Not My Romeo

by Kylie Gilmore

  “A historic designation could attract tourists,” Sophia said. “And shoppers, since it’s right on Main Street.”

  “I don’t think tourists rush to visit plaques,” Vince said.

  Sophia frowned, causing a deep V to form in her forehead. “With my design, the new library will become a community hub.” She pointed to the features of her plan. “A café, computer stations, and a small gallery to support local artists will attract even more visitors.”

  “We already have a café in town,” Vince barked. Obviously she didn’t do her homework. Damn interloper.

  Mayor Riggs tapped his finger against his chin. Vince felt like bolting across the table and hauling him up by the shirt. Make a decision, man. Have the balls to stand by your original word.

  One of the town councilmen whispered in the mayor’s ear, and the mayor nodded. “We’re going to look over both your plans, think it over, and give you our final decision next week.” Mayor Riggs reached across the table to shake Vince’s hand. “We appreciate your flexibility in this matter.”

  Vince shook his hand firmly. “See you next Tuesday,” he said in as well controlled a voice as he could manage given that he wanted to crack skulls.

  Sophia stood and shook the mayor’s hand. “I’ll leave you with my designs. Thank you for your time.” She strode out of the room, leaving the men with lingering gazes after her curvy ass.

  Vince stood, jaw clenched tight over the howl he wanted to let loose. This had been in the bag. It was his. His first construction project with him in the lead. Fucking Capello Construction. They always undercut Marino and Sons’ projects, but this was even worse, Capello hadn’t even underbid them, yet they’d managed to get a foot in the door. One high-heeled, sexy supermodel foot. He’d never met Sophia before, and now he knew why. Capello was saving her as his secret weapon.

  Vince grabbed his stuff and left, catching Sophia just as she left the building. “Yo, Sophia! Wait up!”

  She kept going, forcing him to pick up the pace. He caught up to her on the sidewalk outside.

  “Yo, Vince,” she said, hand on her hip, all flip, like a twelve-million-dollar project didn’t hang in the balance.

  He sucked in air. “If you think for one minute I’m giving up and letting you—”

  “See you at the next meeting!” She wiggled her fingers and left, hips swaying, long legs striding in those heels. His body reacted with an immediate boner that pissed him off, so he turned on his heel in the opposite direction. He circled around the block, hoping like hell she wouldn’t still be in the parking lot when he got there because he couldn’t be held responsible for his temper under these outrageous circumstances.

  No sign of her. He felt let down somehow. His blood was boiling, he’d been itching for a fight, and she seemed more than capable of handling one. Hell, it probably would’ve been fun to go a couple rounds with her. Now what did that say about him? He had a screw loose. That’s what.

  ~ ~ ~

  Vince headed to his older brother Gabe’s place, still fuming. Gabe was a lawyer, and Vince wanted to sue. Breach of contract or something. It was a little after nine, so he figured he’d be up. He pulled up to Gabe’s place, which used to be their parents’ house. Vince had lived there from twelve on with his five brothers. He used to think of them as two real brothers (Nico and Angel) and three stepbrothers (Gabe, Luke, and Jared), but lately he just thought of them all as real brothers. He was getting soft in his old age, ever since Gabe and Zoe asked him to be godfather to their son. It meant something to Vince that they chose him as family when they damn well didn’t have to.

  He knocked on the front door and waited impatiently. The door swung open a few moments later.

  “Hi, Vince,” his sister-in-law Zoe greeted him with her sunny smile, bright brown eyes, and brown hair in a braid over one shoulder. She was cute as a button and had to reach up on tiptoe to give him a hug. He returned it, careful not to press into her pregnant belly. She stood back to let him in. “Come on in. What’s up?”

  He stared at her stomach, bulging in her giant maternity T-shirt nightgown. It had a cartoon picture of a baby where it would be curled up inside. “How’s my boy?” he asked.

  “He’s kicking a lot.” She took his hand and pressed it against her stomach. Something moved under her skin, shifting around. He suppressed a shiver. That was just freaky.

