Part 3 (2/2)

The man standing in the center of them appeared extremely casual next to them. In fact, I hadn't seen a guy look that down to earth since Caleb. The man had a five o'clock shadow. The kind that was there on purpose and it looked good on him. His skin was slightly darker than Giovanni's but his hair was a great deal lighter. It was so light brown that it bordered on blond. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and with the two little bimbos he wore on each arm I was guessing I wasn't too far off with my a.s.sessment.

Giovanni glanced at me and I knew he didn't like the fact that they'd arrived. He forced a smile and turned around. ”Everyone this is Gwyneth. Gwyneth, this is ....” He stared at the twins and drew a blank. I was happy to see he didn't know them.

The one on the left answered first. ”I'm Brandy and that's Candy.”

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I wondered if they realized their names alone made them too good to pa.s.s up for a good chuckle. Add in the fact they looked like stripper dolls and I think you had the punch line from every blonde joke ever created. That or the next two break out stars in the world of p.o.r.n. I couldn't decide.

Giovanni's gaze landed on the man in the middle. Something unspoken pa.s.sed between them. At first I thought it might be animosity of some sort. The more I watched, the clearer it became. It was friends.h.i.+p. ”And, this is Mikhail.”

I stopped thinking about trying not to laugh at the bimbos and started staring at the man named Mikhail closer. His light olive eyes lit up as he looked my way. He smiled at me and took a step forward.

”It's a pleasure to meet you again, Gwyneth.”

”Again?” Giovanni asked, glancing over at me.

I could tell that he wanted to know more about how I knew Mikhail. I knew that I was in for the Spanish inquisition after dinner. I did a head count and came up short for the number of place settings Malita had set out. As if on cue, the doorbell rang again. Giovanni turned and went to answer it.

Brandy and Candy couldn't keep their hands off Mikhail. His light blue, long sleeved s.h.i.+rt was only b.u.t.toned twice, down near his very visible, very fuzzy navel, and the rest of his s.h.i.+rt was yanked out of his blue jeans and twisted. I was having a hard time not staring at his hairy chest. The men in my life now had very little in the way of hair on their torsos. Mikhail noticed me noticing him and made an attempt at appearing a little more presentable.

While it was admirable on his part, it was unnecessary. As s.e.xy as he was, I still had eyes for Giovanni.

I heard Giovanni arguing with someone. I excused myself and headed out towards the front door. Giovanni was standing there in a heated discussion with a man at least six inches shorter than him. The man was dressed very much like the stripper twins, his black leather pants were low rise and I wasn't sure how they were covering anything. His upper half was worse. He didn't actually have on clothes. He had on two silver belts that crisscrossed on his chest. I did a double-take when I noticed the heavy amounts of eyeliner around his dark blue eye. I couldn't see his other eye behind his oh-so-eighties dyed black punk hairstyle.

Geez, I thought James was bad!

”Giovanni.” I said his name quietly. He turned his attention to me, so did punk-rock boy.

”Gwyneth, this is Fritz, another one of Malita's people.”

Another one? That meant the twins and Mikhail were her people, as well. I tried to force a smile to my lips, but even I knew I wasn't very successful. Fritz nodded at me and followed Giovanni to the dining room.

The doorbell rang again and I turned, visually scanning the room for Giovanni. He was already at the other end of the house. I walked over and braced myself to find yet another character claiming to be one of Malita's people. I opened the door. My mouth fell open. Caradoc and James were standing side-by-side smiling at me. Caradoc had his white-blond hair pulled back tightly from his face. I knew without looking that I'd find it in a braid behind him. His light green eyes matched his green pirate s.h.i.+rt. He always did have a way of looking the part of a vampire. James, on the other hand, never once appeared to be two- hundred years old.

I stared at James' hair. Last time I'd seen him it had been dyed bright blue and spiked an inch or so off his head. Now it was back to its normal bleached blond but was longer than he normally wore it. He had on his signature long black leather trench coat, t-s.h.i.+rt and jeans. Monochromatic was an understatement for him.

My blue gaze locked on his.

”Long time no see,” James said rather dryly.

In an instant, I was on them. First, I grabbed Caradoc's tall, toned body and hugged him tightly. He always seemed awkward showing affection and being away from each other for four months had only encouraged that. He patted my back gently and pa.s.sed me to James.

James picked me up and spun me around. I clung to him and laughed as tears formed in my eyes. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed him. He and I had become best friends in a relatively short period of time. Setting me down, his gaze snapped to the opening in my white suit jacket that ran down to my lower abdomen. I knew my b.r.e.a.s.t.s were at least half exposed. I did a silent prayer that my nipples were at least covered and smiled.

