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I glanced up to see Mace watching htfully “Barretti as in Barretti Security Group?”

I nodded “You know them?”

Mace shook his head “I know of theuess you can’t really call us that Your uncles are the global leaders in security With all those ar up to them at this point…”

I dropped my eyes at Mace’s words as my stomach rolled violently I sucked in a deep breath and said, “Yeah, they’re doing really well” I looked up to see hi me intently “So, um, you said Jonas is a teacher?”

Mace pinned , “He’s an artist He teaches art classes to underprivileged kids”

“And Cole?”

“Cole’s doing so with his father”

The dogs lying on the floor at our feet suddenly ju seconds later, a dark haired man entered the kitchen “Did I hear my name?”

The beautiful smile that spread across Mace’s face actuallymy eyes when I watched him stand and embrace Cole and then kiss him softly “Hey,” he whispered

“Hey yourself,” Cole said back and then kissed hiain

I’d et a hold of anthe introductions, but inside I felt likeand for the first tiotten on the plane, I wondered if I’d made a terrible mistake

Chapter Nineteen

Mav

I knehat I was doing rong and beyond cruel, but I did it anyway And not just because I couldn’t sleep or because it felt like the few bites of dinner I’d forced downto cos that hadthe doorknob as quietly as I could in the darkened hallway

It was because I couldn’t fucking breathe

And it had felt that way fro on a slab of nity but a flimsy blue sheet that lookedelse The only thing that had kept lass that had separated ers wrapped around en fro apart inside and I knew there was only one thing that could possibly stop it

One person, rather

My expectation was that I would find Eli sound asleep and I hoped that I could just look at hih to hold ain in thee ed to get through dinner with Mace and his otten to listen to him make polite conversation with Jonas, Mace and Cole The dinner had definitely been a quiet affair and no one had tried to drawaround Jonas’s ith the kids he taught or how the threeso city like New York I hadn’t seen Eli up until that point – not after I’d told Mace ouldn’t be sharing a room and had disappeared into mine like the coward I was But how the hell was I supposed to explain that if I spent even a few seconds alone with Eli, I’d give in tohio, no matter what I said or did

I’d ventured out ofand while it had been interesting to learn that Mace and his ether, s Eli had said, specifically his references to not being a part of the Barretti fa to march into the kitchen and de I’d seen in the fewtold me different But I’d stayed in my hidden spot by the stairs on the other side of the wall and hadn’t moved until Cole had come home I’d joined theered afterwards and within a fewmy own door, I’d heard the door across the hall close too Six hours of feeling liketo shrivel up and die inside of et my fix