Grace watched as Vincent and Rose walked away, talking. Unlike Grace, Rose had always made friends easily. It didn’t surprise her that she’d already made a friend here. She turned in their direction again. “He’s not that bad is he?”
“I wouldn’t have let them walk away if I thought he’d be stupid enough to do anything wrong here. No need to worry.” He leaned and kissed her. “She’ll be fine here. It’s just that I hate to say it because he’s family, but he’s definitely not someone you want your sister associating with too much.”
Feeling a little relieved that her sister wasn’t in any immediate danger she smiled. “I’m glad he’ll keep her busy at least for a little bit. I was afraid she might get bored.”
Sal stood up. “Just keep your eye out. C’mon lets go see my nieces.” He looked her over as they walked toward the house. “By the way, you look beautiful.”
Grace chewed her lip. “Thank you.” She wondered how long it would be before she stopped getting that tingly feeling around him.
Alex’s house was just as big as Sal’s, only not quite as perfectly kept. But she figured having two newborns in the house must make it hard to keep up with everything else. Alex walked out of one of the hallways and smiled when he saw Grace. “Hey, Grace. You look nice.”
Grace felt her face warm. She’d obsessed about what to wear all morning. Since she and Rose wore roughly the same size, she borrowed one of Rose’s pale pink baby doll tanks and a white denim skirt. The skirt was also Rose’s and a bit shorter than what she normally liked but Rose assured her she looked fine. She also straightened her hair. Since it’s so damn thick it usually took her forever but Rose helped her with it this morning and they got through it in half the time. “Thank you. I can’t wait to see your babies.”
“Come on. Not too many people are going to get past this hallway today but you’re one of the few I’ll make an exception for.”
As they walked through the hallway, Grace took in some of the pictures on the wall. Alex must’ve met his wife way back in high school because there were a few of them together where they looked so young. Even back then, he was huge.
She and Sal followed him into the last room at the end of the hall with the double door entryway. His wife Valerie, a very attractive petite blonde woman with big brown eyes, smiled as she looked up. She sat on the huge bed, holding one of the babies while Sofia sat across from her on a rocking chair, holding the other one.
Grace brought her hand to her mouth as she approached. “Valerie this is my star employee, Grace. Grace this is my wife, Valerie.”
Valerie smiled. “Finally I get to meet what all the fuss is about. Alex has been going on and on about you ever since he hired you. I was beginning to get a little jealous.” She glanced down at the hand that Sal held firmly in his and smiled. “I guess I don’t have anything to worry about.”
“No, you don’t,” Sal said before Grace could answer.
Alex took the baby Sofia held. “Like any of my girls have anything to worry about. Ever.” He leaned in and kissed the baby on the nose. Then walked over to Grace with her. “This is my beautiful Sienna.”
Grace put out her hands, feeling a little nervous about holding something so fragile. “Oh my God, Alex. She is beautiful.” She had all of Alex’s features, from the dark hair to the fair skin. Her eyes were closed so she couldn’t see the color but she had the trademark full Moreno lashes.
Alex beamed. “And that other beautiful little thing over there.” He gestured toward Valerie. “Is Savannah.”
Sal walked over and took Savannah from Valerie’s arms. “Hey, baby girl. She’s awake.” Sal smiled, walking back to Grace.
“Yeah, she stays up a little longer than this sleepy head,” Alex said as Sal approached Grace so she could see her.
“Her eyes are huge!” Grace said, amazed at the sight.
They were in there for a while completely in awe of the two beautiful little creatures Alex doted over them, until their mother walked in to ask Alex and Sal if they could come out and help bring in the food that had just arrived. Sal handed the baby back to Valerie and Valerie asked Grace to take a seat on the bed.
The baby felt so tiny in her arms. She had that wonderful baby scent. “I see Sal’s staked his claim,” Valerie said, smiling. “Alex wasn’t surprised. He surprace to taaid he noticed something when Sal first told him about the interview he had with you. It’s normal for Sal to over think things but Alex said this interview really struck a nerve with Sal and he’d gone on and on about it.”
Sofia laughed. “I didn’t notice until the day she walked in with her hair down. You should’ve seen the look on his face. It was classic and he tried so hard to play it off.”
Though their comments made her feel good they also made her feel a little dumb. She hadn’t noticed a thing until his, “Oh, I’m impressed.” comment and even then she hadn’t been totally sure. Taylor was right again, damn it. But she supposed it was easy to be blind to these kinds of things, especially when it seems just too good to be true.
“You’re the first girl he brought home to the family, you know? Everyone is a little surprised, including my parents.”
Grace had to ask. “Why is it so hard to believe?”
Valerie and Sofia exchanged a glance that made Grace nervous. “Honestly, I was beginning to think he’d never find a girl that he thought good enough,” Sofia said, then added quickly, “Not that he thinks he’s all that. But my God, that guy is so picky about everything.”
“Tell me about it,” Valerie said. “I nearly gave up looking for a house for him. He drove me nuts. Alex had even told me at one point to just forget about it and let him find another agent because there was always something that wasn’t exactly perfect about every house I showed him. It took over a year.” She leaned over to make sure no one was coming down the hallway. “I was so sick of him.” Then she giggled. “Even after he finally settled on the house he bought, it was months before he remodeled and changed things to his liking.”
