Page 86 of The Art of You

Instead of answering me, he simply said my name like it had a question mark both before and after it.

“Yes?” The word caught in my throat, barely coming out. The idea of him resisting help and flying to Spain alone had me feeling like that broken coffee cup from earlier. I was in pieces. Fragments of busted-up pottery.

His brows pinched as he stared at me while he lowered the phone to his side. “Just so you know, you’re more than a best friend to me.” Not what I’d expected him to say, but I sure as hell hoped this wasn’t him trying to distract me again. I had to admit, he’d done a hell of a job with the smolder and brood moments ago.

Then another thought hit me, forcing the breath in my lungs to slip out in the form of a somber sigh. I was now not only worried about a distraction, but that he may follow up his sweet comment with a “but” and break my heart.

“Well, who am I, then?” I asked when he’d yet to elaborate, my anxiety taking over for my mouth.

He tossed the phone on the bed, then ate up what was left of the space between us. Reaching for my hand, he locked our fingers together and swiftly drew me against him. “The woman I’d bring home to my mother.”

It took me a dizzying moment to put two and two together. Because of course I’d already met his mom, but?—

He interrupted my internal rambling by covering my mouth with his.

Instead of the rejection I’d expected from him, soft kisses of surrender followed. And between them, he told me what I needed to hear. “Pack a bag. Looks like you’re coming to Spain with me.”

Chapter 32

Isabella

Manhattan, New York

We’d beenat our security office in Chelsea for about an hour, waiting to meet Adelina before heading to JFK, and I’d managed to keep myself busy with chasing a few leads while wondering where in the world Hudson had gone off to after we’d arrived.

Thankfully, our security office wasn’t known to the public the way our other family business was, so when we arrived at four o’clock, we hadn’t been greeted by the media or paparazzi. They’d definitely tried reaching out to us on every single phone line and email address they’d been able to track down. All calls and messages ignored.

I pushed away from my desk, set aside my blue-light glasses, then decided to search out Alessandro and see if he’d had any luck gathering information while we awaited our flight to Spain.

And damn. Our entire family needed to learn to knock (and lock doors). Myself included. Because when I swung openhis office door, I had to cover my eyes. “Oops, sorry,” I blurted, catching him in the middle of something, and it wasn’t research.

Callie was on his desk, legs wrapped around him, her cowgirl boots at his back, and yup . . . not the sight I needed to see. Now I knew how Constantine felt.

With his back to me, and thankfully his shirt was on and covering his ass since his pants were around his ankles, he tossed his hand in the air, waving me away.

Don’t have to tell me twice.I reached around and twisted the lock before closing the door so no one else accidentally walked in on whatever was about to happen on that desk.

Guess my brother wanted a quickie with his wife before we left for Spain. I knew it killed him to leave her, but he wouldn’t risk taking her on an operation out of the country. Too many unknown variables. She’d be staying with my parents on Long Island and would be heavily protected.

Callie wasn’t part of the security team, but dammit,Iwas. Despite some pushback from my brothers in the Hamptons after Hudson shared the Spain news, I won four to one in a vote to join them.

Enzo had been the adamant “no,” which had taken me by surprise. I’d thought it’d be Constantine, but he was the one to remind everyone I was an asset with my tech and comms skills.

“Hey, you, hang on.”Speak of the devil.

I stopped walking to track down where Enzo was, finally walking back a step and hanging a right to find him in Hudson’s office. Sadly, Hudson was notably absent.

“What’s up?” I remained in the doorway, wondering if I could pull off the casual lean as well as the guys could. Arms folded, I gave it a try.

Enzo had his back to Hudson’s desk, hands on each side ofit as he shot me a worried look. “I hate that I’m not joining you all. I don’t like this.”

“You can’t leave the country with Maria potentially delivering your twins early. If you were in Spain, and she wound up in the hospital, you’d never forgive yourself.” We’d already gone over this about five times today, but maybe the sixth time was the charm. “Besides, you need to follow up with our delivery guy here. Get him clean. See if he can ID anyone. You’re still helping even if you’re not boarding that jet.”

He stood to his full height and pushed his sleeves to his elbows, exposing his numerous tattoos. “I have a bad feeling about this trip.”

No longer feeling relaxed, the casual-lean thing lost its luster and I pushed away from the doorway to join him in the office. I looked around at the three overstuffed bookcases to my left, and I’d bet money on the fact Hudson had devoured every single book packed tightly onto each shelf. A man who was well-read was so incredibly sexy.

“You’re not rejecting the fact I’m telling you I have a bad feeling, so does that mean you feel the same?” Enzo roped my attention back his way.

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