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“Aren't you divorced? You already got away.”
“Tell that to the psycho who crashed my date tonight.”
Touché.
“It’s annoying because if he’d shown me this much attention during our marriage, I would’ve never left. But the problem was he showed this much attention to people who weren’t me.”
I arched an eyebrow. “He cheated on you?”
“And cheated and cheated and…cheated.”
I grimaced. “I know what that’s like.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at me. “You too?”
“Yup.”
“Is that why you’re so hard?”
“You think I’m hard, Goldie?”
“Like a diamond.”
I shrugged. “It’s one of the reasons.”
“How many reasons do you have?”
“More than I could count.”
She frowned and somehow seeing her sad made it hard for me to take my next breath. “I’m sorry that life has hardened you, Alex.”
“It’s okay.”
“No,” she disagreed. “It’s not.”
She was right. It wasn’t. Still, it was my reality.
She paused her steps and tilted her head to study me. “What was her name?”
“Her name?”
“The one who cheated.”
I hesitated for a moment as I moved forward with my steps. She floated with me as her arm was still looped with mine. “You’re too tipsy for this conversation.”
“I’ll sober up for it,” she replied.
“Why do you care?”
“Because Tatiana is convinced you and me are supposed to be friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yup. During my third glass of sangria, she came over and told me that you want to be my friend.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “It is so.”
“But do you want to be friends with me?”
“Of course I want to be friends with you.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve been mean to you.”
She shrugged. “You apologized, and since you’ve apologized, you’ve been quite nice since then.”
I leaned toward her and whispered, “That’s the sangria.”
She leaned in closer. “No. That’s just your true self slipping out. If Tatiana says you’re nice, then you’re nice.”
“You trust her that much?”
“I do. She was my mama’s best friend. I’d trust Tatiana with anything. Though one thing did throw me off that she told me about you.”
“And what’s that?”
She swayed from side to side as she took her steps, with me still holding her. “That you have a crush on me.”
“What?” I coughed out, shaken by the realization.
“I know.” She nodded. “I thought it was far-fetched, too.” She gazed at me. “But it’s not outlandish. I’d have a crush on me, too, if I were you.”
“Oh?”
“I’m a good thing, Alex.”
Why did I feel as if that wasn’t a lie? For the next ten minutes, Yara talked and talked and talked. She yapped on and on about any and everything. She talked about dogs, flowers, penguin waddles, Cole’s cruelty, global warming, and Ritz crackers with cream cheese.
“I’m just saying, you should add that to your tapas list. It would pair great with your balls,” she said.
“I’ll consider it,” I said when we approached the apartment building. As we walked inside, I held the door open for her and walked her to the elevator. We went straight to her floor, even though she told me she could make it to her apartment. There was no way I was not going to not make sure she entered said apartment safely, though. I told Tatiana I’d get her home in one piece, and that meant watching her close the door in my face and hearing her turn the bolt lock.
Unfortunately, the moment we reached Yara’s door, she paused. She patted her sides. She patted her chest. She patted her ass. She then turned to me and pouted. “Keys.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You don’t have your keys?”
She patted her body all over once more, then shook her head. “I don’t have my keys.”
“Where’s your purse?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know.” A long, exhausted yawn fell from her lips. “I left it at your restaurant maybe. I’ll go get it.”
She turned in my clown shoes and started for the elevator. I reached out and grabbed her arm. “No. We’ll get it in the morning. You can stay at my place tonight.”
Yara’s face grew flush and she dramatically placed her hands on her hips. “Are you trying to get lucky tonight, Alex? Because I’m not an easy girl.”
“Don’t worry. That’s the last thing on my mind.”
She pouted once more. “The last thing?”
I smiled a little. “Maybe not the last thing, Goldie.”
Her high cheeks rose higher as she grew bashful. I liked that about her. I appreciated it when she got shy. It was one of the cutest things she did. And she did a lot of cute crap.
Fuck me. Why was I noticing her cute stuff?
“Besides”—I stepped closer to her and smirked as I leaned in toward her ear—“I don’t like easy women. I like the complex ones.”
“Oh my goodness,” she whispered through her slightly parted, plump lips. She playfully shoved my chest. “You totally have a crush on me!”
I stood straight and smoothed my hands over my chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
