Island Affair (Keys to Love #1) - Priscilla Oliveras Page 0,51

dangerous fire here.

But her feet refused to listen. Her body, relishing the rush of emotions, urged her to fan the flames higher. With his back to the well-lit patio bar, his angular features fell into shadow, his eyes pools of deep mahogany, rich with intensity.

“You really know how to show a girl a good time on the dance floor,” she murmured, hoping to lighten the mood before she combusted in his arms.

His right palm slid down her lower back to cradle her butt. “That’s not the only place, cari?o.”

Sara melted into him. Far too eager to investigate the “places” where he excelled.

Someone roughly bumped into Luis, jarring them aside.

“That’s my little sister you’re manhandling, bud. You better watch it!” Jonathan’s teasing leer lightened his threat.

His interruption pulled Sara out of her lust-induced stupor, and she realized the crowd had dissipated.

“Leave them alone,” Carolyn chided. She shot Sara an I’m sorry grimace as she pulled Jonathan back to their table.

Luis’s hands roamed up Sara’s spine, settling in a more public-appropriate spot, her shoulders.

Sara dropped her forehead to his chest, embarrassed by her brother’s antics.

“All my life I missed having a big brother around. Lately, I’m realizing how obnoxious big-brother teasing can actually be.”

She felt Luis’s chuckle rumbling through him.

“That’s nothing,” he said. “Wait till you see my brothers, sister, and me go at each other.”

The unexpected—unwise—thrill she experienced at the thought of meeting Luis’s familia signaled the folly of her behavior. Abruptly Sara stepped back, out of his arms. Putting the physical distance she should have been keeping between them.

“I’m sorry I won’t get to see that.”

Luis tilted his head in confusion, then understanding dawned in his dark eyes. “Yeah, me too. But it’s better not to muddy the water with more lies.”

Muddy the water.

His words hung in the humid air between them as they stared at each other. Bar patrons and tourists strolling by, the canned music playing over the speakers, the skateboarder cruising the sidewalk on the street behind them . . . everything faded into the background as Sara stared up at Luis.

What if it wasn’t lies? What if this could be the start of something special? Something—”

Stop it!

She pulled the mental emergency brake on her careening thoughts.

Holy crap! How had she let this happen?

Somehow, her simple plan to hire a fake boyfriend had turned into something bigger. Something scarier. Especially for a woman with a terrible dating track record and an unhealthy need to prove herself worthy.

In short, a woman who had no business falling for a sexy firefighter with a savior complex and his own secret family issue, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

Not that she was having any luck stopping that from happening.

Chapter 10

“Mami, por favor, I’m fine.” Luis wrapped his arms around his mother’s plump figure, giving her a tight hug as she rinsed out the moka pot from their café con leche Saturday morning.

It wasn’t lost on him that Sara had said the same words to her family and him last night at dinner. But this was different.

Sara had been, maybe still was, dealing with some mystery health issue that had them all worried. Perhaps with good reason. He needed to find out for sure.

He, on the other hand, really was fine.

“I worry about you,” his mami said. “All of you. Have you talked to your sister and brothers today?”

Translation, had he talked to his younger brother. Tried to make amends. Something she prayed for every day.

Anger and disillusion slithered through Luis’s chest, a two-headed viper he couldn’t seem to slay.

Why should he be expected to extend the olive branch?

Enrique was the one who had lied. Withheld the fact that Luis’s fiancée had propositioned him during a group beach party at Bahia Honda. Or that he and Mirna had hooked up once in Miami. Supposedly before Enrique knew Mirna and Luis were an item. Convenient excuse.

That made Enrique the one with a problem. Along with Mirna, who had only confessed her unfaithfulness as she lay in a hospital bed barely clinging to life. After fighting with Enrique at the beach party, she’d made the ill-fated decision to get behind the wheel intoxicated. Luis’s brother had done nothing to stop her.

Another strike against him.

“Your silence answers my question about your younger brother. As for you, I know my son. Fine? Por favor, no me mientas,” his mami scolded.

“I’m not lying.” Hunching over, Luis propped his chin on top of her head, dodging the tight bun that held her shoulder-length hair out of her round