Alessandra and I spent the entire weekend at her apartment. Eating, talking, having sex. We came up for air once, when her crotchety neighbor banged on the door and yelled at us for being “too loud and vulgar,” but other than that, the days passed in a blissful haze.
We were back together. We weren’t married again, but we’d slept in the same bed and she’d invited me to her grand opening. It was a giant leap compared to our previous baby steps, and the high lasted well into Monday, when I arrived at the office an hour later than I usually did because I’d made us breakfast.
I whistled my way down the hall, ignoring my team’s wide-eyed stares.
Caroline intercepted me by the elevators and followed me to my office, where she crossed her arms and eyed me the way one would an escaped tiger. “Are you sick? Do you need me to call a doctor?”
“I’m fine.” I turned on my computer and pulled up the latest numbers.
“Why? Do I look sick?”
“No. You’re just…smiling so much.” She tapped her fingers against her arm. “Maybe I should call Dr. Stanley just in case. You have several important client meetings—”
“Caroline.” I interrupted her. “I said I’m fine. Now, do you have work updates for me, or would you rather switch to a medical career?”
She instantly snapped back to chief of staff mode. “There are rumors something big is coming out this week re: a bank,” she said. “I can’t confirm anything yet, but people are nervous. Whatever it is…it’s supposed to be seismic.”
I’d heard the same rumors. Wall Street was rife with leaks and whispers.
Half the time, they amounted to nothing, but I kept my ears to the ground anyway. “Keep digging,” I said. “I don’t want any surprises.”
“Understood.”
The rest of the workday passed uneventfully. I left the office precisely at five, which garnered me a fresh wave of jaw drops and bug eyes. No one in finance ever left work on time, but there was a first time for everything.
“Don’t stay too late,” I told one of the junior associates on my way out.
“Meet your girlfriend for dinner. Enjoy your night.”
I assumed he had a girlfriend. Otherwise, the desk photo of him with his arm around a smiling blonde was fucking weird.
He gaped at me with an odd mix of shock, terror, and reverence. “Y-yes, sir.”
I stopped by my usual floral shop on the way to Floria Designs and picked up a golden rose. They didn’t sell them normally, but I made it worth their while to fly in fresh blooms daily.
“Hey. How’s everything going?” I greeted Alessandra with a kiss.
“Good.” She looked a little frazzled, but she smiled when I handed her the rose and note. #21 out of a thousand. “I’m running around like a headless chicken, but other than that, I’m okay.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Floria Designs’ grand opening was this weekend. The shop looked great, but Alessandra wouldn’t relax until it was over. She was a perfectionist when it came to events.
“Can you clone me or add more hours to the day?” She blew a strand of hair out of her eye.
“I can have my people look into it, but I can’t guarantee you an answer you’ll like before Saturday.” I placed a hand on the small of her back and steered her toward the exit. “In the meantime, let’s eat.”
“I can’t eat. I have to answer a thousand emails, I haven’t picked out a dress for the party yet, and I—”
“Ále.” We stopped by the door. “Breathe. It’ll all get done. Tracy is arriving tomorrow, right?”
Tracy was one of her virtual assistants. She was flying in to help with prep and attend the opening. Alessandra’s other assistant just gave birth, so she couldn’t make it.
“Yes, but—”
“It’ll all get done,” I repeated. “When did you last eat? If it was before noon, dinner is nonnegotiable.”
“Fine,” she relented. A cab whooshed by when we stepped outside, blanketing us with car fumes as it nearly ran over a bike messenger. The bike messenger screamed something obscene; the cab driver rolled down his window and flipped him off. “It’s ironic you’re telling me to eat when you’re the one who always skips lunch.”
“Not always.” I kept my hand on her lower back and gently moved her so I walked on the outside of the sidewalk. “I had a black coffee and half a sandwich today.” A grin flashed at her half-amused, half-exasperated stare.
She still had work to do after dinner, so I took her to the gourmet burger shop down the street from Floria Designs. We’d just placed our orders when my phone lit up with a new message.
“Is that your brother?” Alessandra accurately read the pinch in my brow.
There was only one person in the world who drew that kind of reaction from me.
“Yes. He wants to meet for drinks.” I didn’t want to blow him off after his first normal outreach (breaking and entering my apartment didn’t count), but I sure as hell wasn’t leaving Alessandra either.
“Tell him to meet us here. I’m serious,” she said when I slid her a look laced with disbelief. “You talk about him so much, and we have to meet eventually.”
“I’m not sure he’s a burger-and-fries type of guy.”
“Ask anyway.” Alessandra reached for her soda. “It can’t hurt.”
ALESSANDRA
I regretted asking Dominic to invite his brother the minute he showed up.
Roman was both as handsome and unsettling as I remembered. He greeted me with a cool smile and was polite enough, but there was something about him that set off level-five alarms. Maybe it was the way he moved like a predator stalking the night, or maybe it was the ice anchoring that cold, green gaze. Dominic was ruthless but very much human; there was no humanity behind his brother’s eyes.
“Dom says you’re in town for work.” I attempted to make conversation after our previous discussion about the latest Nate Reynolds film petered out. “What do you do?”
He cut his burger with surgical precision. “I’m in resolutions.”
“What does that mean?”
“I fix problems other people can’t solve.” Roman offered nothing else.
I glanced at Dominic, who met my eyes with a small shake of his head.
He was used to his brother’s reticence, but part of the reason I’d asked him to invite Roman was so we could get to know each other better.
“I see.” I filled the ensuing silence with another stab at drawing Roman out of his shell. There had to be some topic he could expand on. “I guess you travel a lot then. Where were you before you came to New York?”
“Here and there.” Another clean slice of meat and bread. “I can’t talk much about work. It’s confidential. You understand.”
“Let me guess. If you told me, you’d have to kill me?” I joked.
Roman’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Something like that.”
A chill drew goose bumps out of hiding. Quiet mushroomed again, interrupted by the occasional clink of silverware and chatter from nearby tables.
“You’ve been watching too many action movies, Rome,” Dominic said just as the silence was getting unbearable. “Come up with something more original next time.”
Roman let out a small laugh. The tension dissipated, replaced by a debate over whether Keanu Reeves’ John Wick or Nate Reynolds’ Jason Rath was the better character.
I guess Roman didn’t mind talking about movies if his brother was the one who brought it up.
Dominic’s hand found mine under the table and squeezed. I squeezed back even as unease leaked into my blood. I loved that he was reconnecting with his brother, but I worried that his lingering guilt over what happened in Ohio was clouding his judgment.
How much did he really know about Roman’s life since they were teens?
“What about you, Alessandra?” Roman’s gaze settled on my face again.
“John or Jason?”
“Neither, unfortunately. I’m not big on assassin movies.”
Another laugh, this one containing a hint of something I couldn’t quite pinpoint. “Too bad. You’re missing out.”
“I doubt it,” I said lightly. I wasn’t big on blood and violence.
Explosions and car chases, yes. Torture, no.
Mocking amusement flashed in Roman’s eyes, and another rash of goose bumps pebbled my skin. There was something about him…
I tried not to judge people by their cover, but gut instinct told me he was someone that would eliminate any obstacles that stood in his way by any means necessary.
And my gut was rarely wrong.
