Damn it all. Roman went straight to the heart of it, didn’t he? Dining with him meant she’d open herself up to him again. Given the way the air sizzled between them, they’d wind up in a clinch before the soup was served.
Inner Sadie squeed with utter joy. He wanted to take her out. Catch up. Catch up must mean sex because that’s pretty much all they’d done the last time they’d been in the same proximity. Granted, that had been years ago. But Sadie was in a dry spell, so maybe sex with Roman would be a good thing?
Outer Sadie squashed Inner Sadie’s excitement with the reality of her life. She had a law practice she was nurturing. She just needed a permanent office space. She also needed a receptionist and…more clients.
“We are kind of at a wedding,” Sadie pointed out.
“Tomorrow night?” he asked.
Thankfully, tomorrow was off the table. “I’m meeting my mom at Park Meadows to go shopping.”
Something shifted in his expression. A memory. And the little flicker of doubt.
“How is she?” Roman asked, his expression suddenly serious.
Sadie’s mom had gone through cancer treatment when Sadie was young and Roman knew the toll it had taken on her.
“Mom’s good. But she has a new affinity for Vera Wang that we need to nip in the bud before Dad loses his mind when he realizes the number of blouses she’s buying.”
“Then the next day? Where’s your new favorite place to grab a bite?” he asked, not letting up.
Sadie wished—really, she wished—she could erase the years that had passed. The disappointment in what she’d hoped they could be.
“There’s… I…” she said, and it didn’t feel right, but she couldn’t go there with him. Not only because of the double-dipping thing, but also, and mostly, she knew if she jumped in, she’d sink straight to the bottom. And she worried, genuinely worried, she wouldn’t make it back out.
“Are you seeing someone?” Roman asked.
She didn’t answer. He took her non-answer as an answer.
“Is it serious?” Roman asked, concern etching lines in his forehead like he was able to have an opinion on her love life. Which, to be clear, he was not.
“It can’t be like that between us again…” She trailed off.
When things fizzled, they fizzled for a reason. In this case, it was because Roman had left.
Sadie had watched enough relationships play out that she understood if they ended once, they’d end again.
“You know it can’t be,” she said.
He turned Louise over in his hand. “You know what I know?”
“You know lots,” Sadie replied.
“I know that sometimes when we least expect it, things change.” He glanced back at her. “And when they change? That’s when the good stuff happens.”
“You know what I know, Roman?” Sadie asked, suddenly taking this conversation way too intensely.
“What’s that?”
“After the good stuff ends? People hire me.” Shark Sadie was back in action. Thank. God. “I represent them.”
Sadie wished there was a stained-glass window she could toss herself out of—straight back into yesterday when Roman was still wherever Roman did Roman-y things. Not in the space where Sadie did Sadie things. But since she was here, and escape was not imminent, she’d deal.
“Roman?” An elderly woman with a thick Russian accent and an extremely florescent lime-green skirt suit skittered into the hallway. Her pillbox hat matched the dress perfectly. “Ve are vaiting for family photographs. Hurry along.”
Sadie would recognize this woman’s voice anywhere. This was Roman’s babushka.
She couldn’t help it; she smirked remembering a time when she hid in a hotel closet from her. Life was so much simpler when she was mid-fling and sorting condoms. Ahhh, memories.
The old woman paused when she caught sight of Sadie and moved her gaze between them. “Who is this?”
“I’m Sadie.” Sadie offered her hand to shake.
The woman gripped Sadie’s hand in a vise and held on way past what was comfortable.
“You live in Denver?” the woman asked.
“Y-yes.” Why did that sound like a question at the end?
“You are related to Heather?” the woman asked.
“No.” Sadie shook her head.
“Friends with Jason?”
Well, she knew Jase, but they weren’t tight. Sadie shook her head.
“You are not family,” the woman decreed. “Yet you are here. Vhy are you here?”
