Page 66 of Fighting for Control

Lola had no intention of eavesdropping. No interest in knowing what the hell Carmen had to say to anyone. She didn’t care. She didn’t care about Carmen. All she was there to do was gather intel over a few days and go home. They already had Brett’s affidavit. That was probably enough. She should pack her bags and get the hell out of there.

Lola stood and started for her carry-on suitcase on the luggage rack that just so happened to be next to her sliding glass door. Was it her fault that these people apparently didn’t have hurricanes and their window glass was so thin it was basically cheesecloth? What did Carmen want her to do? Wad up tissues and shove them in her ears to avoid overhearing her conversation?

If Carmen was so intent on privacy, she should lower her voice. Or better yet, she should go inside her damn room to talk.

“I told you, I’m following a strong lead on the lawsuit,” Carmen was saying, exasperation seeping into her tone. “This will get it thrown out if I can prove—”

A burst of indistinct shouting interrupted her. Lola stopped throwing clothes around in her bag, straining her hearing like she might make out the voice on the other end if she tried a little harder. She glanced through the half-open blinds. She could only see a sliver of her, but Carmen’s posture was rigid. The kind of discontent only a mother could impart.

“My hours have been lower because I’ve been dedicating time to this,” Carmen argued. “It’s a personal attack on my reputation. I have to make it a priority.”

More muffled yelling from the phone. Lola pictured Carmen’s intimidating mother berating her and immediately felt a flare of anger on Carmen’s behalf. It wasn’t fair for her mom to be mad when Carmen was doing important work. Why didn’t she get on that guy Barry’s case instead, make him pull his weight for once?

“I know, and I’m handling my other cases,” Carmen insisted, the strain in her voice palpable and running through Lola’s veins like lightning.

No! Don’t give in! You’re not wrong! Don’t back down!

“I’m working remotely right now. I just... this is something I have to do, okay?”

Lola knew how that felt — having to prove yourself worthy over and over. The permanent knot in her stomach tightened. She tried to refocus on her bag, but couldn’t remember what had made her get up in the first place. Couldn’t remember her task.

“Of course I’ll be at the—” An uncomfortable pause made Lola’s jaw tense. “Because I’ve never missed the gala. Even when you scheduled it on my thirtieth birthday.”

After more tense back-and-forth, Carmen finally said goodnight and hung up. Lola pictured the frustrated expression she was probably wearing and had the oddest urge to make her feel better. She shook her head, laughing bitterly to herself.

Yeah, right. I’m the last person Carmen would ever find comforting. Every collision they’d had played in her mind. A buffet of shame filling Lola with the unstoppable urge to puke.

Leaving the bag messier than she’d found it, Lola crawled under the covers, still feeling off-balance and pulled the scratchy fabric over her head. She was in dangerous, uncharted territory here with Carmen. Every move felt like the wrong one and her gut wasn’t showing up to show her the way. It was only making things worse. All she had were her instincts, and they seemed to be more interested in fighting each other than telling her what to do.

Lola tossed and turned, unable to quiet her restless mind. Thoughts of Carmen plagued her, replaying their bizarre interactions and dissecting every word. She was unraveling a mystery without all the pieces.

After what felt like hours of deafening silence, Lola slid open the balcony door, desperate for fresh air. The stuffy hotel room was suffocating. Stepping outside in her tank top and shorts, the night chilled her clammy skin.

Relieved that she’d been right that Carmen had gone back into her room, she sank into the plastic deck chair with a sigh, running both hands through her dark, tangled hair. A glimpse of movement on the adjoining balcony caught her eye.

Fuck.

Carmen stepped out onto her own balcony, laptop charger in her hand. She wore an oversized University of Miami Law hoodie and grey sweatpants. Her chestnut hair was piled messily atop her head, loose wisps falling around her face. Black-framed reading glasses perched on her nose. The sight of her was a machine gun blowing Lola apart, leaving her defenseless.

Lola knew she should leave. Go back inside. At the very least stop staring at her, but she found herself unable to look away. There was something captivating about seeing Carmen so unpolished and casual in her glasses and sweats. Unguarded in a way she never allowed herself to be around Lola.

Surprise flashed across Carmen’s face before her lips quirked into a small, tentative smile. Lola’s chest constricted at the unexpected softness of her expression. Her hold on her senses getting caught in the cold breeze and floating away.

CHAPTER40

The chill nightair slapped Carmen in the face when she stepped back onto the balcony. Laptop charger in hand, she stepped outside, then froze.

Lola was sitting on the adjoining balcony, eyes locked with Carmen’s. Her pulse quickened at the sight of her. Raven hair tumbling wild over her bare shoulders, the thin tank top doing nothing to shield Lola from the cold. She should have guessed that Lola would somehow have the determination not to be freezing on a night that was Arctic compared to the weather back home. She’d probably demanded her body not to react, insisted it warm up against the chilly wind.

Carmen’s eyes traced down the silhouette of her body before she could stop herself, that now-familiar pull tightening low in her belly. She lingered on Lola’s strong arms before forcing her gaze back up to Lola’s face.

Lola looked as startled as Carmen felt to have been discovered out there in the shadows. Her dark eyes were wider than Carmen had ever seen them, full lips parted slightly. The usual sharpness of her features softened by surprise.

Tamping down the flare of desire, Carmen offered a tentative smile instead. “No rest for the wicked,” she said before feeling each of her organs shut down, failing from the complete full-body cringe that wracked her.

Uncharacteristically quiet like she had been all day, Lola simply nodded. Leaving her charger on top of her laptop, Carmen took the second plastic chair and pulled it to the edge of her balcony, getting as close to Lola as she could with the white, wrought-iron railing between them.

Facing the town sleeping in the darkness instead of Lola, Carmen looked up at the sky. Dark and heavy with stars, it was like nothing she’d ever seen before. “There have to be more stars here than in Miami,” she said like an awkward weekend dad, looking for something to fill the silence. “Do you ever feel like running the hell away from Miami?” she added, eager to cleanse her palate of all the cringe building up like peanut butter.

---