The brothers exchanged a look before Aldo let go of my hand. It was loaded, but I wasn’t quite sure what with. It didn’t seem to be anything bad, though. More like one of those silent conversations I’d heard twins could have.
When it broke off, Marco muttered, “Shut the fuck up.”
Aldo laughed, nodded, and flashed another wide grin at me. “Let me go get cleaned up. I’ll meet you guys at the restaurant.”
“You know which one?” I asked.
Both brothers shrugged and chuckled, looking and sounding so damn alike that it was more confusing than ever why I was so insanely attracted to only one of them. They even spoke in unison when they answered me with a simple, “Yep.”
“Well okay then,” I mumbled, feeling out of the loop but strangely comfortable with them anyway. “I’m going to need you both to answer some questions for me, though.”
Aldo’s eyes sparkled in the sunlight when he glanced down at me. “If it’s about our c—”
“She wasn’t going to ask about that.” Marco cut him off, shoving his brother with his shoulder.
I smiled. I hadn’t been about to ask about that at all, but now, obviously, I had to. “Actually, that was exactly what I was going to ask.”
Aldo waggled his brows at me while Marco released a long-suffering sigh, but he looked more amused than exasperated. His eyes flicked from mine to his brother’s. Then he shook his head. “I’m already starting to regret this. You two together are going to be the death of me, but let’s get going. There’s no use postponing the inevitable.”
Chapter 19
Marco
Addy’s comment about my behavior being predictable had snapped me out of the irrational rut I’d been stumbling into. The truth was that she had been right. The way I had reacted to the thought of her looking at another man, even if that man was my brother, had been alpha-male bullshit.
While I couldn’t hide that I did have that inside, I didn’t have to allow that part of me to dictate everything I did. I couldn’t entirely switch it off, but I could breathe deeply and show her that wasn’t all I was.
As soon as I had done that, I’d actually found myself enjoying the day. With the way Aldo and Addy had teamed up almost immediately, dinner was going to be interesting but fun. I was determined to be part of that fun instead of just sitting by like a brooding, moody lump of turmoil and jealousy.
“You live here?” Addy exclaimed as I led her up the stairs and into my home. “When you suggested we go to your place to freshen up for dinner while we wait for Aldo, I didn’t expect an entire building of your own.”
She stopped on the top step leading from my garage to the kitchen, twisting around to face me. I chuckled at the incredulity in her voice, shrugging my shoulders. “When I started making money, my financial adviser said property was a wise investment. I found this place, loved it, and bought it.”
Rolling her pretty blue eyes, she lifted her hand to make a rolling motion through the air. “Sure. You just went and bought an entire building.”
“Yep.” I grinned at her and offered her my hand. “Would you like a tour?”
“Yep,” she parroted as she wrapped her fingers around mine. “Tell me about your building, Mr. Billionaire. Do you have a wine cellar?”
“Of course,” I replied, watching as her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. I tightened my grip on her hand and lead her inside. “I also have a hot tub on the roof, a bar, a kitchen, and bedrooms, if you’d believe it.”
“Wow. A kitchen, huh?” She smiled. “Does it ever get used?”
“All the time.”
As we stepped out of the stairwell, Addy came to a stop.
We were standing off to the side of the second story of the house. The entrance hall we landed in opened up to the kitchen to the right and a living area with panoramic views of the countryside and the city in the distance.
Chestnut beams were spaced evenly on the white ceiling overhead, stretching all the way to the end of the balcony off the living room. My furniture was minimalistic but comfortable. Rugs covered the tiled floors, and since I’d renovated before moving in, the fittings were modern and the lines clean.
Addy’s lips parted, and she took a few tentative steps forward. “You wake up to this view every morning?”
“The bedrooms are upstairs, but yes. They face in the same direction.”
I’d been expecting comments on the state-of-the-art appliances, the interior design, and questions about how much it had all cost, but she didn’t ask. Outside of my mother, every other woman I’d brought home had zeroed in on those things.
Addy’s feet carried her forward like she hadn’t even noticed any of it. The stackable glass doors leading to the balcony were open, and a fresh breeze ruffled the light curtains. She moved toward the balcony almost as if she was on autopilot, her eyes wide as she stepped outside.
“This is gorgeous,” she breathed as she took in the grassy green valleys, copses of towering trees, and the red rooftops of the buildings in the historic city center. “Really, Marco. Wow. I mean, congratulations on the building and the wine cellar and all, but I’d pitch a tent in your yard and stay in it forever just for this view.”
Her hands wrapped around the maroon railing and she leaned forward, strands of blonde hair lifting in the breeze. When she turned her head to face me, her eyes were filled with awe. “I didn’t know real people had views like this. I kind of thought it was just hotels and houses in the distance that
