Celeste sighed, nodded, and forced a slight grin. “My feet hurt,” she said, reaching down to take off her shoes. Tierney was surprised at how very short Celeste really was. The platform shoes she’d been wearing must’ve added five or six inches to her height, for once she removed them, she barely stood as high as Rome and Alec’s shoulders—at least two inches shorter than Tierney.
Tossing the shoes under a nearby chair, Celeste sighed. “And I’m tired of this hat. It’s kind of heavier than I thought it would be.” She paused a moment, grinned, and added, “Maybe that’s why I sound like such a ditz. Maybe the hat was cutting off the circulation to my brain.”
In the next moment, Celeste pulled the hat and scarf from her head, running her fingers through the long, long, long raven-black hair that tumbled out from under it to cascade over her back and shoulders. Tierney felt as if she were witnessing the filming of a high-end shampoo commercial. Celeste’s hair was magnificent! Standing there short, curvaceous, and swimming in hair so beautiful a mermaid would envy it, Celeste Novak looked simply ethereal.
The music changed, the song “Truly Madly Deeply” beginning to play.
“Well, now that you’ve stripped down to your old self,” Alec began, taking hold of Celeste’s arm, “wanna dance with me?”
Tierney grinned, entirely elated as she watched Celeste’s face light up. “Yeah,” the Latin beauty said, smiling at Alec as he took her hand and began to lead his barefoot, secret crush to the patio dance floor.
“Sorry I almost got you with that root beer, Tierney,” Rome said, tossing his empty cup into a garbage can located in one corner. He shook his head and chuckled. “I love when she does that. She cracks me up.”
“She’s beautiful too,” Tierney said.
“Yeah, she is,” Rome agreed as he turned to watch Alec and Celeste begin to slow dance.
“It kind of makes me want to crawl into a hole,” Tierney mumbled, smiling as she watched her brother’s face, so lit up with excitement.
Rome looked back to her, a puzzled expression wrinkling his dark brows. “Why?” he asked. “With a bootylicious booty like yours?” he teased then.
Tierney rolled her eyes with feigned exasperation. “Oh, you really are a piece of work, huh?” She shook her head. “I’ll say this much though. If you and Alec are as good at snow removal and landscaping as you are at sarcasm and lip-synching, you must make big bucks.”
Rome smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said. Then frowning once more, he added, “I think.”
Tierney laughed. “No, seriously. You guys were awesome.”
“Naw, you’re just saying that because somehow I always show up dressed as one of your teenage fantasy men,” he teased. “First some Latin lover type and now…” He paused, moving closer to her again. “Now it’s Milli or Vanilli, whichever one I am, right? It’s the hair, right?”
Tierney quietly gasped and held her breath as Rome’s hands settled at her waist—as he leaned forward, causing the long black braids of his wig to surround her face.
“Yep,” she managed to breathe. “That’s it. Without the wig, I wouldn’t even be interested,” she teased in a desperate effort to match his mischievousness and appear as unaffected as she could.
“Really?” Rome asked, frowning at her.
Tierney giggled. He seemed sincerely concerned.
“No, silly,” she said, playfully slapping him on the chest. “But if you’re going to tease me, then prepare to be teased right back.”
Rome straightened his posture, grinning as if he were pleased with her willingness to banter with him. “Want some more of my pumpkin puke before it’s all gone?” he asked.
Tierney’s smile broadened, and she answered, “It’s really good guacamole, you know.”
“Yeah, we like it. It’s my mom’s recipe,” Rome said. “Come on.” He took hold of her arm. “I know that what Mom just put out is all that was left in the fridge, and I’m starving.”
“Starving?” Tierney squeaked. “I’ve been watching you eat all night long.”
“You’ve been watching me all night long?” Rome flirted.
Tierney rolled her eyes and repeated, “I’ve been watching you eat all night long.”
“So you’ve been watching me all night long then. You admit it.”
Tierney shook her head as she followed Rome to the refreshment table. “You’re as impossible as Alec.”
“Oh, I’m way more impossible than Alec, I’m sure,” he chuckled.
