BREATHE!

The ride from the hospital to Isabel’s apartment wasn’t even that long but it felt like an eternity and of course Romero hit every ga-damn red light there. When he pulled into the parking lot of her apartment, he saw her car was already there. Unlike him, she’d obviously missed all the red lights.

He hurried to her front door. The adrenaline of being with her again had given him a much needed second wind. With the night he’d had, he should be ready to pass out. Instead, he felt completely charged and ready to go. The door was open and he smelled the coffee the moment he walked through it. She was making breakfast, too.

Her comment about needing to talk, although somewhat promising, felt a little staid and it made him nervous. But he’d been serious when he told her he was willing to do anything. So whatever it was she wanted to talk about they’d get through it. They had to. After this week he knew, without a doubt, there was no way his life would ever be complete without her.

She smiled when she looked back from the stove where she stirred something around in the pan. Cautiously, he approached her from behind. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her at the hospital, though he nearly crushed her in his arms again before letting her get in her car.

He’d felt something. He couldn’t be sure but she held back and he didn’t want to push. Unable to help himself he brought his arm around her waist from behind and rested his hand on her belly. He leaned his face against the side of hers kissing her temple. “I missed you so much,” he whispered.

“I missed you, too.” For a moment she seemed to give in, leaning back into him, even turned her face allowing him to kiss her lips softly. But then she stiffened and straightened out again. “We need to talk.” Her tone turned sharp, just like that.

Even though he knew he should, he couldn’t pull himself away from her. “So talk.”

She pulled away to reach for a couple of plates and he had no choice but to let go. Then she dumped scrambled eggs onto each of them, sprinkling salt, pepper and cheese. “Nothing fancy today.”

“That okay, I’m not even hungry.”

They sat at the kitchen table and she wasted no time. “Tell me about Cici, and I mean the truth. All of it.”

Romero stared at her. He hadn’t even taken the jewelry bag out of the his trunk yet, afraid just looking at it would be too painful. “I bought you a ring. I was going to give it to you Saturday night after the party. I stopped at the jewelry store before the party and she hugged me because she got a good-sized commission out of it.” He reached out and touched her arm when she looked away. “She wears a lot of fuc…” He winced. “A lot of perfume.” Damn it he was going to have to try harder.

She moved the egg around on her plate. “What else?”

“That’s it.”

Her eyes were back on him again and they were full of emotion. “You never did anything with her?”

Alright, he said he’d do whatever it took, so he took a deep breath. “I was different before, Isabel.” Her eyebrows creased as if she was expecting to hear the worst. “I never slept with her if that’s what you’re thinking... but I would’ve. If her boyfriend hadn’t shown up that same night he slapped her… it probably would’ve happened. He slapped her because he caught us making out.”

Understanding swept over her face and she nodded. “Is that why you never forgot about it?”

“Yeah, I knew she had a boyfriend. Manny even warned me that he was a crazy asshole and I should stay away from her, but I didn’t. I purposely set out to nail her because it’s what I did back then. I was an asshole, too.” He pulled his chair closer to her and leaned in. “That’s not me anymore, Izzy. I swear to you.”

He saw she was trying to make sense of everything he said then she blew him away with her next question. “What about her son, Moe?”

He dropped his head back. “Listen babe, I don’t know why she named him Moe or…” he changed his mind. It was best to just come clean. “Yeah I do.” He told her the story Cici had told him at Frisco’s, leaving out the part about Cici saying she never came back because she knew they’d end up finishing what they hadn’t the night her boyfriend slapped her.

“So do you think she has feelings for you?”

“No.” He reached for her hand again. “I don’t know and I don’t care. She knows the ring I bought was for my girlfriend. Izzy, trust me. You have nothing to worry about. I won’t ever go back to that jewelry store again. I won’t even go to the mall without you, if that’s what you want. I told you. I’ll do anything you ask.”

Her face flushed a tiny bit and for the first time that morning, he saw a hint of a smile. “You don’t have to do all that.”

Romero moved even closer to her. “Just tell me you haven’t given up on me. You don’t know what it did to me when Alex dropped off all my stuff.”

She ran her fingers through his hair. “I thought you had a son with Cici.”

That was it? She wasn’t running from him because of his temper issues? He couldn’t hold back any more and he kissed her. Damn he’d missed her lips. “You forgive me for Saturday?”

She nodded and he kissed her again. “Me packing your stuff up had nothing to do with Saturday. That was my fault.”

Romero pulled back and looked at her. “Your fault? I’m the one that lost it.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have if I hadn’t purposely flirted with Michael to make you mad. It was stupid. I was still so mad about the smell of Cici’s perfume on you.”

Michael’s words came back to him along with the same sting he’d felt that night. “Did you really tell him you were questioning your future with me?”

