Page 28 of Destroyer
“Hey, fam,” Carrera called out. “G-ma said è ora di mangiare. Time to eat.”
Slash slipped her arm through Elsa’s. “Let’s chow down.”
As the family filed up the stairs, Teddy kept his gaze firmly cemented on Sydney. To his surprise, she hadn’t looked away.
Then, she exhaled a breath, squared her shoulders, and walked away, leaving him eyeing her backside. That only made things ten-times worse because eyeing her ass didn’t tamp down on his desire. It only revved it further.
Gabriel chomped his teeth together. “I’m starving.” He took off toward the stairs, leaving Teddy alone in the empty room. Frustration slithered through him, landing in his gut. Getting tongue-tied around gorgeous women was nothing new.
It’s like my tongue got braided.
He chuffed out a grunt, then strode up the stairs.
Though he’d been competitive with his brothers his entire life, they never went after the same woman. It was an unspoken rule they lived by.
Find out what’s up with those two.
In the kitchen, he took one-point-five seconds to take in the room. Elsa and Slash were serving the entree at the center island. A line had formed, but Sydney was safely tucked between Caroline and Grey. Gabriel had moved away and was heads down on his phone, his fingers flying over the keypad.
But Teddy’s job had taught him the importance of observation. When on a mission, he’d hide in the shadows and tail his mark, then strike when least suspected. No diff now.
Gabriel finished up, slapped Teddy on the back, then put his arm around him. “What are you doing after?”
He glanced over at Sydney, then back at his brother. “Depends,” Teddy replied. “Why?”
“We gotta talk.”
The men approached the center island, loaded up on salad, then on bread. Gabriel pulled an extra-large piece of garlic bread from the loaf, walked over to the table, and set it on Sydney’s plate.
“This has you written all over it,” Gabriel said.
Sydney eyed the crisp, buttery bread. “Because?”
“You work hard, you burn the calories, you get the reward.”
She laughed. “I think you’re right.”
“Elsa makes the loaf from scratch,” Simone said. “It’s amazing.”
“And here I thought Gabriel was trying to carb-load me,” Sydney said.
Gabriel laughed. “If I was going to dothat, you’d know it.”
Teddy’s heart plummeted into his stomach. Shewasinterested in a Santini, just not him. Pushing out the rejection, he shifted his attention to Slash as she set the baked salmon steak on his plate.
“Two?” Slash asked as she set a second one down.
“Sure,” Teddy replied.
His grandmother glanced over. The second their eyes met, her brows pinched together. “Cosa c'è che non va?”
“Tutto bene.”
“C’mon, what’s wrong?” Greystone piled on. “You have that face when you lose to me in a race.”
“Nice,” Teddy replied, biting back a smile.
They sat around the expanded kitchen table.
