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“Well, you’re going to be disappointed,” he taunted. “I bet I’m smarter than you think.”
“Then let’s put you to the test, shall we?”
I sat across from him, and I could tell the kid put more work and effort into impressing me than he usually did with his sister by the way she huffed, “A hundred and fifty-nine words in a minute?” Scowling over my shoulder to examine the sheet of paper Miguel had read from, she gaped incredulously. “Holy sh—cow. You’ve never read that fast before. Why can’t you read that many words a minute when you’re reading to me?”
I flickered her a cocky grin. “What can I say? We men do love challenging each other and proving we can obtain what we’re told we can’t.”
As she sent me a cold glare, her brother piped in, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, Gabby. You’re just a girl; you wouldn’t understand.”
“Is that so?” she murmured, her glare slicing even deeper into me for corrupting her brother.
I lifted my hands. “It’s a penis thing.”
While Miguel cracked up, laughing like a loon and thinking my answer was hilarious, Gabby muttered, “Oh, brother,” and rolled her eyes before turning away to gift me with the site of her delectable legs in that short uniform skirt as she returned to her cooking.
“They’re magical, I swear,” I went on, making the kid howl even louder. When she glared over her shoulder, I grinned. “What? Don’t you believe me? I’ll gladly demonstrate—”
“Shh,” she snapped, sending a meaningful glance toward Miguel, who seemed to think I was the funniest thing alive.
So I winked and mouthed the word, later.
With a defeated sigh, she went back to cooking, purposely ignoring me.
I watched her so long as she mixed the ground beef with a can of sauce that Miguel tapped my knee to remind me I was staring. When I frowned his way, he rolled his eyes before making kissy faces, letting me know he was well aware how much his sister fascinated me. I shoved his knee right back to shut him up before Gabby caught sight of what he was doing. But thankfully, she was too busy filling two plates with spaghetti to notice our short byplay.
After placing a serving in front of her brother, she glanced at me.
“I’m going to take this back to Papá, change out of this uniform, and then we can go, okay?”
Since Miguel had been no help in enlightening me as to who Papá was, I lifted my brows saying, “Papá?”
“My father,” she answered and left the room.
Father? For some reason, I hadn’t been expecting that answer. I’d been picturing an elderly grandparent figure.
Curious about this dad of hers, I stood and followed her from the kitchen. “So, your father lives here with you?”
She sent me an odd look over her shoulder. “Where else would he live?”
I shrugged. “Nowhere, I guess. I just didn’t realize he was in the picture. From the way you wanted to help your brother the other night, I thought you were his sole guardian and you two were parentless. You’d said your m
other was dead, so—”
Stopping abruptly, she spun around to gape at me. “When the hell did I tell you my mother was dead?”
I slowed before her. “She’s not?”
With a scowl, she groused, “No, she is, but when did I tell you that?” Her voice went hushed as she asked as if she didn’t want anyone else in the apartment to hear us.
I lifted my brows, curious about this. “The other night,” I explained. “When you were explaining your compulsion for cleaning carpets.”
“Shh.” Hissing, she slapped a hand over my mouth and glanced both ways down the hall before sending me a death glare. “Damn,” she whispered. “You really listen way too well sometimes. And could you please stop mentioning the other night.”
I leaned closer and gently removed her hand so I could whisper back, “So dear ol’ dad and innocent little brother aren’t aware of your thieving ways, huh?”
She scowled harder. “No,” she bit out from between clenched teeth. “They’re not. And please, let’s try to keep it that way.”
“Oh, never fear, my dear. I will keep your secret just between the two of us.”
