Page 290 of Hate Mates

"If you need anything, let me know," Luisa says as she shows me around. "Bélgica will clean your room. She also cleans Dario’s. She's a chatter boxpero es buena muchacha. You can trust her.

She's probably fucking Dario.The thought comes so quickly and I dismiss it just as fast.

Who fucking cares?

You do. The arrangement is that neither will sleep with anyone else.

My stomach flops. What idiot agrees to marry a man she hates?

A desperate one.

The second we cross the threshold, Luisa lets go of my hand and closes the door to the bedroom. She turns to me with troubled eyes.

"Why did you do that,niña? Why did you treat me like Dario's mother."

The question takes me aback like his face when it landed on her earlier tonight. The love between them was unmistakable.

"Because that is what you are."

She nods but closes her eyes briefly. "You don't know what you've done.SeñorConrado...that gesture should've been for him."

I frown. "It wasn't. Dario doesn't care for him."

She rushes to me, placing her fingers on my lips. "Don't say that. You're Dario's wife now. You have to protect him."

I almost laugh. "He's analiado. He doesn't need my protection."

She takes my face in her hands. "Men always need protecting. They know how to war, but we are the ones that sustain them. We are the strength where they lay their heads to rest."

I place my hands over her wrist. "I respect you as his mother, but you need to understand this is a pact. We hate each other. We always have."

Her smile is soft and loaded, like she knows something I don't. It makes me want to pull away, but she holds on tighter. "It's starting that way, but I dare you to get to know him and not love him."

Her words are like acid on my skin, but I won't argue with her. She's gentle, and she loves him for whatever reason.

She lets go of my face and reaches for the purse on her shoulder. She digs inside and hands me an envelope with a small bow. "He sent this for you."

I open it, and there's a key inside. I stare at it, and she takes it from my hand, walking to the far end of the room. Luisa draws the wall of curtains to reveal a door. She motions as she proceeds to unlock it. I walk up and turn the knob. The door opens to an adjacent sitting room with a leather sofa set, a large TV on the wall, and built-in bookcases. The dark panels and furniture is very masculine. But what really calls my attention is the door on the other side. It's open, and I can see the king size bed.

That's when the scent hits me, and she doesn't have to tell me it's his room.

I turn to her, and she embraces me, placing a kiss on my cheek.

"Why are you so nice to me? I told you I hate him."

"He says the same thing about you." She chuckles. "But you both promised to stand by each other. You're his wife now. The only way you'll get anything but love from me is if you don't keep your promises. Are you a woman of your word, Soledad?"

"Yes, I am," I say.

"I'll see you tomorrow then,mi niña."

I stand in the middle of the room, telling myself to go to my bedroom, and lock the door. He will get the hint then, but that's not what I do. I want to look around, maybe I can understand him better. I walk up to the bookcases first. His taste in books is eclectic with titles from James Patterson to Garcia Marquez. But it's the poetry of Salomé Ureña's that gives me pause.So against his type of man. I'll have to borrow that one.

There's a photo of a woman with sad eyes sitting in a Queen Anne chair in the conservatory where we got married today. In another photo, she’s her holding a baby, her gaze adoring as she cuddles the baby to her chest. His mom. He looks like her.

Then I head to the bedroom with the large bed placed against a dark umber stained wall. There are tables on each side with softly lit lamps. On the walls, there are paintings. The one acrossfrom the bed is the silhouette of a woman in a red dress carrying a basket of fruit on her head. Her wide hips almost look like they're swaying as she struts. On the other end it's Hayez's The Kiss.That doesn't make sense.

On other side, the curtains are drawn, and I cross the room to peek. It's dark out, and I can't see a thing. The outdoor lights flash on as a deer darts across the yard with a baby trailing behind it. I watch them disappear and turn around to go back to my room. The last thing I need is to get caught here. And then my heart thumps my chest.

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