Despite what his siblings thought on a regular basis, Roman was not an idiot.
Well, yes, he was a bit of a moron. He’d walked away from Sadie. Thought he wanted something else. Had a different dream.
He’d just put his focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Turned out, no, he’d screwed that chance. He’d also accepted the consequences of walking away and losing that brief flicker he’d felt when they were together.
He was lying to himself. What they had was more than a flicker, but he didn’t have the time to dig out that skeleton from his closet, since he was currently one of his brother’s groomsmen and the wedding reception photographer.
Roman held Louise in his grip and snapped candid photos of his brother with his new wife. The shutter punctuated his thoughts of Sadie. As it had through the years.
“Jase!” he hollered, grabbing his brother’s attention.
Jase’s hand pressed against Heather’s back as he glanced at Roman, his expression filled with happiness and love. Roman snapped the photo just as Jase looked to Heather and she stared at her new husband, mirroring that exact same lovey-dovey look.
Money. Shot.
The resulting image was perfection. That one would hang over the mantle. He’d bet his left nut on it.
“Thanks.” Roman lifted the camera and gave a wave.
Jase smiled knowingly, slipping easily into the conversation with his wife and friends.
Roman refused to allow his gaze to move to Sadie when he was on the job.
Over ten years and she still slipped into his subconscious while he slept. And his consciousness when he was awake. He couldn’t allow her to take over when he was documenting his brother’s wedding.
He’d been on missions taking photographs of heroes and battlefields and combat, you name it, but what Sadie had offered was never far from his thoughts. That little offer that she would wait for him snuck into his mind at the oddest times.
Babushka came into focus with one of her boyfriends—Harry—and Roman pressed the button on the shutter, saving the moment for all eternity.
Harry was a decent guy. Of the two boyfriends Babushka brought around—yes, his grandmother was apparently in two wide-open relationships—Harry was his favorite.
Roman leaned forward, Louise’s viewfinder centered against his eye. He clicked a few more photos of his babushka, carefully cropping Harry out of the image. His father would appreciate this batch.
Absently, his thumb brushed the scuffs along the side of Louise. One would’ve thought after so many years, the scuffs would’ve polished out. Lord knew he’d tried to buff them away, but like the marks on his soul from all the times he’d fucked up, those tarnishes on Louise remained.
She may have been a camera, but she’d been right at his side through every bit of war he’d seen. They almost hadn’t made it out of the desert a few months after he’d left Sadie and Denver behind. He’d nearly eaten a bullet. When shit like that happens, it makes a guy take stock in what he’d leave behind. As his leg had dangled out the side of the Chinook that was in the process of getting the crew out, he gripped Louise’s freshly marred housing. The only thing on his mind was wondering what Sadie was doing. Wondering if she was happily on track to save the world in her own way. Had she found the all she wanted?
He quickly rearranged Louise’s lens to focus on his brother’s left hand, taking the photo before Jase moved out of the shot.
That one was for their mother’s coffee table.
Roman had completed what felt like a million missions after that almost-didn’t-make-it flight. Nothing felt the same.
Was it the flight? Was it missing Sadie? Was it almost not getting out of there alive? He wasn’t sure.
When it came down to it…when time stood still…when he’d almost died, something in him changed. His priorities had been a total clusterfuck.
Sadie’s offer tightly wrapped itself around his heart, his mind, and his reality. He simply hadn’t known what to do with it. Now? He was ready to stop screwing around and put his focus where it belonged.
“A little closer?” he asked two of Heather’s family members, gesturing so they’d scoot their chairs together.
Seeing wide smiles all around, he snapped the photo and felt the happiness of the moment straight in his gut. Even just three months ago, if you had asked him if this is what he would be doing now, the answer would have been a resounding hell-to-the-no.
Yet, when he’d been just about ready to re-up and continue his service, he’d realized he wanted something different. Something that wasn’t clicking the shutter on all things Uncle Sam.
This was what he wanted. To land somewhere he could take pictures of happy shit—weddings where people loved each other, families who loved life. And he wanted the Heather to his Jase.
The Sadie to his Roman.
The happiness he’d just felt in his gut took a swan dive to his toes, landing hard.
There was only one Sadie.
When he’d stood at the front of the chapel, prepared to stand with his brother and his new wife, the woman straight out of Roman’s dreams walked right through the front door and down the aisle.
Ten years and time did nothing but act as a strange, bland filter over all the experiences he’d had since they last parted.
He’d made it through the “I Do’s,” keeping his attention mostly on the wedding and not on her.
