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“I simply cannot believe I wasn’t invited, personally to this little soiree.” The Georgia accent coming from the foyer as Alyssa stepped into the family room the next day had her pausing, a sense of fear instantly rising inside her.
No. She didn’t need this. This was a disaster.
The complications in her life were going to give her a frickin’ migraine. What in the hell had she done to piss off the Fates? Whatever offenses she’d committed, they were getting her back in spades now.
“There could be a reason, Summer,” another, familiar feminine tone pointed out, the lack of accent as identifiable as the lyrical drawl had been. “You’re not exactly relaxing company to have around.”
Alyssa winced. Please, please, don’t do this to me.
“Me? Not relaxin’?” Pure disbelief filled the tone. “Y’all are gonna break my heart.”
“No, we’re going to break your jaw if you don’t keep that accent under control,” the other woman snorted. “I swear to God, every time you go back to Georgia you come back sounding like someone shoved a wad of tobacco in your mouth. Stop already.”
“Sugah, one of these days, I’m takin’ ya back home with me. Let you see how the other half lives.” The threat in Summer’s voice wasn’t pleasant. And Alyssa doubted Gia had any idea the retribution Summer would collect for the insult.
“I doubt it.” Gia sounded horrified. “Go back with you? I’d kill your brothers in two hours flat. Your parents wouldn’t make it five minutes.”
“I declare, you’re always killin’ my family members, Gia. I’m gettin’ rather tired of it. My family don’t need killin’.” No doubt Summer had her hands on her hips, her chin pushed out furiously, and those violet eyes glittering like amythests in her stunning fac
e.
“Oh my God, listen to how you butcher the English language. Stop before I die.”
“Ladies, don’t force me to send you both home.” There was the faintest hint of Spain in the dark, warning tone. “If you can’t get along on this trip then you’re going to regret it.”
“Do I get time-out?” Summer drawled, all amused flirtatiousness now. “Really? Haven’t you learned better by now, Falcon?”
“Falcone,” Gia corrected, her tone heavy with irritation.
“I’ve learned the two of you are giving me a headache,” he grunted. “Now shut the fuck up.”
“He’s bein’ mean to me again.…” Summer thought everyone was being mean to her at one time or another.
“Not yet,” he assured her. “But I’m getting there.”
Stepping quietly through the family room, she moved to the doorway and stepped into the foyer slowly. She really didn’t want this aggravation right now.
Esteban Santiago de la Cortez Falcone. Shane and Sebastian had just called him Falcone. Quiet, intense, thick black hair, and pale, pale blue eyes set among Mediterranean features that seemed carved from granite. He set a duffel bag on the marble floor, his gaze centering on the two women.
Gia carried a bulging backpack on one shoulder while Summer no doubt would have her luggage arriving later.
That was just a Summer thing.
“Can I help the three of you?” Alyssa asked them quietly, promising herself that she was not going to lose her temper.
They had known she was there. All three of them, despite the fact that their backs were turned to her.
Falcone was much harder than he’d been eight years before if his eyes and his expression was any indication. The look in his gaze reminded her of what she saw in the mirror each morning. Haunting grief, shadowed fury. She knew those emotions well.
Gia Bennett still looked like a damned teenager until Alyssa caught her gaze as well. Not as shadowed as Falcone’s, but Gia had learned well how to hide whatever she felt. Otherise, she hadn’t appeared to have aged much, with her long nut-brown hair pulled into a ponytail, tattered jeans and multi-colored sneakers, and a T-shirt proclaiming: Yes, I do bite! She could have just stepped from her apartment in Barcelona, ready for a day of shopping.
“Alyssa, you invited these two?” Summer batted thick, coal black lashes as she held her hand out to Falcone and Gia, palm up. “And didn’t invite me? You’re breakin’ my heart again, sugah.”
Again?
God, she didn’t need this. She was already furious with Summer. She didn’t need her friend here driving her insane and trying to talk her out of being mad at her.
“I didn’t invite anyone,” Alyssa assured her. “Especially you. So what the hell are you doing here?”
