Page 5 of The Art of You

“From what I can tell, Constantine’s just being anidiota.” Alessandro let me go and hooked his arm around his wife’s back, drawing her tight to his side. The man couldn’t go a second without touching her if they were in the same room, and I loved that.

My gorgeous, sweet sister-in-law proved that alleged cold, dead hearts could be revived. Because Alessandro had once believed that organ in his chest was long gone, but everything changed once she came into his life.

“I still can’t get over you in that dress.” Callie clapped her hands together near her mouth.

“Thank you for raiding your closet and bringing this ball gown with you. Most of my wardrobe consists of jeans and tees with inappropriate sayings.”

“And that just makes me love you all that much more.” She shifted free of her husband’s hold to reach for my forearms and lightly squeezed, continuing to appreciate the gown. “It was made just for me, but it looks even better on you.”

“Surprised I didn’t need to stuff socks in the built-in bra to fill up the top,” I said with a chuckle, and Callie let go of me and flicked her wrist at my joke. But really, she was way more endowed there than I was.

“That’s an Ella McAdams original,” she added, and my brain short-circuited for probably the third time tonight.

I’m wearing Ella’s dress?I’d met her and her husband at Callie and Alessandro’s wedding in Nashville in August, but my family already had a history with Ella’s husband.

Not only did Enzo know Jesse from some past-life “employment,” but he’d been the one to break the news to Enzo last year that our sister Bianca’s murderer wasn’t quite as six feet under as we’d all thought. Thankfully, her killer was now, but . . .

Shit.That was definitely not what I needed to be thinking about right now. So much for all that hard work tocompartmentalize my thoughts and push forward for the sake of the mission tonight. Gone, gone, gone. Nerves firmly in place once again.

“Anyway.” Alessandro with the award-winning redirect, somehow recognizing I needed a subject change. Maybe he did, too.

Fortunately, Enzo provided a much-needed distraction. He casually strolled into the foyer, dangling a slice of pizza between his fingers. “You two can’t keep your hands off each other.”

“Like you’re any better with Maria,” Alessandro reminded him, and Enzo chased away a smirk with the back of his hand.

Both Enzo and Alessandro had flown in for this last-minute op. While Callie had been able to make the trip with Alessandro, Enzo had to leave his wife back home in Charlotte since she was pregnant with twins. He’d been hesitant to be away from Maria, but Hudson—who was spearheading this operation—had promised the mission would be quick. Hudson had accepted the job as a personal favor for his dad.

“Why are you wolfing down pizza right now?” Alessandro asked Enzo after he’d devoured the slice in practically two bites.

“Can’t operate on an empty stomach,” Enzo said around a mouthful, brushing the crumbs on the sides of his black fatigues.

He and Alessandro were in military clothes, charged with handling the dangerous behind-the-scenes work while I went as Hudson’s plus-one to the fancy A-list political soiree at some big campaign donor’s home in Scarsdale.

“Don’t worry, I left you a slice.” Enzo winked at our brother before directing his attention to the stairs behind me.

Ah, the eldest has returned.Hopefully he didn’t lay into Hudson about being in my bedroom.

The fact Hudson didn’t make eye contact with me as he came down had my concerns rebooting. But at least I was once again distracted from the OG problem of the evening: the mystery photo.

Enzo reached into his pocket and tossed his keys to Hudson. “No scratches.” Although Enzo didn’t live in New York anymore, and we’d converted his former home in Chelsea into the new headquarters for our off-the-books security company, he’d kept his beloved Porsche in the city to use whenever he visited.

“I’ll be on my best behavior.” Pretty sure there was some double meaning from Hudson on that, especially when Constantine nodded at him.

I bit back a resigned sigh, then went through the motions of hugging everyone goodbye as if I were going off to war instead of to a party.

“I’ll be just down the block from the location,” Constantine promised in my ear during our quick embrace. “I’ve got your six. No worries.”

“Thank you.” I patted his arm and faced the door, finding Hudson holding it open with his back.

As we started for Enzo’s metallic-gray Porsche by the curb, Hudson commented, “It’s just a quickie, no sweat.” He abruptly added, “You know what I mean.” How many times had that phrase left his mouth tonight?

“But do I?” I teased.

“Just get in,” he ordered, fighting off a smile.

Maybe you aren’t so allergic to me after all?

He extended his forearm so I could keep my balance and duck inside, but with the odd feeling we were being watched—andnotby my siblings—I stole a look at the building on the other side of the street.

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