I giggled because she was not kidding. Cathy Leblanc loved her son, and when shit had gone down with Roman and me, she’d made it clear she would not be taking sides between her “children.” But, the day after Roman exchanged our entire life for fifty percent of his precious company, she showed up at my door with a bottle of wine and a can of lighter fluid. About three weeks later, she must have had a change of heart, because she showed up with a bottle of wine and a fire extinguisher. “Just in case,” were her words.
Kristen impatiently cocked her head to the side, insisting on a verbal answer.
“Some things…well, happened today,” I stammered out.
Kristen was family, but I was in no rush to tell people about what had happened at the police station. We didn’t know for certain if there was anything to tell. It could have been some huge mix-up nothing ever came of.
Or it could have been some huge mix-up where Roman and I had another child—one who’d lived longer than twelve minutes.
My eyes closed painfully. “Oh God,” I whispered.
Roman’s arm once again folded around my waist, and this time, I didn’t fight. I swayed back against his chest.
“Uh, are y’all back together?” Kristen asked.
My eyes popped open as I declared, “No.”
However, just as quickly, I heard Roman say, “Maybe.”
I jerked from his hold on me and glanced over my shoulder. “What? No!” I insisted.
He shot me an arrogant grin then repeated, “Maybe.”
“Roman!” I yelled, all but stomping my foot.
He ignored me completely and turned his attention back to his sister. “What are you doing here?”
She was watching us with a wide smile that said she really liked the idea of Roman’s maybe.
Traitor!
Lifting a paper bag in the air, she replied to him, “Convincing her.”
“Ah!” he said in understanding.
I, however, was clueless. “Convincing me of what?”
They both ignored me.
“You gonna let me in or not?” she asked.
This time, our responses were reversed.
Roman quickly snapped, “No.”
While I replied, “Maybe.”
Her eyebrows shot up as she suppressed a laugh. “Maybe?”
“Depends. What are you trying to convince me of?”
She shrugged. “Nothing now. Seems my little brother is going to be doing his own version of convincing.”
Roman chuckled.
I swung a glare between the two of them that would have frozen normal people, but unfortunately, there was nothing normal about either one of them.
“No one is doing any convincing,” I declared.
“Okay,” they replied in unison.
That was a bad sign. A really fucking bad sign. It meant they were going to be secretly convincing, which was eleventy billion times worse than normal convincing, and it also guaranteed that I would ultimately be convinced, because I knew they wouldn’t stop until I was. It was the Leblanc way.
I cursed under my breath, which earned me a mouth-watering smirk from Roman and a sugary-sweet smile from Kristen.
I groaned and moved from the doorway to allow her entry.
She didn’t hesitate in accepting the invitation. “I brought sushi and wine.”
“Roman’s assistant is delivering gyros,” I smarted.
She stopped midway to the kitchen, cutting her gaze to her brother, and hissed, “Seth?”
Roman rolled his eyes before tagging the bag from her hand, carrying it to the counter, and unceremoniously plopping it down. “I’m not firing the guy.”
“You have got to be kidding!” she returned, charging after him.
“Wait.” I jogged to keep up. “This is Seth Seth? The asshole Seth who never called back, Seth? Seth the nice cock, all night long, Seth?”
“Jesus, fuck. Seriously?” Roman grumbled. “I don’t need to know that shit.”
“I thought we discussed this!” she told his back.
He got busy pulling the sushi from the bag. “You talked. I listened. But what I did not do is agree to fire a man because things did not work out with my sister. This being after I told my sister not to pursue something with one of my employees.”
Lasers shot from Kristen’s eyes, but Roman’s aura seemed impenetrable.
He lifted a pair of chopsticks in the air and asked, “Did you get extra wasabi?”
I swiftly stepped between the two of them, fearing a brawl in the middle of my kitchen. That brawl being a verbal one but no less messy.
“Okay, okay. Let’s chill out.”
“Where’s the lighter fluid?” Kristen questioned, glowering at her brother as he shoved a piece of sashimi in his mouth, completely unaffected.
A laugh sprang from my throat, causing all eyes to swing my way.
“I’m sorry,” I told Kristen. “It’s just…” I miss this. I continued to laugh and waved the rest of my statement off.
I glanced back at Roman and found him leaning against the counter, his weight resting on his hip, his legs crossed at the ankle, a smile showing on his chewing mouth.
Gorgeous.
And comfortable.
And so fucking right.
Oh God.
I kept laughing because it felt amazing for the first time in as long as I could remember.
Do not get used to this.
“Wine?” I asked through a giggle just as another knock came.
Kristen was immediately off and stomping to the door.
I started to go after her, fearing a brawl of a different nature, when Roman caught my bicep.
“Don’t,” he ordered, sliding an arm around my waist.