13. Elizabeth
THIRTEEN
ELIZABETH
A brISK KNOCK AT THE DOOR abruptly wakes me to a sunlight drenched room, and a laptop still in my bed that's about to conk out on less than five percent battery power. I fell asleep working in bed again.
I've actually been doing this for the last few days. Staying up because the freelance coders I'm able to afford all live in India, and we're on two completely opposite time zones. The only way we can chat live to troubleshoot is if I stay up, so that's what I do. Of course, this is driving Juliette completely insane. She doesn't understand what I do and why I need to stay up half the night to do it, and even if she did, all she cares about is feeding me.
"Come in,” I say, completely hiding under my covers. I know it can only be her, but I look like death warmed over and my morning breath is lethal. I wouldn't want to kill her with it.
"Get up, Duchess."
I jump damn near out of my skin when I hear the deep familiar voice, and squeeze my legs tightly together when I peep my head from under the covers and notice Roman leaning against the inside of the door frame with his arms crossed in front of him, dressed in only a pair of black basketball shorts, and dripping in sweat. I can literally see every ridge and hard, sleek muscle in his forearms, biceps, chest, and torso. He must have zero body fat and the capability of lifting a Mack Truck. No wonder he oozes confidence and arrogance. How could he be anything but egotistical when he sees that every frackin' day in the mirror?
"I'm tired," I complain with the covers over my mouth.
"I bet," he snickers. "I heard that you've been working yourself to death up here."
"Did Juliette put you up to this? Why are you here?"
Where have you been?
"Not happy to see me?"
Hell, yes.
"Ugh."
I pretend I’m not elated to see him and pull the covers back completely over my head.
"Listen, Duchess. I'm not one for elephants in the room, so I'm just going to say it. I buried you in the backyard when we were kids. It was a shitty thing to do, but in my defense I was only ten. Let's move on."
That's the elephant in the room he wants to talk about? How about the fact that he was about two-seconds away from making me come right on the dance floor of a family party? Or the fact that I've been thinking about him nonstop since we met. I'm lusting after my own cousin!
So what we're not biologically related. It's still gross. I can hear my mother now.
Out of all the thousands of men in that city, you decide that you want to spread your legs for your cousin, Elizabeth? God, you're such a disappointment.
Then she'd make the sign of the cross and pray for my eternal soul.
"Don't make me pull those covers off,” he warns, refusing to leave. "Get out of bed, nerd."
"Who are you calling–"
He whips the covers clear off of me, and I’m immediately exposed and freezing. Juliette still has the central air running, and I'm only wearing a very thin neon yellow tank top and a pair of pink and white polka dot panties. My stretched out, worn-out pair of panties. The ones you wear when you're almost completely out of clean underwear.
Crap.
I have no doubt Roman is used to slick, worldly women who only wear lace thongs and push-up bras and look like Victoria Secret models, the way I've seen women slobber over him. I'm sure I'm giving him a country mouse eyeful.
"Shit,” I hear him mutter under his breath. "Where are your pajamas, Duchess?"
"This is what I sleep in, genius. Get out!"
All I can do is fuss at him to save face. I'm more angry at myself than anything he's said or done. Hell, I'm angry that I haven't washed clothes yet. I do own better looking underwear than this.
He runs his hand back and forth over the top of his head and exhales roughly.
"We're going out. Be ready in fifteen minutes. I'm not playing."
"I don't have time to play with you,” I say back.
"Good, we're in agreement then."
"That's not what I–"
He closes the door sharply behind him, which makes the whole house rattle a little, and I throw my hands in the air in utter frustration.
"ASSHOLE!"
Not too long after, I hear a soft knock at the door and imagine he's about to tell me what he thinks about me calling him names.
"Oh, so you're knocking now?!"
"Elizabeth? It's me, sweetie."
Oh, God. It's Juliette. I pull the covers up to my chin so that she doesn't know that Roman just saw me practically nude, as well as to save her from my rancid breath. Where the heck is my pack of gum?
"Oops, Auntie."
She enters the room gingerly, like she's frightened that I'm going to throw a bottle at her head.
"Is it safe?"
"Ha, ha. I thought you were Roman again."
