Marco’s hip bumped into mine. “Bullshit. I’ve seen you naked, remember? I know you have to do something to keep in shape.”
Warmth flooded my cheeks and other much more inappropriate places, but now was hardly the time to become shy about it. “Remember when you saw me naked? That was the kind of exercise I like.”
His eyes grew wide, but as his jaw started hardening again, I nudged him with my shoulder. “I’m kidding. Jeez. Lighten up. Elena and I do yoga most days. We also have dance parties in the apartment. From time to time, we do actually go jogging. It’s not running so much as walking a bit faster than usual, but the fresh air is nice.”
He didn’t reply immediately. Instead, his eyes bounced from one of mine to the other until he finally gave me a small smile. “You’ve really got my number, haven’t you?”
“Sure, it’s in my phone,” I joked.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” His fingers burrowed into my hair and tugged gently until I tipped my head back again. “How?”
“I’ve already told you. You’re a big bad alpha male. There are tons of novels about guys like you. I’ve read enough of them to know certain key personality traits, dude.”
“Call me ‘dude’ again and you might find out just how bad I can be.” His pupils dilated some and a shiver of anticipation shot down my spine, but then something else flickered across his gaze and everything about him cooled. “These novels you refer to wouldn’t be romance novels, would they?”
“They would, actually.” I rolled my eyes before arching my brow. “But we’ve been through that part when it comes to what’s going on between us. No need to repeat it. All I meant was that I’ve learned a bit about certain traits men like you have.”
“You’re saying I’m predictable?” A very unexpected flash of humor lit up his eyes. “Really?”
“Yes,” I said cautiously. “Why does it look like you’re about to start laughing at me?”
“Because I am,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’m sure those books were based on loads of research done into certain personality types, but I promise you there is a lot more to me than that.”
“Oh, I’m sure there is. You asked the question, though. I just gave you an answer.”
He lifted his shoulders, but they were shaking slightly as the corners of his mouth pressed in with his attempt to suppress his laughter. “Come on, firecracker. Here come the runners. Let’s see if we can spot Aldo.”
A couple of minutes later, cheers rose up from the crowd as the competitors passed us. Aldo was around the middle of the pack, his hands up in the air as he waved his hands to encourage more cheering. The spectators obliged and a wide grin spread out across his face.
Marco’s cheers bellowed in my ears as he cupped his hands around his mouth. A strange giddiness spread through me at his unexpected display of support, encouraging me to join in.
When the competitors were out of sight once more, he grabbed my hand again and led me to a truck that sold iced coffees. We got our fix, topped it off with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles, which was another surprise to learn about him, and went to find our spots once more.
As the day wore on, we cheered, talked, and I ended up having a lot more fun with him than I’d expected. I’d already known Marco was multi-faceted, just like any other person I supposed, but I liked who he was here.
There was obviously some brotherly rivalry between him and Aldo, but it was good natured, and it was easy to see that his brother was one of his favorite people. It was another thing we had in common and something that definitely humanized him to me.
After the race, Marco spotted Aldo crossing the finish line. “Let’s go tell him how much he sucks, shall we?”
“Such sportsmanship,” I teased but followed him through the crowds of sweaty bodies until we reached his brother.
Aldo stood with his hands on his hips, breathing hard but smirking when he saw Marco walking up to him. “Told you I’d finish.”
“You might have finished, but you came in, like, one hundred and thirty-fourth place,” Marco joked, but he did get his brother’s placement right. “That’s not really something to brag about. You should have trained harder.”
“At least I ran,” Aldo returned with a grin to match his brother’s spreading across his full lips. I had never really known a set of identical twins before, so it was startling up close to realize that they looked alike in every conceivable way. “That’s more than you can say. Plus, my goal was never to win. It was to make new… friends. That goal was achieved, so I’m a winner.”
“I noticed you working very hard toward that goal. Congratulations, I guess?” Marco’s voice was filled with levity I hadn’t heard from him before.
Aldo’s chest puffed out. “Thank you. We should go have a beer to celebrate, don’t you think? That was hard work.”
“Only you would want a beer after running a marathon, but it’s your celebration.” Marco turned to face me then, reaching out to take my hand. “This is Addy. She’ll be coming for that beer with us. Addy, meet Aldo.”
For the first time, Aldo seemed to realize that I was even there. He had been focused on his brother but he suddenly became extremely interested in me. His gaze zeroed in on Marco’s long fingers wrapped around mine before traveling slowly up the length of my body.
“Addy,” he said once his eyes reached mine. “It’s very nice to finally meet you.”
After hearing their banter and the comments Marco had made about him, I hadn’t been expecting him to be respectful toward me, but he was. Even the way he had looked me over a minute ago had been with curiosity only.
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” I
