“I have to deal with some things, but I’ll be back by dawn.”
She eyed the jacket he’d tossed on the piano bench nearby. Thinking about her cell phone and the car keys that were probably in one of the pockets, she set her cup down and took a casual step in that direction. She could continue to argue with him and get nowhere, or she could take matters into her own hands.
“Well, that’s comforting to know,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to be taken against my will by my ex-boyfriend and spend the night alone in a creaky old mansion out in the middle of nowhere. Fun times. You really know how to make a girl’s dreams come true.”
His jaw remained set and rigid. “I’m…sorry, Selena. If there were another way, I’d have done it.”
She was tempted to stomp her foot and throw this tea cup at his head. She’d never been more frustrated in her entire life. “You keep saying that. Another way for what? You can’t keep me in the dark forever, Mateo.”
His hard expression faltered, and she glimpsed a sudden sadness behind his eyes before he turned away. He still wasn’t going to tell her.
Sneezing a few times, she had an idea. “Can you open the doors to the balcony again? I think all this dust is getting to me.”
“Of course.”
She waited until he reached for the door handles before making her move. With her eyes on his broad back, she stepped closer to the piano bench. As he opened the doors, she slipped her hand into one of the pockets. Bingo. His keys. She wrapped her fingers around them and withdrew them slowly so they wouldn’t make a sound. She hesitated and thought about searching the pockets for her phone, then changed her mind. She probably couldn’t get a signal up here anyway.
Assessing the distance to the front door, she guessed it had to be twenty or thirty feet away. Inching backward, she noted that she’d have to get through both the sitting room and the entryway. Could she make it there before he noticed? There was a baby grand piano and two sofas between them, so it was possible. Once she got to the front door, could she then make it to the car? In high school, she’d been on the track team and had broken several sprinting records that stood to this day, so she knew she was fast. Or at least, she used to be.
She took a step backward, not taking her eyes from his back. And then another. But because she wasn’t looking where she was going, her calf bumped hard against the corner of the coffee table, jostling her cup and saucer, sending tea everywhere. Dang it. When she looked up, Mateo wasn’t near the open doors to the terrace anymore. He was gone.
What the—
“Going somewhere?”
She spun around and gasped. Mateo stood by the front door like a rigid sentry, his arms crossed over his chest. She blinked a few times, confused. He couldn’t possibly know that she’d taken his keys, but clearly, he did. She glanced over her shoulder at the piano and the sofas in the sitting room, then back at Mateo. How did he get over there so fast? How had she not seen him?
Her cheeks burned from embarrassment at being caught red-handed. It was worth the try though. She headed toward the cool air blowing in from the French doors and heard Mateo’s loud boot steps behind her. But when she stepped onto the balcony, she got another idea. Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew the keys.
“What are you doing, Selena?” Anger dripped off each word. “Give those to me.”
“You’re going to tell me what the heck is going on or I’m dropping them over the edge.”
“Damn it, Selena,” he said through clenched teeth. “I would…but I can’t.”
She didn’t believe him. “Really? Is that so?”
She put a hand on the rail and that’s when she heard a loud crack. Suddenly the railing was gone, and her body pitched backward. She scrambled to regain her balance, but it was no use.
She lost her footing on the slick surface and screamed as she fell into the blackness.
They say your life flashes before your eyes as you’re dying, but that wasn’t exactly true. All Selena could think about were the things she’d never get a chance to experience in the future, not the things she’d already done. She’d never get a chance to see her father eat lemon cake from her mother’s lost recipe. She’d never cater a wedding—hers or anyone else’s. She’d never hear the sound of her own child’s laughter. She’d never grow old with the man she loved.
Suddenly, something strong and warm gripped her torso. The wind rushing past her ears stopped as her downward momentum came to a halt. She couldn’t have been falling for more than a second or two, but it had felt like an eternity.
“I’ve got you, babe. I’ve got you.”
“Mateo?” she croaked, hanging onto him for dear life. She opened her eyes a crack and saw that they were clinging to the side of the cliff.
“Shh shh shh. I’ve got you,” he kept saying, making her think she must be crying.
With the ease of a powerful swimmer cutting through the water, Mateo climbed up the side of the cliff face, left arm around her body like a vise, right arm and both legs propelling them upward. When they got to the top, he collapsed to the ground with her. She must’ve been in shock, because all she could do was hold onto him, her lips pressed against his neck, breathing in his musky male scent.
“What…what just happened?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“That fucking rail. I should never have let you go onto the terrace before checking things out first.” Rocking her gently, he stroked her hair over and over, as if trying to convince himself that she was fine.
And she was. Here in his arms, she felt as if she was truly safe for the first time in ages.