After the ceremony, he’d jumped back in with a job to do as the photographer for the reception.
He glanced across the room to where Sadie stood with Marlee. He knew Marlee. His babushka adored Marlee, so that meant Marlee had been included in all their family gigs since he’d been back. Marlee was married to Eli, so it was a convoluted, complicated, mess of family and friends.
Louise lifted to his eye. He focused in on one of the families at the reception and, doing what he did best, he captured the intensity of the emotions.
Then—and he would like to say he didn’t mean to, but he totally meant to—he did a sweep of the room with the lens and settled on Sadie.
He snapped her photo. The expression on her face was one of concern, not happiness.
He shifted the lens to where she focused her attention.
Marlee.
He stopped cold. Marlee didn’t look quite right. A little too pale. A little slower than usual.
Roman frowned and lowered Louise. Candid photos were great, but this felt invasive. He searched for Eli, knowing he’d want to be with his wife.
No dice.
Sadie held her friend’s arm as they made their way through the mass of people toward the hallway he knew led to the kitchen. Lines formed between Sadie’s eyes and her lips turned down into a frown.
Roman released Louise so that the strap attached to her caught around his neck and he started toward them. Except… He paused. He had no business following Sadie.
Minimal medic skills meant he wouldn’t be of any help in that department.
Which meant…
He pushed through the wedding crowd to find Eli.
“Man,” Roman said to Eli, grasping his shoulder and distracting him as he spoke to some older guy. “Your wife just headed for the kitchen with Sadie. Thinkin’ she needs you.”
Eli took one look at Roman and a quick glance around the room, and then without a word, he turned and hurried toward where Sadie had just disappeared with his wife.
Knowing he was going to Sadie, Roman itched to follow.
He had no business following.
“What’s the deal with you and Sadie?” Jase asked as he approached, his spider-like senses clearly on high alert.
Roman had never told anyone about what went down between him and Sadie. It was none of their goddamned business.
What had happened between them had been beautiful. Perfection.
He didn’t talk about it out of genuine concern he’d soil it and ruin what it’d been. Even if it had only been that in his mind.
“There’s no deal.”
“You’ve been staring at her all night. I’m thinking there’s a deal.”
Roman lifted Louise to snap photos and ignore his brother. He held the camera entirely too close to his sibling and clicked away, totally obnoxious.
“He’s not answering,” Jase said to no one. “There’s something there.”
“Sadie and I go way back,” Roman replied, covering any emotion and focusing on his job.
“Shit, man.” Jase gave Roman a scan that could overexpose film. “Eli will literally kill you if you’re screwing his sister.”
Eli’s sister was a grown-ass woman, so he’d have to hold off on killing Roman.
“What’s going on with Sadie?” Heather asked, coming up behind the groom and wrapping her arms around his middle. “Why will Eli kill Roman?”
Jase moved his bride so she stood in front of him. This time, his arms were wrapped around her middle. “There’s something up with him and Sadie.”
Heather leaned into her husband, the two of them melding into a cohesive unit.
Roman wanted that for himself. The love part. He didn’t want to settle for anything less than the way they looked at each other like the world only revolved around them. The way they only had to touch to become a solid unit.
Roman didn’t want to be jealous of what his brother had. Not really. He just also wanted a sliver of that in his life.
He lifted Louise for a quick candid of them together.
Yeah, snapping photos at weddings wouldn’t suck. He’d get a hit of this every Saturday afternoon while he built up his business.
This was the other end of the spectrum from grenades flying and bullet rounds puncturing the air around him. An end that made a helluva lot more sense.
“You know Sadie?” Heather asked, all genuine curiosity. “That’s awesome. She’s so nice.”
“Yeah, I know her.” Roman gripped Louise harder. “She is nice.”
To put it mildly.
Uh, and that wasn’t something he wanted to discuss at the wedding with all his meddling Russian family present.
They’d have their noses shoved so far up his business that poor Sadie wouldn’t know what hit her.
“Who does who know?” Babushka asked, wiggling into the small circle that had formed around him.
Oh great, the queen of the big Russian family was about to get nose-deep in his infatuation with a particular attorney.
“I know Sadie.” Roman drew out her name. “She’s Eli’s sister. Marlee’s best friend. You all know them, too, right?”
The smart-ass in him was strong tonight.
“Of course, I know Sadie.” Babushka’s once-over likely involved a glance straight into his soul.
How his very not-innocent grandmother managed that look of complete and utter innocence was beyond Roman.
