Page 86 of Isabella

My heart’s beating so fast it’s a miracle I haven’t had a heart attack yet. Enzo’s telling me about something or other, but I can’t seem to focus on his words when the fear of him finding out Nicco’s under my desk is so prominent in the air.

“What about you?” Enzo says, which pulls me out of my thoughts.

“What about me?” I ask, feigning ignorance. Maybe if I act super uninterested in this conversation, he’ll get bored of me and leave.

Enzo narrows his gaze on mine. “You’re being weird,” he says again.

“No, I’m not,” I defend, but before I’m able to answer Enzo’s question, I nearly jump in shock when a hand lands on my knee. I try to shake Nicco off and just when I think it’s no use, he finally relents, pulling his hand away from me.

Maybe shoving him under the desk was a bad idea.

“I’ve just been super busy with the bridal line. There’s quite a bit left to do, but Liana is delegating some important tasks to me so we’ll get it done in time for fashion week.”

I finally relax a smidge, but it’s quickly taken away when Nicco’s hand returns, this time landing on my inner thigh, causing me to yelp in surprise.

Yup, under the desk was definitely a terrible freaking idea.

“What the hell, Izzy?” Enzo says, and I snap my gaze to his.

“Oh my gosh,” I say, trying to give myself any extra time to pull some bullshit excuse for yelling out of my ass. “I just remembered,” I continue, pushing myself back from my desk.

I make eye contact with a smirking Nicco and give him a look back that says he’ll pay for this later, then stand and bring my attention back to my brother. “I completely forgot there’s an alteration I have to make to one of the designs before I get it sent back to our manufacturer in Milan. With the time difference, I should’ve already had the new design sent off to them so they can work on producing the sample for us tomorrow.”

I rush around the other side of the desk where Enzo sits gawking at me like I’m some crazy person, which in his defense, I’m acting like one right now. Between my frantic responses and random outburst, it’s amazing he’s not calling me out on my bullshit right here.

Grabbing him by his arm, I pull him to a stand. “I’m so sorry, Enzo. I would love to catch up, I just don’t have the time to right now. Maybe we can have dinner soon,” I say, walking him toward the door.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Izzy?” he says once we reach the door.

“I told you. I missed the deadline for the updated design.”

Enzo stands there, staring at me with narrowed eyes that tell me he doesn’t believe me.

“Please, Enzo. If I don’t get this sent off and make a dozen frantic phone calls to our manufacturer, begging them to get this in their production schedule tomorrow, Liana is going to be so pissed at me.”

He continues to stare at me like everything I’m saying is a lie—which it is—but I can’t afford for him to figure that out.

“Enzo, I really love working here with Liana, and I want my debut into the fashion world to be a huge success. I can’t do that if you’re here distracting me.”

Enzo’s eyes soften at that, and a flurry of guilt trickles through me.

“Okay, yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to distract you, I just wanted to see my baby sis in her element.”

I extend my arms out to my side and say, “Well, this is it,” and he gives me a toothy grin.

“I’m proud of you, Izzy. The fact that you found something so worthwhile for you in life is something Teo and I could only ever dream of for you.”

I give him a small smile. “Thanks, Enzo. I know. You and Teo will always and forever be my biggest supporters.” I hold my arms out to him. “Okay, now give me a hug so I can get back to work.”

After Enzo and I say our goodbyes, I shut the door, this time locking it, and walk back to my desk where Nicco is already coming out from underneath.

“Nicco,” I hiss out, but he has the biggest smile on his face that melts me, making me forget why I was just so mad at him.

“Oh, come on, baby. I wasn’t even able to get to the good stuff before you kicked your brother out.”

“The good stuff?Whatexactlydid you have planned under there?”

Placing a hand on the desk on each side of me, Nicco cages me in and chuckles. The sexy noise vibrates through me, settling into the pit of my stomach, causing a rush of excitement. “I’d rather show you than tell you,” he says.

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