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I frown, wanting to believe him, but forgetting is too hard. “Why couldn’t you come?”
“I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
“If I already know, then just tell me again.”
He sighs. “You’re not ready to hear it. I wish you’d just remember, because it would be so much easier.”
“Whatever.” I stand and make to move away, but he follows me and grasps my wrist. “I did come for you, Sonia. When I finally could, I came for you. But you’d already married Diego Arcos and it gutted me.”
The revelation has me gasping. “You came? Why didn’t you tell me?!” I demand, angrier now than I was before.
His jaw works furiously as he peers at me. “Because I watched you and you were happy. I loved you too much to destroy your life again.”
“It wasn’t up to you to make that decision,” I say resentfully, because I wasn’t happy. I was completely and utterly heartbroken. “Instead, you screwed up by leaving again. You didn’t even bother to fight for me. Might as well have handed me to Diego with a bow on my head.”
Santos tugs me hard until I’m pressed against him. I try to push away, but he keeps me in place, his eyes boring into me. “Get one fucking thing straight, Sonia. I didn’t hand you to anyone. I don’t give away what belongs to me. At the time, you weren’t mine yet. But now…” He cups my chin, bringing my face to his. When he drops his gaze to my lips, I lick them as his breath fans across them. “Now you are, and I’ll be damned if I ever let another man touch you.”
Every cell in my body burns white-hot at his declaration, even though it should actually infuriate me. But I like it.
I push away from him before I end up kissing him and begging him to fuck me right here and now. “So you told me all this and I fell for you again?”
“Not exactly. It took some coaxing. But you eventually saw the light,” he says, his grin returning. “And after I made passionate love to you right there, I asked you to marry me.”
Turning to where he’s pointing, I try desperately to dredge up some memory of it. “Will you tell me how?”
“Will you believe me if I do?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “But I’ll try.”
He chuckles. “Fair enough. I’ll tell you on the way back.”
“Do we need to go so soon?” I glance around my newfound haven.
“Unfortunately. I have a meeting this evening.”
“Then why did you bring me here? It was just a tease.” I cross my arms across my chest and practically pout.
He cocks his head as he trails his fingertips over my cheek ever so softly, yet I feel it deeply. “I wanted you to have somewhere to run to. It’s far from the house but still in the center of land that’s guarded. You’ll be safe here.”
Though it sounds more like a warning not to attempt to flee, I don’t say anything about it. “All right.”
Santos chuckles. “You can come back tomorrow.”
He unties the horses and assists me onto Nieves. When we’ve begun our ride home at a trot, he moves closer. “We’d just come from a ride like this.”
“What?” I ask, confused about what he’s talking about.
“The day I proposed,” he says, circling back to the conversation he started earlier. “I took you to the stream with a dinner basket.”
“What was in it?”
“Your favorite. Steaktortaswith grilled jalapeños.”
I smile because it’s true. I lovetortas. “And then what?”
“You cracked a tooth because I stuck the ring in thetorta,and you know how you eat.”
“What?!” I run my tongue over every tooth, searching for a break but stop when I realize he’s laughing. “Can you take nothing serious?”
