by Leslie Kelly
“He has his good points,” Chloe said.
Troy glanced at Trent’s clothes. “Obviously not when it comes to his wardrobe. I don’t know which is worse,” he said to Venus, “that you were kissing my brother, or that you mistook him for me to begin with. I wouldn’t be caught dead in those jeans or work boots.”
Trent snorted, staring pointedly at Troy’s rumpled shorts and bare chest. “Oh, right, Mr. Style Plate. What’s the matter, forget to forward your GQ subscription when you moved?”
Chloe raised a suggestive brow. “I don’t know, honey. Your brother definitely has the legs for this look.” Then she pursed her lips and gave a wolf whistle. “Not to mention the chest.”
Troy smirked at his twin as Trent tightened his arm possessively. “Still playing the caveman, I see?”
Trent’s gaze shifted to Venus, then back to Troy. “I’d better move over to make some room for you. Go ahead and grab a mastodon leg and sidle on up to the fire, little brother.”
“Are they always like this?” Venus asked.
“Always,” Chloe replied. “But if anyone else criticizes one of them you’re in for a brawl.”
Trent turned to his wife. “Damn straight. No one tells my brother he’s a pompous, arrogant ass except me.”
“And me,” Venus quietly interjected.
“Oh, I knew I was going to like you,” Chloe said with a grin. “You’ve looked past his hotshot facade though, haven’t you? I hope so. Because there’s something rather endearing about these two, in spite of the exterior package.”
Venus gave Troy a long, assessing look, knowing the others could see her frank appreciation for his looks. “Can I admit I’m one shallow woman and have grown rather fond of the exterior package?”
Chloe gave Trent a look every bit as appreciative. “I guess that makes two of us.”
Trent crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Now, are you going to apologize for believing I’d tell my brother about our date in the store? Are we finished with the cold shoulder?”
Troy looked truly amused. “You really got in trouble?”
Trent glared. “I had to take a day off and fly up here at the crack of dawn this morning with Chloe just to get this straightened out.”
“Oh, baloney,” Chloe said. She turned to Troy. “We came to meet Venus.”
“Me? Why?”
“We’ve been waiting for this day,” Chloe informed her. “I could hear in his voice that it had finally come. And getting a glimpse of this guy so jealous he could barely see straight? That was worth ten times what we paid in airfare. We wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”
Venus began to wonder if pregnancy affected the brain cells, because the woman wasn’t making much sense. “Missed what?”
Chloe plopped into an overstuffed chair and lifted her feet onto a footrest. She crossed her arms over her swollen belly and stared at them, like someone waiting for a show to begin.
“Well, missed seeing some woman turn Troy into a complete driveling idiot. And here you are.” Chloe nodded in satisfaction. “I’m so very happy to meet you.”
WHEN TROY HAD PICTURED taking Venus to a theme park for the day, he’d imagined them holding hands, riding rides until they felt sick, eating a bunch of junk food and stealing hot, passionate kisses in dark tunnels. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughter. Lots of that wonderfully wicked attitude of hers.
He hadn’t pictured his twin being in the third seat on every roller coaster, and his pregnant sister-in-law watching over them from any shady spot they could find for her.
Such was their day at Six Flags.
“A double date at a theme park,” Venus said late in the afternoon. The four of them sat at an outdoor table, eating drippy ice cream. Chloe had to sample all their cones, insisting the baby hadn’t yet decided what flavor was his or her favorite. “This is just so utterly…”
“Fabulous?” Chloe offered.
Trent sighed and two-pointed his balled-up napkin into a nearby trash can. “Sappy?”
Troy raised a brow. “Middle class?”
“I was going to say unexpected,” Venus said with a chuckle as she gave Troy a light elbow to the ribs. “But how about we settle for all of the above?”
“I don’t think we’ve double-dated since freshman year of college,” Trent said. He shot Troy a taunting look. “Those blond twins in my lit 101 class.”