As Tierney stood next to Rome while he downed what was left of the guacamole, she watched Alec dancing with Celeste. Alec’s face was simply beaming with pleasure, and Celeste’s expression was just as euphoric.
“He likes her, you know,” Rome mumbled with a mouth full of chips and guacamole.
Tierney quickly looked to him. “You know? You mean he’s told you?”
“Hell no!” Rome exclaimed. “It’s just obvious, that’s all—at least to me.”
“Does…does Celeste like him back, do you think?” Tierney ventured.
Rome looked at her with one eyebrow arched in sarcastic disbelief. “Do pigeons dive-bomb statues and clean cars?”
“Really?” Tierney asked with hope and excitement.
“Yeah, really,” Rome answered. “I swear, she doesn’t talk about anything else but Alec.”
Tierney sighed with overwhelming hope in Alec’s future happiness. She wanted Celeste to like Alec—wanted her to love him—wanted Alec to finally move beyond the nightmare Valerie had been.
“Will you dance with me on the next slow song?” Rome unexpectedly asked.
Tierney gulped as both delicious anticipation and anxiety leapt into her throat. And yet she forced a casual smile and answered, “Sure.”
“Okay,” he said. “I gotta dance with Heidi on this next fast song. But put me on your little dance card for the next slow one.”
As the song changed—as Alec and Celeste moved out of each other’s arms—Rome dusted the tortilla chip salt from his hands. The song was the Electric Slide, and it seemed everyone in the room joined the dancers on the floor.
“Come on,” Rome said, taking hold of Tierney’s arm once more. “Everybody has to do the line dances. Otherwise Mom will be dragging you out there if I don’t.”
The truth was that Tierney loved to dance! She wouldn’t have spent all those years in her room watching Internet videos of how to do common line dances if she hadn’t. Therefore, as she stepped into line between Rome and his father, Tierney giggled with delight. It was the very first time she’d ever danced the Electric Slide anywhere other than her bedroom and with anyone other than her own reflection.
Everyone was having so much fun, and it was so completely contagious, that soon Tierney was laughing and smiling and feeling more liberated than she ever had. As she danced between Rome and his dad—laughing to herself at the idea that she was sandwiched between a Milli Vanilli and Captain America—Tierney glanced around to see that everyone at the party was smiling. Some people were terrible dancers, some were mediocre, and some were good. But one in particular, Rome, was so cool and smooth that Tierney actually felt her body bust out in goose bumps as she watched him for a moment. She bit her lip to keep from giggling as a strange sort of shivering pleasure raced up her spine.
Suddenly, during one of the backward steps, Tierney gasped when she felt Rome’s hands at her waist—felt his breath on her neck as he said, “So…you’re a closet dancer, huh? And here I almost bought that bashful act.”
It was time to turn then, and when Rome released her, Tierney thought she would’ve back-stepped forever if it meant Rome would keep touching her and talking into her ear so that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck and in her hair.
All too soon, the Electric Slide ended, and as if someone had held up a cue card in her direction, Heidi stepped right up to Rome and asked, “Ready, Rome?”
Rome smiled at Heidi and said, “Of course,” as he took h
er hand and led her to the middle of the floor.
“She is so in love with Rome,” Celeste grumbled as she stepped up beside Tierney. “It drives me nuts.”
Tierney, who always tried to be the nice person in the room wherever she was, shrugged and insincerely offered, “She seems nice.”
“Oh, she’s nice enough,” Celeste admitted. “But she’s not for Rome.”
Tierney looked to Alec when he chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” Celeste asked him, frowning.
“You,” he answered. “You watch over Rome like a mother hen.”
Celeste straightened her short posture and said, “Well…he’s vulnerable.”
Again Alec laughed. “What?”
“He is!” Celeste argued. “He’s just a piece of beefcake to most to girls, I think. I don’t think many of them appreciate the whole…you know…the whole him.” Celeste looked to Tierney and began, “You know what I mean, don’t you? He’s so much more than a handsome face and big muscles…just like Alec.”
