Emilio couldn’t help the laugh that burst from him. He had been underestimated for years by men older and scarier than Maddox. At this point, he found it hilarious more than anything else.
Maddox didn’t have a chance to react before Isa shifted against him.
The noise startling her, and all of Emilio’s previous annoyance from the men dissolved. Her eyes fluttered open a bit before she let out a yawn.
The cute soft noise cut through the tension of the car.
“Oh, hi there guys. You’re all staring at me. Is there something on my face?” Said face was turning pink now. It reminded Emilio of when she told him she loved him all those years ago.
His heart beat painfully against his chest. He had missed her so much. The 10 years of being in her orbit, just out of her reach, were tortuous. Watching as she made mistake after mistake. But she needed to workthrough it on her own. Emilio owed her 10 years away from him and she had it.
But the two leeches she had contracted were not part of his original plan. No matter, he could pivot. While jealousy was crawling across his skin, an even deeper more visceral feeling was penetrating his veins. His body. His soul.
Love.
“Just discussing our future,” Maddox reassured her, his beefy hand reaching up to cup her cheek as he placed a chaste kiss to her forehead.
Isa pushed into his lips, her features softening, a beautifully bright smile encompassing her face.
Emilio expected his jealousy to turn explosive, but he was shocked when something else entirely happened. His dick that he had finally gotten under control, grew to attention again.
Before he had time to truly put thought behind the nuances of what that meant, the car came to a stop.
“I’m calling Yara,” Kazi stated before exiting the vehicle and slamming the door shut.
Emilio didn’t acknowledge him. Yara was a pain, but he couldn’t do anything about her. Isa wouldn’t approve of that.
Emilio wondered if Isa would feel differently if she found out the secret Yara was keeping.
Because it was certainly going to change the course of their lives.
Chapter 8
Izzy
It was odd being back in the mansion I first truly became acquainted with Emilio.
Where I lost my virginity. Where we spent the summer together.
Where I told him I loved him.
My face heated at the thought as I relaxed into the couch, it was soft, plush, corduroy. A stark difference to what it was years ago.
Noticing my attention to it, Emilio turned to me on the couch, sliding closer to me. “You didn’t like the leather, I wanted to make your home more inviting.”
A shiver of need ran across my skin as his words tickled against my ear. As a distraction, I surveyed the rest of the space and noticed other subtle changes. Brighter colors, throw blankets, a pile of manhwas I’d read before on the coffee table. Before, his home had felt sterile, hardly lived in, but now it was warm.Welcoming.
Oliver, who was sitting in the armchair across from us, stood up in anger. It wasn’t often I saw him thisbothered.He was a control freak through and through, including how he showed his reactions.
“She is not going to be living here.” Oliver threw the words at Emilio’s face.
Emilio placed a gentle kiss on my cheek before separating from me. He rose up from the couch moving until he was toe-to-toe with Oliver, practically the same height, but Emilio was noticeably bulkier.
“Come here,” Maddox grunted out from the other side of the couch tugging me back into the security of his arms. “They seem to have some history.”
That was new to me, but then again, I was recognizing more and more that I had been ignorant to several facets of my life.
“You are still the same asshole—” Oliver was slinging the words out, but I did my best to ignore him.