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“Take it in your stride, they’ll love you…” I hear him hesitate at the end of his sentence, but he doesn’t say anything more.

Instantly. the usual suspects surround us. I head straight for Selena who has finally decided to grace us with her presence.

“We missed you at the race today,” I say as I reach her, and she smiles brightly.

“I had a shoot,” she pouts. “I actually came straight from there. Luckily, my stylist had this dress in her car or Natalia would’ve killed me.” We both chuckle, knowing the pop star accepts nothing less than extra for every event.

“You look great either way,” I say reassuringly.

She shrugs me off. “How was it though? Gus said Antonio is quite moody.”

I frown for a second before slipping it away again. His brothers noticed the mood, too. I can’t help but wonder if there’s something more going on than what he said.

My eyes drift across the room to where they’re talking, and he seems a lot more relaxed than he did when we arrived. “He’s not the biggest fan of Formula 1, so he was just bored,” I say before returning my attention to her.

“Makes sense. I thank my lucky stars I had the shoot, even I’d get bored of watching it. Yet somehow, Adriano and Gus are obsessed with the damn sport.”

“Natalia, too.” I chuckle, and immediately begin filling Selena in on the day and just how much our birthday girl enjoyed it.

A glass clinking causes the room to fall silent and all attention moves to the lady of the hour in the centre, dawning the most stunning, skin-tight, red dress. “If everyone could take their seats, they’ll be serving food soon.” She smiles brightly, and you can practically hear everyone in the room swoon at her natural beauty. A taller man covered in tattoos is at her side in seconds, and I raise my brow.

“Who’s that?” I ask Selena as we head to find our seats.

“Oh, that’s Leo, Natalia’s older brother.”

“Wow, he’s…” I cut my sentence short when I feel a familiar presence behind me. “…nothing compared to my husband,” I continue, and Sel chuckles.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Have a seat,tesoro,” Antonio grumbles as he pulls out my seat for me.

“Don’t fangirl too hard. Adriano is already his number one fan,” Antonio adds. I look over at Adriano, who indeed does look like he’s looking at the love of his life as his eyes track Leo around the room.

“What does he do?” I ask, still looking at Leo. His presence is scary, yet inviting and magnetic all at once. Very similar to his sister. It’s an almost irresistible pull. His eyes meet mine and the bright blue colour sparkles as a brow raises in my direction.

“He’s part of this band called Solex. Adriano loves them. Ambrose, too. Ambrose is a bit more…subtle with his obsession,” Antonio says.

His words snap me out of the trance and I focus my attention on the drink being placed in front of me.

An Aperol Spritz.

I look at Antonio. His arm is draped lazily over the back of my chair as he chats with Mattia on his other side. He looks ethereal, in his element, and comfortable. He looks gorgeous, to put it bluntly.

My stomach flutters as his eyes return to mine, almost as if he felt my stare burning into him. Then, those beautiful, green eyes drink me in. “Everything okay,tesoro?”

“Perfect,” I say, and he kisses the top of my head.

I don’t know if this is all fake right now. Because it feels very fucking real. It feels like we’re really married, like that was second nature for him. And the butterflies that erupt as a result are a feeling I never want to stop.

Chapter twenty-eight

Antonio

“We’reheadingdownstairstothe bar, would you two care to join?” I hear a male voice next to Theá ask. I glance over her head and spot Leo with Natalia, who’s practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, beaming at Selena and Theá.

I raise a brow at him, but thankfully Nat butts in, “I convinced Leo to take tequila shots with us. Please come.”

She may be speaking to the girls, but her eyes meet mine and I nod slightly, which causes her to smile brightly.

“You know who else loves tequila? Val and Adriano,” I quip, and the smile falls from her face so quickly.