Law #1: Never Bet on Love: A Sweet Billionaire Love Story (Laws of Love) by Agnes Canestri (the beginning after the end novel read .TXT) 📗

My cells infuse with an injection of joy, because my lips curl up and my forehead smooths. I open my arms and haul Eva into a tight embrace.

She leans her forehead onto my chest and her crying becomes audible.

I’m not sure what’s the most appropriate thing for me to say. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind your brother is in prison as long as you want to see me,” would sound insensitive, but I can’t come up with anything else. So I just stroke her head gently. The heat seeping from Eva’s body into my chest slows my mind down. It envelops me in a delicious brain fog. I want her to feel better, but I also want to be able to hold her like this for ever.

After a few minutes, Eva sniffs and moves back. She wipes her cheeks with her palms. “I’m terribly sorry, Nathan. I’m a mess right now. I really need to get to Litchfield. Visiting hours finish soon. But this stupid car,” she points at the sedan, “just decided to stop working.”

“I can buy you a new car,” I say instinctively.

Eva twirls her finger beside her temple. “Are you nuts? I have a problem with you buying me begonias. Do you think I’d let you gift me a car?”

“Sorry, Eva, old instincts die hard,” I murmur. “What I really meant is, could I offer you a ride?”

“You want to take me to the prison?” Eva gapes at me.

“Well, it’s a slightly different activity than the one I had in mind for our date, but I’d love to meet your brother. If you’ll let me, that is.”

Eva’s face illuminates. “Yes, I’d love that. Thank you, Nathan.” She raises herself to her tiptoes, and before I realize or even anticipate what’s happening, she plants a kiss on my mouth.

It’s feathery light but sends me into such euphoria, I can only compare it with the memory of sniffing giggling gas when my tonsils were removed as a teenager. My whole body goes weightless and a giddiness settles in my chest. My head buzzes with ideas that might be just momentary madness but are so delicious I can’t dismiss them.

I’m drunk from the sweetness of her touch and my hands itch to do something. No, not something. Only one thing. To pull her close and kiss her again. But if I do, I know I might not be able to stop there, and Eva needs to go to see her brother.

And I? I need not to put a label on what I feel right now. Because if I did…oh, man, would I be finished.

I point at my car. “Shall we go then?”

Chapter 27

(Eva - Day 6)

Nathan bumps fists with Alejandro as the bell signaling the end of our visit echoes through the visitor area.

In a prison, all sounds seem shriller and more unpleasant to the ear. Or at least, this is the case in Litchfield for me each time I visit. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the shoes of the inmates shuffling, the buzzers going off, or the iron doors swinging open—each and every sound unleashes a cold shiver in my spine as it bounces back from the barren walls and the red-painted cement floor.

I flinch and Nathan extends an arm to pat me on my back, while his eyes remain on Alejandro’s face.

It’s crazy how Nathan seems aware of every change in my mood lately. He can read me well, and is able to give me just what I need. His touch fills me with an unexpected sense of calm, and I manage to ignore the stench of cleaning products, mildew, and sweat that’s been bothering my stomach ever since we entered the room.

Ale’s eyes glisten as he smiles at Nathan. “It was cool to chat with a fellow Avengers fan. I didn’t realize billionaires went to the movies, too.”

“You kidding?” Nathan grins back at him. “I love going to the movies. Sometimes I book an entire cinema hall just to be able to watch a film without any spectators chewing popcorn in my ears.”

“An entire hall?” My brother’s jaw goes slack.

I roll my eyes as Nathan plays up his rich guy charm. But I must admit, he is pushing all the right buttons with Alejandro. Just like he can do with me by now. The boy is in adoration of him after only an hour. No wonder. Nathan asked him questions, listened to him, and didn’t speak down to him. He even managed to slip some advice to my brother in the form of quotes from their common interest, the Avengers. Who knew comics were so full of pearls of wisdom? I’ll need to watch this Avengers someday. Maybe with Nathan?

My eyes wander to him.

He notices me watching him and flashes a smile. His dimples appear like two perfectly round holes that lend a boyish charm to his manly face.

Maybe my confession about Alejandro didn’t go down exactly as I planned, but I’m so glad I finally came clean. I was using Ale’s situation as a safety blanket against Nathan. Even in the moments where I told myself that I should trust him, there was still a part of me holding off. I doubted that he’d want to get serious with a girl who has a convicted brother and a drug dealer ex. Which billionaire would, right?

Nathan, however, surprised me on all fronts.

He offered to drive me to Litchfield. He didn’t seem fazed by the controls at the gate, obeyed the plethora of rules without so much as blinking an eye. He didn’t complain when the guards searched through his clothes after he’d beeped at the metal detector. He didn’t flinch as we walked through the corridor of the detainees. Instead, he took my hand and squeezed it, as if he wanted to show that I belonged to him when some of the men began whistling at me.

As I observe Nathan’s straight nose and masculine chin, I can’t help but