I wilted a little at his words.
“How about we break for lunch early?” Paul Junior asked. “I could use some of that food you cooked.”
I’d forgone breakfast and went for lunch.
It was the biggest damn pot of soup I’d ever made, paired with some homemade bread.
It was meant to warm us from the inside out.
And I could definitely use a little warming.
Just as that thought occurred to me, warm, strong arms wrapped around me.
Romeo’s muscular pecs smashed my face together, but I stayed where I was, relishing in the feeling of being safe and happy and warm.
“Your dad’s a dick,” he muttered.
“I’m sorry he said that about you,” I said. “He’s said for years that I was too boy-like to pull a man. And I’m assuming he thought we were together.”
He grunted. “Don’t worry about him. You can’t control anybody’s reactions but your own.”
Still, I felt horrible.
“He’s right,” Paul Junior murmured. “Guy’s a total tool. Big John was right, too. He’s been stuck up his own ass since he met your mother. She gave him the money he craved, and he never had to work a day in his life. Your mother literally did everything for him, then left him everything when she died. I’m happy to hear, though, that she didn’t actually leave him everything. And he’s about to be kicked out of that big, fancy house.”
My lips curled at the edges. “He’s definitely leaving.”
The rest of lunch went great.
All the guys loved my soup.
Romeo didn’t stray far from me at all.
And I was left warm and happy, despite my father’s visit.
Everything was going great.
I had almost everything that I ever wanted—Birdee being nice to me. My father and my stepmother out of my life. A great job. A house—two houses if you counted the one I was kicking my father out of. Savings. A great friend. Vito and Grace.
The only thing missing was the man who loved me unconditionally.
Maybe I’d have that one day, too.
Twenty
Live, laugh, and don’t be a stupid fuck.
—Inspirational quotes to live by
Romeo
“You’re going to make a move on that, right?”
I looked at Mable brushing out Shadow and shook my head. “No.”
“What?” Apollo’s incredulous words as he loaded his belongings into his rental car’s trunk had me turning to survey him.
“Why do you sound so shocked right now?” I asked.
