He had smiled. “I’ve heard you.”
“Maybe…” She chewed on her lip. “Maybe we can be each other’s noise. It won’t replace the people we’ve lost, of course, but maybe we can be there for each other to silence all those sad thoughts that like to slip in when things go quiet.”
She had done that for him. Dovie had silenced the sad noise. But then she left and his sorrows began to scream once more. Esmeralda had hurt him deeply when she ran away. Still, he wouldn’t leave her here in the cold.
Slowly, her eyes blinked open as he stood cradling her in his arms. She gazed up at him in a sleepy sort of way that burned his insides. She’d looked at him like this the night of his eighteenth birthday. When he climbed onto the rooftop to meet her, he’d been shocked to see that she was already there. She’d laid out blankets and fluffed them into a sort of nest. She patted the blankets, beckoning him to her.
“I’ve been pondering,” she had said.
“Terrifying.”
“I know.” She bumped him with her shoulder. “Since my birthday comes three days after yours, I’ve been thinking about a gift that will suit us both.”
He raised a brow. “Is that right?”
She nodded, then shifted onto her knees and faced him. “I want you.”
He blinked in confusion. “You already have me.”
She giggled and rolled her eyes.
Then, she did something that sent every nerve in his body shooting to the sky. She climbed into his lap. Her legs straddled him. Her warmth melted against him.
“I’ll be your present and you will be mine,” she said.
He had sucked in a breath, unable to control the irregular beating of his heart.
Her long lashes dipped and she met his gaze. “What do you say, Pigeon?”
Ignacio had tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I…I’d say there is nothing I’ve ever wanted more in my life.”
They had given each other that gift. They had become one. And after, she’d looked up at him with sleepy stars in her eyes, and he never thought he could love anyone more than he loved her at that moment.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re holding me like some sleeping princess?” Esmeralda asked, slicing through his memory.
“Oh…I…I was going to bring you someplace safer torest.”
Her lips flattened. “You sure you weren’t thinking about chucking me off the train?”
“I would never.”
She snorted. “I know. You’re far too good.”
Not good enough for you to love, he wanted to retort. Instead, he asked, “Any news on Camila or Pilar?”
She shook her head. “Pilar hasn’t opened her eyes. Camila is up, though. She hit her head really hard, her wrist is broken, and her legs are pretty banged up. Otherwise, she’s okay, physically. Mentally, not so much.”
The train raced past a blinking lantern. The soft glow illuminated Esmeralda’s beautiful face. This close he could see every soft curve and line.
“You can put me down now,” she said quietly.
“Of course.” He set her gently onto the metal deck, already missing her jasmine scent.
Esmeralda wrapped her arms around her body, and she shuddered.
“Here.” He shrugged off his coat and placed it over her shoulders.
She sniffed. Did she remember his scent too? Did it make her insides burn like hers did to him?