  “Feel it?” she asked with a smile.

  He didn’t want to make her feel bad. She was incubating his godson, even if he did seem like an alien creature about to burst through her skin. “Sure did.”

  Gabe appeared with their dog, Fred, a medium-sized silver and black furball, trotting along his side. His stepbrother was fair with short cropped light brown hair and dark blue eyes. Fred started barking, like he’d just noticed Vince was there.

  “Settle,” Gabe said, and Fred shut up. Gabe wasn’t a big guy, five nine or so, medium build, but his brother could hold his own, and the dog respected that.

  “Sorry to barge in on you guys.” Vince shoved a hand in his hair and backed up. He hadn’t expected Zoe to be in her nightgown. “I’ll go.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Zoe said. “We were just watching TV. Come in, I can tell something’s bothering you. I was heading up to bed soon.” She kissed Gabe, who looked after her, lust in his eyes, as she headed upstairs.

  Vince didn’t even know how Gabe worked around that belly. She was six and a half months along. He kept track. The baby was due December fifth, and Vince had already cleared his calendar.

  Gabe finally tore his gaze from his wife and looked at him. “Beer?”

  “Sure.”

  He followed him to the kitchen and sat at the island. He watched Gabe get the beer, still feeling like an ass for barging in on their love nest.

  Gabe popped the cap off two beers and handed one to Vince. “What’s up?”

  Vince took a long swallow. “What’s new with the baby?” As godfather, he felt it important to keep up to date on all the latest.

  One corner of Gabe’s mouth lifted. “He’s good. Growing like he should. Nice and active.”

  “Good, good.” Vince took another long swallow and a vision of feminine toes peeking out of high heels popped into his head. “I need to sue someone.”

  “You do?”

  “Capello Construction.”

  Gabe took a pull on his beer. “Ooh, boy. Dad’s always going off about them. What’d they do that was illegal?”

  “They’re trying to steal the Clover Park Library project right out from under me, coming in with a last-minute bid.”

  “Didn’t they have an open call for proposals?”

  Vince scowled. “Bah. I know I don’t have a case. I’m just pissed off.” He pounded his fist on the counter. “This was supposed to be the last meeting. The final signing on the dotted line, and then she walks in.”

  “She?”

  “Their secret weapon. Capello sends in his supermodel daughter to turn heads. They’re thinking with their little heads, nodding and smiling. Next thing I know they want to think about it! Make a decision next week.” Vince gestured wildly. “She’s going on and on about a fucking fireplace!”

  Gabe held up a hand. “Slow down. Capello has a supermodel daughter? That’s perfect for supermodel Vince.”

  Vince pursed his lips. “Fuck you.”

  “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.” He smirked and drank his beer.

  “I’m not a supermodel, and you damn well know it.”

  “But you could’ve been.” Gabe smirked some more. “We all know that story.”

  “That was one time.” He jabbed a finger in the air. “One time some random lady stopped me in the city to give me her card. You guys never let me live that down.”

  Not one of his brothers gave him respect.

  Gabe chuckled and shook his head. “This is like the Montagues and the Capulets. Warring families. Two star-crossed lovers.”

  Vince set his beer down. “What are you yammering
about?”

  “Shakespeare,” Gabe said. “Romeo and Juliet. The long family rivalry with the Montagues and the Capulets. You and Sophia, two star-crossed supermodel lovers of the rival Marinos and Capellos.” He snorted.

  “Shut up, brainiac. There’s no lover situation here.” He drank his beer and thought some more on the way he’d been blindsided tonight. “There was a verbal agreement between me and the mayor. That’s got to mean something.”

  Gabe shook his head. “Not enough. Sorry.”

  “This is a twelve-million-dollar project,” Vince boomed. “We need this one. Ever since Dad got sick, business has been down. This was supposed to be the one that put me in charge. Gave everyone confidence that Marino and Sons could do well under new leadership. Me.” It was up to Vince to keep the business going. He’d fucking earned this. Sixteen years of hard work without a single complaint.

