Aware that he’d pressed up against her a little harder than he should, he pulled back but just a little, and he placed his hand against the wall above her head. “So what happened?”

She glanced at him again but looked back down at her phone immediately. “I played nice. I told him I was calling to see how he was doing and I said I was hoping we could talk.”

Romero swallowed hard, remembering how stumped he and Nick had been that the charges had been dropped. His heart was really going now and the hand above her head fisted. “What did you do?”

“I went to see him.”

“Did you now?” He tapped the wall with his fist, but not as hard as he really wanted to. “Where at?”

“He didn’t want to meet somewhere in public because he said he still wasn’t feeling well enough. This was only a day after it had happened.”

Romero almost didn’t want to ask. The whole breathing shit had gone out the window several questions ago. “Where’d you meet him?”

She didn’t answer at first, then in almost a whisper she finally said, “In his hotel room.”

His fist banged the wall and she flinched. “You went to his hotel room?” His insides were completely lit now and he panicked, moving away from the wall trying to hold it together.

He felt her hand on his arm. “Nothing happened. That’s not what I went there for. I just wanted to talk to him.”

Romero took a few steps away from her, both fists at his hips. Fucking breathe! He commanded himself. “So what did you do? Why’d he drop the charges, Isabel?”

There was a pained look in her eyes at the sound of her name, but she spoke fast, explaining how she’d laid it on thick about the news reports and how worried she was about it affecting her dad’s campaign. And then she told him about how she’d pretended to be considering breaking things off with him in hopes that if Michael thought she was available, he might drop the charges as a way to get on her good side. “We just had dinner and some champagne. Then I left. That was it. It was a long shot but it worked. I hadn’t heard from him until now.”

Romero walked back to her flattening his hands against the wall on either side of her face and leaned in. “And he didn’t try anything?”

“He tried to kiss me goodbye but I didn’t let him. I said it didn’t feel right since technically I was still with you.”

His heart still hammered, even though he felt just tiny bit more in control. Still, he had to know. “What else did he have to say just now?”

“He asked if I’d broken things off with you yet.”

“And you told him?”

She placed her open hand on his bare chest. “Don’t get mad but I still played it off like I’m unsure.” Romero clenched his jaw. “Only because I want to make absolutely sure he doesn’t change his mind about dropping the charges.”

“You know even if he does change his mind you’re not going back to see him again. I’d rather do the f**king time.”

She nodded, then smiled almost guardedly. “I don’t think he can. At least that’s what my dad said. Once the charges are cancelled, it’s irreversible—unless you assault him again.”

Romero leaned in and kissed her, feeling the tension in his muscles begin to settle. “Yeah, well make sure you don’t even think about meeting up with him again or that just may happen.” Even though she smiled at that, he had to wonder if she knew he’d never been more serious.

She ran her hands up and down his bare back. “So tense.” Her hands moved down to the waistband of his briefs and she tugged on it. “Let’s go do something about this.”

Finally, she’d said something that didn’t make him want to punch a hole through the wall.

***

Neither of them had exaggerated when they said they’d hardly got any sleep that week, because after Isabel finished relieving Romero of the tension he’d worked up, they fell asleep again.

When they woke again, it was early evening and they were ravenous. They showered, grabbed something to eat and headed back to the hospital.

Isabel stared at the ring on her finger. Romero had said it could be whatever she’d wanted it to be, though that wasn’t exactly a proposal. At this point, she wasn’t sure she would’ve wanted it to be. There was still the matter of her father saying Romero wasn’t welcome around the family.

Pat had also made it a point to call her that week just to remind her how worried the family was about her safety, calling Romero unstable and insinuating she was delusional for thinking he would never unleash his wrath on her.

Isabel had seen it today. She couldn’t think of a single thing worse than telling Romero she’d gone to Michael’s hotel room, and though she’d seen and felt how difficult it had been for him to not explode, she’d also taken note of the effort he made not to. Something like that would be hard for any man to hear, but she knew how much stronger things of this nature affected Romero and he’d done it. He got through it. He may not always but in her heart, she knew they couldn’t be more wrong about him. There was no way, no matter how angry, that he would ever harm her.

Her phone rang just as they reached the hospital. It was Art. He didn’t make it to Charles’ party and Isabel hadn’t been surprised. Even before the party, Pat had mentioned to Isabel the comments she made to Art about his fiancée, Sabrina and as usual, in very off-handed Pat like style, they were rude.