Tierney’s eyebrows shot into arches over her eyes as sweet, innocent Celeste walked right into it next by reaching out to wrap her hands around one of Alec’s biceps and saying, “I mean, Alec is the same way—all muscley and handsome. But those of us who really know him know that he’s kind, sexy, works hard, has a great sense of humor, and has a lot more to offer than just the obvious carnal thrill. Right?”
As Celeste looked to the dance floor, watching her brother dance with Heidi, Tierney shook her head as Alec smiled and mouthed, Sexy?
Mouthing shhh to Alec, Tierney then agreed with Celeste with a firm, “Exactly.”
“I just want someone to love him for him,” Celeste sighed. “Not just because he’s pretty.”
Celeste frowned, and Tierney immediately understood that there was more to Celeste’s worries about Rome being truly loved than she was telling. She studied the Latin goddess for a moment and then exchanged understanding glances with Alec.
“Well, he looks out for you just the same way, doesn’t he?” Alec offered with a kind smile.
Celeste sighed and smiled again. “He does…though I don’t know what he sees in you.” She shrugged. “But there must be something he trusts about you…because he never worries about me when I’m in your company.”
“Probably because he knows he could take me if I ever stepped out of line,” Alec joked.
“Oh, right,” Celeste mumbled as she turned her attention back to the dance floor. “Like you’d ever be tempted to step out of line with me.” She shook her head. “You’re funny, Alec.”
Tierney’s lower jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Could Celeste really believe that Alec wasn’t interested in her romantically?
“Come on, Alec,” Celeste said, suddenly turning and taking Alec’s hands in hers as she began to swivel her shapely hips as she moved backwards out onto the dance floor. “Let’s go see if we can hear what they’re talking about, okay?”
“Whatever you say, Celeste,” Alec mumbled—and Tierney could see by the look on his face that Alec O’Brien would do anything and everything the Latin beauty ever asked him to.
The feeling of joy in seeing her brother so happy was nearly overpowering! They’d had such a difficult childhood. Oh, Tierney and Alec had never wanted for anything, but they’d certainly done without a lot emotionally. That fact had never been more obvious to Tierney than on that very night. But as she watched Alec dancing with Celeste—as she could almost see the wanting, tortuous secret he was holding back where Celeste was concerned—she began to think that, at least for Alec, maybe the pain of emotional neglect would be healed soon, something he only thought of when he was choosing how not to raise his own children.
Not wanting to spend another moment watching Rome dancing with Heidi, Tierney concentrated on watching Carmen Miranda and her own Milli Vanilli, Captain America and his own Professor Trelawney. It was all so fun, so real, and she was thankful to be witness to it—to be a part of it.
The fast song ended, and Tierney smiled as Celeste began to leave the dance floor but was halted as Alec reached out, taking hold of her waist and pulling her to him in slow dance position. She gulped when her attention was drawn to Rome. He was striding toward her, smiling, and it seemed like slow motion as he reached her—for instantly he put one hand at her waist, pulled her against him, and held her other hand in his in dance position as he led her onto the dance floor.
Breathe was singing “Hands to Heaven,” and Tierney gazed up into Rome’s handsome face, wondering if maybe she actually were in heaven instead of still on the planet Earth.
“What?” Rome asked, grinning down at her.
“What do you mean?” Tierney asked, reveling in the feel of his warm body against hers.
“You’re smiling at me like you know something,” he answered.
Naturally, Tierney knew she was smiling simply for the fact that even looking at Rome made her feel blissful. But she hid her reason for smiling well by countering, “Well, Alec just received verbal confirmation that your sister thinks he’s hot.”
“He did?” Rome asked with obvious approval.
“Yep,” Tierney answered. “Of course, Celeste doesn’t realize she just confirmed it for him. But I believe—now how did she put it?—I believe she said he has more to offer than the obvious carnal thrill.”
“What?” Rome exclaimed so loudly that several other couples looked at him for a moment.
“Shhh!” Tierney giggled.
Rome shook his head, amused. “Poor Celeste,” he mumbled. “She never seems to think about what she’s saying before she says it.”
“And it’s part of her charm, right?” Tierney offered.
“Definitely,” Rome agreed.
