My gaze flits to the large horizontal hall tree mirror in the entry. The angle gives me the perfect view of the back of Renzo’s head.
Uh-oh.
“We should probably talk in your office,” DiAngelo mumbles.
“You think?” Renzo spins back around, pissed. D follows him, leaving me with Mom and Shae.
“What on earth just happened?” Mom asks.
Shae narrows her calculating eyes at me. “Nooo, surely not.” A Machiavellian grin spreads wide on her face as she assesses my reaction. “Oh, hell yeah. This is way better than an outing. Zuzu, pour us some tea. It’s time for Rina to spill the beans.”
“Tea? Beans? What am I missing? And you’re not supposed to have tea, it has too much caffeine.”
Shae seats herself at the kitchen table. “If we don’t have any decaf, then pour me some juice. Your daughter’s about to tell us how she started bumping uglies with her bodyguard.”
Mom gasps, her hand flying to her chest as she spins to face me. “Ree Ree, is it true?” There’s so much hope in her eyes, I’m not sure if it’s sweet or sad. I think she’s been worried I’d never move on from Craig.
I bite back a shy smile and shrug. “Guilty as charged.”
The next thing I know, she’s shrieking and jumping around like a fool. The baby starts crying, Bonny begins to bark, and I’m doubled over laughing.
“Jesus, fuck. You three scared me to death.” Renzo barrels into the doorway, his frantic eyes wide. D is close behind him. “You okay?”
Shae and Mom assure him everything is fine. He runs a mystified hand through his hair, muttering to himself about lunatics as he ushers DiAngelo back toward the office.
Shae quiets the baby with a pacifier, then sits back at the table. “Sit. Spill.”
It’s a good thing I’m okay talking about it because judging by the look on both their faces, I’m not leaving this room without a full recounting of the past six weeks.
“Let’s see … I suppose it started that first night he was assigned to protect me…”
CHAPTER 54
DIANGELO
Present
“How long?”Renzo demands as soon as we round the corner to his office.
“That’s hard to say. It’s sort of developed ever since the beginning,” I admit.
“And you didn’t think that fucking my sister was something I ought to know about?”
I try to keep calm because I understand why he’s upset, but where Rina is concerned, my instincts are quick to defend and protect her. “I’m not just fucking your sister, Renzo. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
His hands go to his hips. “What then? You two are serious about one another, and still, you didn’t say anything?”
Jesus, this is a clusterfuck.
“I was going to tell you right now. That’s why I wanted a few minutes alone.”
“And the past six weeks?”
I run my hand through my hair and sigh. “Things were … complicated. It was hard to say anything when I didn’t know where she and I stood.”
He mulls over my words, his lips pressed into a thin line, but before he can respond, all hell breaks loose in the kitchen. Screaming, barking, crying. We crash into one another trying to race into the hallway at the same time.
He makes it to the kitchen first, stopping so that I have to peer over his shoulder to see what’s going on.
