“Fuck me. She bought her a teddy bear.”
Bella loves teddy bears. I’m sure she’ll wear that bear for the rest of her life. My own wife, Bella’s mother, hadn’t cared to take the time to learn teddy bears were Bella’s favorite.
I don’t even realize I’ve picked up my phone and dialed until my brother’s tired voice comes through the line. I clear my throat and speak the words ringing in my head.
“Gio, what am I missing?” I say as my brother answers the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“Lizzy. What is it about her?” I sigh and run a hand through my hair. “You know what? Never mind.”
“You’re calling in the middle of the night. It’s something.”
“No, it’s been a long week.”
“She’s addictive, isn’t she?”
White-hot jealousy runs through me. I know the two have said they’re only friends but just the thought of Gio having Lizzy as a part of his world makes me see red. Not my Lizzy.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“You want her. What’s holding you back, little brother?”
“You know who I am. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Maybe you should take a deeper look. You’re making an assumption. Get to know her. See who she really is. It’s in her eyes. If you read them, you will see.”
“Gio, what aren’t you telling me?”
He laughs in my ear and hangs up the phone. I bite back a curse and toss my phone on the nightstand. I flop back onto the bed and look up at the ceiling. My mind turns to Lizzy. She felt so good in my arms.
There’s so much chemistry there, I know she had to feel it. I didn’t mean to caress her ass, it just felt right. I started to grow hard as I held her close. I had to ask her about her date, so I didn’t embarrass myself. She always smells so good.
Frustrated, I pinch my eyes closed and pray for strength. When I admit to myself sleep isn’t going to come to me. I grab my tablet and pull up Twitch.
She’s already live. I smile when the first thing I notice after the commercial is Lizzy, with the earrings I gifted her shining back at me. Bella was so upset with me for not inviting Liz on our date. In her words, I let Jacob steal our valentine.
He can’t make her happy like we can, Daddy. You have to fix it.
Her words echo and rattle around in my head. I purse my lips. Can I trust Lizzy? Can I try one more time? I want her so bad.
Fuck.
Chapter 27
Little Tears
Lizzy
Two months later…
“Bella,” I call out from the bottom of the stairs. “Sweetie, we have to go.”
“What is she looking for?” Dante asks from the door behind me.
I turn to look at him. “I don’t know. She said she needed to find something before we could leave.”
He purses his lips as he looks down at his watch and runs a hand through his hair. I know he needs to get to the office. However, he’s not going to leave Bella.
For the last two weeks, he’s refused to let us out of his sight. I haven’t driven to the office on my own since he started to insist we ride in with him.
He has put in an entire classroom for her at the office. He even insists on leading her instruction a few times a week. He makes time for his daughter.
God have mercy on anyone who has a problem with her presence in the office. She loves going to work with her father and offers to help whenever she isn’t going through her lessons. She’s become Nyla’s little buddy as my sister now handles keeping Dante up to speed with his schedule.
Dante’s phone rings and he pulls it from his pocket. He murmurs a few words, and a dark cloud falls over his face. His gaze flickers to me.
“I’ll go up and see if I can help,” I say and hurry up the stairs.
“Bella,” I call as I rush up the steps in my heels.
I get to the top of the stairs and hurry down the hall. I pop my head into her bedroom first, but she’s not in there. However, I furrow my brow as I find a mess. Things are tossed about as if she had been in here searching for something. Next, I double back for her playroom. When I step inside, I find her searching frantically as she runs her forearm under her nose.
Her body jerks with her small sobs and sniffles. As if giving up, she flops on her butt and covers her face with her palms.
“Bella? Sweetie, what’s going on?”
She turns to me with big fat tears in her eyes. Her lips tremble and her shoulders sag as if defeat has set in. My heart tugs from the sight.
“I can’t find it,” she sobs.