Tangled: A Moreno Brothers novella (11 page)

In this guy’s case, he’d advised him to talk to his wife and try
to work it out. She’d only
considered
cheating, and he did make sure to
mention how fucking pushy the doctor was. Though Romero hadn’t told him about
them being in the car together. He said he knew because she’d told her sister about
the doc being so damn pushy. Hopefully, he’d insist she quit the job.

It was something that had stayed with him for weeks afterward and,
since he was now still thinking about it, obviously
years
. A couple of
weeks after he’d been done with that particular case, while playing pool in
Angel’s garage, he posed the question to them.

Angel had mentioned his neighbor’s house was up for sale because
they were getting divorced. He said he was pretty sure there’d been some
infidelity though he didn’t know the specifics. Once again, the case of the
almost-cheating wife had come to mind.

“Let me ask you guys something,” Romero said as Alex bent over to
take a shot. “If any of you found out your wife had a flirtation going on with
a co-worker or whatever but didn’t actually cheat and she promised it’d never
happen again, would you still dump her?”

They’d all stopped and stared at him, speechless for a moment. “Did
Izzy—?”

“Shut your mouth!” Romero said before Angel could even finish. “This
has nothing to do with Izzy. This is about a client I had a few weeks ago. I
tailed his wife and found out she was thinking about it.”

He explained the details, leaving out the part about them
kissing. That would make it too easy. It was what had him asking them in the
first place and what had brought the memory back now. Even now, he refused to
believe that his Izzy would ever even consider doing anything remotely inappropriate.
She already knew how he felt about Elliot. But was it possible she would enjoy
the attention of another man? A man whose scholarly conversation she might find
invigorating—refreshing? If so, could Romero deal with that? Deal with her
spending four hours a day with this man
every
day?

The very thought already had him fisting his hands. He was glad
that he’d put his hypothetical question to the guys even harder because he
needed to remember what they’d said now, specifically what Sal had said.

“Say she wasn’t talking on the phone with him or anything.”
Romero had made the question more specific. “Just a few texts here and there
and he complimented her often, maybe even told her she was sexy—more than once.
But not in an innocent playful way he could say in front of you. They were
being sneaky about it.” Immediately, Alex’s and Angel’s faces had gone hard. “She
knew thanking him and by
not
calling him on his shit—telling him that
his compliments and flirtatious behavior were inappropriate—she was encouraging
it to continue, and yet she did anyway. But it didn’t go any further than that.
Would you be cool with that?”

“Hell no.” Alex was the first to respond.

“Fuck that.” Angel was quick to follow.

“Well, hold on,” Sal, ever the voice of reason, said, holding up
his hand. “It would depend on a lot of things: how long and how often this had
been happening and how I found out. Did I hear it for myself—caught the
inappropriate
behavior—or did she tell me about it? There would also be the question of
who the fuck is this guy? In my case, if it were a co-worker of hers, it’d be
an employee of mine disrespecting me in my own restaurant. His ass would be
gone like that.” He snapped his fingers. “And if she’d allowed it, then, sure,
I’d be pissed, but you’re asking if I’d dump her for it—end my marriage over
some flirting?” He shook his head. “No, but we’d have a lot to discuss: like what
the hell was she thinking and what the consequences would be if it happened
again. Because let’s face it, even if nothing else but flirting was going on, it’s
bullshit. Just like we know what we should or shouldn’t be doing with other
women, our wives”—he laughed, turning to Alex, who looked mad just thinking
about it—“Val and Sarah and especially your wife”—he pointed at Romero—“know
better than to even pretend
innocent flirting
with some dude who tells
her she’s sexy would
ever
fly. Hell, even Gracie would know
I’d
be pissed.”

