Page 65 of The Last Promise You Made

His smile disappeared. “Nothing serious, I hope.”

I bit back an immediate yes. My entire life had been shifted. The last two days with Addy had felt dreamlike in both good and bad ways. How did I move from feeling like she was a guest to making her the focus of my life? If I’d had the chance to learn with her, to grow into being a parent, it wouldn’t feel like this—awkward and forced.

“It’ll all work itself out,” I told him, my voice gruff. “But I’m going to be absorbed with it for some time. I honestly don’t think I’d be able to do the job justice.”

Jaime watched me with hawklike eyes, and for the first time since I’d met the man, I felt uncomfortable, as if he was peeling back my layers to see everything inside of me. I forced myself to stay relaxed, but tension curled up my spine.

“At least come to the gala. The other board members are coming, and you can get an idea from them of the time commitment. Bring that beautiful woman with you, and let loose for a few hours.”

The assumption he’d made about Gia and me landed heavily in my chest even though I’d encouraged just that belief by possessively moving into her space in order to stop his flirting. The unease I was feeling for the first time in his presence grew another round. I hated being pushed and manipulated, but Jaime wasn’t someone I could easily say no to. I owed him, and he knew it. He’d never called in the favor. Never even hinted that it was an obligation I needed to pay back, but here he was, leaving all that had come before us hanging in the air.

“You really drive all the way down from Kentucky just to ask me to attend your shindig?”

He chuckled. “I’ve been wanting to test out the Porsche on the back roads, and it gave me an excuse.” He checked the time on the Patek Philippe gold-and-leather watch that he’d told me his father had won from an Egyptian prince in a card game. “But I should head out. I have a meeting this evening I can’t miss.”

We walked out, the sharp wind hitting us in the face, stinging my eyes.

“How long you going to keep this one?” I asked, tipping my hat in the direction of the red Cayman.

He chuckled. “Drove well, so I might keep it longer than most.”

Jaime had a new vehicle every time I saw him. And not just some off-the-showroom-floor type of car. His required brokers and special handling and cost more than most people had in their pensions. He was the only person I knew who could be that extravagant. He may have turned his family’s ranch into a luxurious five-star resort, but they’d never been in jeopardy of losing everything before that. He’d come from a long line of wealth on his mother’s side.

But he’d still had to earn his way at the family ranch. He’d once told me his father had been a tightfisted bastard who didn’t believe in spending any money. In fact, he’d been so pissed when Jaime, at eighteen, had gotten his pilot’s license and then promptly used his trust fund to buy a six-seater Cessna that he’d threatened to cut him out of the will unless he went to work on the farms in California. He felt Jaime needed to work shoulder to shoulder with other migrant workers to appreciate what he’d been born into. He’d wanted his son to experience the hardships his dad’s family had gone through coming to the United States.

My opinion was that Jaime’s time without money, that time working his fingers to the bone, had only made him more determined to surround himself with luxury. Once his father had died, there was no one to stop him from spending in excess.

Jaime opened the Cayman’s door and looked over the top of the vehicle. “I’m expecting you to show up next Saturday. I’ll put you down for a plus-one so you can bring that dazzling brunette with you.”

I grunted out, “Fine.”

Jaime smiled and winked before lowering himself in the driver’s seat. The powerful engine roared to life, and he took off down the drive, passing my brother’s sheriff’s truck on its way in.

Maddox parked next to my truck and slid out, coming to stand next to me. “Who was that?”

“Jaime Laredo. Came to pester me about his charity gala and the ranchers’ association.”

“Better you than me.”

“Thanks, asswipe.”

Maddox pulled a paper bag out from under his jacket. “Mama told me you were here, so I brought the DNA swabs.”

My jaw clenched again. Everywhere I turned right now, it felt like I was keeping secrets, and it didn’t sit well with me. But then I thought of Addy’s tiny voice telling us what she’d seen in that hotel room, and determination welled through me. I’d do anything to keep her safe, including a DNA test that the spitfire analyst inside didn’t approve of us taking.

Neither of us said another word as we headed for the house. We stomped our boots on the mat and removed our hats as we walked through the door, hanging them on the coatrack.

“Figures you’d both show up just in time for lunch,” Mama said, laughter in her voice.

Gia and Rianne were sitting at the kitchen table with her, and they had bowls of soup in front of them, along with homemade sourdough. Addy and Mila were nowhere in sight, and my stomach tightened.

“She’s upstairs in the playroom with Mila,” Gia said, reading my worry before anyone else in the room.

“We’ll just go up and say hello first,” Maddox said.

We headed down the hall littered with pictures of our family, generations worth, including ones of us growing up and new ones with Mila embedded into our lives. Another thing Addy and I had missed out on. Pictures and holidays and vacations together.

Upstairs, we made our way to the bedroom on the end that had once been mine. Mama had converted it into a princess playroom. A little girl’s dream space with a castle painted on the wall and flowers hanging from the ceiling. At a child-sized table in the corner, Mila and Addy sat eating lunch. Addy was telling my niece about her jaguar. Complete sentences again, soft and low, but still sure. “Mama told me that Balam can see not only in the dark but into people’s souls. He protects good people by sending bad people away.”

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