Tangled: A Moreno Brothers novella (7 page)

The moment she hung up she began to explain. “He was supposed to go
out of town for the holiday. It was the only reason I ever mentioned anything.”

She realized she was talking fast, but Romero had that look on
his face, the hardcore one reserved only for when he was truly mad at her,
which hadn’t happened in years, and she didn’t like it.

“He was talking about how hard this year’s holidays were going to
be since they’re the first since his divorce and how glad he’d been when he got
the invitation to go skiing, so I just
mentioned
he would’ve been
welcome to join us at Moreno’s. But his plans were solid. It was a riskless
invitation. I knew he’d be out of town. I’d get credit for being nice even
though I knew—”

“Why do you
want
credit for being nice to him?”

Isabel nearly groaned. “You know that’s not what I meant. I just
meant that—”

“So is he coming with us tomorrow or meeting us there?”

She exhaled deeply, feeling defeated. This was the last thing she
needed. “Meeting us there. What was I supposed to say, baby? The friend he was
supposed to go skiing with is a cop and got recalled at the last minute. His
entire family is back east. All the family members here are on his ex-wife’s
side.”

Romero stared her down for a long moment before once again
surprising her as he’d done often when it came to Elliot. He shrugged. “I guess
I finally get to meet this guy.”

The relief was instant as was her gratitude. The last thing she
wanted was to be arguing during the holidays. She walked around the center
divider and hugged Romero the moment she reached him then kissed his head. “Thank
you, babe, for not making a big deal about this.”

Romero brought his arm around her and looked up, puckering his
lips so she kissed them. It turned into one of his intense kisses, and she felt
his hand travel down her waist and over her ass where he squeezed hard. When
she pulled away, she was surprised to see him genuinely smirk.

“What?”

“This should be fun: your stuffy professor boss at the same table
with me, Manny, and Max.”

This time she did groan, bringing her hand to her face. While she
was incredibly relieved that this hadn’t turned into an argument, she hadn’t
even thought about what Elliot was in for with this family.

Six

Sirens

he Morenos gave all their employees the day off on
Thanksgiving. So even though they’d been having their Thanksgiving feasts at
the restaurant for years now, ever since their families got just too big for
any of their homes, they still did all their own cooking right there at the
restaurant.

As soon as they’d arrived, Izzy headed to the kitchen to help with
the cooking. All the men were on kid duty. While the women prepared the food,
the guys hung out in the dining room, looking after kids and babies and
watching football on the television screens hung all around the restaurant.
Romero had long ago figured out the women didn’t mind doing all the work in the
kitchen because the wine and sangria started flowing pretty early and there was
a whole lot of laughing going on. Most of the food was already done. They just
hung out in the kitchen, pretending to be busy, but the guys knew better.

None of them minded or dared complain. It was a good time for all
of them. Besides, for Romero anyway, it’d been years since he had any kids in
diapers or babies that needed to be watched every second. Though Izzy knew full
well he wouldn’t mind if he did.

He frowned, taking a sip of beer, distracted from his thoughts
for a moment by the amount of extended family that continued to arrive. “
Damn,
”
he said as another herd walked in. “Who are all these people?” he asked Sal,
who sat across from him. “I don’t remember you having this much family here
last year.”

Sal turned and stood to see Alex greeting the herd with a smile. “That’s
my
Tio Chema
and his family.” Sal turned back to Romero. “You remember
my mom’s cousin, right?”

Romero peered at Sal’s uncle, but his name didn’t ring a bell.
The door opened again as more people walked in. Alex finished greeting the
first group, inviting them to take a seat anywhere, and then moved on to the
next group. Sal, who was standing near where Romero sat, had started to say
something about not being sure who some of the other people arriving were. “My
mom goes nuts inviting everyone, even people from her senior club.” He turned
back toward the door. “I don’t know who that guy is either.”

The guy Sal was referring to was a tall guy in a sports coat and
jeans, holding a big flower arrangement. The young girl with him couldn’t have
been more than ten maybe twelve.

“Mommy!”

