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.

The whole way to Moreno’s, Romero kept sniffing himself to see if he smelled of Cici. Even sick, Isabel had smelled the perfume on him and it wasn’t even as bad that day as today. But the smell had penetrated so badly into his nose he couldn’t tell anymore if he smelled or not.

When he got to the restaurant, he placed the bag with the ring in the trunk of his car. He wanted to give it her later when they were alone. He stopped at the bar before going up. Sal was there micro-managing some of the newer bartenders. “Will you stop and have a drink with me, ass?”

Sal frowned but walked over to where Romero sat. “I don’t usually drink while on duty but you’ve always been such a bad influence.” He grabbed two beers and handed one to Romero then popped one open for himself.

“Good,” Romero said, dropping a twenty in front of him. “And I’m gonna need something stronger than a beer before heading up there.”

“Your money’s no good here, Romero.” Sal shoved the twenty back at him and pulled out a bottle of tequila. Romero frowned. Ever since he started his security business and now that the restaurant was so busy, they’d asked for his services quite a few times. Romero always complied but when it came time to pay him he took but a fraction of what he normally charged his clients. These guys were like family to him—no way were they paying him his regular rate. So now, he was never allowed to pay for his damn drinks.

“I heard you played doctor all last week?” Sal placed the shot of tequila in front of Romero.

Romero downed the shot, remembering the sheer terror he’d felt when he realized how bad Isabel was. “Yeah, Izzy got pretty damn sick there for a minute—scared the shit outta me.”

“I ain’t looking to get a buzz, I just wanna relax the muscles a little before I have to be around her fucking sister. I can’t stand the bitch.”

Sal frowned and glanced at the lady sitting next to Romero. “Will you tone it down? I thought you said you were working on that?”

He had a few more shots and a couple of beers when his phone buzzed in his pocket—a text—from Alex.

Where are you? This is boring as shit.

Alex had texted him earlier asking if he was going to be there. Seems he wasn’t exactly a willing participant either but since Valerie wanted to go to this thing, he said he was taking one for the team.

Romero laughed, feeling a lot more relaxed than when he got there. “Get me one more for the road.” He tapped the shot glass on the bar.

“I really don’t think you should,” Sal warned.

Romero tapped it again ignoring the warning and texted Alex back.

Already here. Be up there in a minute.

When he got off the barstool, he realized that maybe he had had a little too much. He smiled—he’d be fine.

As he walked through the restaurant, he began to regret that last shot but he was no lightweight. He’d been hammered plenty of times in the past. This was nothing. He noticed the couple at the bottom of the stairs from the other side of the room. They appeared to be arguing—always so much fucking drama.

That’s why he loved his Izzy. Only reason she’d given him a hard time about Cici that one time, was because she wasn’t feeling well. But the last time she’d brought it up, she was cool about the whole thing. And why? Because she was perfect—that’s fucking why. The man tried to kiss the girl but she jerked away from him and walked off. He followed after her as she stormed out the restaurant. Romero chuckled.

By the time he reached the stairs, he’d acknowledged that maybe he was a little drunk. It dawned on him just then, that since he’d met Isabel he hadn’t been drinking like he used to. It’d been a while since he’d been this juiced.

He walked upstairs taking in deep breaths, then made a beeline to the restroom before going into the banquet room. He splashed some water on his face. “You’re fine,” he whispered at himself in the mirror. A few more minutes passed, then he splashed his face again and dried off, fixing his hair a little.

Feeling well enough, he walked back out to the hallway. The same guy who’d been arguing with his girlfriend was out there on his phone. Romero recognized the suspenders and the rust orange shirt. As he turned in Romero’s direction, he saw it was Charles. Romero did a double take. Okay, maybe there was more than one guy here with suspenders and that same shirt.

As they walked in together, Romero glanced around casually, curious to see how many other guys in suspenders and an ugly-ass orange shirt were in there. But the first thing that caught his eye was Isabel’s table. Valerie and a very bored-looking Alex sat with her. The band played some sleeper jazz music. Romero almost chuckled. That is, until he saw Pat walk up to her table with a guy in a Navy uniform. Isabel seemed to know him. Romero started toward them. What the hell was her sister up to now?