“Yeah,” Sofia said. “Don’t let him do that to you.”
“Do what?”
“Try to change you to his liking.”
So far, Sal hadn’t suggested changing anything about her. The closest thing was when he asked her why she tried to conceal her accent. I love it. You wouldn’t be Grace without it were his exact words.
“I don’t think he would,” Grace said, cooing, at the baby who finally opened a huge pair of eyes and yawned.
“No.” Valerie agreed. “I think Sal finally found someone who’s completely intrigued him. Alex had talked about the way Sal is around you and I saw the way he looks at you. Grace, I think he finally found a keeper—that is—if you’ll keep him.”
Both Valerie and Sofia laughed. Grace’s insides went wild. But she didn’t want them to know just how much that excited her. “I’m pretty intrigued too.” Was she ever.
Sofia sat the edge of her seat. “Growing up, I used to think I’d be the way my brothers were with me, when it came to their girlfriends. No one was good enough for their little sister. But so far I’ve been blessed with two wonderful sister-in-laws. I couldn’t be happier that you and Sal have hooked up. I think you’re perfect for him.” Her eyes opened in excitement. “So since you’re here today it must be getting serious, huh?”
Sister-in-law? Grace gulped. “I don’t know. do op It’s only been a week.”
Sal walked in followed by Alex, Romero and Isabel.
“Isabel,” Alex said. “You can hold my babies but I don’t know about Romero.”
“I’m not sure I want to,” Romero said. Alex gave him a look. “I’m scared!”
“Of what?” Isabel asked. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re going to hold them.”
Romero raised his eyebrows at Grace to acknowledge her but looked genuinely nervous. “All right but only if I’m sitting.”
Isabel smiled at Grace. “Hi again.” She leaned over, looking as mesmerized as everyone was with the bab
y. “Oh my gosh. Look at those eyes!”
Grace lifted the baby, offering her to Isabel. Isabel took her, gushing. Romero sat on the bed. Grace giggled at the way he prepared himself backing far up so he was further away from the edge. He cradled his empty arms a couple of times.
Alex’s brows pinched. “What are you doing?”
“I’m practicing!”
Valerie laughed, standing to hand him the baby. She placed it gently in his arms and Romero’s eyes widened as she began to pull her own arms away. “Hold on. Hold on!”
“You got it,” she laughed.
Grace had never seen anyone hold a baby so awkwardly and everyone laughed at how stiffly he sat. “Relax, dude,” Sal said.
Isabel sat down next to him and he looked absolutely panicked. “Don’t move me!”
“You’ve never held a baby before?” Isabel asked.
“How can you tell?” He inched a little further back into the bed.
“You better not drop her,” Alex teased.
Romero’s eyes opened even wider at the comment then looked back down at the baby. “She’s beautiful, man.”
Sal leaned over to Grace. “You wanna go check on your sister?”
Grace stood up. “Oh yeah, she’s probably looking for me.”
They excused themselves and walked out. She walked in front of Sal through the hallway and felt him lean into her ear. “Just so you know. I’m very serious about us. I hope you are, too.”
Grace didn’t think she could get more excited than what Sofia and Valerie had said made her. She turned to him just as they walked out of the hallway together. She’d wondered when he walked in, if he’d heard Sofia’s question. “I am. She just caught me off guard I wasn’t sure what—”
He kissed her softly, before she could finish. “All I needed to hear were those first two words. Don’t worry about anything else.”thim. She jus
She felt her heart inflating a million times over as he stared in her eyes. What she felt for him this soon, was utterly illogical. She hadn’t been scared before but now she was. Completely. She wasn’t just falling in love with just him, she was falling in love with his entire family.
CHAPTER 20
They walked out into the backyard and Sal felt a little alarmed when he didn’t see her sister and Vincent anywhere. Vincent had been one headache after another for years. The problem was his dad’s younger brother hadn’t been around much in the beginning of Vincent’s life. When he finally was, Vincent was a preteen and already out of control.
His mother lived too far for Sal’s dad to be too much help. The last he heard was that his dad was having to pay fines because the ass got caught tagging up the school walls after hours with his low life friends.
Grace glanced around. “You think they’re still over by the koi pond?”
“Let’s go see.” He took her through the front instead of walking through the crowded backyard. They didn’t have to walk very far. Vincent and Rose were sitting on the porch swing, talking. Rose was a very pretty girl and looked a little older than her fifteen years. Sal thought Vincent looked a bit too comfortable and the swing was big enough he didn’t need to be sitting so close. Vincent smiled when he saw them. “Checking up on me already? I told you I’d be cool.”
“The food’s here. Why don’t you guys come get something to eat?”
Vincent asked Rose something Sal couldn’t hear and turned back to Sal. “Neither of us is hungry yet. We’ll get some later.”
Sal frowned, lifting his hands with Grace’s hand still in one of them and parted them. “Can you get a little space in between you two? Come on, Vin. There’s enough room on that swing.”
Vincent laughed. “You’re kidding me, right?” But he complied and scooted over a little.
