Page 63 of Hidden Memories

His breath is heavy, his forehead resting against mine, his body so close I can feel the war raging inside him.

“Kat…” His voice is husky.

He reaches up, gently covering my shoulder with my robe, shielding me from something I don’t think either of us is ready to face.

“This isn’t a good idea.”

A crack splinters through me. For a second, I’m too stunned to speak, because he’s right. We shouldn’t. But God, did it feel wrong to stop.

I wrap my robe tight around me, clutching my onlyarmor. “Yeah.” The word barely makes it out. It sounds as half-hearted as I feel.

Santi exhales heavily. He drags his thumb across the top of my hand, staring at it as if he’s trying to work up the courage to say something else.

“I have Owen to think about,” he murmurs like he needs to remind himself. “The application is a big deal.”

A part of me is relieved. That it’s notmehe’s pushing away.

A long silence stretches between us. Only the sound of Julia’s antique cuckoo clock ticking. The soft snoring of Mila at the foot of the couch.

Santi lifts his gaze to mine, and there’s so much there. Things I wish he could say, but it’s better he doesn’t.

I reach up, touching my palm gently on his cheek.

“I’m sorry for what my father did to us.”

His throat bobs with emotion. He shakes his head. “It’s not your apology to make.”

I let my hand fall to my lap, but before I can retreat completely, he catches it in his. He holds it longer than he should, deep in thought.

Letting go of him shouldn’t be this hard.

Finally, he speaks. “I don’t know your whole story, Kat. Maybe, over time, you’ll tell me. I’m here to listen. But in the meantime, I know this much—you didn’t deserve any of what happened to you.” He pauses, voice dipping lower. “Maybe we can only be friends, but I hope you’ll let me be the protective kind. I think whatever this new chapter brings… you at least deserve peace.”

God, he is the most beautiful soul I’ve ever met.

A fresh wave of tears rises, but this time, it’s not from grief.

I squeeze his fingers. “You deserve peace,too, Santi.”

His hands come up, gently cradling my face, and he places a kiss on my forehead. A kiss that lingers.

And when he eases back, his voice is quiet, certain, final.

“I have some now.”

Chapter Fifteen

PRESENT

It absolutely brokeme to stop kissing her.

It was the right thing to do. It had to be. I tell myself that every damn minute, but my body won’t believe it. My lips still burn from hers. My hands still remember the way she fit against me. And the worst part? I’d do it all over again.

I throw my green apple core in the trash can like it’s a basketball hoop and get back to work. Sort of. I try to. But all my energy seems to be going into tapping this pen against my desk as fast as a hummingbird flaps its wings and keeping my boot coming downin sync.

My brother, Rio, turns his gaze on me slowly. I feel it before I see it.

“Hermano. You’re fucking annoying me.” He twists back to his laptop. “Enzo convinced me to have one day per week working from home, but he failed to tell me it’s impossible to work here.”

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