“Okay, but I still signed up for it,” he counters, stroking the side of my arm with the back of his fingers. “What about all the trouble you’re in? You still haven’t even explained it all to me again, and I still want to help you.”
“My trouble is not your trouble,” I squeak through an emotionally pinched voice, then wave my hand in the direction of the private cabana. “Your family is very important. Even if you knew me, I’m not right for you. I’d never fit with you. Your life is out of my reach.” I blink my big, teary eyes up at him, and his dark, distinguished brows are drawn together in concern. “I understand that your brother-in-law may be an actualroyal, but everything I learned about you last night and this morning tells me you might as well be royalty, too. I am not fit to even stand your shadow, let alone be your wife.”
His dark-stubbled jaw pulses like he clenched his teeth, and indignation flashes in his brown eyes. “You know, Natalia, you sound a hell of a lot like my Papá right now, and I fuckin’hatewhen he sounds like that.”
I lift one shoulder and then let it drop. “Your Papá sounds like a wise man with your best interests at heart.”
“He’s notwise,” Joaquin clips. “He’s justproud. Like, seven deadly sins kinda proud, and it’s not a good way to be. I don’t like him forcing what he thinks is right on me and my sisters, and I don’t like you doing that right now, either.” He presses his strong, tapered index finger against his bare, muscled chest. “Iget to choose what I want in life. The only thing you get to choose right now is whether you want to do this with me, and that still hinges on whether I choose you or not.”
I force my chin to tremble wildly. “Youwon’tchoose me. And I choose to go home.”
His brown eyes bore holes into mine for several seconds before he grits his teeth and slams against the back of the stool, his broad shoulders sinking. “Fine. Where’s home for you?”
I blink another fat teardrop out of my eye and stare at him with a well-practiced look of trepidation.
I know exactly where “home” is going to be in this situation, and once he sees it, decent guy Joaquin is going to turn his car right back around and try to rescue me from it. I know he will. He’s a good man, and it really sucks that he has to die.
The world really would be a better place if there were more people like him and fewer people like me.
THREE
JOAQUIN
I HAVE A BAD feeling about this before I even pull up to Natalia’s house. This area of Vegas is way outside The Strip and sketchy as fuck, and I really don’t want to leave her here even if it is where she lives. We pass a handful of obvious drug deals and a few women who are clearly hookers, and not the high-end kind for that matter. The sparse groupings of people hanging out on street corners stare at the luxurious, rental Mercedes as we roll by, eyeing us with interest and suspicion.
“Take a left here,” Natalia says meekly, staring out the window as I ease to a stop at a stop sign that has a few actual bullet holes in it. I glance at her before accelerating, but she keeps her head turned. She’s wringing her hands in her lap, rubbing the large diamond on her finger, and I’ve already decided she’s going to keep that. If her situation is as bad as she mentioned, and if she lives in anything resembling this area, she can sell it and get the hell out.
We roll through an even sketchier area that reminds me of the projects in New York that I’ve been driven through once or twice in my life. People are sweating their asses off on the porches of run-down houses, probably because there’s no friggin’ AC, and sitting in triple digits outside is probably better than sitting in triple digitsinside,because all these people can friggin’ hope for is a little goddamn airflow.
“It’s this one on the right,” she says, pointing out the window at a house with foil and duct tape on the windows. A small group ofcholosin wife-beater tank tops are sitting on metal folding chairs on the porch, and the Mercedes piques their interest immediately.
I draw in a silent breath and resist scoffing as I ease up to the curb. Thecholosstand up and stare at the car, one of them reaching to hold the grip of a pistol shoved in the front of his khaki pants.
“¿Hermanos o primos?” I ask, jerking my chin at them.
Natalia shrugs listlessly. “No, they just live here.”
I look at her, but she keeps staring out the window. “They’re not family? Why do you live with them?”
She pulls her phone out of her purse. “It’s a long story, Joaquin. Nothing you need to worry about.”
She’s kinda right because twenty-four hours ago, I didn’t even know she existed, but everything is different now. “Yeah, well, Iamworried about it.”
At that, she finally turns to me. She reaches to stroke her nails over the sides of my head and murmurs, “Tan amable,” before pressing a soft kiss to my lips.
Despite how unsettling this situation is, the simple, chaste gesture causes my dick to harden. She’s been doing that to meall. Fucking. Day. I can’t even remember the last time I was this weak for a woman, and I consider Lili’s words from the pool.
“She seems great, and she’s stunning, and she obviously really likes you. And not to mention, Mamá has been on your ass about settling down for years. You might as well just roll with it.”
Might as well just roll with it.
This isn’t the kind of thing youjust roll with, but it suddenly seems like a great friggin’ idea.
Natalia turns away from me and swipes the screen of her phone. “Tell me your phone number.”
A second after I rattle it off, my phone buzzes in my pocket, and she looks at me. “That’s my phone number and this address. You’ll need that to file the annulment. You don’t actually have to be in Las Vegas to do it. Just contact a lawyer and they can do it.” She places her palm on my cheek, drawing her thumb in a slow sweep across my skin. “Deseo tu felicidad, cariño.Thank you for your kindness, even for such a short time.”
And then, she slips off the ring, presses it into my palm, then pushes the door open with her shoulder. She steps out and closes the door before I have time to say anything. I sit in a stupor, watching her slink up the broken concrete walkway.
