“No. I’m not hiding anything.” He squeezed her hand. “She was on her break. I was working the door outside. Her boyfriend showed up and saw her flirting with me. He was drunk and belligerent so he started going off on her. I actually had to pin his ass up against a car. I thought he’d calmed down and I let him go. That’s when he slapped her.”

Isabel saw his jaw clenched and how much that still upset him. She felt almost ashamed that instead of being warmed by Romero being so affected about a woman being abused, she was jealous. After all this time, something that happened to Cici brought out so much emotion in him. Remembering Cici’s perfume all over Romero, she stared at him, wanting to tell him she didn’t want to hear of him around her ever again, instead she asked, “So she’s okay now? Did she marry the guy?”

“No, he’s in jail now. Good thing, too. Otherwise her ass would probably still be with him.”

And that would be a bad thing because he beat her. Isabel told herself—no other reason.

Romero pulled her to him and she leaned against his chest, inhaling deeply. Not a trace of Cici’s perfume.

“I love you, Izzy.” He rubbed her back. “I already messed up once. I promise it’ll never happen again.”

Isabel glanced up at his face and smiled. She wasn’t that kind of girlfriend, insecure and suspicious. That’s the last impression she wanted to give him, but something about this Cici girl rubbed her the wrong way. She’d let it go for now, but like Valerie said, she’d raise an eyebrow every time he mentioned being at the mall.

CHAPTER 19

Michael

It was early and the party in La Jolla Shores celebrating some real estate tycoon’s eightieth birthday was winding down. Romero had a feeling when he saw the guests arrive. This bunch of geriatrics wouldn’t be partying into the night. He’d already texted Isabel to tell her he would make it to Charles’s party after all. Not that he was looking forward to spending time around Pat, but at least Alex would be there and he could probably stop and have a few drinks downstairs at the restaurant to help loosen him up before heading up to party with all the stiffs.

Once the party was down to a small amount of people and he knew his guys could handle it without him, he left. It was a good thing they’d asked for the security staff to blend in with the party goers. He didn’t have to stop and change. He did, however make one stop.

He’d lied to Isabel earlier that week but only because he didn’t want to ruin the surprise. If he’d admitted to seeing Cici earlier that week, she would’ve for sure have wanted to know why. He’d tell her tonight and hoped that once she saw the surprise, she’d understand why he lied.

His heart sped up as he neared the jewelry store. He’d almost gone with the earrings—diamond studs. Cici was actually the one who talked him into getting the ring. Talk of marriage hadn’t even come up between him and Isabel. Even though they were living together now, he still liked the idea of giving her something that gave their relationship that much more validity. He hated to admit it, but having her family see just how serious he was about Isabel had a lot to do with his decision as well. He’d called ahead to let Cici know he was stopping by to pick up the ring.

Cici had explained giving her a ring didn’t have to mean they were getting engaged. People bought rings for all sorts of reasons: promise rings, anniversary rings or just to say I love you. He still wasn’t sure what his exact reason would be, he just couldn’t wait to see it on her. “Is it ready?”

Cici looked up and smiled, her perfume heavier this time than it’d been all week as if she’d just sprayed herself. “You’re gonna love it.”

He’d picked out what Cici referred to as a princess cut diamond. He’d seen plenty of women wearing round diamonds. He liked that it was square. He had to be sneaky and snag one of Isabel’s rings from her jewelry box to get the right size. If he’d gone with the one carat he could’ve paid in cash, but once he saw what a two carat looked like, he had to have it. Only now, even with Cici hooking him up, he’d still be paying it off for the next year. It didn’t matter. His Izzy was worth it.

Cici had been more than ecstatic. Apparently, this was one of her biggest commission earnings to date.

She brought out the small box from the back and came all the way around the counter to hand it to him. He’d already paid the down payment and the paperwork was all done. Only reason he hadn’t taken it home yet was because it had to be sized and Cici had them give it an extra polish. She opened the box. The ring sparkled brilliantly. It was perfect. He’d made the right choice. Isabel was going to love it.

After handing it to him, Cici hugged him again, and though he almost didn’t, he felt bad not hugging her back, so he brought his arms around her waist and hugged her. “You have no idea,” she whispered, her arms still around him, holding him tight. “How much this commission is going to come in handy. Thank you for coming back to me. I really, really appreciate it.”

He told her she was welcome but still, she didn’t let go. “My sister’s always going on and on about how we all have an angel looking out for us.” She squeezed him even harder. “If you had any idea what this money means at this time in my life. You’d know why I’m calling you my angel right now.” She kissed him on the cheek and finally pulled away slowly.

After hearing and seeing how grateful Cici was about her commission he was glad now that he’d gone back to her to get the ring. Since Isabel had been so upset about the whole Frisco’s thing, he’d actually considered going to another jewelry store and avoiding Cici altogether. But knowing she was a single mom, and since she had asked him to, he knew now he hadn’t made a mistake going back to her.