“You aren’t serious.”
“Serious as a heart attack, babe.”
I stand and fasten my jeans, then slip on my shirt.
Luisa puts her nightgown back on and stands.
Shrugging into my cut, she comes to me and kisses me. I take her hand and kiss the palm.
“This was nice. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
“But where?” she asks.
“I don’t know. But I’ll figure it out. What’s your week look like?”
“I’m volunteering at the church every Monday and Thursday.”
“What time?”
“1pm to three.”
“And after that?”
She shrugs. “I don’t really have to be home until dinnertime.”
I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ll see what I can arrange.”
“Okay. I’m glad I got to see you tonight.”
“It makes me happy to hear that, sweetheart.” I dip and kiss her again. “Go back to the house. I want to watch and make sure you get safely inside.”
She’s about to slip out the glass sliders when we see someone walk past the pool. I pull her back and watch through the crack in the curtains.
“Who’s that?” I whisper.
She peers around me. “It might be Salvador, my father’s foreman. He has an apartment on the other side of the groves.”
“What’s he doing here?”
We hear him whistle, and a moment later, a dog trots over to him. He puts it on a leash and curses it softly in Spanish. Then scratches the pup’s ears and heads away.
“That’s his new puppy. He must have run off when he let him out to pee.”
“That the only dog on the property?” I ask, peering around.
“Yes.”
“We got lucky. If you’d walked out ten seconds earlier, he’d have seen you,” I say.
After Salvatore and his dog disappear into the shadows, I wait another minute to make sure he is out of earshot. Then I ease open the slider and kiss Luisa again. She holds my hand, dropping it at the last moment, then dashing across the tile to the house. I watch her disappear inside a door.
I wait another minute, peering around, then slip out and jog to my bike.
CHAPTER SIX
Blue—
All that week, I can’t get away, but I promise Luisa I’ll see her the following week.
