Page 32 of Velvet Deception

I shook my head.Just who is this guy, this caring, this take-charge, all for my benefit?“No, that’s not right. You already cleaned up…” I cleared my throat. “So much.”

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”

I peered around him, though, not letting him call the shots. “You’re still recovering, Diego. You just fought them and then, um, moved large things. And cleaned. I won’t let you overexert yourself by setting this room back together on top of all that now.”

“Oh.” He crossed his arms and eyed me up and down. “You won’tletme?”

Heat coursed through me at the sexy tone he’d used. As if the thought of my giving him hell could be fun.

“Yeah. I won’t let you clean it all up.”

He shrugged, watching me closely. “Then where will I sleep?”

I sighed, staring at him and wondering how I could go from vowing to never trust a man again to taking big leaps toward wanting to have faith in him.

How can I not trust him?

He’d killed for me. He protected me and my son, like a knight in shining armor, like a prince sweeping in to save the day, like the hero I didn’t think could exist in the real world.

I set my tongue on the corner of my mouth, running through a plethora of what-ifs that blended and muddied in my mind. What if I was wrong about him? What if he had an ulterior motive? What if he was leading a double life? What if… I can’t resist him?

Since he’d made such a bold move to kiss me, he’d opened the gates to all the desire I’d been scolding myself not to have for him all this time.

“You can sleep here.” I held my breath, nervous, as I took his hand and led him toward my room. It wasn’t that big, but my bed would fit both of us.

He didn’t say a word as he followed me. I let go of his hand to gesture at the bed. Then I frowned, realizing something that had slipped my mind. “Hey. Why were you and Ramon back this way in the house when they came in? Did you hear them and try to hide?”

“No. Ramon came home before you. It sounds like Señora Vasquez was dealing with her daughter-in-law, and he figured he could come home since he knew I was here and he wouldn’t be alone.”

Hmm.I didn’t exactly like the sound of that. He knew better than to ever be somewhere unsupervised. Sure, Diego was here, but still, I wanted Ramon to follow my instructions. They were for his safety.

Diego frowned, going to the bed and lying down on top of it. He watched me as I went into the closet to change out of my scrubs. From his vantage point, he couldn’t see anything.

“We talked for a little bit.”

About what?

“He can be sneaky.”

I almost laughed at the smile I heard in his tone. “How so?”

“He prompted me to remember how old I am.”

I raised my brows. “Huh. How?”

“He asked me and it just came out. Then he asked me to help him get the candles down for the Noche de las Velitas. So wewere in that closet, and I reached up for the box, and we heard them come in.”

“Ah.” I stepped out and didn’t make eye contact as I got on top of the bed. He was only in shorts, and lying next to him on my bed felt too dangerous with me only in an old tank top and sleep shorts.

“Why did you make that face when I said that Ramon came home early?” He rolled his head on the pillow to face me, making no other motion. Nonthreatening in appearance. Patient, too. But his question was a tricky one.

“He’s not supposed to come home alone. Or ever be alone.”

“Because he’s only six?”

Hearing him talk about Ramon should’ve made me uneasy. I was defensive of my son, but Diego didn’t incite anxiousness in me. He couldn’t, not with how seamlessly he’d entered our lives, how valiantly he’d saved our lives. If anything, I owed him the truth.

I swallowed hard, hating to talk about this.

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