Yet, he knew his babushka was reading him better than any lie detector test. He went with honesty. “We met at one of Jase’s parties. Haven’t seen her in years. Knew her before she went to law school. Haven’t seen her since.”
A flicker of something in Babushka’s elderly eyes made Roman want to crawl over the bar top and into a bottle of whatever the bartender wanted to throw his way.
That look was a look he’d seen before.
His grandmother was going to go Babushka on the situation. He could feel it in his Dvornakov bones.
“Sadie is von vith good hips?” Babushka mused to herself. The question was a question, but it was also more of a statement. A rhetorical Babushka’d question.
“Oh no,” Heather whispered.
“Fuuuuuck.” That was Jase.
“Excellent hips.” Roman channeled his inner attorney on behalf of Sadie.
Babushka pinched his cheeks. “You vill be married soon, my grandson.” She rose on her tippy-toes to plant a kiss on Roman’s cheek. “Love is in the air. Love is good thing.” Babushka raised her voice at the end, causing a good portion of the motley crew of Russian family members nearby to raise their glasses to her.
Maybe with Babushka’s brand of assistance, love might truly be in the air.
“To my grandson Roman,” Babushka said loud enough to be heard over every-fricking-thing in the room. “And his fiancée, Sadie!”
There was a great deal of clinking of glasses. Stomping of boots.
All of Roman’s blood sank to the tips of his toes. Slowly, so he felt every inch of it. Oh shitballs, Babushka did not just do that.
He’d have very much liked not to scare the hell out of Sadie before they got a chance to really connect. A chance for him to find out how things were progressing with that guy of hers. To find out if she was even interested in another try.
Jase clapped Roman on the back. “Dude, this is gonna suck. You should probably reenlist now and save us all the headache.”
“Leaving Denver, right about now, is not the worst idea.” Heather had a genuine look of concern directed his way.
Roman held up his hands. He had enough Dvornakov blood in him to regain control of the situation. Of this, he was certain.
“Let’s keep our focus on Jase. And Heather,” Roman said, speaking louder than the noise of the room. “It’s their night.”
He raised his glass in what he hoped was a good “huzzah.”
There was a great deal of stomping and clanging in response.
“And to their future children,” one of his uncles roared.
“A full house of babies,” one of his aunts yelled.
There was much huzzahing after that.
Heather and Jase stood still, looking utterly shell-shocked.
“Let’s eat,” Roman shouted.
“To food.” His cousin raised a glass.
A clear line of demarcation could be seen between Heather’s family, the reasonable ones in the room, and Roman’s family, the unreasonable bunch.
There was more commotion before the Russian crew turned their attention back to dinner—he needed to grab photos of the spread.
He lifted Louise, ready to head to the kitchen and get those snapshots. Sort of a behind-the-scenes of the wedding album he hoped would be his signature contribution when he did these gigs. An offering to make his business stand out.
Also, getting the hell out of that room wasn’t the worst idea he’d ever had.
“Rome,” Jase said.
Roman turned.
Jase glared at him, pointing a finger toward him. “I’ve seen that look. The one currently in residence on your ugly-ass mug. The one that preludes all of our lives turning to shit while you screw things up with a woman.”
“Oh fuck, are we doing this again?” Brek, one of the groomsmen, asked.
“Looks like it,” Jase said in a tone that was remarkably unhappy.
“That means we’ve gotta deal with Babushka again.” Brek shook his head. “Who is it?”
“Sadie,” Jase replied.
Brek pressed his lips into a thin line. “When do you plan on starting to screw shit up with her? I think Velma and I need to get away for a while, until this blows over and you get yourself engaged.”
“I’m not screwing anything up with anyone. I’m just here to celebrate my brother’s wedding and take some pictures.” Roman held up Louise and snapped the shutter. “See?”
“Also, on behalf of her brother—who is busy right now—don’t jerk his sister around.” Jase puffed up like he was the older of the two.
Roman had no intention of jerking Sadie anywhere. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to smile all the time. He wanted her to wait for him.
But he’d screwed that pooch.
He didn’t say anything about any of that. He just looked his little brother dead in the eye and said, “Noted.”
Then he headed for the kitchen.
“Rome?” Heather called from behind him.
He turned. Again.
She hurried his way at an impressive speed given the height of her stilettos.
“Are you interested in her?” Heather asked point-blank, right on target. She read him like she was a Babushka in training. Given she had that uncanny ability to see straight through bullshit, he figured she had to have seen how he really felt about Sadie.
“Yeah,” Roman replied. “I’m interested.”
God help them all, he was interested.