I stay silent and watch as the curtain moves again and she gives me a dirty look.
“Answer me, jackhole, or I will come out there on my own.”
I sigh. “Let me come to the door first.”
I hang up and jump out of the SUV. When I reach the door, Isabel steps out. She doesn’t wait for me as she heads back down the stairs, and I growl. The woman has no sense of self-preservation.
Once at my SUV, she looks at me, waiting. I unlock it, and she climbs in. I get in on my side and lock the door behind me.
“What is it, Isabel? It’s been a long day.”
“You need to talk her out of it, Lorenzo. She’s going to get hurt.”
I look over and identify the worry in her face. “This is her decision. If I could make it for her, I would say no, but she needs to make her own choice. I’m already making enough decisions for her.”
“Oh yeah. The no-sex thing. Why is that anyways?”
These women are gossips, I swear.
“None of your business.”
She gives me a hard look. “Mia really likes you, Lo. You need to cut this… whatever it is.” She gestures between me and the house. “cut it off before she falls in love with you.”
She’s right, but it makes me angry hearing her say it.
“That’s also none of your business.”
She looks at me then with curiosity. Whatever she sees in my face confuses her. “Are you in love with her?”
I school my face before I answer. “No. I’m not capable of love, Isabel.”
She narrows her eyes before she sighs. “You have one of two options. Love her the way she deserves to be loved, which is with a committed relationship filled with all the gushy shit good girls like Mia deserve, or let her go. If you continue this with no intention of giving her the white picket fence with two-point-five children, then you’re going to break her. She won’t recover from you.”
My heart stalls at her words. She isn’t wrong. I’ve told myself the same thing every day since I met Mia. It’s why I’ve kept my distance from her. It’s the same reason I have been scaring off all those fucking losers she had been going out with. They weren’t worthy of someone like her. She deserves the world, and they wouldn’t have given it to her, and I’m well aware I cannot give it to her either.
If it were about money, I would be able to give her anything her little heart desires. Unfortunately, she needs a good man who can have a family and be the perfect man for her. I have too many skeletons in my closet for that. For once, I regret my past. I regret my body count and the things I have done for this family. Not because they were wrong, because they weren’t, but because they made me into a man who’s not worthy of Mia.Mio piccolo angelo.
“I understand, Isabel. Are you done?” I ask through gritted teeth. I don’t enjoy the mirror she’s holding up in front of me. I’ve been fine living in my bliss.
“Just please try and remind her the dangers of being the family doc. I don’t think she’s really thinking it through. She wants to say yes, but something’s holding her back. I hope it’s her morality.”
Hearing that Mia’s seriously considering the job makes my heart beat in fear. Hearing that she’s hesitating gives me some relief. Maybe I will talk to her. Appeal to her innocence.
“I’ll try. You have my word.”
She nods before reaching for the door.
“Let me walk you up.”
I check the streets before I get out and open her door before helping her down. At the door, she turns and gives me a sad smile.
“Thank you, Lo.”
It doesn’t escape my attention that she called me Lo. I guess, in a way, we bonded. I just wish it wasn’t over something that’s going to end up hurting my cold, dead heart.
∞∞∞
I jump up out of a dead sleep at the sound of my phone blaring. I pick it up on the second ring.
