On the inside, I was burning hot, my stomach flipping at his words and the way his feral eyes darkened into threatening slits.
“For three years, maybe.”
Kai gritted his teeth and released me, our little game suddenly over, leaving a slightly hollow feeling in my chest. He looked away, and I heard him exhale. There was a heaviness to his sigh.
“You done over there?” Gio asked as he crouched by the bike’s exhaust. I bent down next to him, trying to determine what had caught his attention.
“What are you doing?”
“You think I want to see my sister kissing and groping a man?”
“I wasnotgroping Kai.”
“Sure,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not blind.” My brother suddenly crept closer, his expression serious. “Newsflash, Mali, your whispers aren’t as quiet as you think they are,” he added with a shudder.
“Gio!” Heat crept up my face.
“What? Don’t act likeyou’rethe one offended. I might need therapy now.”
“Oh, God.” I pushed him over so that he tumbled onto his ass, and he broke into peals of laughter.
Tires on the paved driveway and the purr of an engine caught my attention. I straightened in time to see Rocco climbout of the back of his SUV and smile brightly the moment he saw me.
It wasn’t a secret he had a crush. He’d asked me to marry him during myQuinceand again at graduation. He’d also offered to help with my grandfather’s will and that stupid marriage clause. But as easy as it would have been to choose Rocco, I’d never be able to see him beyond anything more than a brother, making that option an impossibility. I knew he’d want more and somehow use his position as my husband, fake or not, to his advantage. Because while he cared for me in his own ways, I wasn’t naïve enough to think he was a righteous man. Without hesitation, Rocco would slit the throat of anyone he thought looked at him sideways.
But then again, were we any different?
I shifted my gaze toward Kai, who was polishing Gloria, the fucking bike, and chatting with Gio. My eyes lingered on them for another beat, and I felt a smile pulling at my lips. I’d never seen my brother take to anyone so fast. It both warmed my heart and aggravated the hell out of me.
“Muñeca, sorry to stop by unannounced, but I have some news.” He dipped down to drop a kiss on my cheek. “Is Antonio home?”
“My father? Why can’t you tell me? Sounds important.”
Rocco looked down at me, and his brow creased. “You look…different today,” he said as he lit a cigarette.
Maybe my face was still slightly flushed from hanging upside down while Kai’s tongue was inside my body.
“I couldn’t sleep that well—Roc, what news?”
“Antonio’s warehouse in Nogales was set on fire late last night. Four of his men were murdered.”
“How did he not know about this? His men always keep him well-informed.”
Rocco lifted my chin with his forefinger. “Dead men don’t speak.”
I shook off his touch and crossed my arms over my chest. “So, who told you?”
“My connects were picking up a shipment, and imagine their shock when they found an inferno instead.”
Rocco’s father had passed away twelve years ago, and mine had taken him under his wing, mentored, and treated him as if he were his own. Rocco had been nothing but loyal and devoted to my father’s business dealings. I shouldn’t be questioning his honesty, but something in his eyes put me on alert.
“Did I say or do something wrong?”
I hadn’t noticed I’d spaced out until he spoke, jarring me back to the moment in time to catch him motioning behind us where Kai and Gio stood side by side, watching with grave expressions.
“Your bodyguards are burning holes through my head as we speak.”
“Go inside and talk with my father. He’s probably in his office or having breakfast. I’ll catch up in a few.”
