“That’s the thing,” I say. “I’m not. He doesn’t get access just because he showed up.”
Anna exhales. “You’re handling it better than I would. I’d be in jail. Smiling in the mugshot.” Then she adds, brushing crumbs off her lap, “At least you’ve clearly upgraded.”
I blink. “What?”
She shoots me a look like I’m being dense. “Mateo.”
Mariana smiles into her wine. “He’s…surprising.”
I snort. “That’s one word for him.”
“No, but really,” Anna says, tipping her glass toward me. “You two just strolled into the festival like it was no big deal. Holding hands. Looking all cozy. The entire town practically short-circuited.”
“It wasn’t that dramatic,” I say.
Mariana tilts her head. “It kind of was.”
I try to act casual, reaching for another guava turnover. “We were just walking around.”
“Walking around holding hands,” Anna corrects. “And he brought you lemonade.”
“He offered. It was hot.”
“So was he,” she shoots back, grinning.
Mariana hides a smile behind her glass. “We just didn’t see it coming. That’s all. You’ve known each other for years, and suddenly…there’s something there.”
“There’s nothing sudden about it,” I say, maybe a little too quickly. “We’re just…figuring things out.”
Anna leans back with a satisfied nod. “Well, I support it. Tentatively. With questions.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” I say.
“I just want you to be happy,” Mariana says, soft as ever. “No pressure. No expectations.”
Anna grins. “But if he’s the real deal, I call maid of honor.”
I laugh, tossing a pillow at her. “Relax. It’s not that deep.”
“Not yet,” she teases.
I shake my head and reach for my wine again, grateful the attention shifts back to food, music, and Maya’s latest obsession with wearing her rain boots indoors.
By the time the pastries are picked over and the wine is nearly gone, I’m full in a way that has nothing to do with food. This was exactly what I needed.
Chapter Nine
MATEO
The slam of my boots against the ground echoes through the bay as I finish another sled push and stand up straight, breath sharp in my throat. My shirt’s already clinging to my back, and I haven’t even hit the rope yet.
I grab the chalk and start working it between my palms, trying not to let my brain go where it keeps going. Analyse.
The way she looked the other day at breakfast—head thrown back, hair falling over her face, laughing so hard she snorted. Her and Maya’s relationship tugs at my heart. Watching the two of them together is really something special.
She gives Maya her complete, undivided attention, love, and devotion. Analyse is a damn good mother, and I find it so fucking sexy.
I shouldn’t be thinking that. I know better. She’s so much more than her beauty. Although, shit, she is drop dead gorgeous. It’s the way she parents with her whole heart. The way she listens to Maya like nothing else existsin that moment. How she always knows when to be soft, when to be firm, when to just be there.
