Page 54 of Love or Tequila in Unexpected Places

“What are you doing, Angelo?” Allison whispered, her breath mingling with his. She licked her lips and his eyes hungrily tracked the movement.

“Tell me to stop,” he said gruffly, barely holding back. “Tell me to stop, or I’ll kiss you right now.”

She didn’t.

He moved in, closing the last bit of distance between them, almost touching—

“Get the fuck off my sister!”

Now I’m definitely going to die.

Fourteen

ALLISON

It had taken Allison weeks to find a time that worked for everyone to arrange this lunch and, in hindsight, not mentioning that Angelo, the father of her child, would be there was clearly a bad decision.

“What thefuckis he doing here?”

Allison flinched at the venom in her brother’s voice.

Maybe I should’ve just called him.

She made a mental note to improve her planning skills next time.

Initially, Allison had intended to slip into the upscale restaurant her brother had chosen, hoping to steal a few quiet moments to herself before the men arrived. She’d instructed each of them to come at different times for exactly that reason.

But of course, Angelo had to be too damn early.

“Allison,” Johnathan growled in warning.

Her overprotective brother’s voice, thick with malice, filled her with guilt. Guilt for keeping this from him, knowing it would be a huge deal, but mostly guilt for getting caught in the middle of what had almost been a kiss with Angelo Taylor.

And what the hell was that about?

Angelo’s reaction to her bloated baby bump had caught Allison off guard. The intensity in his piercing gaze, the warmth of his large hand holding her waist, and the deep rumble of his husky voice—all of it was unexpected, but not unwelcome. She’d felt herself getting lost in him, her resolve wavering.

She was almost certain she would have let him kiss her, even though she knew she shouldn’t.

If only Johnathan hadn’t been such a damn cock block.

“Answer me right this second, or I’ll beat his pretty face into a bloody pulp,” Johnathan demanded, his patience evaporating as Allison drifted off in her thoughts.

She didn’t get the chance to respond.

“I’d very much like to see you try, Mr. Lockwood,” Angelo shot back, his tone calm but challenging.

The tension thickened to the point where even crickets wouldn’t dare interrupt. Johnathan looked as stunned as Allison felt. Neither of them had expected Angelo to provoke the hungry lion that was her brother.

And that’s exactly what Johnathan looked like—a lion that had been starving in the savanna for way too long, now presented with a juicy meal.

“Okay, there’s currently too much testosterone in the air for me to think properly,” Allison cut in, trying to defuse the situation. “Can we please discuss this inside? Likecivilizedpeople?”

The men locked eyes for another tense moment, chests puffed in the perfect display of male ego. If this were a cartoon, she was pretty sure steam would be shooting out of both their noses.

Allison cleared her throat, cutting through the tension and breaking their staring contest. Both men nodded, heading inside the restaurant, but the intensity lingered in the air.

This will be fun, she thought sarcastically, already dreading what was to come.

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