  Gabe took a pull on his beer. “You got anything else in the pipeline?”

  “Nothing much. Just maintenance jobs. A new roof for a strip mall. Nothing like this.”

  “Maybe you can work something out with her. If the decision goes her way, you can still have a piece of it as a subcontractor.”

  “I guess.” Not that his dad would ever agree to that. The animosity whenever his dad heard the name Joe Capello was outrageous. It had started over a woman way back in high school. It was Vince’s mother that both men loved. Obviously she chose Vince’s father, but the hostility between the two men continued and escalated as they became vicious competitors in a tight construction market. Capello underbid as many of their projects as he could, which forced Marino and Sons to go even lower if they needed the business. And they really needed this library project. Vince knew better than anyone Marino and Sons would be in serious trouble if he didn’t land a big project soon.

  If he did work with Sophia, he’d want the lion’s share of the job. A majority stake. He drained his beer and recycled the bottle in the pullout drawer by his brother.

  “I’m not splitting the project fifty-fifty,” Vince said.

  “Of course you’re not.”

  Vince gave Gabe a pat on the cheek that was a near slap. “Thanks, bro.”

  Gabe returned the near slap. “Go play nice with the supermodel, Romeo,” the smartass said.

  Chapter Three

  Vince ripped off his shirt and rifled through his closet for another one. This week had been shit. His dad was pissed that he didn’t come back with a contract. Vince had told his dad the town council wanted another week to decide. He’d left out the part about Capello Construction’s bid. He knew the minute the name Capello came up, his dad would be all over this project, and Vince didn’t want that. This was his baby.

  He’d finally decided to take Gabe’s advice and try to work something out with Sophia ahead of time. He had a bad feeling those town council bozos were going to side with her idea just because of all that crappy history stuff. He yanked on a white button-down shirt he usually wore with his funeral suit. Suited his mood. Sophia had agreed to meet him tonight to talk. She’d picked some fancy-pants restaurant, Le Jardin, in uppity Greenport, where she lived. Why couldn’t they just have gone for pizza near his house in Eastman?

  He looked in the mirror, frowned, and added a tie. He felt like he was choking. He yanked off the tie and threw it across the room. He was already tired from the hard physical labor he’d put in today, along with his crew, ripping off old roof tile from a strip mall. He liked to kick back with a beer on Friday night, not put on a monkey suit and drive thirty minutes away to pretend he was as classy and sophisticated as Sophia. But he had to fake it, had to make her see that working with him was a good idea. If it came to that. Hell, he could feel the whole thing slipping through his fingers. They would’ve signed off with Marino and Sons then and there if they really wanted them. He paced back and forth, his back and shoulders tense as all hell. He rolled his neck. A shower would relax him. He still had twenty minutes.

  He stripped down and headed for the bathroom. A few minutes later, he stood under the spray and mentally rehearsed what he’d say. He should probably hold off on the business talk until they’d eaten. Maybe get some wine in her. Women were always more agreeable after a glass of wine. Why did he have to deal with Sophia at all? What the hell had happened with her dad, the man who owned Capello Construction?

  A short while later, he stepped out of the shower, dried off, and grabbed the first shirt with no wrinkles from the closet. Fuck the tie. And no blazer either. They could kick him out if it came to that. He didn’t want to go to Le Jardin anyway.

  ~ ~ ~

  Sophia hadn’t been at all surprised to get a message from Vince at her Capello Construction voicemail. He’d been furious at their last-minute bid for the library business. What did surprise her was his tone, a deep, melodic voice offering a truce and an invitation to dinner. She accepted his invitation in a return message on his voicemail and suggested Le Jardin because the food was good and it was a short walk home if the meeting went horribly wrong. Which was entirely possible if he had a temper to match hers.

