His expression turned, his eyes growing. He stepped forward, slowly, then stopped, wavering, like he was fighting the urge to come to me. “What are you talking about?”

“The nurse told my mother about you. I know you asked her not to, but she did, so you don’t have to lie about it.”

He wasn’t stalling anymore. He came toward me, bare feet on the gravel. He dropped his voice to a whisper and placed his hands on my arms, gently pulling them — and me — into him. I watched his hands on my skin and my lips twisted in confusion.

“Sophie.” His eyes locked on mine. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What? You didn’t bring me to the hospital the other night?”

At the mention of the word “hospital,” confusion burned up into anxiety. “Why were you in the hospital?” He scanned me up and down. “Did someone hurt you?”

“You really didn’t rescue me?” I asked, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“Rescue you?” he said, horrified.

“But the nurse told my mother …”

“Sophie.” He moved his hands to my waist as his voice grew harder. “Please tell me what happened to you.”

For a second, I could see the Nic I’d first met, standing in front of me. He was right there, within reach, until another figure appeared in the doorway behind him.

“Nicoli?” That was all Luca had to say to make his brother leap away from me like I was on fire.

“What is it?” I demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t,” he half-pleaded, backing up. “I just can’t.”

“I don’t understand.” I shifted my gaze to Luca, who was leaning against the front of the house, folding his arms across his chest.

He looked through me. “You should go back inside, Nicoli. Valentino’s looking for you.” The last part sounded like a veiled threat, but I couldn’t tell why.

Nic hesitated, his fists clenched tight. “Luca, I’m not leaving until I make sure she’s OK.” He was angry, and I was reassured by that, but not reassured enough. “Something happened to her. She was in the hospital, and I need to know why.’”

“I know,” Luca said, striding carelessly toward his brother so they could face each other straight on.

Luca was taller than Nic, but Nic was broader. I wondered who would win in a fight. And then I wondered how Luca knew I’d been in the hospital.

“How?” Nic and I asked him at the same time.

“Because I brought her in.”

“You what?” I spluttered.

“Are you kidding me, Luca? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” For a second I thought Nic was going to lunge at Luca; take him down, and do us all a favor. But he didn’t. He just stood there, seething. I watched his chest rise and fall.

Luca grabbed the back of Nic’s neck, bringing him closer so he could mutter something in his ear, and when he pulled away, some of his brother’s defiance had shifted.

“You’d better handle it,” Nic snapped before turning back toward the house. “Because I can’t be expected to stand by and do nothing …” His sentence died alongside his sudden retreat.

“Um, bye, Nic!” I called sarcastically to his departing figure, scolding myself for letting his desertion hurt me again.

“What a family of oddballs,” I muttered, making sure it was loud enough for Luca to hear.

His eyebrows disappeared under messy strands of his raven hair. “Is that what you came here for? To call me names like a child?”

I crossed my arms. “I thought I was coming here to see Nic.”

He pursed his lips. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

“You’re not sorry.”

“You’re right, I’m not.”

I fought the urge to stamp my feet.

“So did you launch yourself on an express mission to thank him and only him? Or do I, the actual person who helped you, merit some kind of gratitude?”

I bit back several curse words. “This can’t be happening.”

“Well, it is.” Suddenly Luca was pulling me by the arm until we were standing on the other side of the SUV, sheltered from the street’s view and most of the house’s windows.

“Get off me!” I snapped, shrugging him off. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? Are you kidding?”

I stepped back, pressing myself against the SUV, and suddenly a memory flashed against my brain. I was being mashed up against a stone wall. I shook my head and it flew away. “Why do you have to be such an ass?”

Luca lessened the gap between us by another half foot. “Why did you drink yourself into that state the other night?” he countered viciously. “Have you no regard for your own safety?”

“How dare you?” I snapped. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, so just shut up!”

“I was the one scraping you off the sidewalk!”

“For your information, I wasn’t drinking!”

Luca curled his lip, and anger, like a shot of hot metal, rose in my bloodstream. Before I could stop myself, my hands were against his chest, shoving him so hard that he stumbled backward. I landed against him, pushing him farther and farther. “I was roofied, you ass!”

For a moment, we stood against each other, bound by the force of my anger and the sound of our mingled heavy breathing. Then, with exaggerated slowness, he grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me away from him with ease.