Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 80139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
I ignore her as I pour coffee into two mugs and say nothing.
I sit across from Señora Valentina.
She leans forward, eyes bright. “So…”
“No.”
“It sounded like you and your not-girlfriend had a very good night.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
She lifts her eyebrows. “I said not-girlfriend.”
“You said it like that means something else.” I take a drink of coffee.
Strong and black. Perfect.
“She’s sleeping?”
“For now.”
“Good.”
I look back at her. “Thank you for the room.”
“Anytime, Cruzito. This is still your home too.” She tilts her head. “You look like her this morning. Like Esperanza.”
My mother’s name jolts me. It always does. “Thank you,” is all I say. My mother, after all, was beautiful.
Two women enter the kitchen a moment later.
One is tall and curvy, wrapped in a black lace robe with her hair piled on top of her head. She has sleepy eyes, dark skin, and the satisfied expression of a woman who has already survived the morning’s worst. The other is shorter, with coppery hair, freckles across her nose, and a green satin robe tied loosely at her waist.
Both stop when they see me.
The tall one lifts her brows.
The redhead’s mouth curves.
Señora Valentina gestures with her mug. “Mercedes. Esmeralda. This is Cruz Moreno.”
“Cruz,” Mercedes says. “Well. Good morning.”
Esmeralda leans one shoulder against the doorframe. “Very good morning, apparently.”
Señora V bursts out laughing.
I take another drink of coffee and wonder why the hell I didn’t stay upstairs with Robin.
“These are newer girls,” Señora V says to me. “After your time living here.”
“Living here?” Esmeralda asks.
I set the mug down. “A long time ago.”
“Cruz is the son of Esperanza Moreno,” Señora Valentina says. “One of the best. Best heart in this whole house. Best legs too, God rest her.”
I narrow my eyes. “Valentina.”
“What? It’s true. She knew it.”
Mercedes sits at the table and smiles at me. “So you were raised here?”
“Partly.”
“Interesting.”
“Not that interesting.”
“Oh, I disagree.” Esmeralda moves to the coffee pot.
I need Robin to wake up.
No.
I need Robin to sleep.
No.
I need to leave this kitchen.
Mercedes pulls cash from inside her lacy robe. She counts a stack, peels off bills, and slides them across the table to Señora Valentina.
“Your ten percent,” she says. “Guy was decently attractive, so that was nice. Took off in the middle of the night, though.”
Esmeralda pours coffee into a white mug painted with red roses. “Mine was easy.”
“Easy?” Señora V asks.
“A couple.”
Mercedes perks up. “Fun?”
“Almost. Then they started arguing halfway through.”
“About what?”
Esmeralda smirks. “Whether he was enjoying himself too much.”
Señora Valentina snorts.
Esmeralda sits, tucks one leg under herself, and pulls cash from her robe pocket. “They left early. Paid for the full night. Nice people. I hope they work it out.” She hands her share to Señora V.
“God bless jealousy,” Mercedes says.
“And upfront payment,” Esmeralda adds.
They clink heart mugs.
Mercedes turns her attention back to me. “So, Cruz Moreno, raised in a brothel and still blushing at breakfast.”
“I’m not blushing.”
“You are a little,” Esmeralda says.
“I’m tired.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Señora Valentina points at me. “He was in the pink room.”
Esmeralda’s eyebrows shoot up. “Next to mine?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Her grin turns wicked.
I shoot Señora V a look. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’m close.”
Mercedes props her chin in her hand. “So it sounds like you’re a gifted lover as well.”
I nearly choke on my coffee.
Esmeralda’s smile widens. “Wife? Girlfriend? Fiancée?”
“No.”
“No to which one?” Mercedes asks.
“All.”
“Ah,” Esmeralda says. “Complicated.”
I stare at my mug. “You have no idea.”
Señora Valentina’s smile fades slightly.
Mercedes leans back. “Is she beautiful?”
I don’t answer.
“Very complicated,” Esmeralda says.
I push back my chair. “I should take this upstairs.”
“What?” Mercedes asks. “And deprive us of meeting her?”
I rise. “That’s the plan.”
I can’t sit here any longer. I need to think. Plan. Call someone. Find out how close Vega is to discovering where we are. But before I can decide which bad choice to make first, Robin appears at the bottom of the stairs in an ivory robe.
“Where’d you get that?” I blurt out.
“I had Luisa leave it for her outside your door,” Señora V says.
Robin’s hair is loose and tousled, falling in dark waves around her face. Her eyes are still heavy with sleep, but I can tell she’s alert. She scans the room and her gaze lands on me.
She looks like a goddamned angel.
And I know with a certainty that sinks straight into my bones that I’m in more trouble than Vega could ever make for me.
Vega may take my head.
But Robin Bellamy is going to take everything else.
27
ROBIN
I’m not overly happy to see Cruz sitting at a kitchen table between two of the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid eyes on in my life.
“Good morning,” Señora Valentina says to me. “Did you sleep well?”
I clear my throat. “Yes. Thank you.”
“Mercedes, Esmeralda, this is Robin,” Señora Valentina says.
I nod and force a smile.
Mercedes is tall and gorgeous and exudes confidence. Her robe is black lace, her hair piled up in a careless knot, her lips bare but somehow still perfect.