  So here she was, sitting alone at Le Jardin, wearing her little black dress and beginning to feel stood up. Annoyed over how late he was, she finished her glass of sauvignon blanc and signaled the waiter for a second glass. I have better ways to spend my Friday nights than sitting alone in a restaurant. She sighed and took some bread from the basket in front of her. She missed her old social life in Brooklyn. Her friends never wanted to visit her in Greenport. It was boring compared to the city. She’d moved in to her parents’ house a month ago at her dad’s request to housesit (he feared someone would rob them if it appeared empty) while he holed up at his brother’s apartment, trying to avoid anyone he knew. She had a roommate in Brooklyn, so she knew her place was fine. Her mom was living it up in Florida with Manuel. Do not think about it.

  She tapped her manicured nails on the table. Maybe she should just order something to go. When the waiter came back with her wine, she’d order the lemon rosemary chicken and head home. She ate some bread and casually looked around the restaurant, mostly couples, most of them sitting with nothing to say to each other. Geez, that was depressing. She never wanted to be like them. To be like her parents had been before the separation. Her dad still hoped to reconcile. Her mom had requested a divorce.

  The wine arrived, and she forced a smile for the waiter. “I’m ready to order,” she said.

  “Very good,” the man said. “Would you like to hear the specials?”

  She glanced up to find Vince strutting toward her—a lumberjack with style. He wore a light blue button-down shirt open at the collar, revealing tanned skin from working outdoors. His hair was damp, like he’d just showered. He was such an imposing presence with that height and build that heads were turning as he approached. Definitely not her type. She liked cultured, refined men who appreciated history and architecture, her two loves.

  He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Sorry I’m late.”

  She jolted at the unexpected affection. She’d thought he’d come in ready to blast her. His woodsy, masculine scent only emphasized his lumberjack fresh-from-the-woods appeal. He must be trying to throw her off her game, acting the part of doting boyfriend. They barely knew each other.

  They were enemies. Or at the very least, competitors.

  He took the seat across from her and glanced at the waiter. “Bring a bottle of whatever she’s drinking.”

  “Very good, sir.” The waiter left.

  “So, what’s good here?” Vince asked with a smile.

  She cocked a brow. “You’re in a good mood.”

  “I’m having dinner with a beautiful woman. What’s not good about that?”

  She took a sip of wine, considering this surprising change in his attitude. “You can’t sweet-talk me into handing over the library project, so you can drop the act.”

  He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I could sweet-talk you into just about anything, da
rling, but that’s not what this is.” He leaned back. “This is just two people working out a deal. Once we finish eating. I want to enjoy my meal without any indigestion, capisce?”

  She smirked at the Italian phrase, the subtle tip of his hat that they both had Italian heritages, that they were the same. Even though they both knew the long-standing hostility between their two fathers. She was sure his father must have a temper to match her father’s for the feud to have continued for so many years, which meant Vince would’ve heard plenty about it. He was good, she’d give him that. “Come sta la sua famiglia?” She’d spent a year in Italy as an exchange student.

  He broke out into a wide smile. “Mi famiglia is great, thanks. And yours?”

  Her family was terrible. Tears unexpectedly stung her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, trying to cover. “Fine,” she managed.

  “How’s your dad? I thought I’d be dealing with him.”

  “He’s recovering from an illness.” Lovesickness, she added silently.

  He stared at her. “Nothing serious, I hope.”

  “No, he’ll have a full recovery.”

  Vince nodded once and pulled out the menu.

  The waiter arrived with the bottle of wine. He poured a small amount in a glass for her to sample. She nodded her acceptance, and he poured Vince a glass. She was still working on her second glass. They listened to the specials and placed their order.

  Silence descended. Sophia was trying very hard not to think of the mess her family had left her, but it was hard not to. She was well used to fixing things for her family, but this time had been different. Her dad had made an unusually emotional desperate appeal for her to return to Greenport and take care of both the house and the business. She’d agreed, knowing she could still commute to the city for work, a forty-minute drive, and work from home sometimes. She’d unfortunately been taking a lot of time off from her real job, trying to keep the family business from going under. But her dad had been in a really dark place since her mom had left. And now here was Vince just waiting to make her life even more difficult. She set down her wine and took a deep breath.