“I don’t mind at all,” I tell him with a smirk. It’s his house, after all. I would do the same thing in my own home. And I can respect a man who is trying to keep my sister safe.
Roman then shakes Victoria’s hand before telling her, “I’ll have your bags taken upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms.”
After Roman and Sara leave the room, Victoria whispers to me, “You told your sister I was your girlfriend, and now we’re sharing a room?”
I shrug my shoulder and give her a sheepish grin. I never corrected Sara when she assumed over the phone that I was bringing my girlfriend. And I’m definitely not going to protest to both of us sleeping in the same room in a strange house where I can keep an eye on her.
Victoria shakes her head and walks away from me in a huff.
Groaning inwardly, I realize this is going to be alongweekend.
CHAPTER 28
VICTORIA
AFTER GIVING US a tour of the downstairs of the mansion, Sara disappears upstairs while the rest of us eat lunch in the enormous dining room.
The table is big enough to sit twenty people, but the three of us all gather at one end. The tension between Damon and Roman is so thick you can practically feel it in the air, but I’m hoping that they soon put their differences aside for Sara’s sake.
“There’s one more person I’d like you to meet,” Sara says when she enters the room.
In her arms is a beautiful baby boy in a blue onesie, sucking on a pacifier. “Damon, I’d like you to meet your nephew. This is Arlo.”
Damon’s eyes snap up to meet his sister’s as he realizes she named her baby after him. Sara holds her son out to Damon, and he fumbles with the little guy before he gets a good grip. “I don’t… I’ve never…”
“It’s okay,” Sara says with a grin. “You won’t break him. Just support his head.”
Damon cups his large hand under the baby’s tiny head and holds him close to his chest. “Like this?”
“You got it,” Sara says with approval.
And seeing a baby in Damon’s arms has my ovaries nearly exploding. I turn to Sara, and she gives me a wink. Perhaps she’s trying to give us both baby fever.
When I see Damon pressing a gentle kiss to Arlo’s forehead, my heart melts, and I know in that moment that Sara succeeded.
Damon glances up to me and then does a double-take. A sexy smirk forms on his lips as he stares at me. “You want to hold him?” he asks.
I nod, unable to form words at the moment. Taking the baby into my arms, I hold him close as I coo and babble to him in only a language he would understand. He sucks on his binkie and stares up at me with big, gray eyes that match his father’s.
“You’re a natural with him,” Sara remarks.
“Yeah, she is,” Damon comments, causing my cheeks to flush.
“He’s beautiful,” I tell Sara. “He looks just like his daddy.”
This earns me a smile from Roman, who has remained mostly brooding and quiet since our arrival.
“Daddy’s little mini me,” Sara says with a smile.
Little Arlo begins to get fussy, and that’s when Sara takes him from my arms. “He never stops eating just like his daddy either,” she explains. “We’ll be back in a bit,” she tells us before leaving the room.
I watch Roman as his eyes follow Sara and his son until they’re completely out of his sight. I see an emotion in his eyes whenever he looks at them. Pure, undiluted love for his family.
I don’t know their full story yet, but I have a feeling Sara will tell us when she’s ready. And even though I know Damon is suspicious about Roman, I can’t help but think that he’s the best thing that ever happened to her. They clearly love each other. And love is all you need; right?
CHAPTER 29
DAMON
