Page 23 of Heart of a Villain

“Doing what?”

He didn’t respond.

“I learned Portuguese a long time ago,” she said, shoving the question to the side, not ready to face her past head-on. “I was living in the Caribbean at the time on the island of Dominica.”

They went around a gentle curve, driving so slowly that Theo would have already made it to the house on foot. Yet, she was the last person who would ever complain about spending extra time with Adrían Delgano.

“Why did you learn?”

She tugged on her seatbelt and winced, the healing cut on her palm reminding her of its existence. “No reason in particular.”

“Why were you in the Caribbean?”

“Can I ask the questions?”

“No.”

“So, yes.”

He rubbed his jaw, a faint smile on his face. “All right, then. Go ahead.”

“The pretty girl with the pretty hair,” she began. “Wren, right? Are you two together?”

The smile grew. “Together, how?”

“Dating, married...other.”

“That depends. How long do you intend to keep this up?”

Now, she was the one who didn’t answer.

“Guess that is my answer.” He massaged a spot on his chest, stretching his neck to one side. “No, Wren and I are not together. I like her, though. I’m planning to ask her to go out with me, but I don’t want to do the traditional romantic dinner. With a woman like that, you don’t do something conventional. I know I’m a good-looking guy, and we’ve already established that we’re attracted to one another, but I’m still nervous.”

“How did you establish that you’re attracted to one another?” The question came out sharp enough to crack the driver’s side window.

He shrugged. “We talked about it not too long ago. In bed.”

“In bed?”

The smile stretched across his face, and in her warped, battle-weary mind, it looked like he was teasing her, trying to send her to the emergency room for acute jealousy.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She wasn’t.

She hadn’t been all right for some time.

“We were only lying next to one another,” he clarified. “It was very nice to have her close. For me, it’s…been a while.”

“How long would you say, exactly?” she asked. “A year? Two? Ten?”

“Ten?”

“I’m just throwing out numbers.”

“No, I don’t have anyone significant from that far in my past.”

The usually dead heart in her chest gave a slight jerk. They’d shared the sweet and the passionate, and she’d loved him. With everything she’d been capable of at the time, she’d loved him. But what had happened over the years? A revolving door of lovers had effectively buried her existence?

---