Page 126 of Along Came Amor
Ava glanced over to see Ashton strolling into the suite, his arms laden with shopping bags. As usual, the family he was marrying into pelted him with questions about his various TV roles over the past two decades.
“When’s theVictor in Chargespinoff?” Titi Nita called out,referencingCarmen in Charge, the telenovela remake that Jasmine and Ashton had starred in together.
“Never,” Ashton quipped, treating them to a dazzling smile. “We all know that Jasmine, I mean,Carmen, is in charge.”
As if it were a movie, the crowd around Ashton parted for Jasmine to approach. He leaned down to plant a kiss on his fiancée’s waiting lips, much to the delight of the assembled relatives. They clapped and oohed like it was the final frame of a romantic comedy.
Michelle sipped her mimosa. “They really have no shame.”
“Jasmine and Ashton?” Ava asked, and Michelle snorted.
“No, our family.”
Just then, the door opened again and Gabe, Michelle’s boyfriend, walked in carrying a tray of conchas covered in plastic wrap. The Mexican pastry was his mother’s specialty, and Michelle had asked her to make them for the shower.
“Here we go,” Michelle said with a sigh, and she tipped back her glass to drain it.
On cue, the women shifted their attention from Ashton to Gabe. He wore a tight tank top that showed off his powerfully built upper body and arms.
Ava shot Michelle a smirk. “Did you tell him to wear that?”
Michelle’s light brown eyes gleamed with mischief, and she ran her tongue along her bottom lip as she gazed at her boyfriend. “I sure the hell did. And I told him to flex a lot while carrying those conchas, just to whip them into a frenzy.”
“You better go rescue him before Titi Nita grabs his butt again. She’s already at least two mimosas deep.”
“If anyone’s going to grab his butt, it should be me.” Michelle set aside her empty glass, then strode forward to claim her man.
Ava watched her go and realized that the feeling she usually had when she saw her cousins with their partners was absent. She dug a little further and no, the jealousy that was at times nearly painful in its intensity wasn’t there. Or at least, nowhere near as strong as it had been during other recent family events.
Before she could examine that thought further, the door opened again, and this time, Ava’s heart lurched.
It was Roman.
He wore a charcoal gray suit and a wide grin, and he carried a bucket of expensive champagne bottles.
At the sight of him, Ava’s chest heaved, and she struggled to take a deep breath. God, she’d missed him so much. He’d been traveling for work, and it had been two weeks since she’d last seen him. Every single cell in her body wanted to run to him, to throw her arms around his neck and press herself to him, to breathe in his scent and sink into the steady strength of his embrace. Resisting the urge was a physical ache, the sense of longing settling over her like a cold fog.
“On behalf of the Dulce, para mis dulces,” he announced.
The ladies ate it up, fluttering and tittering around him. Jasmine and Ashton greeted him, then went about introducing him to everyone, many of whom recognized him from the engagement party. Roman passed the champagne to Gabe and moved through the crowd with ease and charm, fitting in among Ava’s family like he belonged there.
Ava’s fingers tightened around the stem of her glass as she took him in.
Yes, Ashton was movie star handsome and Gabe was built like a superhero, but Roman shone with an inner light that called to her like nothing and no one ever had. He radiated genuine goodness and a real interest in people, and when hemet her eyes across the room, what she saw there speared into her, as sudden and breathtaking as a lightning strike.
The breath backed up in her lungs. No. Oh god, no.
Damn it, she hadn’t wanted this again. Hadn’t wanted this all-consuming wealth of feeling.
But here it was.
She...
Fuck.
Shelovedhim.
Loved him back, more accurately, because the truth was written all over his face, as plain as day to anyone paying attention.