Troy instantly knew what his brother meant. “Don’t.”
“I owe you for the store.”
“Say one more word and I’ll tell Chloe about Penny Marsden.”
“Penny Marsden?” Chloe said, perking right up.
Trent groaned. “Jeez, that was eighth grade!”
“Good grief, Troy. Don’t tell me Trent was as much of an early Don Juan as you,” Venus muttered. “Two horny fourteen-year-old twins on the prowl? Your parents must have gone nuts.”
Chloe sat up straight and put her hands flat on her belly, as if protecting the ears of her unborn child. “Fourteen?”
Trent looked like he wanted to reassure her, but Troy’s confident smirk made him shut his mouth, just as he knew it would. His ten-minutes-older brother hated like hell to admit Troy had beat him at anything, including losing his virginity.
“Trent?” Chloe prompted.
“Aw, hell,” his brother finally admitted. “So, for once, he did something first. I was sixteen.”
“And a good thing, too,” Venus said. “You were quite busy crashing cars, from what I hear. You didn’t need the succession of women sneaking out of your room at night.”
“Cars?” Chloe asked, fisting a hand and putting it on her hip. “As in plural?”
“From his street racing,” Venus informed the other woman helpfully. Troy began to feel a hint of sympathy for his brother, who was going to have a really ticked-off, emotionally whacked-out pregnant woman to deal with when they got home.
This time Chloe almost snarled. “Street racing? Dammit, Trent Langtree, you said you never drove fast!”
“You’re dead meat,” Trent promised, looking ready to send some fists flying in Troy’s direction for telling Venus about his wild teenage years.
“Venus,” Troy asked, standing and tossing his napkin in the trash. “Care to risk death on the Superman ride again?”
Casting a quick, assessing look between Trent and Chloe, Venus nodded and leapt to her feet. “Less dangerous than here!”
Wrapping her fingers trustingly in his, she willingly followed him away from the other couple.
They spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the park, heading home at dusk. Troy couldn’t remember when he’d had a better, happier, less stressful day.
It wasn’t just being at a park designed for good times and fun. They’d all instantly taken to one another, and the four of them had spent most of the day in the kind of comfortable, friendly companionship which usually required years to cultivate. Trent and Chloe obviously really liked Venus. And she seemed to like them, too. She also seemed to like being away from the estate, able to be herself and not worry about wearing the right clothes or using the correct eating utensil.
The only serious moment came in the car when they were driving back to Max’s estate late that night. “I’m so sorry we have to leave tonight on the red-eye,” Chloe said. “I’d love to visit with you some more, Venus. Next time.”
“Yes,” Venus agreed. “You’ll have to come up to Baltimore. We’ll catch an Orioles game.”
“Baltimore?” Trent said, looking surprised. “You’re not staying in Atlanta?”
Troy tensed, waiting for her answer.
“No, of course not. This is just a vacation. A…trial run.”
“But I thought you’d be staying here with your grandfather,” Chloe continued. “He’d love that, I’m sure.”
Beside her in the car, which they’d borrowed from Max for the drive to the park since his was too small, Troy waited to see what she’d say. They hadn’t spoken about Venus’s po
ssible relationship to Max since the day she’d arrived, both seeming to want to take things as they came.
“I don’t know how much Troy has told you,” Venus explained.
“Not much,” Troy assured her.
She took his hand, lacing her fingers with his on the vacant seat between them. “I don’t honestly know if Max is my grandfather. You know, I suppose, about his son?”
Chloe didn’t, but Trent and Troy told her about the man’s death. When they’d finished, she said, “So Leo has found some kind of evidence that made him believe you were Max Jr.’s long-lost baby, making you Mr. Longotti’s granddaughter.”
“Yes,” Venus said. “But, to be honest, when I got here Monday, I truly didn’t want him to be.”
Just as Troy had suspected. He wondered if she’d explain why.
