Page 85 of Into the Fire

“You like pineapple on your pizza?” I watched as she bit into the slice she had as we settled back on the couch. “Is it new?”

She laughed and wiped her lip. “No. I do it every now and then to break it up.”

“OK.” I nodded and chewed thoughtfully. “I figured your oddness ended with green olive and cheese pizzas, but it’s good to know I was wrong.”

She laughed again and swallowed. “That one is my favorite, but sometimes I want something sweet.”

“You know, I’ve seen Ryder put oranges on pizza before.”

She widened her green eyes at me. “Oranges?”

I nodded. “With jalapeño, so I guess he wanted spicy too.”

“Oh gosh.”

I chuckled. “You two could really get creative if you collaborated on pizza toppings. Might be enough to finally make me gag.”

She let out a big laugh, slapping her thigh with her hand. The move was so cute and genuine that I couldn’t help but laugh too.

“What’s so funny?” Cole grunted, coming into the room with the guys. He was quick to scoop her up and sit her on his lap on the chair, completely removing her from my space.

I said nothing and kept the smile on my face.

“We were just discussing disgusting ways to ruin a pizza. Rosalie likes pineapple, green olives, and cheese. I was telling her about my friend who puts oranges and jalapeño on his from time to time.”

“Gross. Weird fucking friend. Probably should get rid of someone like that,” Cole said, locking eyes with me.

“I could never get rid of Rosalie,” I said, keeping my smile in place. “She’s un-get-rid-able.”

She laughed at that before Cole fused his lips to hers again, his middle finger up at me.

I sighed and looked away, not because his middle finger was offensive but because his tongue in her mouth was.

I knew I’d have been the same way, though. If she were my girl, the world would know it. But she wasn’t, so endure I must. And would. Because it was just a little piece of what she was worth to me.

TWENTY-SIX

ENZO

We laughed as Rosalie fed Cole a piece of the cake Anson had brought over. She was making a mess, but I assumed it was a way to deter him from taking her right then and there. God knows I’d had to wrestle him off her in the kitchen and had knocked a pan onto the floor in the process. E had to get between us, albeit laughing, but still.

When Cole was out to prove a point, he was unstoppable, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out he wanted to make sure Anson knew exactly who Rosalie belonged to. He’d been pissed, per his usual, when he’d gotten word Anson would be joining us tonight.

I wanted to keep the peace despite my dislike of Anson, but I knew how things worked. He was important to Rosalie, therefore, we couldn’t kill him, shit as that was.

It was a nightmare on repeat.

I couldn’t be mad, however, because we’d done this to ourselves. It was our fault he was so close to her. We’d neglected her far too much, and this was the price that had to be paid.

Plain and simple.

I was smart enough to recognize it.

But she was my fiancée, so that afforded me some comfort while I watched Anson eyeball our girl. He may have been great at hiding many of his feelings or emotions, but anything to do with Rosalie wasn’t one of them.

In fact, they screamed at a volume I was growing increasingly uncomfortable with.

“Cole, stop!” Rosalie squealed as he wiped frosting over her cheek and proceeded to lick it off her. He’d had a few to drink too. I really knew where this was headed and needed to get him away from her before he did just bring his cock out and fuck her in front of the company.

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