This time she kissed him, then looked him in the eyes. “Something like that, but it was all part of the stupid state of mind I was in. I wanted him to think that so he wouldn’t question why I was being so nice to him. I wanted you to hurt as much as I was hurting. But trust me. I’ll never do that again. I’m sorry.”

All week he kept going back to that, certain that if she had already questioned their future together what he’d done that night had only confirmed her doubts. Hearing her reason for why she actually said it now, although it wasn’t the greatest feeling to know she’d meant to hurt him, was still an enormous relief. “Wait here.”

He startled her when he stood suddenly. So he leaned over and pecked her before walking away. “I’ll be right back.”

He ran out to his car and took the bag out of his trunk. Feeling the nerves start up in his stomach he tried pushing them away. He hurried back to her apartment and walked inside. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee, but curiously eyed the bag.

“Okay, don’t freak out. This could be whatever you want it to be. I just wanted to get you something nice.”

Isabel leaned against the counter holding her coffee mug with both hands as he pulled the box out of the bag. Romero couldn’t make out her expression, but he did catch how her eyes grew wider when he took the box out. He walked over and held it out for her.

She stared at him biting the corner of her lower lip then put her mug down on the counter. She took the box from Romero and opened it very slowly as if something might jump out at her. Now her eyes really opened wide. “Romero,” she whispered, bringing her hand to her mouth. “It’s beautiful. But I can’t accept this.”

“Just say you’ll wear it.” He pulled the ring out of the box and slid it on her left hand’s ring finger. Just as he imagined, it looked perfect on her. He kissed her. “And that you forgive me.” He kissed her again even deeper. “And that you love me.”

“I love you,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “God, I love you.”

He groaned because he felt the sincerity in her kisses. She really did love him. Now that he had his second chance, he’d be damned if he was going to blow it. “C’mon.” He tugged her hand, pulling her behind him and practically sprinting to the bedroom.

***

Last night hadn’t been the only night Romero had gone almost the entire night without sleeping during the past week. Isabel told him she’d been deprived of any sleep herself all week. So it wasn’t surprising that after only an hour of making up for the time apart they were both out. Apparently, he’d been more tired than Isabel because she was already up when he woke. He hadn’t even felt her get out of bed.

He could hear her talking softly in the front room when he walked into the restroom. Obviously, she was on the phone because he heard no other voices. The sun was already heading south. Holy shit, how long had he slept? He had to admit it felt good. Everything felt damn good now.

He ran into Isabel in the hallway. She held her phone in her hand and he attacked her against the wall, kissing her neck as she giggled. “Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked in between kissing her neck.

She squirmed. “You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t have the heart to. I’ve only been up a little while myself. The phone woke me.”

“Who was it?” he said, nibbling on her ear.

She didn’t answer and he pulled his head up to kiss her when he saw her unnerved expression and he immediately thought of Max. “What’s wrong?”

“It was Michael.”

Romero stared at her, trying with all his might to slow the waves of heat that begun searing through him. “What did he want?”

“To let me know about him dropping the charges against you. But…” Her eyes went down to her phone and stayed there. “I need to tell you something.”

Her tone and the fact that she couldn’t look at him when she said it only made it harder for him to stay calm but he took deep breaths, hoping she didn’t notice just how deep. “Okay, tell me.”

She told him about talking to her dad Sunday and how he said it would be up to Michael to drop the charges. “I called him the day after you were arrested.”

He felt his eyebrows jump up along with his heart rate. “You called Michael?” It was becoming increasingly impossible to remain cool but he was determined to not blow it again.

“I had to do something, Romero. I was desperate. I felt so guilty because it was all my fault.”

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 fucking 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.

“Hi, Art.”

“Bellie Bell, you busy this weekend?”

Isabel thought about it. She didn’t have plans but after the week she’d spent away from Romero, she was hoping to spend the entire weekend with him. “Not really, why?”

“Me and Sabrina were going to drive down there on Sunday. I was hoping to get everyone together for brunch… we have an announcement to make.”

Isabel smiled. “An announcement? Oh my God did you guys set a date for the wedding?” As excited as she really was, Art had always said they’d wait until Sabrina was done with school. The last time he’d mentioned it she still had at least a year to go.

“I’m not saying, Bell. You have to wait. But I’m calling to make sure you leave the day open. I know it’s kind of last minute, but that’s just how things worked out.”

He sounded excited and that excited her as well. Finally some good news, even though to some, mainly Pat, it would be anything but good. “Sure. Let me know where and when and I’ll be there.”

Romero took her hand after coming around the car in the hospital parking lot. Just like that, the good vibes she was feeling deflated. Either she told Romero he couldn’t come with her Sunday, that he’d been banned from all her family functions or she took him, going against her family’s wishes.

“Your brother’s gonna be in town?”

Isabel nodded, smiling. “This Sunday. He’s got an announcement to make, I think he and Sabrina set a date for the wedding. And it must be soon if he wants to get us all together so fast.”