handle?”
Her cheeks turn the cutest shade of pink as she boldly closes the distance between us. “Yes, Damien. I thought it was pretty clear last night that I can handle you.”
Hell yeah, she did. “Good, because being with me means you got a man in your life who won’t let nobody fuck with you, including your dick of a boss. I see no reason you’d lie to me, so I’ll lay off for now.” I claim her by her hips and pull her so she has no choice but to put her hands on my chest. She tilts her head back, and I drop mine. “That motherfucker messes with you, talks to you with anything but respect, touches you one more time, and I’m not joking when I say I better get a call. Immediately. Because I will be dealing with him if it happens again. Got it?”
“Yeah,” she whispers. “I got it.”
“Kiss me, Iz, then I’ve gotta get back to work.”
Disappointment flashes across her face, and I grin. “When I’m done with work, I’ll go get Judy and bring her back here with me.” I’d tell her just to come to my place, but I know this is extreme for her, so I want her to be comfortable in her own surroundings for a while until she really gets used to me.
“Okay.”
“Should I bring dinner with me?”
Little wrinkles pop up between her eyebrows when she thinks. “No, I have everything to make lasagna. Does that sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
Izzy
The moment Damien pulls away, I press my palms flat to the door and take a couple of breaths. I’m actually surprised he didn’t pick up on the fact that I’d been crying earlier, but I guess it’s been a couple of hours since I stopped, so my face must not show it, thank God.
One of my hard and fast rules is I don’t ever let anybody see me cry. That’s something that I do on my own and in private on the rare occasion that I do. I grew up in a home with four older siblings who all treated me like I was a baby, as did my entire family… and there are a lot of us. I hated that.
If I got hurt, physically or emotionally, if I cried, you’d think that I was dying. Everyone was so overbearing that I had to just learn to keep it together in front of them so they didn’t treat me like an invalid.
I did everything I could to act more grown-up because I wanted to do the things they were doing. I wanted to hang out with their friends, but I was always too young or too little, too innocent.
Which is probably why I’m outspoken. For as much as I had to hide my tears, if you wanted to be heard in my house, you had to speak up. Loud. That’s how I’ve been my entire life. I’ve never really been shy about sticking up for myself or asking for what I want.
I also had an overly protective brother who acts so much like Damien it’s scary. So when he talks about the kind of man he is, little does he know, I know exactly what he’s talking about.
But when he finds out I’m Gio’s sister, I don’t know if he’ll react in anger like I’m thinking he will.
I don’t want him to be mad at me because God… what I feel for him is so indescribable. Hearing what he said just now? It’s a dream come true.
However, finding out this morning that he works with Gio and not telling him right away was stupid. Why didn’t I just say something? I guess I’m not really that worried about how Damien would react, so I could have easily told him, and we could have kept it from Gio for a little while. But then I’m asking him to lie to his friend and co-worker, and that’s not cool.
I’m sure he’ll understand why I don’t want Gio to know yet, I think.
If he’s upset with me for keeping it from him that he works with Gio, I’ll get down on my knees and beg him to stay because Damien is the kind of man you don’t move on from. He’s the kind of guy who nobody lives up to.
The fact that he came here to check on me warms my heart. Who does stuff like that?
What happened today with Dickman did bother me a lot. There’s only been one other man in my