Romeo’s voice behind him, calling out loudly, pulled Romero’s
thoughts back to what he was supposed to be doing—keeping an eye on the kids.
He turned in time to see Romeo rushing to Izzy, holding a cup full of something
that splashed out some as he held it clumsily. Izzy had just walked out of the
kitchen. Romero winced, glancing around, and quickly located Mandy over at a
table with the rest of the kids.

“Oops,” he mouthed with a smirk as Izzy raised her brow at him in
mock disapproval.

He was about to teasingly raise his beer at her when he saw her
turn toward the entrance and her playful scolding expression morphed into a big
bright smile. That brought his attention back to where Alex was standing
talking to the guy in the sports coat and the little girl. He watched as Isabel
walked over and greeted the guy with a half hug and he handed her the flowers. “Who’s
that?” he asked Sal just as it hit him.

“I dunno,” Sal said, turning to Izzy, who handed the flowers to
Alex then walked over toward Romero.

“One of her family members?” Sal offered, turning to look at
Romero.

“Nah,” Romero said with the sudden need to take an extra-long
swig of his beer.

Of course Manny, Aida, and Max would choose that moment to come
over and take a seat at Romero’s table. “When’s the food coming out?” Max asked
as he sat down.

Sal turned back to the kitchen area. “I think they’re already
bringing things out.”

Romero managed to pull his sights from Izzy and the guy he was pretty
sure was Elliot for a moment to glance back and see that the food
was
being brought out. It’d be served buffet style as they always did on Thanksgiving
even back when they’d had it at their home.

That morning, Romero had already been irritated by Elliot when he
noticed Izzy had a text from him. But he’d been relieved when she told him he
was just confirming that he was in fact bringing someone. Romero wouldn’t tell
Izzy, but he’d been hoping that meant Elliot was bringing a date. Not just for
the sake of relieving his own mind a bit but for the sake of keeping his uncles
from making any more implications.

Izzy reached them and introduced Elliot and his daughter, Denver.
Romero took him in, greeting him just as nicely and politely as everyone else.
He looked a lot younger than early to mid-thirties as Izzy had first said. And
the very first thing he noticed when they got close enough was how much cologne
the guy wore. For a second, he had a flashback of Cici, a girl who ironically
he’d been in hot water over with Izzy once upon a time because her heavy
perfume had lingered on him even hours after having hugged her. Romero couldn’t
help but wonder if Elliot always wore this much, even at work, or if tonight
was just special.

“So you’re teaching at the university level now,” Sal asked,
impressed.

“Not really teaching,” Izzy said, visibly embarrassed by the
sudden attention on her. “Elliot is the professor. I’m just assisting with a
few of his classes.”

“Oh, you do a lot more than assist.” Elliot smiled at her widely
then turned back to Sal and Romero, who could already feel the hair on the back
of his neck beginning to rise. “She’s
amazing
.”

Whatever the hell else the
professor
said after that was no
more than an annoying drone. If hearing another man—a man she worked side by
side with–call his wife amazing wasn’t enough to light Romero up, seeing his
beautiful Izzy blush over the compliment literally turned his stomach. Romero
had always loved seeing her blush. She knew this. But right now he couldn’t
think of a more exasperating sight. The moment his eyes met hers he knew she understood
because her timid smile went flat.

The only thing that forced him to keep his cool and not comment
was the subtle but very telling lift of her brow. Over the years, he’d gotten
to know every single little telltale sign of Izzy’s animated facial expressions.
This one was her don’t-you-dare look.

Breathing in real fucking deep, Romero lifted his beer and took
another swig. Logically, he knew she was right. This guy couldn’t be stupid
enough to come here and say anything inappropriate about his feelings for her
in front of her husband and family. Still, this only confirmed what Romero had already
known before she’d even started working. Through no fault of hers, this guy
would take to her the way Romero was certain most men did. How could they not?
Izzy was perfect.

After some very brief small talk and trying to not glare at the
guy going on and on about how great it was to work with his wife, Romero heard Izzy
ask Denver if she’d like to go hang out at the table with all the kids. Denver
looked up at her bashfully then at her dad. “Up to you,” Elliot said with a
shrug.

