She sighed with relief. And then, she did the very worst thing he could imagine. She threw her arms around him, the garment bag crunching between them as she squeezed him with all her strength.
Ignacio’s entire body went taut.
“Thank you,” she whispered into his neck.
He clamped his eyes shut.
She felt so good against him. She felt like his childhood. Likehome. Like all his wildest dreams and desires trapped within the softness of her skin.
Life was so cruel, he knew that he couldn’t spend most of his moments like this. He’d never be able to simply hold her and love her and be loved by her in return.
She released him and stepped back, a warm grin brightening her beautiful face.
“Now,” she said. “Take off your clothes.”
Chapter 29
Esmeralda
Her heart thundered like the drums rumbling inside the Big Top. She’d never performed in front of so many people, and she had never actually executed the act she planned to show off. Sure, she was a great climber, and the aerialists had shown her a thing or two in her time with the carnival, but messing around and performing in front of thousands were completely different things.
And then there was the young man standing to her right. She peeked at him through her lashes. Let her eyes roam over his tall form, every beautiful angle of his face illuminated by the Big Top lights bleeding through the backstage curtains. He’d always been the most handsome boy in every room. These days? He was too striking for words, currently sporting a perfectly cut suit in colors that complemented her dove costume, wearing a mask made of pearly-white feathers that popped against his coppery-brown skin. His shorn hair had grown out ever so slightly, only making him more appealing to her.
“What’s your plan?” he whispered. They stood behind the other competitors in the Running.
She knew he’d hate her plan, so she said, “I will do everything. All you need to do is hold on.”
“To what?”
The drums quieted to a hum. Audience members joined in, patting their hands against their laps.
The ringmaster’s voice blared through a loud-hailer. “And now, friends, fans, and fiends, it is my honor to announce the final six acts in the Running to become my next lead!”
Cheers rang out.
“We have Paco the Fire Breather!” he bellowed.
The audience applauded as Paco ran out, waving his glistening arms to the crowd.
“The Flying Córdovas—the only family to perform triple somersaults on a single tightrope.”
The trapeze artists ran out. Two of the siblings still limped from their run-in with Estefan.
Ángel listed the three other performers—Benicio the Bear Trainer, David the Knife Thrower, and Nicola the Escape Artist—but Esmeralda hardly paid them any attention. Everything in her body had gone numb and fuzzy. Her pulse pounded in her ears. Her fingers tingled with anticipation.
You can’t do this, a sour voice in her mind said.You will fail. You aren’t good enough. You aren’t worthy enough to move to the final challenge. And then you’ll be thrown out and left to the wolves.
“Hey,” Ignacio said calmly. Her head shot up. “I’ve got you.Yougot you too.”
“Allow me to introduce to the Big Top for the very first time, La Paloma Blanca and her starry-eyed companion, Paloma Amor!”
The crowd went wild. That was her cue, but her knees wouldn’t move. She thought she might be sick. Ignacio took her hand in his and squeezed it tight. The act nearly brought her to tears. He’d done that sometimes when they sat on his rooftop. Whenever her thoughts would roam to her family and the scars they’d left on her heart.
He sneered. “The ringmaster just called me your love dove.”
Esmeralda snorted, and her tension eased a bit.
“Come on.” He tugged her out of the backstage area. “I believe in you, Dovie.”