They didn’t speak for a little while, and Tierney felt sort of dizzy and breathless as Rome rested his chin on the top of her head as they danced. She simply loved the way it felt to be in his arms. She loved the fact that he was such a good dancer—with perfect rhythm and an astounding feel for the music. She was tempted to close her eyes, to allow herself to be lost in the moment, but she was afraid that if she did allow herself to dream—to inhale the masculine, rather woodsy scent of Rome’s skin, to concentrate on the way his throat brushed her forehead now and again—she was afraid she’d plummet into the depths of despair when it was over.
“Ooo, don’t look now…but they seem mighty cozy over there,” Rome whispered.
“Who?” Tierney asked, having entirely forgotten about Alec and Celeste. She started to look to her right, but Rome lowered his head, placing his cheek against hers to stop her from looking.
“What do you think ‘don’t look now’ means anyway?” he laughed. “Do you want them to see us staring at them and ruin their moment?”
“They’re having a moment?” Tierney exclaimed in a whisper.
“Mmm-hmmm,” Rome hummed, the low rumble in his throat reverberating through Tierney’s body.
In truth, Rome had no idea if Celeste and Alec were “having a moment.” All he knew was that he and Tierney were—whether or not she realized it. The feeling that he shouldn’t drag his feet too long in letting Tierney O’Brien know he was interested in her (profoundly interested in her) had been eating at him since the day she’d arrived. Of course, he’d been interested in her from the moment he’d stepped out of that stupid box dressed like a stupid Latin lover. But any idiot would’ve known that a woman’s bridal shower, being thrown when she was perched on the precipice of marrying another man, wasn’t the place to hit on her. And still, Rome had hit on Tierney as much as he could under the circumstances—and managed to talk her into breaking up with the idiot she was going to marry.
But afterward, all he could do was wait—wait and see if the pretty girl he’d decided he’d wanted to get to know better would heal a bit, move beyond all that had happened with that rich guy. Rome had waited and waited, and then when Alec had told him that he’d finally managed to talk Tierney into moving to Leavenwor
th, something deep inside Rome Novak had begun to whisper to him that he shouldn’t drag his feet in laying claim to her—even if sensibility shouted otherwise.
And so, there he was, slow dancing with Tierney—with the woman he’d had some sort of crazy and immediate attraction to months before. There he was slow dancing with her, and making up all kinds of crap just to be closer to her. Rome comforted his conscience by silently reminding himself that Alec and Celeste really could be having a moment.
Meanwhile, the voice in his head was urging him to step things up, and though it was entirely against his nature to move so quickly, a plan began to formulate in him mind—and he would follow it no matter the consequences.
“So,” Rome began, “what do you think of the way my parents go all out for Halloween?”
Tierney, still distracted by wondering what kind of “a moment” Celeste and Alec were having, asked, “What?”
Rome stood straighter then, looking down at her and repeating, “What do you think of the way my parents do Halloween?”
Tierney smiled up at him and said, “I honestly have never seen anything like this,” she answered. “And…and it’s so personal, you know?”
“Personal?” Rome asked.
Tierney was suddenly more aware of how close Rome was holding her—right up against him—so blissfully right up against him. The paradise of it weakened her knees a little.
“I mean…it’s personal,” she tried to explain. “They know everyone here. The food is fun and homemade, not catered. They thought it out and obviously put a lot of work into it. The decorations are just too…just perfect—all the jack-o’-lanterns and spiderwebs and stuff. I love it! I mean, homemade root beer served out of a cauldron with dry ice to make it look like a witch’s brew? I love it!”
Rome simultaneously grinned and frowned. “I’m thinking you don’t usually get out much on Halloween, right?”
Tierney laughed a little and shrugged. “Not to something that isn’t a fundraiser or put on just to impress. This party…it’s meant to entertain friends and family. That’s the pure purpose of it. It’s like a gift, from your parents to their friends and stuff. When I think of the time they must have spent, the money, the effort—it’s a sacrifice for them, I’m sure, and they do it all for other people.” She paused a moment, glancing away from him and to where Alec was dancing with Celeste nearby. “It’s just wonderful, that’s all.”
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