I put the car into reverse and pulled out of there.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Home,” I said. She frowned. “With me,” I clarified.
The lines on her face smoothed out, and it could be a trick of the lighting, but I thought I saw a hint of a smile there, too.
I didn’t know how I felt about that.
We were quiet on the way back to my place. Massimo had bought five houses in a gated community, and all my siblings lived nearby. The properties were closely lined with each other, so much so that I could walk out to my backyard and see all of their properties. Giulia was in the middle house, with Matteo and me on her sides, to protect her in case shit went down. Romeo was on my other side, taking up the corner house at one end of the street, while Massimo and Luna took the other end, next to Matteo.
Massimo had planned this out so we would always be by each other—to keep each other and Giulia safe, and because Massimo had a hard time letting us out of his sight. A byproduct of the way we had grown up, perhaps, where he had always taken on the protective role for every one of us. It didn’t matter that all my brothers were more than capable of looking after themselves. Massimo could be paranoid on a good day.
I usually didn’t mind it much. It wasn’t like I spent a lot of time at my house as it was, but on nights like tonight, it felt like there were eyes on us as I drove the car into the front of the property.
I shut the engine off but made no move to get out. We didn't say anything as the air settled heavily between us. It would be so easy to forget about everything and just lose myself to her, lose myself in her, just for one night—even if I didn’t think one night would be enough.
Never enough.
But I was supposed to be the strong one out of the two of us. And it was obvious to just about everyone that she was innocent, through and through. Anything we did would fall on me, and itwas hard not to feel like I was taking advantage of her in some way.
“We need to set up some ground rules before we go inside,” I said.
She didn’t speak for a moment, and it was hard to see her face with the low lighting from outside to gauge her feelings. My jaw clenched.
“What ground rules?” she asked softly. She didn’t sound angry. That was something, at least.
“What happened in the alleyway can’t happen again,” I said. “I shouldn’t have…”
“What? Touched me?”
I might be mistaken, but I could have sworn I heard faint amusement in her voice. But that wouldn’t be the case, right? “Exactly.”
She made a small, incoherent sound that I couldn’t tell what it meant.
“What about when you kissed me? Can that not happen again?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’m serious. I shouldn’t have touched you. It’s on me, and if you want to tell Valentino about it, I wouldn’t blame you.”
“Why would I tell my brother about that?” she asked, sounding horrified.
“He should know. Hewouldwant to know. To protect?—”
“Do I need protection from you?”
“Of course not. I would never hurt you.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt. “I know.”
Before I could say anything in response to that, she had already pushed the door open and climbed out of the car. I stayed where I was for a moment, wondering what the hell just happened, and why it felt like I no longer had the upper hand.
Have you ever had it?
I stayed in the car for a long moment, trying to get my bearings under control before I opened the door and got out. Isa was standing by the hood of the car, looking up at the sky. Our neighborhood was far enough away from the city that the lights didn’t penetrate through. We could usually see the stars out in the sky most nights, one of Giulia’s favorite things about living here. Perhaps that was why none of us had moved away, even after Massimo had taken over the De Luca empire.
Giulia loved living here with all of us nearby, and when it came to our little sister, there weren’t many things we would deny her.
I walked over to Isa and stood next to her, my eyes taking in her side profile. I knew she was aware of my gaze on her.
