Page 63 of The Art of You

That smile gave me a bit of life. Only psychopaths smiled when they wanted to commit murder, right? And he was far from that.

He propped the door open with a stopper, and I finally followed him into the kitchen.

Enzo nodded in greeting, keeping quiet as he stood leaning against the counter with his hand in a bag of chips. Alessandro wasted no time chucking a bottle of Advil at me. This time, I remembered to catch it with the hand attached to my non-jacked-up arm.

“Guessing you went against my recommendation and didn’t take anything stronger.” Alessandro smirked.

Nope.I twisted the top and paused, staring down at my hand, remembering where it’d been five minutes ago. Between Bella’s legs. Guilt, that ugly fucking beast, came back to haunt me all over again.

“It’s childproof. Need an assist?” The wise-ass, Enzo, with the jokes, sucked me free from the vortex of remorse.

“I’m good.” I stole a look at him, and shocked myself by actually sporting a smile. “You can continue eating like you’re the pregnant one, not your wife.”

Enzo volleyed something back in Italian, probably a well-deserved jab. The fact they were acting so casually meant Constantine filled them in on the full story of my past, and they were trying to mask their pity with humor. They knew the last thing I’d want was sympathy.

So, that’s why no third-degree about what happened with your sister? Because you feel bad for me?

When Alessandro’s attention flew somewhere in the general direction behind me, I assumed it meant Bella had joined us.

“There you are, Little Miss. I was wondering what you were up to.”

Little Miss No Pantiesshould not have been my first thought upon hearing Alessandro’s greeting, probably not even my second. And yet, there it was. Right along with the memory of Bella’s walls tightening around my fingers while climaxing.

“Malik escorted me from the pool house. Don’t worry. No walking around outside unsupervised.”

Relief coasted over me hearing Callie’s voice. The shit-eating grin on Alessandro’s face, as if he hadn’t seen his wife in a year, should’ve clued me in, even if his nickname for her hadn’t.

Callie gently patted my back before walking by me. I took that to mean she was also aware of the truth about my last operation.

I was board-certified in the ability to bury my past six feet deep when needed, and I had a feeling I’d need to tap into that honed skill to get through this conversation.

“Where’s Izzy?” Callie asked as her husband drew her to his side.

“Yeah, where’s my sister?” Enzo asked me around a mouthful, brushing crumbs off his shirt. I had a feeling Maria didn’t let him binge on junk back at home, so he was taking the chance to misbehave while away.

“How should I know?” I dumped four tablets onto my palm, set aside the bottle, and retrieved a Smartwater from the fridge, opting not to check Constantine’s reaction to Enzo’s question. I wasn’t sure how long his grace would last.

“Ah, speak of the she-devil.” Enzo’s words had me quickly swallowing the evidence of one-too-many. Well, by Bella’s standards anyway. She had no idea how much of this I’d taken to Band-Aid the pain while serving. It was a miracle I had both kidneys and a fully functioning liver.

“Hi.” Bella sounded awfully close behind me as I guzzled down the whole bottle before slowly lowering it to my side.

Facing her, my back now to the others, I breathed a sigh of relief that she was fully covered. Maybe my brain wouldn’t glitch like it had when we’d been alone.

She stared at me, her eyes holding mine as she raced her thumb along the collar of her pink monogrammed top, a matched set with her pajama bottoms. When her attention shot to my hand, I followed the movement to find I’d squeezed the plastic bottle, my knuckles whitening from my grip.

When the hell did I do that?Eyes up, they landed on her mouth. Her lips were a little swollen from our make-out session, and now I was wondering if another part of her was still sensitive. She’d said what happened between us had been art, and yeah, that was one way of putting it.

When she hit me with her sexy, teasing smile, my efforts to send her a warning glare to behave were wasted. Because she was no longer eyeing my face, but had tuned in to the problem south of my waistband—my growing erection.

The little vixen was loving every second of this, too. She really was the only one who had the ability to distract me from everything, whether it was an op—case in point Friday—or a possible inquisition by her brothers.

I hadn’t been self-aware enough last week while preppingfor the mission to realize that having her go as my plus-one may throw me off my game. She could’ve been killed in that crash, kidnapped, or shot. All the badorsimaginable could’ve happened. But I was fully aware now, and that meant no more undercover assignments together.

I knew Alessandro wouldn’t be able to operate with a clear head if Callie were with him. Same was true with Enzo and Maria. I’d thought it’d be different for me, but that was before I fully accepted the truth staring me in the face.I have feelings for you.Nothing like almost losing the woman you care about to wake you up.

“Think you two can finish up your telepathic conversation so we can fill you in?” Alessandro asked, his tone still surprisingly relaxed given our current state of all-the-fucking things.

Bella broke our connection but kept her beautiful smile in place as she walked around me and over to the counter. She went straight for the dark chocolate candy bars. Imayhave texted one of our security guys a grocery list of must-haves earlier, worried we’d run out of her favorite things and fast. Now I regretted not asking her brothers to bring her favorite teddy bear and hoodie back from the city.

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