The little girl thought about it for a moment then nodded. “C’mon,”
Izzy said, holding out her hand with a sweet smile. “I’ll walk you over and
introduce you.”

Denver tugged at her dad’s hand, and he laughed, looking back at
Romero. “I’ll be back.”

Romero watched as all three walked off, his wife smiling brightly
at the man who’d showed up with flowers for her—a married woman. Who the fuck
does that?

Max fanned his hand in front of his nose. “Talk about loading up
on the stink juice. I thought Manny was bad.”

“I only do that when I don’t have time to shower,” Manny
protested.

Even as perturbed as Romero was still feeling, he didn’t want to
upset or embarrass Izzy. “Will you keep it down?” Romero said with a frown. “He’s
right there.”

“I am keeping it down,” Max said, whispering louder than some
people talk.

“And who names their kid Denver?” Manny added in an equally loud
whisper.

“Yeah, I think I’ll name my first born Chula Vista,” Max said
with a snort.

“Denver’s actually not that uncommon a name,” Sal informed them
with a chuckle.

Romero stopped listening to his uncles’ obnoxious comments
because he was busy watching Izzy and Elliot talking just off the side of the
kids’ table. Before Elliot’s “amazing” comment, Romero had already said he wasn’t
going to obsess about the guy. Now here he was doing just that. Izzy’s back was
turned to Romero, so he couldn’t see her expression, but the guy looked way too
interested in whatever it was she was saying. Romero knew he was probably just being
paranoid, but at one point it even looked as if whatever she’d said had wowed him
because his eyes opened wide and his mouth fell open. If Romero weren’t
mistaken, Elliot even seemed to catch himself because he glanced back at Romero
and quickly changed his expression.

“So that’s the boss Alex told me about, huh?” Sal asked with a
knowing smirk.

Romero took another swig of his beer and nodded, knowing Sal already
knew why he was watching them so closely.

“Good-looking fella,” Aida said.

“Whoa, whoa,
whoa
!” Manny’s face soured, and he held his
hand up, all animated. “Where did that come from?”

“What?” she asked, taking a drink of her beer straight from the
bottle as she always did. “I’m just saying he’s good-looking.”

“Yeah, but Moe don’t wanna hear that shit,” Manny said, glancing
back at Izzy and Elliot again. “This is the guy his wife spends four hours a
day with
every
day. He’s one of them
intellectuals
who probably throws
his brains around to impress women. And you heard him,” he said, lifting his
eyebrow exaggeratingly high. “He thinks she’s
amazing
.”

Romero rolled his eyes. “It’s cool. I’m not sweating it,” he
lied.

It was partially true. That Izzy would ever do anything to
jeopardize their marriage he wasn’t sweating
at all
. He knew he could
trust her. But Manny was right about one thing. She did spend a lot of time
with this guy at work. What the hell could she have to talk to him about now,
and whatever it was, why couldn’t she come back and do it in front of Romero?
It’s not like they were standing there until his daughter felt comfortable
enough for him to walk away. They weren’t even looking in the little girl’s
direction anymore, and his daughter wasn’t as timid as she appeared to be
earlier, because she was already laughing with the other kids.

“You shouldn’t be,” Manny said, lifting a finger. “But don’t be
stupid either. Remember what I told you. Keep your eyes and ears open.” His
uncle pointed at his eyes and ears as if he needed to demonstrate. “You two is
real young still, and Izzy’s probably just that professor’s type with her being
all brainy and shit. I’m tellin’ you”—he shook his head—” I hear about this all
the time down at the bar: guys in there talking about carrying on a flirtation
with someone who’s off limits.” He pointed at Romero with that look he put on
when he was being overly serious about something. “It’s usually someone they
worked with too.”

“Izzy’s not like that,” Romero said, feeling even more irritated.

“Yeah, that’s ridiculous, Manny,” Aida said, shaking her head.

“I agree,” Sal said, standing up. “I wouldn’t give it a second
thought.”