Mine to Keep (NOLA Knights #3) - Rhenna Morgan Page 0,33

looked like you were gonna whack her upside the head with that tray a few times. Plus, you were giving her the death glare when we came in.”

Bonnie stopped midway to sliding a straw into Cassie’s drink. “I have a death glare?”

“Absolutely.” Cassie took the drink when Bonnie handed it over. “Though, I didn’t learn that little tidbit until you’d spent a few hours with Roman.”

“Well, you can’t blame me. He’s bossy as hell.”

Cassie sipped her drink and shuddered a little when the tangy mix rolled down her throat. “They all are. But they mean well. And from the looks of things, you do just fine holding your own with Roman.”

There it was again. That mix of hope and Cheshire delight that crept onto Cassie’s face every time she mentioned Roman and Bonnie in the same sentence. Surely, she didn’t think there was any prayer of the two of them hooking up.

Well, hooking up might not be bad. But no way was she ever going to end up with a guy like Roman. Let alone mesh with a family as tight-knit as Cassie’s. “Listen, I hope you’re not getting any ideas about me and him. I mean, he’s a nice guy—underneath all that grunt and grumble attitude he’s got going on—but there is no way in hell he’s ever gonna want to hook up with me.”

“Says who?”

Yep. She’d totally gone and gotten terrible ideas. “Says the girl who watched him while he got a load of my apartment. And while he combed every inch of my dad’s house. Guys like him might jump in bed with a girl like me once—maybe twice—but they settle down with...” She floundered for the right word, then waved at Cassie. “Well, with girls like you. Or Evette. Classy. Smart. Women who do something with their lives.”

For three or four solid blinks, Cassie just sat there and stared at her. As if she were replaying Bonnie’s outburst in her head just to make sure she hadn’t missed any pertinent information. She firmed her lips a second later and rotated her drink in a slow circle. An antsy tell that any seasoned bartender acknowledged as the precursor to either a confession or one hell of a story. “Yeah, about that.”

Yep. Confession time.

Cassie studied her drink a moment longer then met Bonnie’s stare. “Roman told me what you said when he checked on you Monday night. That you’d somehow gotten it in your head that you’re not cut out to be around us—or that you think your family’s crap is going to rub off on us somehow. But, Bonnie, you couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Bonnie opened her mouth.

Before she could get a single retort out as to exactly how accurate that fear was, Cassie held up her hand. “No—don’t even start. Not until you listen to me.”

From near the door, Roman stared at her as if he knew exactly the conversation they were having and silently dared her to keep her mouth shut. Kir watched as well, but with a secret smile on his face.

“Fine. Lay it on me.”

And boy did she.

How Evette had been a single mom and barely eking by when she’d asked Sergei for help finding a job. How she’d lost both of her parents before she was even out of high school and had gone through terrible times with alcohol before getting pregnant with Emerson. How Cassie’s family life had been anything but a picnic, with a family full of elitist scientists who thought her dreams of a career in photography were unrealistic and doomed to failure. How the only reason she’d gone into reporting was that it was the only job her parents had even remotely given her positive feedback on.

“And you don’t want to get me started on the guys,” Cassie said. “Suffice it to say, their backgrounds make ours look like fairy tales. They might have a ton of money now and live in fine houses, but the three of them either started with almost nothing, or had a seriously crappy upbringing. We’re all just like you.”

The muscles at the back of her jaw wouldn’t work. Couldn’t rally enough to close her gaping mouth. Probably because her brain was too busy scurrying twenty different directions and piecing together everything Cassie had said in a way that made sense.

It couldn’t be true.

Evette was as classy as they came. Bright. Savvy. Fashionable.

Cassie was as well. Had been since the day they’d met.

And Roman? She couldn’t imagine him wanting for anything. Ever.