Page 4 of The Art of You

I’d been swimming in a sea of reminders of this man at every turn. It was no wonder I couldn’t get him out of my head, even when we weren’t at the office or all of us hanging out at the bar he owned. A bar calledHudson’s, of course.

I was met with a look that could penetrate steel as he joked, “Can’t get rid of me, huh?”

“I never want to.” That bit of pure truth floated on a breath between us.

Hudson opened his mouth to respond but never had a chance to say whatever was on his mind, because we were no longer alone.

“You two good?” Constantine’s voice echoed around us and into the four chambers of my heart, causing it to skip a beat.

Our attention jerked toward the doorway where my brother stood, his muscular frame filling out the space. Although he’d be on comms tonight, he was still sporting a suit in case anything did go sideways and he had to make an appearance at the party.

“I asked him to go over the mission details again.” The words barreled from my mouth fast, my nerves propelling me forward to eat up some of the space between myself and my brother.

For a moment, I was sixteen again, and Constantine had come home earlier than expected on leave from the Navy, catching me making out with my boyfriend. A boyfriend who called later that night and broke up with me. And why wouldn’t he? Constantine told him if he were ever alone in mybedroom again with me, he’d remove his ability to grope me by cutting off both of his hands.

Heaven help my brother’s future kids when they began dating.

“You worried about something?” Like all of my brothers, the subtle notes of an Italian accent floated through Constantine’s voice whenever he spoke. Sometimes his accent was absent altogether. But then there were moments like now when it became much more pronounced.

I shook my head and started babbling. “Tonight will be super easy. Well, my part, at least. I just need to go as Hudson’s arm candy. Easy peasy.”

But really, it would be as simple as simple could be. Minus the heart pitter-pattering going on, the chills down my spine, the picture between the magazines, my smorgasbord of feelings that were all over the place right now, and my pulse still firmly cemented in my ears. You know, despitethat.

“You’ll never be arm candy.” Hudson’s words had Constantine shooting him a funny look.

Yeah, well, his comment earned a what-the-hell one from me, too.

“Not what I meant.” Hudson grimaced before peering at me. In an almost somber tone, he clarified, “There’s just a lot more to you than being a beautiful woman.”

Well . . . damn.Then I remembered we weren’t alone and glanced at my brother to see if Hudson’s words ignited stars in his eyes like they did in mine. That was highly unlikely. Well, unless they were laser-guided throwing stars.

Constantine zeroed in on Hudson in the same questioning way I’d seen him do toward all my past boyfriends. They were best friends. Why wouldn’t he want his best friend as a brother-in-law?

Okay, I was jumping the gun there, but still.

“We should go,” my brother stated, then mumbled something in Italian under his breath.

Being the only sibling born in the U.S. meant I had no accent, and my Italian was subpar compared to my parents and brothers. But I still spoke it, and it only took me a second to rewind his words and translate them.

Don’t make me kill you one day.

So, you know . . .that’s great.I rolled my eyes, giving Constantine the proper amount of time to translate that expression.

He grunted and turned to the side, gesturing for me to get my ass moving. The man acted like my father, even though our dad was very much a part of our lives. “A word,” he said to Hudson, but from the corner of my eye, I caught Hudson lifting his chin like a directive.

“Someone needs to help her down the stairs so she doesn’t trip.” Hudson’s gentlemanly gesture was appreciated, but I was doubtful it would earn him extra points from my overbearing brother.

Constantine hollered down to Alessandro for an assist. “Give us a second,” he requested once I was in the hall, closingmydoor tomyroom and leaving me out of the conversation.

“That man drives me nuts sometimes,” I muttered as Alessandro met me at the top of the stairs and offered his arm.

“He makes us all crazy, trust me.” Alessandro shrugged. “Guessing he had issues with you being alone in your bedroom with his best friend, huh?”

I shot him a look over my shoulder. “He remembers I’m thirty-two, right?”

“Doubtfully.”

Callie was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. “Everything okay?”

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