His eyebrow rose and he leaned over. I thought he was going to kiss my ear, but he whispered to me instead. ”You have about five seconds to cover up your melons before ....”

I heard a swoos.h.i.+ng sound and then a voice I hadn't expected to hear so soon. ”I would not bother with covering up now. I think it is fair to say it is a little late for that. I, as well as most of the men here, have seen all you have to offer.”

James stepped to my side and kept his hand on my back. I stared at Pallo as my knees threatened to give out. Every emotion I'd ever felt for him came flooding back in an instant. I had to fight to not run to him and throw my arms around him. We had ended things on bad terms. I thought taking this much time away from him would clear my head of the mess we'd created. It didn't. It only served to confuse me more.

I stared up at Pallo's strong face, brown eyes and matching chestnut brown, curly hair. His hair now touched his shoulders. I hadn't remembered it being that long the last time I'd seen him. I could see his pale skin with the tiniest of freckles on it under his very sheer, very snug cream top. I glanced down at his dark brown dress pants. I'd seen him wear those colors only once since I'd known him and I thought they looked stunning on him.

”What are you doing here?”

”Ah, yes, I have missed you, too, Gwyneth.”

I glanced at James and leaned into him, giving him another good half hug. Pallo let out a small noise. ”He gets a hug and I get you standing as far away from me as you can.”

”Perhaps she is a good judge of character,” Giovanni said from behind me. I spun around and let go of James, sensing the tension in the air. I'd seen Giovanni cut Pallo wide open from across the room before. I didn't need a repeat performance. I stood an equal distance from both men. I knew from the looks in each of their eyes that they were waiting to see who I went to first. It was immature, especially for men who had been alive for centuries, but that's exactly what they were doing.

James made a quick but feeble attempt at helping me. ”Well, I could use a drink. I don't know about anyone else here, but I'm parched. Gwen, care to show me where to wet my whistle?” His accent gave away that he was a London native.

”Jameson,” Pallo said his name sternly. Everyone knew it was a threat.

”Pallo? I thought I heard your voice,” Malita said from behind Giovanni. She pushed her way out into the group and went straight for Pallo. His eyes widened and James moved closer to me. Malita threw her arms around Pallo's thick neck and began kissing him with an open mouth and from my angle, there appeared to be a lot of tongue, as well. I hoped it wasn't too obvious that I was flabbergasted. James nudged me, and I knew it was. I closed my mouth and let myself blink.

Pallo and Malita stayed locked together for what felt like eternity. I took a step back and found someone standing directly behind me. I put my hand back and felt Giovanni's pant leg and let my body relax. His arms came up and wrapped around me. I turned around into his arms and hugged him back. The tension ebbed out of his body. He had honestly thought I'd push him aside now that Pallo was here.

I pulled back from him and touched his cheek. He turned his face into my palm and kissed it softly. James made a noise of disapproval, but I ignored him. I'd deal with him later.

”Are we going to eat, or are we, like ... going to stand around and make out in groups. Either way, I'm good,” I heard a very bubbly voice saying. James made a low whistling noise and I knew one of the twins must have been standing in the doorway.

Giovanni and I hugged each other tighter before we turned to go back into the house. James and Caradoc followed closely behind us. I didn't look back, but I was pretty sure Pallo and Malita were still lip-locked.

Chapter Six.

I stood in my bathroom staring at my reflection, willing myself not to lose control, and I think it was working. Giovanni knocked softly on the open door and took a step in towards me.

”How are you doing?”

I let out a small laugh and felt the tears threatening to resurface. I'd managed to keep them down all through the very awkward dinner. I did my best to avoid making eye contact with Pallo and he did his best to continue making lip contact with Malita. I'd hoped to call it an early night but the busty-twins wanted to go swimming. They managed to convince the rest of the group it was a good idea, too.

”You do not have to go back down if you do not want to,” Giovanni said softly.

I felt like going downstairs and swimming about as much as I felt like having a rematch between the omnimorpheleons and me. Giovanni took a step back. His face revealed nothing about his mood.

”What's wrong?”

”Go to him, Bella. Don't deny yourself the touch of someone you care so deeply for. I know what that is like. It makes you bitter, twists your mind and leaves you vulnerable to ....” He didn't finish.

I moved towards him, and he took another step back. My anger got the best of me. Distancing himself from me was ridiculous. ”Oh, Giovanni, you're a fine one to preach about denying your feelings for someone. Why don't you just turn and run. It'd save you a h.e.l.l of a lot of time. Every time I try to get close to you, you push me away.” I was hurt he was doing this to me when I needed him most. I wondered how much of it was self-preservation on his part. I pushed past him. ”If you want me to go to him so badly ... then move.”

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