Loving Leo (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

cool?”  He raised a hand when Gary tried to respond.  “Just shut your mouth.  Just eat.”
    “I didn’t mean it like that,” Gary grumbled before heeding Leo’s demand and going back to his food.
    Jessica watched Gary sheepishly, feeling bad.  She had thought her fake story was pretty cool too.
    “Do you ever feel like you’re missing out on knowing your culture firsthand?” Bette asked.
    Jessica shrugged.  “I don’t think it’s any different from an Italian American who’s never been to Italy.  Or a Russian American who’s never been to Russia.”  She purposely used Tony and Bette’s nationalities as her example, noting the look the married couple shared over the table.
    “That’s true,” Bette smiled.   “Never thought of it that way.”
    “We should plan a trip,” Tony said.  “To Italy or Russia.  We should do it, all of us, this year.”
    “We should make it Russia, not Italy, that way Rome can enjoy it too,” Gary said.
    The silence that swept across the table was bone chilling.  Even the silverware stopped clanking, leaving an eerie emptiness lingering.
    The fact that Tony was not Roman’s biological father was still a touchy subject at this table.  That much was evident.  Nobody jumped in to note that, with the surname Romanovsky, even Tony was bound to have a little Russian in him, however far down the line it was.
    Jessica looked at Gary. Apparently, he was the Romanovsky that lived with his foot in his mouth.  He went back to demolishing his food like nothing was out of the ordinary, even as his words blasted the air from every pair of lungs at the table, hand delivered a vat of awkwardness that was torturous to stew in, and left each one of them at a loss how to get out of it.
    The silence went on.
    Leo leaned close.  “I told you these people were crazy.”

3
     
    “Your family is definitely crazy.”  Jessica stared down at her running shoes and his combat boots as they trudged along the asphalt in the middle of the quiet tree-lined street.  The streetlights shone a dull yellow, illuminating their faces and darkening them again as they moved.  “They’re crazy, but they love you.  You’re lucky.”  She sighed.  “I just wish we hadn’t had to leave so quickly.”
    “I’m surprised how badly you wanted to stay.  By the end of dinner with my family, guests are usually breaking their necks in the race to get away.”
    “Nah.  They’re sweet.  Your mother is an angel, and damn can she cook.”
    “She’s the shit,” Leo agreed.
    “I wasn’t in a hurry.”  She threw him a squinted eye.  “If anything, you seemed eager to get me out of there.”
    “How else was I supposed to get you alone?”
    “Is that why you insisted on walking me home, even though my house is, literally, right around the corner?”
    “Maybe I’m just a gentlemen.”
    “Are gentlemen hitting women with their penis cars now?  Is that what’s hot in these streets?  Who said chivalry’s dead?”
    “How quickly you forget that you threw yourself in front of me.  Even now, when I’m trying to walk you home, like a gentleman , you’ve managed to steer us straight into the middle of the damn road.  You’re trying to get us both killed now.”
    Jessica turned away, giving him the back of her head as a smile teased her lips. When the smile dissipated, she snapped her gaze back to him.  “Maybe the company you bring home, I’m assuming female company, are always itching to get away because they’re mortified when your family calls them by three different names in rapid fire succession.”
    “That doesn’t happen every time.”
    “I don’t believe you.”  She snickered when his head fell.  “At all.  I personally thought it was hilarious that your family put you on blast about the hordes of women you bring home.”
    “ Hordes is a strong word.”
    “They confused me with three different women, Leo.  Three. ”
    “Three girls does not a horde