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He held out his hand. “Would you care to dance?”
She placed her hand in his. “I’d love to dance.”
This time no words were necessary. He guided her to the dance floor, where he took her into his arms. In fact, the lack of conversation made the dance less stressed and a lot more enjoyable. Except for the fact that Stasia was standing awkwardly away from him.
He told himself that his arms were growing tired with the distance and that was why he tightened his hold on her. But he’d miscalculated, and the next thing he knew, Stasia was snug against his chest. Not that he was complaining or anything.
She tilted up her chin to look at him. Questions reflected in her eyes, but no words were spoken. He’d been mucking up this whole evening and he’d really wanted to give her a good time.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
And then because she kept staring up at him with a look in her eyes that said she could feel the desire that ignited every time they were together, he lowered his head and claimed her lips in what started as a quick kiss, but quickly grew into something more.
Roberto was learning that he would never get enough of Stasia or her sweet kisses. They were utterly and totally addictive.
There was a pat on his shoulder. “Way to go.”
Roberto jerked back to find some distant cousin, who was in college, smiling at him.
And then his grandmother passed by him. “Really, Roberto.”
His gaze moved from his grandmother to Stasia. He needed to apologize again for losing his head in front of his family. So much for thinking before he acted.
Stasia lifted a finger to his lips. “Don’t say it.”
He pulled her hand away and wrapped it up in his hand. “How do you know what I was going to say?”
“You were going to apologize for kissing me but I don’t want you to ruin the moment. Please.”
She enjoyed the kiss? She wasn’t upset that he’d overstepped his bounds as a friend—as her brother’s friend? What did she think it meant? Was she expecting more from him?
The last question cooled his heated blood. He didn’t want her to assume anything. He didn’t want to get her hopes up that something more was to follow that kiss.
“Listen, Stasia,” he said. When she went to say something, he rushed on. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to apologize for the kiss. I enjoyed it too. I... I just want you to know that it was spontaneous—”
“And part of our cover story.” She came to his rescue, making this confession so much easier than he deserved. “After all, we want your grandmother to believe we’re engaged, so why wouldn’t we kiss? It’d be a little strange if we didn’t, don’t you think?”
How did she do that? Make him go from being totally uncomfortable to immediately putting him at ease. The woman was very good with people. It was definitely one of her greatest strengths.
And so they continued to dance, this song and the next song and even the one after that, which was a fast song. By the end of it, they were both a little winded and returned to their table.
“When’s the wedding date?” the bride asked.
He restrained his inclination to frown at Gaia and get her to quiet down. Why in the world would she bring up this subject in front of their grandmother? The woman needed no encouragement when it came to her efforts to marry him off.
“Oh, yes.” Yaya’s expression filled with eagerness. “Tell us when the big day is.”
Everyone pulled out their phones and ran their fingers over them as though preparing to input the wedding date on their calendars.
“We haven’t set a date,” he said as Stasia’s grip on his hand tightened. Apparently, she was feeling as cornered as he did at the moment.
His grandmother looked crestfallen. “I should have known.”
“Known what?” His grandfather looked confused.
“Our grandson isn’t getting married. In fact, they probably aren’t even in a real relationship. This is just an attempt to keep from meeting the young women on the cruise.”
His grandmother had read him so well. Was he that obvious? He was between a rock and a hard place. If he disagreed with her, she would expect them to set a wedding date. And if he admitted she was right, then she would have him on a blind date before the night was over.