"He's just being a good cousin, honey. I know that I said that you wouldn't see him much around here, but he's just trying to get you out of the house for a while."
"So you put him up to this?"
"His father did." She holds her hands up like she's under arrest. "It wasn't me. I know how dedicated you are to your work."
Even though he's eerily quiet, Joseph has been nothing but super sweet to me since I've been here, and I can tell the way he is with Juliette, that he is possessive and protective by nature. Of course he would want someone to look out for me. He probably feels responsible for my well being since I'm currently living under his roof, but I just can't. Not with Roman.
"It's not like I don't know the city, Aunt Juliette. I've lived here for years. I went to Penn. I don't need a babysitter."
"Is this about Roman’s prank when you were six, because that was our fault, sweetie. We should've been keeping a better eye on things. He was just doing what boys that age do. Roman was always a handful."
"Auntie–"
"You're not going to stop saying aunt, are you?"
"Not to your face." I smile. "It just seems inappropriate to call you by your first name."
"My brother has always had a stick up his ass with formalities and stuff. I get it though. We were raised that way by your grandparents. It's just that I remember us both promising each other that our children would call each other by our first names. We thought the whole title thing was stupid when we were kids. We had to call anybody over the age of twenty-five aunt this or uncle that. Even our cousins. It was ridiculous."
"It's a shame that you and Dad can't figure out how to close this distance between the two of you. I'm pretty sure he misses you."
"What makes you think that?" she asks wistfully.
"Just a feeling."
"Well, maybe one day we'll clear the air. Having you here is actually a big step in the right direction."
"How does helping your homeless niece repair things between the two of you?" I chuckle.
"I don't know if ten years ago he would have ever allowed you in this house. He must be mellowing with age, or maybe because you're an adult now. Either way, it's progress."
I smile but wonder to myself what on earth could have happened to make my dad avoid his only sister for most of his adult life?
"Will you tell me what happened?" She exhales tiredly.
"Your father and Joseph have some issues."
"What issues?"
"They don't like each other. Your father didn't want me to marry him. He made me choose. I chose Joseph."
My father is many things, but making his sister choose between him and the man she loves sounds extreme even for him.
"Let me brush out your hair before you jump in the shower, Elizabeth. It's gorgeous. Just like your mom's."
"Okay."
"You know that Bobby and Philip are four and six years older than your father and me."
Uncle Bobby and Uncle Philip are Juliette and my dad's older brothers and are both lawyers for my grandfather's firm.
"Yes."
"That's why your father and I were so close, because we're only a year apart, but we also worshipped our big brothers. Your dad wanted to hang around them and be just like them, and I wanted to date all their friends. Joseph was one of those friends.
“I’m pretty sure your dad envisioned me with a nice guy my age from school or something. The whole family did. But Joseph didn't go to our school, and he wasn't from our town. He was from the inner city, rough around the edges, and he was older than me. No one wanted me with Joe, but your dad definitely took it the hardest."
"So he cut you off completely because of who you chose to love?"
"Not completely. If I was to ever be in any real trouble, I know that your father would be there in an instant. I've never doubted that. We just decided that we couldn't be in each other's lives in the same way that we had been. It just wasn't going to work. Your dad never respected our relationship."
"May I ask why you didn't become a lawyer?"
She stops brushing my hair for a moment. "Has your father talked about that?"
"Maybe once."
He definitely brought it up more than once. Blaming my uncle for her "downfall," as he called it.
"It wasn't because of Joseph if that's what he said."
"Well, you don't have any children, so I was just wondering what stopped you from–"
"I lost a couple of children, Elizabeth." She cuts me short. "Three miscarriages to be exact."
"Oh my gosh, I didn't know. I'm so sorry."
"It was a long time ago, sweetie. I just couldn't seem to carry any of my angels to full term."
Juliette silently finishes brushing out the last section of my hair. I feel like crap. I shouldn't have asked her all of those questions. Sometimes I amaze myself at how I often manage to say or do the wrong things at the wrong time. I have the worst timing.
"There you're all done." She pats my shoulder.
"TEN MINUTES!" I hear the sexiest, raspiest voice bark up the stairs to the both of us.
"Gosh, your cousin is bossy just like his dad. Those Masterson men." Juliette chuckles and shakes her head.
"You better get ready."