a paper taped to her desk.”
He cocked his head. In the distance but coming closer he heard excited chatter. Then Essie came into view, her cell phone glued to her ear. In her other hand she held a tray on which she balanced a plate of fruit, a glass of milk, a can of soda, and a bag of chips. The items slid like deck chairs on the Titanic as she bopped into the room.
Joaquin shot to his feet and rescued the ship before disaster struck.
His half-sister smiled at him. His heart flopped over.
“R.J. and Lulu can come over tomorrow, right?” she asked. “They want to see the house, and I told them they could.”
“Um…sure.”
“He says sure,” she repeated into her phone. “Bring stuff to stay the night, ′kay?”
Stay the night?
“Or stay a couple of days,” Essie trilled without a single glance in his direction. “It’s going to be so cool without any ′rents around!”
′Rents as in parents? Did the kids these days still use that term? And wait, was she putting together a teenage house party or something?
Panic clutched at his gut. This couldn’t be happening. He carefully set the tray on the dresser and crossed his arms over his chest. “Essie, we need to talk.”
She waved a little hand toward him. “After my bath,” she said, crossing toward the en suite, all the while still continuing her conversation, punctuated with gasps and giggles and an amazed, “No way!”
Frustrated, Joaquin frowned as he watched her begin to swing shut the door. Then, at the very last second, she shot him another grin.
Felipe’s grin.
At the click of the latch, he flopped back into the chair and held his head with his hands.
“What have I done?” he muttered.
Control was spiraling away from him at the exact time of year he needed to lock down on his emotions. He needed calm, not chaos…it was coming on the fifteenth anniversary, for fuck’s sake!
From the bathroom he heard Essie’s continuing conversation and the roar of water from a spout, confirming that what was supposed to be his private retreat for the month was definitely invaded by another female—the sister he didn’t know. Christ, how many ways could he screw up this situation?
Then the butler approached, distracting him. Thoughts of his half-sister fled as his fingertips recalled the silky heat of the bare skin at the small of her back. His mouth remembered her taste and the sweet glide of her tongue against his. For a moment he took a mini-vacation and lost himself in the memory and the beauty of her blue, blue eyes.
Sara cleared her throat. “I see your life’s a little more complicated now,” she said. “So tomorrow morning I’ll leave straightaway. That should simplify things.”
Gobsmacked, he stared up at her. “Are you kidding me?”
His expression must have communicated his bewilderment, because she cleared her throat again and made a vague gesture in the direction of the living room where the latest kissing had taken place.
“Well, it’s best…because…” She swallowed. “I’ll resign, you can let me go, whatever works.”
“Oh, no. Oh, hell no.” Getting to his feet, Joaquin glared down at the butler. Essie’s unexpected arrival wasn’t Sara’s fault, of course, but she could damn well take part in the handling of it. “You’re not going anywhere, my girl, not as long as I have a teenager in the house.”
“What are you doing here?” Charlie asked, letting Sara in the door that led from the beach into the Archer family’s sun room.
It was 8:30 on a weekday morning and with Wells at school, his father at work, and the nanny still absent, Sara had known her friend would be alone. So after making a pot of coffee and setting out a bowl of fruit and the bagels and cream cheese on the counter, she’d left Nueva Vida while the other occupants remained asleep.
“I went for a run,” Sara said.
Her friend’s eyebrows shot high. She knew Sara had never “run” a day in her life. She didn’t mind walking, hiking, or biking, enjoyed them all, actually, but the idea of rushing as a form of exercise seemed…unwise.
Incautious.
“Okay, I’m hiding,” Sara admitted.
She needed a breather at a neutral location where she could get her mind around the new situation. She’d needed the breather so badly, she had truly raced along the sand to have a consultation with one of her best friends.
Unflappable Charlie would make her feel better. She’d convince Sara that she could handle this development…and any forthcoming development that might crop up.
Her