It wasn’t that Romero suspected Izzy might be doing anything even
vaguely close to that client’s wife—the very thought made him nauseated. He’d always
said he’d never be as stupid as his clients and wait until all those prevailing
signs were there, but a tiny part of him couldn’t help wondering now if maybe
his clients weren’t so stupid after all. Maybe like him they dismissed early
signs because they just couldn’t fathom their spouses doing anything like that
to them either. And maybe Izzy would never, but like the mother of those twins
and as Manny and Max had suggested, something more innocent but just as
dangerous was going on that was making Romero feel such unease.

Not ten minutes ago Romero had talked himself down about Izzy’s
strange behavior the past several days. It wasn’t unusual for her to be sneaky
this time of year. She was always trying to surprise him with her gifts for
Christmas. Maybe if he weren’t as bad as the kids trying to figure out what she
could be up to, she wouldn’t have to resort to being so sneaky. He knew this
was all it was. It had always been part of their holidays: both of them trying
to be sneaky and him more than anything being a kid about it, trying to figure
out what she’d gotten him. Mostly because she was always so much better at it
and he was always hoping to outdo her for once. But he couldn’t help feeling that
there was more going on this year.

He’d just been over this in his head because of the strange mood
Izzy had been in that morning
again
and the fact that twice this past
week she’d appeared to have been startled by him when he walked in the room
while she was on the phone. Both times she’d hung up quickly, and both times
she seemed jumpy or nervous when he asked her about who she’d been on the phone
with.

The memory of the look in her eyes, the slight change in her tone
when she’d assured him almost a week ago that “no matter what” he had nothing
to worry about assaulted him again. It had each time he thought he noticed
something odd in her behavior. What had she meant by “no matter what”? No
matter if she was feeling attracted to someone else? No matter if that someone
else had her feeling sexy and giving her a break from the monotony of what her
life had turned into since she’d been home with the kids?

There was
no
way.

He’d just talked himself down after calling her for the second
time and getting no answer. She rarely didn’t answer his calls even when she
was at work. She’d told him herself he could call her at any time. Elliot didn’t
have a problem with her stepping outside and taking a call. Elliot understood
she had little ones and had to keep her phone on at all times. If she ever
couldn’t take his call that minute, she always called him back within ten or fifteen
minutes, tops. It’d been over twenty minutes, and she still hadn’t returned his
call, so he’d called her back, and just when he was getting ready to jump in
his car to drive down to that fucking university, she texted him back to say
she was in the middle of a lecture and would call him back.

See?
He’d reminded himself again as he’d exhaled, clutching
the phone. He had nothing to worry about. Ever since he’d questioned her about
silly
Elliot
making her laugh, she’d even cut down on talking about her time and
conversations with the guy, but even that made him wonder
why
.

Manny had even called Romero the day after Thanksgiving to tell
him that he and Max were now in agreement. Maybe they’d jumped the gun, being
so worried about Izzy working with this guy. After Romero had explained about
Elliot and the ballet teacher and how that was why they’d seen her whispering with
Elliot a few times, Manny was even more adamant that Romero had nothing to
worry about. His uncles almost seemed worried and even a bit regretful that
they’d begun to get in his head the way they had. They knew him better than
anyone, and Romero suspected they’d begun to get nervous about what might
really happen if anything they’d insinuated was actually true. They’d since all
but stopped making any remarks, except once in a while to remind him that it
was normal to feel as if maybe something had changed in his marriage because
something
had
. She’d gone back to work after years of being home, and
that was huge. Of course things were going to feel different. It was to be
expected but nothing to freak out about.

One thing that hadn’t changed was their lovemaking. If anything,
he’d noticed it intensified lately. When he told her their marathons nights had
to happen more often, he’d been optimistically realistic. Yes, he wanted them
more often, but he hadn’t expected it to really happen. Not only were they
happening more often, even the quickies were up too. They’d even pulled a fast
one at Manny and Max’s when the kids and his uncles were engrossed a video
game. Romero and Izzy had snuck off together to the upstairs bathroom, and it’d
been
her
idea!

He’d been nervous as shit that the kids or his uncles would
notice them gone, so it was a fast and dirty one against the bathroom door, but
it was still hot.

