Page 78 of Broken Rules
Enzo’s leaning on a white post by the doors, holding a sign that saysLooking for Bratface.
“What—” Evie gasps, smiling as she runs into his arms, holding him tight. “What are you doing here?”
“Really? Did you think you were coming to the motherland without me?” He pats my back, giving me a side hug over my shoulder. “Your man is very persuasive. Fucker got me all teary-eyed and what not telling me his plan, reminding me how much Gram wanted all of us to come here. How could we refuse?”
“We?”
Enzo wags his brows. “Did I say we? I meant me.”
She narrows her eyes, looking between Enzo and me. “You are acting more strangely than usual.”
“I take offense to that. Now let’s go do some sightseeing shit, and breathe the air as Gram wanted.”
Evie grins, hugging him again, then faces me, slowly lifting onto her toes to leave a lingering kiss on my lips. “Thank you.”
I draw her in for another, threading my fingers into her hair, and she moans into my mouth, deepening our kiss until I glance up when someone clears their throat. We slowly part, and Evie hums, cleaning her lipstick off my lips while I take in the guy standing next to Enzo with his arms crossed, holding a scowl. They look similar: dark hair, darker eyes, only his form is more muscular, as if he hits the gym a few times a week, possibly in his early thirties, like me.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, then looks over her shoulder and quickly spins, holding her hand over her mouth. “Luca.”
His expression lightens as she slowly walks toward him and buries her face in his shirt. I smirk as her cousin blinks a few times, stopping the tears threatening to spill by swiping them away with his thumb, then whispers something into her ear. She laughs, then hugs him around his waist before backing up toward me.
“Luca, this is my boyfriend, Lennox.”
Heat travels throughout my body, the term bothering me more than it should since we haven’t discussed what we’d use in public yet, though her family knows what went down in Vegas already.
He looks at her with a raised brow. “Last I checked, aren’t you two married?”
Damn right.
Her cheeks turn bright pink, and then she stares at the floor. “Oh, yes…”
“Lennox,” I say, holding my hand to shake, and Luca takes it firmly, that hardened expression returning. “Nice to meet you.”
“And let me be straight with you, get my feelings off my chest. For a man who says he was supposedly there to look after Evie, you did a shit job.” He looks at Enzo, then back to me. “Both of you.”
“Luca—no. Apologize right now because you’re not doing that.” Evie narrows her eyes at him. “You weren’t there, so you have no say in anything that happened in Vegas. Not one. And if you believe it’s okay to come here to be disrespectful toward someone I care about, you can go straight home.”
I can’t stop the smirk that pulls from my lips as I gaze down at Evie. Luca sighs, and I look at him as his jaw ticks, holding out his hand. “My apologies.”
“Apology accepted. If there’s one thing you should take out of what happened between Evie and me, I love her without a doubt. I understand you’re wary of me, but you have nothing to worry about.”
Enzo backhands Luca in the chest, making him grunt. “See. What did I tell you? Don’t be a dick.”
He winks at Evie, then walks outside, Luca grumbling while following, glancing back at Evie and me, then I turn toward her.
“About what I said… I’m sor—”
“It’s alright, Peaches. You stood up for me.” I move in closer, tipping her chin up. “That showed me all I needed to know.”
She smiles. “Thank you for setting all this up. Being here with my family means so much to me.”
“Of course. Now is the time to start living, baby. Explore the world together.”
Quickly nodding, she asks, “How long are we here?”
“Your cousins are staying for the weekend. Me and you.” I dip toward her lips. “We’ve yet to take our honeymoon, so live up the next forty-eight hours because the moment they go, expect to never leave the hotel room for the rest of the week.”
Evie licks her lips, dragging her teeth along the bottom. “I like that plan,” she whispers, slipping her hands around my neck and pressing her lips to mine.
