Page 28 of Burning Beauty

"You must be hungry," Yara said, putting on a pair of oven mitts and reaching into a hot oven. She pulled a plate piled high with breakfast food out and set it on the placemat in front of Maria. "I wasn't sure what you liked so I made a little of everything. You just eat until you're full and we'll save the rest for a snack. There are enough men around here that someone will eat it. Lord knows, nobody ate much last night."

Yara made a disapproving sound. Maria didn't know what to say so she remained silent, picked up her fork and started eating. On the plate was a selection of pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, eggs over easy, toast, hash browns and a muffin. As she ate Yara placed a bowl of fruit and yogurt next to her elbow.

Maria had a healthy appetite, but this was ridiculous. How could she possibly eat all this?

She didn't have to worry about it though, since Cassandra came rushing in a few seconds later. "Oh, there you are!" she said accusingly to Maria. "You aren't very good with this whole time thing are you? No matter, we'll get you straightened out. Let's take that plate outside so you can eat by the pool." She reached out to grab Maria's plate, ignoring the exclamation from Yara that the plate was too hot and Maria's loud complaint about losing her breakfast.

When Cassandra's brain registered the heat from the plate, she let out a screech and dropped it. "Motherfucker!" she yelped, grabbing her hand and cradling it against her chest as the plate smashed to the floor. Cassandra looked stricken over what she'd done, and tears rushed to her eyes. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, you bad girl," Yara scolded gently. "You never stop and think, you just go rushing about."

"I'm sorry!" Cassandra said again, tears leaking out and dripping down her face. "I can clean it."

"No!" Yara said sharply. "You two, out of my kitchen, I must clean up and start on supper."

She shooed them out, giving Maria a small shove off her stool. Maria snatched up her bowl of fruit and yogurt, a little worried she wouldn't get to eat anything at this rate. She followed a sniffling Cassandra out of the kitchen, down a back hallway, toward a patio door.

"Do you think she's mad at me?" Cassandra asked worriedly.

Maria was again surprised by Cassandra's almost child-like way of speaking and acting. She was starting to wonder if this woman was developmentally challenged. Maybe that's why Nic preferred to have a plutonic relationship with her and install a mistress in the house.

"I know what you're thinking," Cassandra said, swiping at her tears while she walked gracefully toward a set of lounge chairs.

"I doubt it," Maria muttered, trailing after her and shoving bits of fruit into her mouth.

Cassandra dropped onto a lounge chair with a towel already laid out and reached for the belt on her bathing suit cover. "You think there's something wrong with me."

Okay, so apparently Cassandra did know what Maria was thinking. She tried to shake her head innocently, as though she would never think such a thing, but Cassandra narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over breasts that were too perfect to be real.

"You can't understand why I want to be friends with you, the mistress, while I, the wife, reside in the same home as Nic. You also don't get the whole bodyguard kissing thing, and you feel like you've entered an alternate universe."

Damn... "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

Cassandra let out a slightly more bitter-than-usual tinkling laugh and leaned back in her chair, wiggling to get comfy. "It's okay, I do understand why you would be skeptical of my offer of friendship. We're in an unusual situation that would normally make us automatic enemies."

Maria followed suit, pulling off her robe and leaning back on the lounge chair. The warmth of the morning sun felt good as it soaked into her skin. She reached over and pulled her sunscreen from her beach bag.

"So, tell me why you want to be friends with someone like me," Maria invited.

"Someone like you..." Cassandra repeated, her voice trailing off as she seemed to think about it. "I guess there are different reasons. You're beautiful and exotic, you've had a crazy life, you've captured Nic's attention, and honey, nobody does that."

Maria blinked at the sheer amount of information she got in just a few sentences. "What do you mean, exotic with a crazy life? We just met yesterday, you can't know anything about me."

Cassandra sighed deeply. "Think about who you're dealing with, Maria. Would someone in Nic's position bring just anyone into his home? Especially a woman who was helping an enemy blackmail him? No, he's very private, like borderline paranoid. He knew about you ages before you got here."

"He did?" As soon as the words were out of Maria's mouth, she realized Cassandra was telling her the truth. It made sense.

Nic knew exactly who she was when he confronted her in the hotel bar. He wasn't surprised by anything she told him, and he didn't so much as blink when Franco had confronted him. It was as though Nic had orchestrated the entire scenario, not Franco.

"Yes, he did." Cassandra confirmed. "In fact, I'm pretty sure he went to Las Vegas just to meet you and bring you back here."

"But why?" Maria exclaimed.

Cassandra shrugged. "Why would he need to go to Vegas? The moment he found out about the blackmail, which was well before Franco confronted him, he could've just sent a hit team down to deal with the matter. Why dirty his hands with such crass business when he didn't need to?"

Maria sat with her mouth hanging open, staring at nothing as she processed everything Cassandra was telling her. If he knew about all that, then he had to know about Maria, know about her past. Why hadn't he said anything? Would he try to use it against her? A shaft of pain took her breath as she thought about Nic hurting her that way.

"This doesn't explain why you're being friendly with me," Maria pointed out, bringing the conversation back around.

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