Page 119 of Vicious Temptation

“Yeah, I know him.”

The answer seems to ease some of the tension in Amalia, but only slightly.

“Thiago, this is my mother, Amalia.”

I give her a polite nod, maintaining the pretense that her name means nothing to me. “Nice to officially meet you.”

“Likewise.” She still doesn’t sound convinced.

My attention returns to Remi, and now that I’m looking at her closely, I can see what I missed at first. Her makeup does a decent job of hiding it, but not quite enough. Her eyes are pink around the edges, her lashes slightly clumped, and there’s a faint puffiness beneath them.

She’s been crying.

Remi usually meets me head-on, ready with a smart-ass comment before I can get one out myself, but she’s barely said two words since she walked into the hall.

I don’t like it.

Not one fucking bit.

As if she can tell I’m two seconds away from reaching for her myself, Remi closes the distance between us and slips her hand into mine.

I wrap my fingers around hers without thinking.

“Mamá, give us a minute.”

Amalia looks down at our joined hands before turning that same guarded stare on me. Whatever she sees doesn’t make her any happier about leaving us alone, but after a moment, she looks at Remi.

“I’ll be downstairs.”

Her eyes come back to me one last time before she walks away, and I wait until she disappears before turning my full attention to Remi.

“What are you doing here?” she asks again.

“I told you. I just⁠—”

“Yeah, I got that. But you can’t just show up. That’s not what this is. Now I have to play twenty-one questions, and I’m really not in the mood for it.”

She tries to pull her hand from mine, but I tighten my hold enough to stop her.

“Something’s wrong.”

She looks away and sighs. “No. There’s nothing wrong other than you showing up here unannounced.”

“Remi.” I draw her closer, relieved when she lets me. “Tell me. Did someone say something to you?” Another possibility occurs to me. “Did someone hurt you?”

“No.” She answers as if the question itself offends her. Remi would probably bleed out before admitting she needed someone to take care of her, but the red around her eyes and the exhaustion on her face tell me she could use it right now.

I gently tilt her chin. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t.”

“I clocked three employees downstairs, plus your mom, and only six customers. Trust me, you can.”

She chews on her lip, considering it.

“You don’t want to be here.” My thumb traces the line of her jaw. “And you definitely don’t want to spend the rest of the evening explaining to your mom why this huge motherfucker came looking for her daughter.”

She cracks a smile, and some of the worry in my chest eases as she fists the front of my shirt and shakes her head.