She was irritated again and he stared at her exasperated eyes, trying to calm down. She walked closer to him and to his surprise, hugged him. “Baby, you have to stop this.” She stopped then pulled away. “What do you—Who do you smell like?”

Ah, hell. “I stopped at the mall.”

She took a step back, her expression just as fierce as the night he told her about Frisco’s. “To see her?”

“No, not to see her.” Shit he didn’t want to tell her now. The whole damn thing would be ruined. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“You stopped at the mall and you’re now covered in her perfume, then you come in here and blow up at me because some guy asked to say hello?”

“A guy your sister is trying to set you up with.”

“You’re unbelievable.” She walked away back toward the banquet room and he went after her. “Maybe you should leave,” she said, as he caught up to her.

Like hell he was leaving. “I went there to buy you something, Izzy. At the jewelry store.”

She turned to him but kept walking. “And that’s why her perfume is all over you?”

“She hugged me—”

“She does that a lot. Doesn’t she?”

Except for the time he’d told her about Frisco’s and her efforts were weakened because she was so sick, he’d never seen her like this. They reached the table and Isabel sat down next to Valerie. He sat down next to her and put his hand on her leg, leaning in to her. “I can explain it all. I swear.”

She pulled away from him. “Can you not sit so close to me? You reek of her. It’s disgusting.”

Romero pulled back. He’d almost forgotten about Michael until he heard the laughter coming from the bar behind him. Michael was looking their way again, and if Romero didn’t know any better, the smirk he wore was directed at him. Romero straightened out in his chair and stared right back at him. If this f**ker was calling him out, he was more than ready to take him on.

CHAPTER 20

Hell Hath No Fury

The fact that Alex and Valerie were there tonight was somewhat of a relief. Isabel could barely stand sitting next to Romero, and she didn’t know how much longer she could take smelling the scent of another woman on him before breaking down. She was so incredibly hurt that the touch of his hand on her leg nearly burned her. How dare he? And he had the audacity to walk in there and make a huge deal over Michael talking to her while he was with this girl doing God knows what that had him completely slathered in her smell now.

The more she thought about it the more it infuriated her. She pushed his hand off her leg. “Please don’t touch me right now, okay?” she whispered.

“Izzy, please. I’m telling you I can explain. You’ll understand. I promise.”

Feeling on the verge of tears, she whispered back. “Not here. Not now.” The last thing she wanted to hear was his lame reasons why Cici just had to have her body all over his. Isabel had smelled it all over his neck, too.

When both Alex and Romero made a trip to the men’s room, she prayed he’d at least try to wash some of the disgusting smell off of him. Valerie leaned over with a knowing, but sympathetic expression. “Everything okay?”

Isabel rolled her eyes, but felt a distinct knot that had been building in her throat the moment she realized who it was she smelled on him. Her heart had dropped to her feet and she’d been overwhelmed with jealousy. She reached over for her glass of wine. “He had the nerve to be pissed that Pat brought Michael over to say hello to me; and Valerie, he stinks of that girl again. He admitted he stopped to see her at the mall. He claims he went to buy me something at the jewelry store and she just hugged him, but why the hell is he drenched in the stink of her perfume?”

Unlike Romero, Isabel saw Valerie’s eyes widen at the mention of Michael. Valerie knew exactly who she was talking about, but her jaw had dropped when she told her of Cici’s perfume on Romero “Are you kidding? I thought his cologne was a little weird when he hugged me. And why did he have to go back to her store to get you something? There’s like twenty jewelry stores at the mall.”

Isabel told her about him admitting being at the mall several times that week, and how he’d had claimed it was because he was buying a laptop.

“Oh, hell no.” Valerie squeezed her hand, reinforcing the fact that Isabel wasn’t overreacting. “I’d demand to know everything about his relationship with this girl. Not only that, think about it, Isabel. What would he do? I seriously doubt he’d be sitting here holding it all in.”

Isabel thought about him asking her not to do anything that might make them even. The gall he had was maddening. To storm in there like he had, knowing full well where he’d just come from. If she hadn’t already seen his fiery reactions to some of the incidents that involved her with other men, she might be tempted to give him a taste of his own medicine. None of those other times he’d been infuriated were her fault. What she felt now was entirely his doing.

“Absolutely,” Isabel agreed. “He nearly blew a vein when I explained who Michael was, and mind you, this was just after that girl obviously rubbed all over him.” Isabel nearly growled that last part out.

Valerie looked around. “Is Michael still—” She turned back to Isabel. “Maybe we should leave.”

Isabel saw the worry in her eye. “Why?”

Valerie glanced back again, to where she’d stopped cold the first time. “He’s standing over by the bar with a bunch of other guys and keeps looking over here. Sounds like they’re getting loud, too. That’s never a good sign.”