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Patricia was already sick of their bullshit. According to her, she couldn’t wait for them to move out and take their lovesick asses elsewhere. It’d been another revelation meeting his mother, being so close in age with her—in fact, Sera was three years older—and the two of them getting along so well. They’d become fast friends and through her, Seraphina saw a different side of her man that she fell for all over again.
He walked up to her now, a gleam in his eye. She didn’t move and when he was in her face and they were chest to chest, she touched his chin, stroking him with a thumb.
“Hey, lady.” He licked his lips, eyeing her up and down as if he didn’t know she’d lay him flat and fuck him right where they stood.
“Julián.”
His lashes fluttered and he leaned in, lips grazing her cheek. “How was it?”
“The same,” she told him as he stroked a palm over her head. She melted into him, inhaling his skin. “Brutal, but necessary.”
He made a sympathetic sound. “The usual then?”
After a particularly rough session, he’d buy her tacos and they’d eat them while drinking red wine out of red Solo cups on her rental’s balcony. Then he’d draw her a bath and they’d fuck in it, messing up the floor in the process.
She loved him. His cockiness. His self-confidence and his vulnerabilities. She loved him from his head to his toes and everything in between. She wanted to live out her days with him, whether it was planning world domination or simply picking out the perfect shade of paint for their kitchen. She wanted to be the soft place where he rested his head at night, his shoulder to cry on, and his peace when the world outside their doors was in chaos.
She loved him.
She leaned back, cupping his jaw and staring into his eyes. There was no one else she wanted to flood a bathroom floor with. Only this man. “Yes, please.”
38
“So, this is home base, huh?”
Seraphina glanced sideways at Israel. He stood next to her out on the back patio of the house she and Toro had closed on two weeks prior, staring out at the pool. They still weren’t finished moving all their shit in, but they were making the place their own. They’d chosen the Spanish-style home a few short miles from Toro’s mother’s place so they’d always be near if she needed them.
Israel and Reggie were visiting. They’d arrived earlier that day and planned to stay for the weekend, which gave her two more days with her son.
They’d just finished dinner, all four of them, and now she and Israel were taking a moment of privacy while Toro and Reggie remained inside.
“Yes,” she answered his question with a nod. “This is home base.” She’d moved all operations of her business to LA and apart from a few logistical issues, everything was running smoothly, all things considered. She continued to run her empire the way she always did. Being in love and going to therapy didn’t change the way she handled shit. There was no way she would allow her employees, her partners, or her competitors to think her soft or catch her slipping.
She focused her attention on her son. He’d been the one to tell her he was coming to visit. She’d been hesitant to ask that of him. He owed her nothing and she’d learned—through fucking therapy—that Israel had to be the one to set the pace and lay down boundaries. Her job was to listen and not overstep.
Something she was working on because man, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
She glanced over her shoulder, lips curving when she spotted Reggie through the open doorway. He was talking to Toro but didn’t take his eyes off Seraphina and Israel. “I see your man is always on guard duty.”
Israel shrugged and turned toward the house, shoving his hands in his pockets. “He’s a little skeptical, as he always is, but he knows I’ll give him all the details of what you and I discuss once we’re alone.”
There was no hint of apology in his tone and she smiled, mimicking his position. “I get it.” And she wasn’t mad about it. She was also that person who told her partner everything. Ugh. She couldn’t help rolling her eyes at herself, but then Toro threw a glance her way and she didn’t give a fuck if she’d turned sappy as hell. “Reggie loves you,” she told Israel softly. But she wasn’t sharing anything he didn’t already know. “I’m glad you have him.” Reggie was just the perfect shade of fierce and overprotective. Exactly who she would have chosen for Israel if it’d been her choice. It wasn’t, but she couldn’t help the pride that filled her chest.
Israel was okay. And had been way before she entered the picture.
“Thank you for coming,” she murmured. She’d thanked him already but did it again because he had to know how much him being there, on his own, meant to her.
“Reggie broached the idea and I didn’t hate it.” Israel didn’t stop staring at Reggie even though his man was no longer watching them. Reggie and Toro had their heads together, staring at something on Toro’s phone and laughing. “I trust him. More than I trust you.” Israel shifted and looked her way. “He’s never steered me wrong or given me a reason to doubt him.”
Unlike her. That part remained unspoken, but she heard it all the same. “I understand.” Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell to know her actions caused her son’s distrust, but that was on her. She couldn’t fault him for being cautious. She’d done a lot—a whole lot—to foster that feeling in him, and it was on her now to do the necessary work to earn his forgiveness.
“I’ve never believed a word you said or a thing you did,” Israel told her bluntly.
She pressed a hand to her stomach, fear roiling in her gut, as she listened closely.
“You always had an agenda and it was always about you, what you needed instead of what I wanted or needed.”
She nodded. She’d seen him as the cure for whatever was wrong in her life.