Isabel smiled at him when she saw him coming and then turned to Pat and said something. Pat’s eyes were immediately on him, her expression hardened the second their eyes met. “Yeah, I see you, bitch,” Romero said under his breath. “Did you think I wasn’t gonna be here again tonight?”

Pat walked away with the guy before Romero reached the table. Romero patted Alex’s shoulder as he passed him. “’Bout time,” Alex said.

He hugged Valerie, before sitting down next to Isabel. She slipped her hand into his and was about to kiss him, but he pulled back a bit. “Who’s that guy your sister brought over?”

The heat he normally felt about Pat doing this kind of shit was more intense this time. He was so sick of her. “Nothing’s wrong with me. What’s wrong with you?” Isabel almost pulled her hand out of his but he held it. The waiter came by and Romero asked for a beer then brought his eyes back to Isabel.

“Hey, what took you so damn long?” Alex asked, then lowered his voice and leaned in closer to Isabel and Romero adding. “This party is a real sleeper.”

Valerie shushed him. Romero didn’t take his eyes off Isabel. “I was downstairs with Sal, having a couple drinks.”

“A couple?” Isabel’s face soured. “Your breath is giving me a buzz.”

Romero ignored the comment. “When’s your sister gonna stop playing her fucking games?”

“Nice. So you have a few drinks and you forget all about trying to clean up your act?”

Romero took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, but it was so much harder when he’d had a few. For him alcohol was a toss up, it either calmed him or did just the opposite and if he’d known what he would be walking into, he would’ve never had that last shot. He squeezed her hand. “Your sister does that to me.”

She must’ve seen it in his face because she touched his cheek with the back of her hand. “Please stop,” she whispered. “He asked her about me. She mentioned I was here and he’s the one that wanted to come over a say hello. That’s it—nothing more.”

Was she kidding? That only pissed him off more. “Why was he asking about you? Who is this guy?” Romero glanced around. He spotted the guy by the bar and sure enough he was looking in their direction. “Is he someone you went out with?” Romero stared him down. He had to get hold it together. If the guy didn’t stop looking their way he was but one breath away from standing up and asking if he had a fucking problem.

Isabel’s fingers touched his chin, turning his face back to her and looked him in the eye. “Please don’t do this now. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Tell me what?” He was done. If her sister had pulled another stunt, he wasn’t holding back this time. “Is this another ex-boyfriend?”

Isabel stood up and held her hand out for him to take. He stood but turned back to the guy who had finally stopped looking their way.

“Where you going?” Alex asked as they walked past him.

“We’ll be back,” Isabel answered for him.

For the first time Romero noticed just how sexy the dress Isabel wore was. He’d never seen her in it. Here she didn’t even think he was going to make the party until he texted her earlier. The heat inundated him. “Babe, why are you wearing this?” he said, as he caught up to her and walked next to her.

“Why not? Don’t you like it?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t gonna be here.” He stopped right in front of her. He knew he was being obnoxious. But this whole thing was making him crazy. What was Isabel going to tell him about this guy later and why was she dressed like this if he wasn’t supposed to be here? “So why the fuck would you wear something so…”

Her expression went hard and this time she spoke through her teeth. “You texted me you were coming before I left the apartment. I thought you’d like it. I bought it for you.”

He stared at her, his heart still thudding against his chest. All he could think of was how much he hated Pat. “Oh.”

She started walking again and he followed her. They walked out of the banquet room and she took him to a corner, near the stairs. “What is the matter with you? How can you just blow in there like that and start a fight?”

“I’m not fighting with you. I’m just sick of your sister.”

“She didn’t do anything.”

He held her face in his hands and kissed her but his heart was still hammering away. “I’m sorry. Okay? Just tell me one thing.”

“What?”

He knew he had to stop. She was going to see him for what he really was. He already saw that she was losing patience with him. But he couldn’t. “Is that an ex-boyfriend?”

It suddenly came to Romero. “Is that who that is?” He took his hands off her face. “She invited a guy she’s trying to set you up with here tonight?” Fucking bitch!

Before he could walk away, she grabbed his hand and pulled him back. “Romero, he was Charles’ friend before he was the guy she set me up with. This is a party for Charles, remember?”

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.”

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 fucker was calling him out, he was more than ready to take him on.