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“Here.” She thrust the flask at me and I peeked up to where Jay was driving and Tristan was sitting silently beside him.
His eyes caught mine for the briefest second in the mirror, a tiny zap of electricity pulsing through me. I didn’t know why my body had always responded to him in such a visceral way. Part of me thought it was the fact he was one of the most gorgeous men I’d ever laid eyes on. Tall with dark hair, shaved closer on the sides and longer on the top. It was perfect for running your fingers through. At least, I imagined it to be. Thick lashes framed his dark brown eyes, eyes that penetrated my soul whenever they fixed in my direction. And he had big strong hands, hands I imagined him doing all kinds of dirty things with.
I had it bad. I’d lusted over Tristan since I was a fifteen-year-old girl who barely understood the havoc he wreaked on my body. Now I was a young woman, in tune with my wants and needs and desires. I’d filled out, proud of my shapely curves, aware of how men’s heads turned whenever I entered a room, even if I didn’t appreciate their hungry gazes.
Because they weren’t him.
Bella was constantly trying to talk me into dipping my toe in the dating pool. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t betray my emotions. Because it felt like I was betrayinghim.
Which was ridiculous.
Tristan didn’t care.
It had gotten to the point with Bella where I had to pretend I just wasn’t interested in men. I had enough valid reasons. An overbearing brother and father. The fact I was Alessia Marchetti. I told her I wanted to wait until college, until we had some freedom. That I wasn’t in any hurry to experiment. But it didn’t stop her from pushing, trying to get me to give someone a chance.
The truth was though, I didn’t see the point trying to force a connection with some random guy.
Not when my heart already belonged to another.
CHAPTER2
TRISTAN
“Thank fuck,” I muttered under my breath as Jay pulled up outside of the hotel.
Shouldering the door open, I climbed out and opened the back door while Jay talked to the valet.
“Thanks, Tris,” Bella said, climbing out. There had been a time her gaze would have lingered, and would have brazenly checked me out. But she was too busy checking out every other guy in the vicinity to worry about me now.
Unlike her cousin, who tried, and failed, to look anywhere but at me.
“Alessia,” I said with a curt nod, waiting for her to exit the car.
“Thank you.” Her voice was quiet, hesitant even as she brushed past me and joined Bella.
I inhaled a sharp breath, slamming the door a little harder than I intended.
Get a fucking grip, Capizola.
Jay shot me a strange look as he rounded the car, ready to escort the girls inside. “Luis has eyes on all entrances and exits. No one gets in or out without us knowing,” he said.
“Sounds good. Let’s do this.”
“You know, you didn’t have to work tonight. They’re family, you could have been off the clock.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, but come on, Tris, it’s—”
“There you two are, we’ve been waiting.” Nora waddled over to the girls. She was six months pregnant and glowing. It was still hard to believe Nora Abato was all grown up, engaged to Lorenzo Marchetti and about to give birth to his kid. Part of me—the part that had grown up thinking the Marchetti were the enemy—still couldn’t reconcile it. But she was happy, and things between our two families were different now.
All thanks to my cousin Arianne and her husband Nicco.
There had been a day where I’d wanted more from my life than… this. Working for Nicco’s security detail. But I liked the work. I liked being able to have a hands-on role in protecting Arianne and my niece and their family.
My eyes landed on Alessia again.
Fuck. She had been just a kid when I’d first met her. Fifteen with stars in her eyes.
