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

And there were no more
instances of irritation. Getting to know Elliot a little better made him feel
like less of a threat.
    “So what’s it like working with Isabel,” Valerie asked with a
grin. “I know firsthand what a stickler she can be. Is she driving you crazy
yet?”
    Elliot smiled, glancing at Izzy. “No, not at all. As I told your
brother-in-law earlier, I think she’s amazing. I’ve never had such an easy teacher
to mentor before.”
    Romero stared him down but kept his cool. After hearing Elliot refer
to Izzy as amazing the first time, Romero heard Elliot also referring to his own
daughter and a few of the dishes and desserts as amazing . Romero would chalk
it off now as this probably being one of the words the guy overused. But he
could feel his uncles eyeing him, and he knew what Alex and Angel must be
thinking. So Romero put his arm around his beautiful wife and smiled. “Yeah,
Izzy is pretty amazing.”
    The surprised and impressed looks he got all around, including
from his wife, were not missed. Even he was pretty impressed with himself again.
But he’d already been given one free pass tonight. More than one actually.
    Regardless of how easily Izzy had let him off the hook tonight
for jumping to conclusions so quickly, he knew he’d gotten lucky. He seriously
had to get it together. He wasn’t that guy anymore. He couldn’t just lose his
shit the way he used to once upon a time. As Manny had said, Romero had kids to
think of now, kids who could be scarred emotionally for life by being witness
to one of his uncontrollable rages.
    Bottom line was, unless his Izzy actually did something with this
guy, which he knew would never happen, Romero had to learn to let shit go. Even
if Elliot were attracted to her, the only justifiable reason Romero could be
mad about that was if Izzy did anything to encourage him to do something about
it. He owed it to her and his kids to keep his temper in check. Tonight had
been too close.
     

 
     
     
    Seven
    Not so Clueless
     
    T
    he week after Thanksgiving, when Isabel and the kids
went back to school and work, was time for the sneaking around to start.
Surprising Romero wasn’t going to be easy. Already he’d been suspicious about
her private talking with Elliot. In hindsight, maybe she should’ve waited until
she got back to work to tell Elliot about the baby. But it couldn’t be helped.
Not telling Romero was making her want to burst. She wanted to tell everyone
she could. Not only that, she also needed to inform Elliot that she’d have to
take some time out this week to go get the official confirmation that she was
pregnant.
    It felt sneaky having to lie about where she’d actually been
headed that morning, but that was the least of her worries. The morning
sickness had kicked in a lot sooner with this pregnancy, and already she’d had
to cover up being sick when Romero had been home while it happened. That was
going to be the ultimate doom of this surprise. Holding off telling him was one
thing, his not figuring it out before Christmas would be another.
    Valerie had tried in vain to get Isabel to make the announcement
this big elaborate thing as they’d done when she announced her first pregnancy.
That time she and Valerie had found out almost at the same time that they were
pregnant. It was Valerie’s second pregnancy, but everyone had been equally
excited for them both.
    That time Romero had been more stunned than anything. The whole
gang had been at Moreno’s restaurant, celebrating Father’s Day. Valerie and
Isabel had gotten up to make a toast to their fathers then finished off the
toast by saying, “And speaking of fathers, guess who else is going to be one.” The
announcement was made to a very surprised and happy crowd. Later, when they’d
finally had a moment alone, Romero confessed he didn’t have a clue about what
it’d be like to be a dad.
    The very first time he held his daughter in his arms he’d told Isabel
he already knew he