“Really?” Chloe asked, not pressing for more information.
Venus nodded. “It seemed easier to not believe it. You see, I’ve held on to this fantasy for a long time.”
Trent leaned forward from the back seat, where he sat with his wife. “Fantasy?”
Venus’s answering laughter was soft and sounded almost sad. “I’ve thought about my father since I was a little girl. Who he was, what he looked like, where he lives now. I guess I convinced myself that one day he was going to show up at my door, having just found out about me.”
Troy tried to focus on the highway and not on the hint of hurt in the voice of someone he truly cared about.
“When Leo showed up at the bar last week with his crazy story, I…well, my first reaction was to wish I’d never laid eyes on him. I didn’t want to believe it.”
Troy was about to ask why she’d agreed to come to Atlanta with the man, if that were the case, but Chloe spoke first. “And now? Have you changed your mind? This morning, it seemed like you and Max were very close.”
“He’s great,” Venus admitted. “I’ve never known anyone who could make me laugh so hard or who had more common sense. He’s incredibly generous. And while he can be caustic and tough, he’s much more vulnerable than he’d ever want anyone to realize.”
Trent could sense her smile, though he couldn’t see her face well in the shadowy confines of the car. “You love him,” he stated, believing what he’d said, “even though you just met him.”
She didn’t deny it. “Max is a wonderful man. I wish I’d gotten to meet him long ago.”
The woman had opened up her heart and let Max in after only a few days. She’d let her feelings for him ease into the empty part of herself that had been reserved for her lost father for decades. For all her toughness, Venus had again confirmed her innate sensitivity and capacity to care.
Troy had to ask. “So, Venus, if you’ve come to that realization…do you plan to stay? Permanently?”
After a long pause, when she glanced out the window to watch the approaching lights of oncoming cars, she softly murmured, “I honestly don’t know, Troy.”
He didn’t lose heart—well, that wasn’t correct since he suspected he’d already lost his heart. To her. But it was only Thursday night. He had three more days to change her mind.
Because, if he had his way, Venus wasn’t going anywhere.
11
ON FRIDAY, Venus agreed to spend the entire day with Max. Troy had gone into the office early, saying he needed a day of work to recover from their trip to the theme park. Troy’s teasing hadn’t disguised his uncertainty. It had been evident since last night when he’d asked whether she’d be staying on in Atlanta. He hadn’t asked her to. He’d said nothing to make her think he wanted her to, but she suspected he did.
How she could be so sure, she honestly couldn’t say. She didn’t delude herself that he’d fallen madly in love with her and couldn’t bear for her to leave. They had a serious case of the hots going on. Their physical relationship was the most intense she’d experienced in her life. Venus wasn’t ready for that to end any more than Troy seemed to be.
Late during the previous night, however, as she lay in his arms exchanging lazy kisses and whispers, she’d again acknowledged there was more than desire—on both their parts.
Guys who wanted only to nail a woman didn’t typically introduce her to their families or take her on the floorless coaster over and over until they both thought they were going to be sick. Women who wanted only sex didn’t automatically feel cherished because of the man’s hand on her waist or his knowing smile.
He liked her as much as she liked him. With her track record for dating losers, finding a man she just enjoyed being with—holding hands or sharing a cold bottle of water on a hot day—left her confused. She felt the way she had with Raul last year. Attraction had segued to liking. Then the realization that they could never have anything more permanent had made her walk away. She’d understood she couldn’t risk losing her heart over someone moving in a different direction in his life.
Like Troy? Yeah. Like Troy.
Considering how soon she’d started feeling this way, she suspected Troy was a much bigger threat to her heart than Raul ever could have been. She’d thought she might eventually love Raul. She already knew she was falling in love with Troy. Not good when she was going back to Maryland in two days.
So stay here, a little voice told her.
A few days ago, she would have said no, absolutely not. Now she had to wonder. What was there to go back to in Baltimore? She had no job, not much of a home. Her friendships were strong enough to last in spite of distance and time between visits.
