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Izaac grins, and when he looks at me like this, it’s like everyone else fades into the background. “I, uhh . . . might have bought another club.”
My jaw drops, and I gape at him. “You did what?”
“Yeah, I closed on it last week.”
“Holy shit,” I breathe, throwing my arm around him and awkwardly hugging him from my seat at the table. “That’s amazing.”
“Oh, congratulations, honey,” Mom coos before calling over the waitress and ordering another bottle of wine. “We have to celebrate!”
“Woah. Celebrate? Who the fuck is celebrating?” Austin demands, skidding to a stop behind us as he does another lap of the main floor. His eyes are wide in horror as he looks between me and Izaac, and after dropping his gaze to my right hand and seeing the diamond ring resting on my finger, his hand comes down on Izaac’s shoulder, and he leans in so as to not cause a scene. “You proposed to my fucking sister without even talking to me about it first?”
Izaac’s hands fly up in innocence. “Wrong fucking hand, bro.”
“Oh, umm . . .” Austin clears his throat before straightening up and offering me an awkward smile. “My bad. What are we celebrating?”
“Izaac just purchased another club,” Mom supplies.
“No shit,” he says. “Where?”
Izaac launches into his rundown of the new club, giving us all his incredible plans as our meals are delivered. He gives us everything we need to know. Location, size, capacity, and even goes into his vision for the layout, though it’s hard to imagine without getting to look at it, but he promises we can swing by tomorrow and he’ll show me everything.
Austin congratulates him and quickly excuses himself when he hears a little commotion coming from the kitchen, and the second he’s gone, Izaac turns back to me with a lazy, knowing grin. “I’m thinking of calling it Little Birdy.”
I gape at him, my heart racing. “What?”
“Well, I can’t have all of my clubs named after you and not this one.”
My face scrunches with confusion. “What are you talking about? They’re not named after me.”
He stares back at me, his brow arching before giving me a smug grin. “Aren’t they?”
I shake my head. Maybe all of this mind-blowing sex is damaging his brain cells. “How?”
“Cherry,” he says. “You were nineteen when that club opened, and as much as I want to say it’s because you were in your red lipstick phase, it’s not.” He gives me a hard stare, willing me to understand where he’s coming from to keep from having to say it in front of my parents, and I suck in a gasp. This is about my virginity. But how could it be? Why would he name his club after that, especially back then? Unless he’s always wanted me, always wanted to be the one to take my virginity.
Holy fucking shit.
I search his stare. “But that was long before—”
“Mm-hmm,” he says as if reading where my mind is going. “Even then I think I loved you. I just didn’t realize it until you forced me to.”
Everything softens within me, and when he squeezes my thigh, I try to remember that my parents are sitting right across from me. “Pulse?” I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders, his gaze resting on mine. “You were twenty. And that was the first time I noticed just how fast mine was every time you’d walk into a room.”
My cheeks flush, and I gape at him. Surely he’s making this all up. “And Scandal?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You and me together . . .”
“Would be the biggest scandal that’s ever rocked our families,” I finish for him.
Izaac nods, lifting his hand from my thigh to my cheek, and the second his fingers brush across my skin, I lean into his touch. He holds my stare, as if finishing our conversation in silent messages, willing me to understand why he would call his final club Vixen, and honestly, I think I can work that one out too. “You’re insane,” I tell him, unable to keep the smile off my face.
He shrugs again as if to say,I’m only human. What did you expect?And I lean in before pressing a kiss to his lips.
“Enough of that shit,” Austin mutters, walking by us again and smacking Izaac up the back of his head. “Hands off my baby sister.”
I can’t help but laugh as I pull back, and not wanting to upset him on his big night, I focus on the delicious meal in front of me as everyone falls into conversation.
