clarified. “I need you to grow up, Francisco. If I’m going to hand you any responsibility, if I’m going to make you part of ruling this country, I need you to grow up and act like an adult. I wasn’t kidding about you finding a wife. Or me finding one for you.”
Ah. In that moment, I saw the ax that had been hanging over my head reappear. And it was even sharper than it had been—because now I knew that I had something more to lose than just my freedom.
“You’re still set on me being married,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
He took a step backward. “I am. And that’s nonnegotiable.”
Right. Well then, here I went.
“And what if I told you that I’ve found the girl I want to marry?” I asked. “I’ve found the girl I love, and she’s pregnant, and I will have a family. I will settle down. But I’ll do it my way.”
Javier narrowed his eyes. “I would say that you’re pulling my leg just to get me to back off on the marriage issue, frankly. I wouldn’t believe a word of it.”
I just smiled at him. “Then I guess I’ll have to prove you wrong.”
I picked up my bag and brushed past him, not waiting for his response. Because he didn’t believe me, and that was fine. It meant he wasn’t going to help—but also that he wasn’t going to get in the way. I hoped. Because I had a girl to go get. And this time, for the second time in my life, I was positive that my path forward was the right one.
But Javier, it seemed, wasn’t finished with me yet.
“What makes you think she’ll agree to any of that?” he asked, his voice just loud enough for me to hear it over the still-running engine of the plane.
I turned around and gave him a grin that I could feel was taunting.
“She loves me. I was with her when the cops pulled me out of the US. I was talking with her about how we were going to make a life together. You might not believe she exists. You might not believe that we love each other. But that doesn’t make it any less true.”
I turned and walked away, wondering how quickly I could find Isabelle—and how quickly she could arrange for Erika to get on a plane to Tarana.
Chapter 24
Erika
The next morning, I got up as early as I could—which was surprisingly early, considering I hadn’t been working nights since last week—and admired the view of the sunrise from the windows in my apartment.
It was something I’d seen more of over the last three days than I had in the last year, and I was becoming more and more convinced that I had to find a way to get myself back to what I now thought of as normal-people time, just to be able to enjoy the sunrise from a civilized position rather than on the walk home from the bar, covered in booze and exhausted from another night of slinging drinks and supporting people on their way to the bathroom.
Looking out at the sunrise with a cup of coffee in my hand (decaf, due to the new bun in the oven) was absolute heaven.
Of course in Heaven, it’s a bigger window than mine. In a larger apartment—or even a house. With a better view that doesn’t include other buildings getting in the way of that sunrise. But my point stands. Sunrise with coffee is about the best view around.
Also, while I was building that fantasy, I added a gorgeous man sleeping in the bed, just waiting for me to crawl back in and wake him up. Because as long as we were talking fantasies…
The thought of a man in my bed made me jump, and I remembered why I was up so early. Francisco. He’d been sent home, and I was on a self-assigned mission to go after him and save the day.
Or, if not save it, at least get into the same time zone as the guy so we could figure out what we were going to do on a more permanent basis. Because I was getting pretty freaking sick of this whole deal where I only had him for three days at a time, and then lost him to the cops—and a flight right back to Tarana.
The problem was, I wasn’t completely sure what I could do about it. Not yet. But I knew where to start, and that