Page 29 of The Crush
“Mija, did you hear me?”
“What? Sorry.” Daniel raises his eyebrows at me when he turns to see me watching him. He even has the nerve to point me back to the phone with a smirk.
“I said Aarón is going to be in Austin for an expo. Decided to go yesterday after your papá mentioned it to him. Do you want him to pick you up on his way back home tomorrow?”
“No.” The refusal comes out with enough force that Daniel’s expression falls to concern. “I mean, no, no, it’s fine.”
“I know you and Aarón don’t always get along, but I thought it was nice of him to offer,” my mother chides me. “Would save you the cost of a ticket back.”
“I already bought it round trip,” I say quickly, making a mental note to do Gabe’s chores for a month. “And Elena’s parents offered to take us to mass tomorrow. I don’t want to be rude.”
“Oh. Oh, well, of course,” she agrees, immediately dropping the topic.Seriously, God bless Gabe.“I’ll tell him when he calls later.”
“Okay, tell him thanks though. I better go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, be safe. I love you.”
“You too.”
Daniel crouches in front of me once I hang up. “Everything okay?” he asks.
“Yeah. I guess, um…” My head falls into my hands. “I guess Aarón’s at the expo.”
Daniel lets out a long exhale, but he doesn’t seem nearly as surprised as me. “I figured there would be some other people from town who’d make the trip. The fliers were up in a few places.”
“Yeah.” My stomach is in knots, feeling as if my personal hideaway has been discovered.
“Hey.” Daniel cups my face, and I lean into his palm. “We already decided that I would go by myself, right? Just in case? Nothing has changed.”
I nod, knowing the plan had always been to spend a few hours apart this afternoon. Long enough for Daniel to get some information on things at the expo to satisfy Tadeo,andlong enough for me to take advantage of the mall nearby.
“I don’t…I don’t like the idea of him being here.” I sound like I’m whining, and I hate it. “But you’re right, it’s fine. You have every reason to be there if he sees you, and I doubt I will run into him at one of my stores. He’d sooner get his face punched in.”
“Well…”
I laugh. “Don’tpunch him if you see him.” I turn and kiss his right palm. “You might hurt your hand.”
“Hurting my hand has worked pretty well for me before,” he says, grinning. And I know he’s only trying to cheer me up, but it’s hard not to overthink that he no longer seems to have any regrets about that night in the kitchen.
Or that in all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him smile as much as he has in the last twenty-four hours.
Twenty-Four
Daniel
Fuck this.
An hour into the expo and I’ve had enough. In my one full lap around the converted arena, I’ve been sidelined more than a dozen times by vendors selling everything from new types of feed to new equipment to new techniques and… I want to care. I should. But honestly, I’d rather be in a file room right now.
It’s more chaotic than I thought it’d be.Loud.People shouting greetings and offers and, well, just plain bullshit from what I can tell. Enough to make all my good mood from this morning slip away. Although, to be fair, that already happened the moment I’d dropped Isabel off.Maybe I should go back?
And do what? There’s still two more hours before I’m supposed to pick her up. What am I going to do? Wander around like a lost puppy until I find her?
I eye the next booth, brochures for new tractors that I likely wouldn’t have to fix every other week.Andthat probably cost ten times more than all my years of savings during my time in the DEA. I drag a hand down my face, thinking about how much I really need to sit with Isabel while she does the books one night. Even if it’d drive me crazy not to use that time another way. Although, if it’s a night when my dad is busy…Christ, what is wrong with me?
That right there ispreciselywhy I need to stay put, why I need to prove both to her and to myself that I am capable of self-control. Why I need to at leasttryto be the type of person that deserves to have someone like her.
Fuck, is that what I want? To have her not only in my bed but…
