight. Love was always easier than war, but he seemed downright determined to go to battle. What Roman didn’t realize was that the only person he’d waged war on was himself.
Right now, he was winning.
***
Later that night, Angie stumbled up the stairs of the house with Leo’s assistance. He had Angie on one arm, and his nighttime company on the other. Angie waved goodbye to him and his guest, a leggy blonde with breasts bigger than her head, watching as he guided her towards the door of his own bedroom, stumbling noisily into the walls as they went.
The party had finally died down, and it was official.
Angie’d had the time of her life.
Pushing open the door to the bedroom she and Roman had claimed earlier in the night, she yearned to see his face. He’d been strangely quiet the entire night, and she
wondered why he’d disappeared so early in the party. Leo, Gary and Zoey had kept her so occupied all night with drinks and dancing that she’d forgotten about all of her problems.
Including her biggest problem of all. Roman Romanovsky.
Still, as she stepped into the room, she was extremely excited to see him, proving that her independence had been short lived. He still owned her in every way a man could own a woman.
Once she was inside, her mouth dropped at the sight that greeted her.
Red candles lined the edges of the room, running along each wall, across the window sill, and even the top of the dresser, where they flickered in the reflection of the mirror hanging above it.
Roman stood up from where he’d been lighting the last of the candles on the other end of the room, and met her eyes.
He blushed. “I thought you’d be down there for a little while longer.”
“Roman.” Angie stepped in and closed the door. “What is this?”
He motioned to the candles. “I don’t know. I thought it be nice.”
She stumbled to the bed, falling onto her arms and crawling on top of it, towards him. “It’s better than nice, it’s beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.”
She fell onto her back, arching it as she looked at him upside down. “I’m not beautiful,” she drawled.
He moved to the bed, placing his arms on either side of her head as he looked at her upside down. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, the tip of her nose, each cheek, her tilted chin, every place but her lips, which she had parted softly, whispering hushed pleas.
“You’re beautiful.” He placed another kiss to her chin. “Brilliant.’” Her nose. “Kind.” Her cheeks. “You’re strong, but at the same time, never afraid to be weak.” Finally, he pressed a kiss to her lips. “You’re truly one of a kind. And, apparently you’re a hell of a salsa dancer, too.”
She reached up and cupped his face. “You saw me out there?”
“I saw you. You were glorious. No one could take their eyes off you.”
“Your brothers are so much fun. And Leo is a sweetheart, I had no idea. And your friends, my god, I had no idea there were people in this world capable of having so much fun. I’ve got to start getting out of my weird little bubble more often. Who knew there were so many comedians in the world? Your friends are a riot.”
Claiming Roman Page 20
