“Hey, wait up!”
Roz smiled even as heat climbed up her cheeks. She couldn’t remember a time when she had seen Nazio speechless like he was outside, so she … took a shot. It paid off big time. It wasn’t like her to be so bold, but Catherine gave her the idea.
Naz slid in beside her as she headed down the hallway back to where the engagement party for his sister and her fiancé was in full swing. “Are you still at that school in England for music?”
“For now, yeah.”
“It’s been a—”
Luca pressed in between the two, and darted in front of them. Probably to go find their father, but who knew? Roz didn’t miss the way her brother glanced over his shoulder to give the two a look, and then shook his head. Roz had never been the type to go after her brother’s friends, and she was sure Luca was going a little crazy right now.
Oh, well.
She smiled back at him.
Luca darted around a corner, and out of sight. It left Roz alone with Naz in the back hallway.
“Anyway,” Naz said, drawing in Roz’s attention again. “It’s been a while since I talked to you.”
“Three years, actually.”
“That’s a shame. I missed out, huh?”
Roz’s gaze darted up fast to find Naz staring at her the same way he’d done outside. Like he was seeing her for the first time, trying to take everything in at once, and didn’t have the first clue what to do with it.
It was there—in his eyes—where she found a mix of softness, fire, and something else entirely. She didn’t know what it was, but she loved that he was looking at her like that. That it was because of her.
Swallowing the nerves in her throat … she refused to show them … she asked, “Missed out on what?”
Naz’s lips curved at the edges with a sexy smile. Easy, lax, and lazy all at the same time. Yet, it took his strong, handsome features and softened them just enough. He truly was a beautiful man, if that was the right way to describe it.
“Missed out on you, Rosalynn.”
Jesus.
His words came out like a murmur. It felt like fingertips gliding over bare skin, and sent a shiver racing through her bloodstream. And the way he said her name? She thought it sounded even better than the music that played constantly in her mind.
How?
He only spoke two fucking sentences!
Those butterflies were back in her stomach. Beating faster with every second that passed. Making her feel a little too light on her feet, and taking her breath away. She only realized it then but the two of them had stopped in the hallway, and were staring at one another.
A few inches apart.
She wasn’t even blinking.
What was air again?
“Missed out on me,” she echoed.
Naz grinned in that way again. “Yeah.”
“Maybe you should …” Now or never, she thought. “… catch up, then.”
At first, he said nothing. Simply kept staring at her like he was waiting for her to do something. Although, she didn’t know what. Finally, he said, “That’s definitely the plan if you want me to.”
Did she want him to?
More than he could possibly know.
“How’s the piano thing going?” he asked.
Roz couldn’t help but laugh at that question. As random as it was, it was more the way he asked it than anything. “The piano thing?”
Naz shrugged one shoulder, and glanced away. “You got quiet; I got nervous. I blurted out the first thing to come to my mind.”
Seems she had done it again.
Made him … speechless.
“A mind like yours,” she said softly, “and you don’t know what to say?”
Naz cleared his throat, and chuckled. “Hey, this is new for me, too.”
“I bet. The piano thing is pretty good, by the way.”
“I hear you’re fucking amazing, actually.”
Her fingers twitched to reach out and touch those lips of his that seemed perpetually smirking or grinning in some way. Especially with the way he was looking at her right then. He called her amazing, and she wanted him to say it again.
“Funny,” she said, “I hear the same thing about you.”
Naz glanced upward. “Yeah, but I was just blessed with this genius thing. You … you learned your craft.”
She bet he had to learn a lot of things, too.
“Maybe I’ll play for you sometime,” Roz said.
“I would love that.” Naz tipped his head to the side a bit, saying, “We were going to have a dance, yeah? You still up for that, or …?”
“Can you dance, or did you just say yes—”
“Don’t be cute. I can dance.”
This time, it was Roz’s turn to grin. “Prove it, boy genius.”
Naz smiled wickedly, and inched closer to Roz in the hallway. It wasn’t like there was a whole lot of space between them now, anyway. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this close to a guy, and felt this way about it. Like his cologne was soaking into her lungs, and her heart was about to pound right out of her chest.
It was wonderful.
“Boy genius,” Naz murmured, nearly eye-level with her. She was a tall girl—it made things awkward sometimes. But with him, he had a couple of inches on her, and she liked that. Loved that she had to look up at him. “Let me know when you see a boy, Roz. Because I’m pretty sure this man is far from just a boy.”
She swallowed hard.
He wasn’t wrong.
“And if you want, I can even show you sometime,” he added quieter.
God.
He was something else.
“A dance, then?” Naz asked.
He changed direction altogether but left her feeling oh, so crazy at the same time. He probably knew it, too.
“A dance,” she agreed.
Roz was light on her feet when she danced—she blamed that on the four years she’d wasted in dance classes that ended up going nowhere because becoming a pianist had always come first. She could hear a beat, though, and she could move to it, too.
She was trying really hard to focus on dancing and less on the way Nazio’s hands ghosted over her waist before grabbing tightly to her hips. She swore he only did that just so he could get her closer. Not that she minded.
She was, however, trying to maintain a little bit of dignity and space between them. It wasn’t like there weren’t a whole bunch of people watching them. Including family.
Her focus was entirely lost when the song blasting through the house changed to a slower tune altogether, and Naz spun her around with one hand. His arm curved tightly around her waist, so his hand could rest on her lower back while his other caught hers and wove their fingers together.
Roz laughed breathlessly when Naz winked. “I thought I said a dance, Naz.”
“I wanted two. I’m not very good at denying myself things I want, Roz.”
Well, then …
She could hear the murmurings of the people around them. Despite the house being quite large, it was filled to capacity. Someone had decided the best bet would be just to move the furniture out of the living room so that they had room to dance, and mingle. The hallways were still full of people, too.
“Food’s ready!” someone shouted.
Roz looked away from the man still staring at her to watch as people started to filter out of the living room into the conjoining dining room. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“In a minute,” Naz said.
His gaze caught hers again, and she swore it was like the floor tilted under her feet. “Why do you keep staring at me like that?”
Like the rest of the world didn’t exist. Like this was the first time he was ever actually seeing her, but he intended to make it last.
“Catching up,” he murmured vaguely.
“What does that mean?”
“It means … I don’t know what it means,” Naz admitted.
“Really?”
“My brain fails me today, apparently.”
“That’s a sad thing,” Roz whispered.
Naz shook his head. “I don’t think it is. I think it’s pretty amazing, actually. My mind never stops, Roz. Even when I’m sleeping, my dreams are overwhelming because my brain just goes, and goes.”
“And it’s not right now?”
“It’s going,” he said, “just not like it should.”
“Is that a bad thing or a good thing?”
“Right now, it’s good.” Naz tugged her a little closer, and her body tucked against his chest. Never once had he stopped moving them to the beat of the slow song echoing out of the speakers. Most of the room had filed out for food. A few people remained, but they weren’t paying them any attention. “It’s really good.”
“Huh.”
Naz quirked a brow, and his gaze drifted over her face slowly. “Can I take you home later? We could walk, or I can drive. Whatever.”
The butterflies were back.
So was her racing heart.
He just … waited.
“You probably should,” Roz said, “I might get lost.”
Naz laughed. “You got it, sweetheart.”