Redeemed (Dirty Air 4)

Can I make him do it again? I’ve always dreamed of having a superpower.

Marko stirs in Noah’s arms.

Maya brushes his head with a tenderness I’m unaccustomed to seeing. “We’d love to have breakfast with you before we leave tomorrow. I can’t believe Santiago has kept you a secret for this long. I need to know everything about you. He hasn’t had a girlfriend since he was a teenager.”

I’m eating up all these clues about Santiago like discounted candy after Halloween.

“Oh. Chloe can’t have breakfast with us since she has to visit her friend.” Santiago speaks for me.

Right. My friend. AKA the father I traveled thousands of miles for but haven’t gotten the courage to meet yet.

Maya’s smile drops.

Noah’s eyes move from his wife’s face to mine. “I insist you join us. I’m sure your friend wouldn’t mind rescheduling.”

“Well…” I bite my bottom lip.

“We don’t visit often,” Noah says.

“More like ever,” Maya mumbles under her breath.

Shoot. “Umm…”

Santiago’s arms tighten around me in a way that says don’t confess our lie or else I’ll kill you. At least, that’s what I assume from the way his body tenses behind me. I go along with it because I honestly wouldn’t put it past him to have a graveyard somewhere on this property.

“Sure. I can just meet up with my friend later,” I offer.

Maya’s face brightens again. She forces Santiago to let me go and wraps her arms around me in a hug. “I’m beyond excited to spend some time with you! I didn’t realize Santiago was creating a life over here.”

I freeze, unused to this kind of affection from someone I barely know. Actually, I’m unaccustomed to this affection from people I do know. She releases me after one last squeeze.

She and Noah say good night and retreat upstairs with Marko.

I wait for them to disappear before I turn and stare Santiago down. “Girlfriend?!” I whisper-shout.

He shrugs. “It was the best thing I could come up with under pressure. It sounded better than calling you my little criminal, or was I wrong?”

I want to ignore the possessiveness of his nickname for me. It shouldn’t get me all tingly in my chest, but here I am. Now is not the time to realize I’ve got a thing for killers and creeps. I want to blame binging too many episodes of Dexter at a young impressionable age, but there’s no use denying the pull I have toward Santiago.

I clear my throat, recovering. “Of course that’s better. But now I need to have breakfast with your family and pretend I know who the hell you are.”

He rolls his eyes. “You can stop pretending. The innocent act was cute in front of them, but you can give it up now.”

“I’m sorry, what? An innocent act? You’re the one who’s acting, forcing me into pretending I recognize some Hollywood actor and his wife. It’s not like I’m exactly the type to flip through People Magazine, seeing as I have to work all the time.”

Santiago’s eyebrows draw together. “Hollywood actor?”

“Yes. Noah. The guy we ‘watch on TV together.’” I offer with air quotes. “I’ve never seen that man on any show before. So, is he a D-list actor or something?”

Santiago’s frown turns into a smug smile. “Or something like that.”

The way his eyes glow with something unknown has me bristling. “You’re up to something.”

“That’s funny coming from the woman who broke into my house.”

I can’t stop the laugh that bubbles out of me. It’s hard to remain serious based on the ridiculousness of our situation. Seriously. What the hell has my life become? Here I am arguing with a man I met less than a day ago about a fake relationship.

Santiago stares at me with such intensity, my stomach muscles clench. “Well, you better get some rest before breakfast tomorrow.” He opens the front door for me.