Grace squeezed his hand. “Sal!”
They turned back to the backyard. “I’m telling you,” he said in a lowered voice. “That kid can’t be trusted.” He turned back to Vincent. “Don’t go disappearing anywhere, Vin.ing anywre shling
“We’ll be right here.” The wicked grin only spiked Sal’s nerves.
They ate an excellently executed version of Grace’s casserole and after the cake was served, Valerie began working her way through the enormous pile of gifts. Those babies were set with every baby gadget and product out there. Even Sal hadn’t been able to help himself and bought the deluxe twin stroller that doubled as car seats.
Then came the clothes. Valerie made a comment pouting that she’d have no excuse to shop for them for at least a year. She wasn’t kidding. She got to Grace’s bags and Sal abstained from frowning, especially since Grace grinned silly when she saw Valerie pick up her gift bags. Sal knew Grace was on a tight budget. She’d even told him how she paid for a good portion of the household bills.
Valerie pulled out a pair of tiny San Diego Charger cheerleading outfits. Complete with pom-poms and matching booties. There were a lot of and awes and some clapping. “Yes!” Alex fist pumped. “But they’re a little short.”
Valerie rolled her eyes while others laughed.
After the shower, they drove Rose home, but not before a disturbingly long goodbye to Vincent. Much to Sal’s discontent, he’d watched as they exchanged phone numbers by calling each other on their cells.
“I can’t stress enough, Gracie,” he said to her as soon as Rose was out of the car and out of earshot. “The boy is bad news. I hope you warn her.”
“He’s so young and he has a tattoo.”
“Yeah, that’s how stupid he is.” Sal shook his head.
They drove back to his place and sat in the back again. Sal was beginning to hate taking her home each night. He knew it’d only been a week since they’d gotten together but what he’d been feeling for her had grown over a longer period of time and he couldn’t get enough of her now. Hearing her say she was serious too had made his day.
He also remembered her mention that she’d never. If that meant what he was sure it did, asking her to spend the night was out of the question. He’d have to be very patient. This wouldn’t be his first time with a virgin but definitely the first time he’d ever been with anyone he had these kinds of feelings for, so in a way this was a first for him as well. This was huge. Taking his time around someone that drove him this insane wouldn’t be easy. But he had no intention of doing anything that might make her uncomfortable.
~*~
Jason called on Tuesday to remind him of the bachelor party that weekend. “You got your flight booked?”
Now, more than ever, Sal couldn’t imagine leaving for two days but he knew there was no way out of this. “Yeah, I’ll fly out at five and be there by six on Saturday.”
“In the morning, right?”
“Nah, man I couldn’t get anything earlier.” That was one fat lie if he ever told one. He only hoped Jason wouldn’t check. There was a flight available as early as nine in the morning. But it was bad enough that he’d be mis heevesing his evening with Grace that night, he wasn’t going to miss the whole day too.
“Are you kidding me? We’ll probably all be bombed by then.”
“At six? You’re crazy. That’s still early. Everything’s just getting started around that time.”
“Not in Vegas, baby.”
Sal laughed. “I’ll catch up when I get there. I promise.”
He hung up before Jason got a chance to ask him what time his flight was the next morning. Curiously, there were plenty of early flights home Sunday. Knowing he’d probably be up late Saturday night, he made sure he didn’t book one too early, but he knew even his eleven a.m flight would be too early for Jason.
Grace was off, but he’d be picking her up later that evening. He actually could pick her up earlier and he really wanted to. Sofia had come in and said she could close if he wanted her to, but Grace was spending the afternoon with Joey and Taylor. Even though they were gay, it still annoyed him that they were taking time that he could be spending with her.
Sal hadn’t told her yet abou
t the bachelor party. He was telling her tonight and he wasn’t looking forward to it. The things Grace did with her friends when he wasn’t around were things he didn’t have to worry about. Like today they’d all gone to a farmers’ market where some of their school friends were participating in a chili cook-off and then they were having an early dinner. He wasn’t sure how he’d feel about her going out to a club without him. Or even to have a few drinks on a Saturday night at places where it was known people went to hook up. So he didn’t want her to get the idea he was okay with even these kinds of things. He’d certainly have a problem with her taking off for the weekend, especially if her and her friends were planning ahead of time on getting bombed. After this damn weekend, she’d have a free pass.
The only hope he had of getting out of going this weekend would be if Grace told him she wasn’t comfortable with it. He’d cancel his flight in a heartbeat. Jason would just have to understand and if that were the case, he wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty. Grace’s feeling were more important now. Unfortunately, since Grace hadn’t shown any insecurity with Melissa, he highly doubted she’d be concerned about this.
She said she’d be ready by seven. Sal had driven around her block since he’d been there a little too early to text her. By the time she got in the car, he was so damn anxious to see her, their first kiss was ravenous. She licked her lips when he was done and she laughed. “I missed you, too.”
Thank God for Sofia. He might’ve closed early, if she hadn’t showed up. He was going to have to control himself. It was getting harder and harder to not push things further physically but she still hadn’t shown any signs that she was ready to move forward and he refused to push her—refused to even mention it—not until she did first.