He wasn’t really, but he was better. Only now on top of everything, he felt like an ass**le. He took a deep breath. “You guys wanna go get some breakfast? I’ll tell you all about her.”

Manny and Max exchanged glances then Manny shrugged. “Sure, I already ate.” He glanced at his watch. “But that was about an hour ago. I can eat again.”

CHAPTER 9

The one

All day Isabel tried in vain to get a hold of Romero. She’d left messages, texted him and gone by his place twice. His car hadn’t been there. Valerie left to spend the night at Alex’s place again a few hours earlier and Isabel had finally allowed herself to cry like she’d really wanted to.

Banging her fist into her pillow, she cried like she’d never cried in her life. She’d finally met that guy. The one she couldn’t stop thinking of day or night. Even at work, she found herself constantly thinking of him. He was the first guy that made her feel sexy, but it wasn’t just about the sex. It was the way he looked at her. There was something so incredibly intense. He told her he thought she was perfect and almost made her believe it.

She didn’t feel like she had to impress him with her intelligence or her family, the only things she ever felt she could impress anyone with. This was the first time she didn’t even like to talk about her education because she didn’t want him to think she was rubbing it in and he’d been completely impressed with her anyway. She still didn’t understand why, only that she loved the feeling. She didn’t even realize how hard she’d fallen, until the possibility of losing him hit her.

For so long, she’d yearned to feel that magical feeling of true love. That feeling of needing to be around someone always, and as scary as that feeling was, it was also intoxicating. Then just like that, because of her stupid inability to stand up to her sister sooner, she’d blown it.

After one long sob into her pillow, she heard the knock at the door. She sat up, and tried to catch her breath, contemplating whether or not to answer it. Lawrence often came over unexpectedly to drop off or borrow a book. Sometimes just to chat. She was in no mood to talk to him or anyone.

“Izzy, you there?”

She jumped off her bed, not caring what a mess she must look like, and rushed to the front door. She opened the door with her hand over her mouth, feeling like sobbing again when she saw him.

Romero hesitated, then took the one step up and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m so sorry.” she said, against his shoulder.

He squeezed her tight, kissing her temple and head, then pulled away to look at her. He wiped the tears with his thumb. “We need to talk.”

Romero closed the door behind him and took her to the sofa in the front room. They sat down, facing each other. Isabel was overwhelmed with relief, but more than anything, filled with a happiness beyond any she’d ever felt. Even with her stupidity, he’d come back to her. But she cautioned herself, she still didn’t know why or what exactly he wanted to talk to her about.

He moved a few strands of hair away from her face and wiped the corners of her eyes. He stared at her for a moment, too serious, and she wished to God, she could see that smug smirk of his again so she’d know everything was okay. His expression went suddenly even more rigid. “I need the truth.” His jaw clenched. “Did you do anything with him?”

“No.” She shook her head adamantly.

“Then what was so f**king fantastic about it?”

“I don’t know. My sister and Charles were with us the whole time. But I promise you nothing. I would never…” Isabel moved over and straddled him, feeling how tense he was.

He brought his arms around her. “You gotta know how crazy that would make me if you ever did. Izzy. I don’t know what I’d do.”

“It’ll never happen.” He kissed her neck. She loved how she lost all her inhibitions around him. He made her feel like an entirely different person. Being with him made her not care about anything else. None of the petty things that bothered her so much before mattered anymore. She’d actually begun to escape the need for everything to be perfect. Something bigger was much more satisfying now.

His expression softened but very little before he spoke again. “I need to know that your sister is not—”

“She’s not! That was the last time. I promise.”

“I know to your family, I’m not much—”

“No!” She reached for his hand. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth, Isabel.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Please don’t call me that. I’ve never hated the sound of my own name so much as I did this morning when you called me that.”

His jaw tightened. “I was pissed.”

“I know, and it felt so wrong. I don’t like you being pissed at me.”

He squeezed her hand. “Izzy, I don’t blame you for not telling your family about me.”

“But I did. I told them yesterday. Well, my mom and Pat, and they want to meet you. I told them they would—soon.” She took a deep breath, still feeling drained from her cry earlier. “I’d been so caught up with you these last few weeks, I completely forgot about the date. So when she called the other day to tell me about it, it was too late, she’d already planned it. I didn’t want to get into some long drawn out explanation. I wasn’t ready yet. So since you were working, I figured I might as well get it out of the way.” She stared into those beautiful hazel eyes that could flare up so quickly. “It was so boring. All I thought of was you the whole time. I kept waiting and expecting him to make me laugh like you do.”