Page 129 of No Merciful Corruption

She tugs on my belt.

“I’m definitely consenting to that.”

I can hear the way she tries to stifle her laughter but can’t. “Watch your step.”

I follow the insistent pull at my waist and take a sidestep before coming to a stop when she presses a hand against my chest.

“Okay, here.”

“Can I open my eyes yet?”

“Stop being so impatient! Let me open the door first.”

“This is becoming more interesting by the minute.”

She touches my waist again to urge me over the threshold. I feel her hands wrap around my bicep as she brings me further into the room, the sound of our shoes clicking against hard wood floors echoing and bouncing around us. Dahlia takes a few steps back and waits a beat.

“Okay. Open!”

I’m not sure what to expect but curiosity gets the better of me. I open my eyes and survey the empty guestroom. Only one is furnished and it’s across the hall. Lyss sleeps there whenever she visits.

“Tada!” she throws her arms up, expression exuberant.

I smile in return. “It looks…great.”

A coy smirk tugs at the corners of her mouth. “Do you like it?”

“Mhm…” I take a slow turn on my heels as I take in the room’s appearance—in the darkness, no less. The only light in here is coming from the streetlights outside the window and the last remnants of this evening’s sunset. “Se ve muy bien.”

Dahlia’s always fixing something. Floors, windowsills, antique doorknobs, faded mural wallpaper, tilework. The problem is figuring out what she restored this time. Could it be the ceiling? Or maybe the crown molding? No, she’d have turned all the lights on if that was the case otherwise how would I notice?

Diego mentioned something about a drill earlier…

I take a look at the door we walked through. Something is always changing in this house so I tend not to pay much attention to the details but I specifically remember a door in this hall making an awful creaking noise when it opened. Could it have been this one?

“The door,” I declare with a confidence I don’t feel. “It looks great.”

“Doesn’t it? I replaced the hinges today. Finally got rid of the horrible sound it made every time it opened.”

“Thank God…” I rush out in relief. Dahlia lifts a brow. “I mean, thank God you did! The noise was horrible.”

She holds her hands behind her back. The smile never leaves her face. “And everything else?”

Dios santísimo, there’s more.

“Claro, mi amor. The, uh, floors. They look great.”

“Mm.” She hums.

“And the walls are such a nice color. It feels very antique.”

“Really?” she frowns and presses a finger against her lips, deep in thought. “I was thinking of changing it.”

“Lo que decidas será perfecto.” I cradle her face between my palms and press a kiss against her lips. “Like everything else you’ve done.”

“No, no. I don’t like this color. It isn’t a very happy color for what I intend to do here.”

“And what would that be?”