Free Tangled: A Moreno Brothers novella by Elizabeth Reyes Page A

having to say it, they both knew what had been going
through Romero’s head, and he felt like an ass now. “I’m sorry,” he said
without explaining for what.
    “Yeah, yeah,” she said with a playful smile.
    While she stopped and checked on the kids, Romero fixed himself a
plate. When they got back to the table, Valerie thanked Isabel for her
refreshed glass of wine and Aida thanked her for the beer.
    “Whatcha drinking?” Aida asked, pointing at Izzy’s glass of
cranberry juice.
    “Just cranberry juice,” Izzy said then brought a spoonful of
mashed potatoes and turkey to her mouth.
    “But we’re celebrating tonight,” Aida said, taking a long swig of
her beer.
    Izzy chewed her food slowly before wiping her mouth and looking
up at Aida. “Too many calories,” she said, glancing up at Romero with a smile
then back at Aida. “I’m trying to cut down.”
    Romero didn’t think anything of it. Every now and again Izzy
would go on some fad diet. Usually she and Valerie or one of her sisters would
do it with her. It’d last a few weeks, and then she’d be back to eating
whatever she pleased.
    Even during the holidays, it wasn’t unusual for Izzy to decide to
cut down on something. She’d never been big on drinking anyway. He wouldn’t
have given it another thought until Elliot said something that made Izzy
noticeably tense.
    “Yes, I was just telling Isabel the other day that cutting down
on alcohol alone could make a big difference when trying to shed a few pounds.”
    Romero’s eyes immediately went from Izzy’s cranberry juice to
Elliot’s stupid smiling face then back to Izzy. Is that what this was? This
idiot had made a comment about her needing to “shed a few pounds,” so she was
cutting back?
    His wife knew him too well because she was already soothing his
instantly sparked annoyance by caressing his inner thigh. “I just decided I
wanted to cut down a little what with Christmas around the corner. You know how
the kids love making all those cookies and gingerbread houses.” She laughed softly,
spearing a piece of turkey with her fork. “I’m not cutting down on any of that
stuff. That’s for sure.”
    “Well, that’s smart,” Valerie said. “Because, God, I know what
you mean. As much as I’ve always been able to eat and not worry about gaining
weight, this is the only time of the year I feel like I need to get my
ass in the gym, or my jeans start getting unbearably tight.”
    “I like them tight.” Alex smirked just as he took a drink of his
beer.
    Valerie rolled her eyes, smiling. “Yeah, well I like to be able
to breathe when I wear them.”
    Izzy’s hand had begun to caress Romero a little higher up his
thigh now, and as much as he hated to admit he was that easy, she’d managed to
bring him down again—so much so he leaned in and pecked her sweetly in an
attempt to demonstrate how cool he could be about this whole damn professor
thing. He even went as far as smiling at Elliot when he glanced his way and
noticed the somewhat apprehensive look the guy gave him. Romero may’ve been
able to conquer his explosive temper when it came to this stuff and even manage
to snuff the roaring inferno down to frail embers rather quickly, but there was
one thing he’d never be able to mask, nor would he ever try. The hard
expressions Izzy read so well would always be a clear indicator of what he was
feeling. He’d been ready to blow more than once tonight, and Elliot, no doubt,
had picked up on that.
    Good.
    Just because Romero was being all grown up about this and not
acting on his anger as he would’ve a few years ago, that didn’t mean he couldn’t
send Elliot a message loud and clear without saying a word. Elliot should
not get any ideas about trying anything sneaky with Izzy.
    For the next hour or so, they all chatted and laughed, and Romero
actually thought it a good thing now that Izzy had invited Elliot. He seemed harmless
enough, and he was kind of cool in a brainy kind of way.