Page 295 of Tempted By her Daddies

She paced back and forth along the pavement. Alexei stood to her left and Roman to her right.

“I still want to know how you broke Salem’s hold like that,” Alexei said.

“I don’t know!” she cried. “I just did.”

Great.

Really eloquent, Tamsyn.

“This is a family dinner. I know nothing about families!”

“Is that why you’re scared to meet them?” Salem asked her quietly as she tried to walk around Alexei. “Because you don’t remember what it’s like to have a family?”

Alexei kept getting in her way. She spun back toward Salem.

“I didn’t say scared. I’m just . . . flummoxed.”

“Flummoxed?” Alexei grumbled. “What kind of word is flummoxed?”

“It means: out of sorts or flustered,” Roman explained.

“I know what it means,” he muttered.

Then why did he ask?

Honestly, sometimes men made no sense.

“I’m not scared of them. I’m just . . . they’re your family.”

“Ah, yes, I know,” Salem said.

“Well, then, you know. I’ll just be going now.” She glanced around. How far away was the nearest tube station?

“How are you planning on getting home?” Roman asked.

“I’ll take the underground. Where is the closest station?”

“You are not taking the underground!” Alexei barked.

“Shh,” she told him. “People will hear you.”

“Pretty sure that half the neighborhood is already watching us,” Salem said dryly.

“What? Really?” Were her instincts so off that she hadn’t sensed being watched? And why were people watching? Didn’t they realize that was rude?

She whirled around. “Stop staring!”

“Okay, we really shouldn’t start yelling at the neighbors,” Roman told her gently.

“Why?”

“Because Salem’s parents live here and they don’t want to be gossiped about.”

“Oh.”

See? This was proof that she couldn’t do it! She was already messing it all up and she wasn’t even inside the house.

“All the more reason for me to leave. I don’t know what I’m doing! I don’t do families.”

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