“Uh. No. I’m not family. It’s a long story. I’m here helping my brother out. He’s in the wedding. Eli. You know him? I’m his sister, Sadie.”
“Ahh, you are Marlee’s friend.” The woman put it all together, suddenly becoming upbeat.
“You know Marlee?” Sadie asked, hoping the woman’s line of questioning was over.
“She is my good friend. The best. My best friend.” The woman pulled her hand from Sadie’s and clapped. “Now you are friend, too. Friends are family.”
Sadie was going to let the best-friend thing go, since she was secure in her best-friend status with Marlee.
Sadie could’ve sworn Roman cursed under his breath before he said, “Sadie, this is my grandmother, Nadzieja. Everyone calls her Babushka.”
“And you vill call me Babushka.” The solid once-over she gave Sadie felt like the older woman’s X-ray vision saw straight through to Sadie’s bones.
That was an interesting feeling. Usually, Sadie was the one sizing others up.
“Babushka, shall we?” Roman stepped around Sadie, his body brushing hers ever so slightly.
Her body responded with an intense desire to melt into him like icing on a well-muscled cinnamon roll.
Bad Sadie. No touching.
“We’ll catch up later.” Roman’s eyes caught Sadie’s, holding her world in place. Pinning her there so she couldn’t move. Not forward. Not backward. This was a promise from him. One that made her heart beat faster.
“Nice to meet you,” Sadie called as Roman shuffled the woman back to the sanctuary.
“She has good hips. Vill make good babies,” Babushka said as they were about to turn the corner.
Um…come again?
Roman glanced back at Sadie, and holy goodness, he winked at her.
Chapter Four
Despite what his siblings thought on a regular basis, Roman was not an idiot.
Well, yes, he was a bit of a moron. He’d walked away from Sadie. Thought he wanted something else. Had a different dream.
He’d just put his focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Turned out, no, he’d screwed that chance. He’d also accepted the consequences of walking away and losing that brief flicker he’d felt when they were together.
He was lying to himself. What they had was more than a flicker, but he didn’t have the time to dig out that skeleton from his closet, since he was currently one of his brother’s groomsmen and the wedding reception photographer.
Roman held Louise in his grip and snapped candid photos of his brother with his new wife. The shutter punctuated his thoughts of Sadie. As it had through the years.
“Jase!” he hollered, grabbing his brother’s attention.
Jase’s hand pressed against Heather’s back as he glanced at Roman, his expression filled with happiness and love. Roman snapped the photo just as Jase looked to Heather and she stared at her new husband, mirroring that exact same lovey-dovey look.
Money. Shot.
The resulting image was perfection. That one would hang over the mantle. He’d bet his left nut on it.
“Thanks.” Roman lifted the camera and gave a wave.
Jase smiled knowingly, slipping easily into the conversation with his wife and friends.
Roman refused to allow his gaze to move to Sadie when he was on the job.
Over ten years and she still slipped into his subconscious while he slept. And his consciousness when he was awake. He couldn’t
allow her to take over when he was documenting his brother’s wedding.
He’d been on missions taking photographs of heroes and battlefields and combat, you name it, but what Sadie had offered was never far from his thoughts. That little offer that she would wait for him snuck into his mind at the oddest times.
Babushka came into focus with one of her boyfriends—Harry—and Roman pressed the button on the shutter, saving the moment for all eternity.
Harry was a decent guy. Of the two boyfriends Babushka brought around—yes, his grandmother was apparently in two wide-open relationships—Harry was his favorite.
Roman leaned forward, Louise’s viewfinder centered against his eye. He clicked a few more photos of his babushka, carefully cropping Harry out of the image. His father would appreciate this batch.
Absently, his thumb brushed the scuffs along the side of Louise. One would’ve thought after so many years, the scuffs would’ve polished out. Lord knew he’d tried to buff them away, but like the marks on his soul from all the times he’d fucked up, those tarnishes on Louise remained.