His mind had just gone back to thinking of Izzy and how she still
hadn’t called back. The phone rang to his utter relief before he could give it
another infuriating thought, and it was Izzy.

“Hey, babe,” he answered, the smile replacing his frown.

“Oh my God,” she gushed. “That was so incredibly thrilling.”

“What was?” he asked as he felt his smile morph right back into
that galling frown.

“I finally got the nerve to give an entire lecture on my own
today. It’s why I couldn’t answer your call.” He could practically hear her huge
smile, and he tried to be happy for her—he should be. “I’ve told you about the
lectures I’ve done
with
Elliot before. He’d hand it over to me and I’d
take over a part of it for him, but this time it was
all
me from
beginning to end, and I had everyone hanging on my every word. They were taking
notes furiously.”

She went on for a bit, and Romero listened and actually began to
smile as he sat back and listened to his excited wife. It was bittersweet. He
loved hearing her so happy, but at the same time, any hope he had that she
might decide to hold off on her career and have another baby any time soon was
losing ground with every animated word out of her mouth.

Almost as if she’d read his mind, she added. “I can’t see myself
doing that every day though. As thrilling as it was, it was equally mentally exhausting.
I worked on that lecture for over a week too. Elliot does at least one of these
a day.”
She laughed softly. “I mean I suppose like with anything else
practice makes perfect and I could eventually get used to doing that. It’s what
Elliot says anyway, but I don’t know. I think he’s just naturally brilliant. It’s
what I always thought of most of my college professors. It’s almost as if it’s
something you’re either born to do or not. After today, I’m not sure I am.”

Even before the moment Romero had heard Izzy refer to Elliot as
brilliant, he’d been clenching his teeth. Hearing her say it only made him
grind his teeth further. “That’s silly,” he said, doing his best to not sound
agitated. “Sounds to me like you really enjoyed it. And if anyone is brilliant,
it’s
you
.”

“Thank you,” she said, and he still heard the smile in her words.
“I’m actually thinking of getting out of here early. That’s how much it wore me
out. It’s why I was calling you now to see if you’re busy.”

“Are you not feeling well?” he asked, suddenly concerned. “You
need me to come get you?”

“No, I’m fine, but after the lecture, Elliot let the class out
early. It’d be just him and me now for the next hour or so. I thought maybe if
you weren’t busy we could go get lunch before the kids are out of school.”

“I’m not busy,” he said quickly. “You wanna meet at home?”

Romero actually did have a lot on his plate today, but fuck that.
He’d be an idiot to tell her to just hang out alone for the next hour with the professor
she’d just admitted she thought was brilliant. Romero would just have to play
catch up tomorrow.

After deciding where they’d meet, he grabbed his keys and wallet
and started out. He let his receptionist, a retired and cranky-as-shit former school
principal, know that she had to reschedule everything on his calendar today for
tomorrow.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Wanda said with her wrinkled face
as contorted as he expected. “That Hammond guy’s called twice already.”

“If he calls again, tell him I got nothing for him yet. I’ll call
him tomorrow with an update. I really gotta get out of here.”

Her ornery expression changed suddenly to a concerned one. “Is
everything okay at home?”

“Everything’s perfect.” He glanced back at her again just before
walking out, giving her one of his most playful grins. “But my beautiful wife
said she wants me home.” He shrugged as he pushed the door open. “What am I
supposed to tell her?”

“You can tell her I have to call and deal with about eight irate
clients now.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll let her have it, Wanda,” Romero said with a
wink. “I promise I’ll
really
let her have it.”

He laughed when he heard Wanda harrumph loudly. However his
playful mood was fleeting because, as he made his way to the car, thoughts of
Izzy and Elliot consumed him. She’d decided to leave early today because the
lecture she’d been so excited about had drained her. But now he wondered how
often Elliot let the students leave early and he and Izzy were left alone. She
had mentioned when she first took the job that he’d help her prepare her
lectures. Was that what they did when they were alone? Is that why she thought he
was so brilliant?