Max might well be her only living blood relative—a relative she’d liked on sight and now could honestly say she cared deeply about, as Troy had suggested last night. Max wasn’t a young man. At times over the past few days he’d seemed tired and a bit confused, once even calling her Violet. Yesterday morning he’d mentioned Max Jr. being in the backyard playing ball, as if mixing up the events of the present with events forty years ago.
Who knew how long she’d have to enjoy him, her final connection to the father she’d never seen? If she left, she might be leaving behind much more than she’d ever expected to find when she’d boarded that plane from Baltimore on Monday morning.
As she walked outside to meet Max for breakfast, she paused in the doorway. He sat at a patio table beside the pool, sipping his tea, watching a pair of blue jays winging in and out of the leaves of a huge magnolia tree. Looking beyond him to the pool and the rolling lawn, she pictured what Max was seeing.
Max Jr.
On a sunny summer morning like this, he’d be swimming or perhaps playing baseball—breaking a window, getting scolded by his mother, and secretly praised for his swing by his father.
She could imagine him, visualize him, almost hear his voice. She was beginning to know him through Max’s loving memories. Maybe in allowing his father into her heart, she’d be able to know her own father. And finally let the fantasy fade away.
Feeling more sure than she’d ever felt about anything, Venus walked to the table and kissed Max on the cheek. “Good morning.”
Looking incredibly pleased, he took her hand. “Good morning to you. Ready for that shopping trip?”
Venus poured herself a glass of raspberry iced tea and shook her head. Then she told him what she wanted to do today.
He blinked twice, glancing down at his own clenched fingers. Max’s voice shook slightly as he asked, “You’re sure?”
Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “I am. If you don’t mind, I’d really like to see some photos of Max Jr. and your wife.”
He nodded again, still averting his gaze. As he reached for his cup, Venus touched his hand. When he looked up and met her stare, she saw moisture in his eyes. “And Max, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to go ahead and schedule that DNA test.”
THE SUN WAS BRIGHT in her room the next morning when Venus awoke. She noticed one thing immediately—the weight of Troy’s arm across her waist. “Troy, you overslept,” she hissed, glancing toward her bedroom door.
Max m
ight like the idea of her and Troy as a couple. He’d hinted at it again last night when the three of them had blown off the party and gone out to play miniature golf instead. But she didn’t know how he’d feel about finding out they were already lovers…and had been since her second day in town!
She giggled, remembering how offended Max had been in the limo on the way to the party when she’d claimed golf was not a sport, but a way for rich guys to pretend to be athletic. Ordering the driver to detour to the nearest mini course, he’d challenged her to a game. Ten bucks a hole. He’d beaten the pants off her, as had Troy. But at least neither of them had collected on the bet.
Lying in Troy’s arms, she still couldn’t imagine what the other golfers—a mix of families with kids begging for tokens for the nearby video game, and teen couples on first dates—had thought of them. Two men in tuxes, her in the glorious red silk dress Troy had gotten for her, laughing as they argued their way through the course.
“What time….” Troy mumbled.
“It’s after eight.”
“Saturday,” he replied, not even opening his eyes.
“Max’s golf morning, which we know he takes very seriously. He could be knocking on my door to say goodbye at any moment.”
That got his eyes open. He sat up in bed, giving her a quick good morning kiss and a slower goodbye one. “I think we need to stop sneaking around and come clean with Max,” he whispered against her lips before finally pulling away to get out of bed.
“I know,” she agreed. “But let’s tell him, not show him.” She couldn’t resist casting an appreciative glance over his naked body. She sighed audibly, wanting him again already.
“Maybe I’d better take the back way out.” He quickly donned a pair of briefs, which didn’t fit well considering his body’s reaction to her stare. “It would be bad enough running into anyone coming out of your room. I don’t think there’s any way I could hide this.”
