“Love you too!” I called as the door closed behind him. “Who’s he calling?” I asked, watching as Ivory bounced on her heels. “Do you have to pee?”
“No, I do not have to pee. Stop acting like I’m pregnant. I’m not,” she said.
I raised my brow at her. “Yet.”
“Hush,” she scolded. She slid over to the door, pressing her ear to it as she tried to listen to her husband on the phone. Her full lips twisted into a pout when she couldn’t hear Matteo’s side of the conversation, glaring at me.
“Well?” I asked, turning my back on Scar as he raised his eyes to the ceiling and mumbled under his breath. Despite his annoyance with me, a slight smile played at his lips at Ivory’s antics, their unique bond strong enough to overcome even my presence.
“Nothing. I can’t hear a damn thing. I don’t understand why he’s keeping secrets like this. I want to know who’s coming!” she said.
She jumped back when Matteo opened the door carefully. He knew Ivory well enough to know she’d be trying to eavesdrop. She wasn’t exactly discreet. “Who did you call?” she asked.
He leveled her with a look that said she needed to learn some patience. The oaf of a man preaching patience was ridiculous, given the way he’d taken Ivory without care for giving her the time she needed to adjust to being with him. “You should pack a bag, Sadie. Staying here is a security threat. I can’t see your new babysitter letting that fly.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I argued, crossing my arms over my chest and staring him down. I wasn’t sure if the prospect of having a houseguest was worse, or if the thought of going to live with a stinky, messy man was my worst nightmare.
Nope. Not happening.
“Suit yourself. I’m not the one who will have to deal with the consequences of not doing what you’re told. I suggest you at least put some more clothes on. I don’t imagine you’ll want him to throw you on the back of his bike in shorts.”
“I have time.” I shrugged. Nobody, even in the middle of the night, could get through Chicago traffic so quickly.
“You have less than five minutes. He was close, and traffic isn’t an issue for his bike.” Matteo flopped down onto my couch, making himself comfortable as he waited on whatever fucking friend he was so confident I wouldn’t torment.
“I’ll just make him miserable too, you know? It doesn’t matter who you assign to me. I will make it my mission to drive them crazy,” I said.
He smirked, glancing up at me with vivid blue eyes. “I’d like to see you try to get away with that shit with him.” Scar chuckled in the corner, the sound ominous. Scar adored me, really. He just liked to torment me.
“Go put on a bra at least,” Ivory said. “Trust me when I say you’ll want the girls up where they belong—”
“Don’t even start,” Matteo warned. “He is here to protect her, not be her plaything.”
“After all I did for you.” I gasped in mock indignation, pressing a hand to my chest. That he could think so little of me.
Like I cared.
I went to put on a bra anyway, because after Ivory drew attention to it, I felt weird being in a room with Matteo without one. I grimaced at her as I stepped back into the living room.
Bras were the devil.
The knock on the door sent Ivory springing to her feet as she raced for it. Peeking through the hole, she grinned as she spun back to look at me.
It really said something about our lives that she could smile so happily while blood stained the carpet next to my feet.
She tugged the door open, stepping aside for the powerhouse of a man to step over the threshold. He emerged from the shadows of the hallway, stepping into the well-lit room and towering over me as he approached. It took a big man to stand in the same room as Matteo and Scar and not seem small.
He managed.
Motorcycle boots covered his feet and jeans hugged his legs in that oh-so-sexy but not quite tight way. The black t-shirt that clung to his broad shoulders couldn’t contain the beast of a man who wore it.
“Sadie, this is Lorenzo Vescovi,” Ivory gushed, knowing that the sound of the name would turn me into a puddle of goop.
“Enzo,” I whispered, staring up at the hazel eyes that stared down at me as he stepped closer.
“Hello, Carina,” he said in a deep rumble of a voice.
Fuck.
7 Enzo
She hit me like a punch to the gut without ever putting her hands on me. A crop top revealed the taut lines of her stomach, where they curved into the graceful slope of her hips. When her honey-colored eyes went round and her mouth parted open in shock, my fingers twitched at my sides, wanting nothing more than to grab her around the back of her thighs, lift her into my arms, and cart her into the bedroom.
The only things that stopped me were the watchful eyes of Ivory and Matteo.
She couldn't have even been five feet tall, and it seemed impossible for someone so tiny to have such an impact that it felt like my world tilted on its axis. For all the stories I’d heard of Sadie, all the times her antics came up in casual conversation, nothing could have prepared me for the little spitfire gaping up at me.
One trace of perfect white teeth sinking into the plump flesh of her bottom lip was all it took for her to wrap me around her finger. To own me, totally and completely.
I hadn't understood it. I'd never been able to wrap my head around the way the other guys lost their mind over one woman until that moment.
But the mass of dark brown waves surrounding tawny skin and the bone structure magazines had to