She may have been a camera, but she’d been right at his side through every bit of war he’d seen. They almost hadn’t made it out of the desert a few months after he’d left Sadie and Denver behind. He’d nearly eaten a bullet. When shit like that happens, it makes a guy take stock in what he’d leave behind. As his leg had dangled out the side of the Chinook that was in the process of getting the crew out, he gripped Louise’s freshly marred housing. The only thing on his mind was wondering what Sadie was doing. Wondering if she was happily on track to save the world in her own way. Had she found the all she wanted?
He quickly rearranged Louise’s lens to focus on his brother’s left hand, taking the photo before Jase moved out of the shot.
That one was for their mother’s coffee table.
Roman had completed what felt like a million missions after that almost-didn’t-make-it flight. Nothing felt the same.
Was it the flight? Was it missing Sadie? Was it almost not getting out of there alive? He wasn’t sure.
When it came down to it…when time stood still…when he’d almost died, something in him changed. His priorities had been a total clusterfuck.
Sadie’s offer tightly wrapped itself around his heart, his mind, and his reality. He simply hadn’t known what to do with it. Now? He was ready to stop screwing around and put his focus where it belonged.
“A little closer?” he asked two of Heather’s family members, gesturing so they’d scoot their chairs together.
Seeing wide smiles all around, he snapped the photo and felt the happiness of the moment straight in his gut. Even just three months ago, if you had asked him if this is what he would be doing now, the answer would have been a resounding hell-to-the-no.
Yet, when he’d been just about ready to re-up and continue his service, he’d realized he wanted something different. Something that wasn’t clicking the shutter on all things Uncle Sam.
This was what he wanted. To land somewhere he could take pictures of happy shit—weddings where people loved each other, families who loved life. And he wanted the Heather to his Jase.
The Sadie to his Roman.
The happiness he’d just felt in his gut took a swan dive to his toes, landing hard.
There was only one Sadie.
When he’d stood at the front of the chapel, prepared to stand with his brother and his new wife, the woman straight out of Roman’s dreams walked right through the front door and down the aisle.
Ten years and time did nothing but act as a strange, bland filter over all the experiences he’d had since they last parted.
He’d made it through the “I Do’s,” keeping his attention mostly on the wedding and not on her.
After the ceremony, he’d jumped back in with a job to do as the photographer for the reception.
He glanced across the room to where Sadie stood with Marlee. He knew Marlee. His babushka adored Marlee, so that meant Marlee had been included in all their family gigs since he’d been back. Marlee was married to Eli, so it was a convoluted, complicated, mess of family and friends.
Louise lifted to his eye. He focused in on one of the families at the reception and, doing what he did best, he captured the intensity of the emotions.
Then—and he would like to say he didn’t mean to, but he totally meant to—he did a sweep of the room with the lens and settled on Sadie.
He snapped her photo. The expression on her face was one of concern, not happiness.
He shifted the lens to where she focused her attention.
Marlee.
He stopped cold. Marlee didn’t look quite right. A little too pale. A little slower than usual.
Roman frowned and lowered Louise. Candid photos were great, but this felt invasive. He searched for Eli, knowing he’d want to be with his wife.
No dice.
Sadie held her friend’s arm as they made their way through the mass of people toward the hallway he knew led to the kitchen. Lines formed between Sadie’s eyes and her lips turned down into a frown.
Roman released Louise so that the strap attached to her caught around his neck and he started toward them. Except… He paused. He had no business following Sadie.
Minimal medic skills meant he wouldn’t be of any help in that department.
Which meant…
He pushed through the wedding crowd to find Eli.
“Man,” Roman said to Eli, grasping his shoulder and distracting him as he spoke to some older guy. “Your wife just headed for the kitchen with Sadie. Thinkin’ she needs you.”
Eli took one look at Roman and a quick glance around the room, and then without a word, he turned and hurried toward where Sadie had just disappeared with his wife.
Knowing he was going to Sadie, Roman itched to follow.
