Romero (The Moreno Brothers 4)

“I heard the Brazilian steak house here is pretty good.”

No way was she doing a fancy restaurant with him. “I’d rather just grab something from the food court if you don’t mind. It is Saturday and I’d like to get this over with and out of here as soon as possible.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Big plans tonight?”

Not really. Even though she wasn’t looking forward to telling Romero about who’d she’d spent her day with, she was anxious to get home to him. Home. She thought of their conversation that morning. They were officially living together.

“I’ll take that smile as a yes.”

Isabel felt her face flush as she broke out of her daze. “I’m sorry.” God, she had to stop doing that. It was so embarrassing. “No, no big plans. But it is my day off. I’d like to spend some of it relaxing.”

“I gotcha.” He smiled.

When they got to the food court, he let her pick. She chose the fastest—a slice of pizza. Jacob seemed to sense her anxiety about being with him. He had to understand this was awkward for her. Even if it was for him as well, at least he wasn’t in a relationship now. She appreciated that he kept the small talk at a safe level, but just as they walked out of the food court on their way back to finish passing out the flyers he asked, “Are you in love with him, Bell?”

She turned to him surprised by the out-of-nowhere question.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that Pat said she didn’t think you two were very serious, and to be honest I wasn’t quite ready for what I felt when I saw you again. I was just hoping…”

Isabel glanced away. She was going to strangle Pat the very next time she saw her. “It is serious, Jacob, and I am in love with him. In fact, he’s moved in with me now. Pat…” Isabel took a deep breath. “Well, she doesn’t know too much about it—about him.”

“She said he’s a security guard?”

Isabel rolled her eyes. Of course Pat would tell him that. “He’s a private investigator and he owns his own security firm.” That’s right. If Pat was going to go around listing everyone else’s attributes she’d list Romero’s. She was very proud of them.

Things were a bit uncomfortable after that. Pat had told Isabel that Jacob said he’d missed her, but she never expected him to mention how he’d felt when he saw her. Pat had set him up for that. Probably put it in his head that she might still have feelings for him as well. God, Isabel was going to let her have it.

Romero had texted her several times throughout the day, mostly to ask how it was going and to tell her he missed her. He had a few things he needed to take care of that day, but lately he’d been trying to leave her days off open.

She was on her way home—finally. He was already there waiting for her. She walked in to find him unpacking a few boxes. “I went by my old place,” he said, with a smirk. “To pick up some more of my things.”

She took her shoes off, remembering how Valerie used to fling hers off as soon as she walked in. Romero was her new roomie now. What a difference. One she never would have imagined.

“So how was it?” Romero asked, pulling out a pair of shoes from the box and examining them. “What did you do?”

“Passed out flyers… at the mall.” She kissed him as she passed by him to put her shoes in her room.

“Zat right?” She heard him from her room. “You should’ve told me. I would’ve met you down there and helped you.”

She squeezed her eyes shut just before she turned the corner to walk back into the front room. “I wasn’t alone.”

He looked up from the box and their eyes met. The easygoing expression faded slowly. “Oh yeah? Who went with you?”

She swallowed and started toward the fridge like a coward, not wanting to face him when she said it. “Jacob and I were assigned to flyer—”

“You were with Jacob all this time?”

She turned back to him at the sound of his venomous tone. “We just passed flyers out, Romero. It’s not like—”

“Did your f**king sister arrange this?”

“Hey! What happened to toning it down?”

“You know she did.” He walked toward her that undeniable heat in his eyes again. “Just like she planned for him to sit at your family’s table that night—next to you. Don’t you see it?”

“Yes. I see it.”

He stood right in her face. “So did you and Jacob get a chance to catch up, Isabel? Talk about old times?”

“Don’t call me that. I already told you I hate hearing it from you.”

“Why? It’s your name.”

She felt a lump forming in her throat. She hated to see him—hear him like this. The tears were already blurring her vision. “Because you only call me that when you’re mad at me.”

“Not mad at you. Alright what do you want me to call you? Bell? Oh wait, that’s what he f**king calls you.” He spun around and stalked back toward the front room. She saw him glance around almost panicked then he saw them—his keys on the coffee table. He grabbed them.

“Where you going?”

“Out.” He glanced at his watch then back at her with a fury worse than earlier. “You know what? Fuck that.” He slammed the keys back on the table, making her flinch. She saw him wince then, close his eyes for a second as if trying to collect himself. His now fisted hand almost shook and he spoke through his teeth. “You were with your ex-boyfriend all day, Isabel. So what did you talk about? I wanna know.”