When her cousin left the room, Rome went over to his dresser and took out a pair of sweatpants for himself and a sweatshirt along with a pair of his boxers for Sasha, since her clothes were strewn all over his living room.
Rome slid quickly into his pants and left her alone, causing her to panic. “Misha, if you hurt him, so help me…” she yelled as she dressed in a frenzy. When she was decent, she bolted from the room and found them talking in hushed whispers. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing, sweetness,” Rome replied reassuringly and walked over to her. “Your cousin and I are cool.”
Misha nodded. “We are. Don’t worry, Cuz. I have to ask, though, how did you two end up together?”
“We met in Italy,” Rome answered.
Her cousin didn’t need to know the details, but one particular detail would definitely be a benefit. “He saved my life actually.” She smiled at Rome, and he returned it. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and a car nearly hit me. He pulled me out of the way.” Turning back to her cousin, she said, “It doesn’t matter to me whose son he is or what our families have done to each other. Like me, like you, he was born into a situation he didn’t ask for.”
Once again, her cousin nodded, in understanding this time. “Where does your dad think you are now?”
“At Rose’s. I texted him last night.” Despite being a grown woman, her father would have moved heaven and earth to find her if she hadn’t touched base with him on the drive over to Rome’s house. She’d texted Rose as well, and promised to fill her in later on the reason for her lie. Actually, she had planned on confiding everything to her favorite cousin, who had always been more like a sister to her. Rome had been the only secret she had kept from her.
“Who is Rose?” Rome asked.
“My sister,” Misha said. “I should get going. Apparently, I have a meeting to get to later.”
“I’ll see you out.” Rome gently squeezed Sasha’s hand in reassurance before he walked over to the foyer where her cousin already stood, and extended his hand out to him. To Sasha’s surprise, Misha shook hands with him, furthermore, without a hint of malice.
“What was that about?” she asked Rome as soon as her cousin left. “Not that I’m not ecstatic you didn’t try to kill each other, but you two were alone for like two seconds and now you’re—”
“I think he just wants peace as much as we do,” Rome interjected, “and you and I,” he gestured between them as he walked back over to where she stood, “can very well be the catalyst to that.”
She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You really think so?”
“I truly do,” he said, right before he devoured her mouth, which led to activities the morning should have started out with.
****
She couldn’t do it. Sasha simply couldn’t stay behind, despite promising Rome that she would. He had assured her Lenny’s presence, and even Misha’s, would ensure a peaceful meeting. Lenny had even offered up his house, a neutral territory, but she wanted … no, needed to be there.
Once dressed in the previous night’s clothes, she called a car service to take her over to Lenny’s house. The ten-minute drive felt like it could have actually been an hour, and when she finally got there, a sinking feeling reached the pit of her stomach at the sight of the front door slightly ajar. An eerie silence met her when she opened the door and stepped inside.
And then all hell broke loose.