He had no business following.
“What’s the deal with you and Sadie?” Jase asked as he approached, his spider-like senses clearly on high alert.
Roman had never told anyone about what went down between him and Sadie. It was none of their goddamned business.
What had happened between them had been beautiful. Perfection.
He didn’t talk about it out of genuine concern he’d soil it and ruin what it’d been. Even if it had only been that in his mind.
“There’s no deal.”
“You’ve been staring at her all night. I’m thinking there’s a deal.”
Roman lifted Louise to snap photos and ignore his brother. He held the camera entirely too close to his sibling and clicked away, totally obnoxious.
“He’s not answering,” Jase said to no one. “There’s something there.”
“Sadie and I go way back,” Roman replied, covering any emotion and focusing on his job.
“Shit, man.” Jase gave Roman a scan that could overexpose film. “Eli will literally kill you if you’re screwing his sister.”
Eli’s sister was a grown-ass woman, so he’d have to hold off on killing Roman.
“What’s going on with Sadie?” Heather asked, coming up behind the groom and wrapping her arms around his middle. “Why will Eli kill Roman?”
Jase moved his bride so she stood in front of him. This time, his arms were wrapped around her middle. “There’s something up with him and Sadie.”
Heather leaned into her husband, the two of them melding into a cohesive unit.
Roman wanted that for himself. The love part. He didn’t want to settle for anything less than the way they looked at each other like the world only revolved around them. The way they only had to touch to become a solid unit.
Roman didn’t want to be jealous of what his brother had. Not really. He just also wanted a sliver of that in his life.
He lifted Louise for a quick candid of them together.
Yeah, snapping photos at weddings wouldn’t suck. He’d get a hit of this every Saturday afternoon while he built up his business.
This was the other end of the spectru
m from grenades flying and bullet rounds puncturing the air around him. An end that made a helluva lot more sense.
“You know Sadie?” Heather asked, all genuine curiosity. “That’s awesome. She’s so nice.”
“Yeah, I know her.” Roman gripped Louise harder. “She is nice.”
To put it mildly.
Uh, and that wasn’t something he wanted to discuss at the wedding with all his meddling Russian family present.
They’d have their noses shoved so far up his business that poor Sadie wouldn’t know what hit her.
“Who does who know?” Babushka asked, wiggling into the small circle that had formed around him.
Oh great, the queen of the big Russian family was about to get nose-deep in his infatuation with a particular attorney.
“I know Sadie.” Roman drew out her name. “She’s Eli’s sister. Marlee’s best friend. You all know them, too, right?”
The smart-ass in him was strong tonight.
“Of course, I know Sadie.” Babushka’s once-over likely involved a glance straight into his soul.
How his very not-innocent grandmother managed that look of complete and utter innocence was beyond Roman.
Yet, he knew his babushka was reading him better than any lie detector test. He went with honesty. “We met at one of Jase’s parties. Haven’t seen her in years. Knew her before she went to law school. Haven’t seen her since.”
A flicker of something in Babushka’s elderly eyes made Roman want to crawl over the bar top and into a bottle of whatever the bartender wanted to throw his way.
That look was a look he’d seen before.
His grandmother was going to go Babushka on the situation. He could feel it in his Dvornakov bones.
“Sadie is von vith good hips?” Babushka mused to herself. The question was a question, but it was also more of a statement. A rhetorical Babushka’d question.
“Oh no,” Heather whispered.
“Fuuuuuck.” That was Jase.
“Excellent hips.” Roman channeled his inner attorney on behalf of Sadie.
Babushka pinched his cheeks. “You vill be married soon, my grandson.” She rose on her tippy-toes to plant a kiss on Roman’s cheek. “Love is in the air. Love is good thing.” Babushka raised her voice at the end, causing a good portion of the motley crew of Russian family members nearby to raise their glasses to her.
Do Me a Favor: A second chance, hilarious rom com! (Mile High Matched Book 4) Page 5