Love in Bloom (De La Fuente Family 3)

She sighed as someone pounded on her front door.

Ignore it.

They pounded again. “Erin?”

She frowned, recognizing the voice.

“It’s Diego. Please talk to me,” he shouted through the door.

What did he want?

Only one way to find out.

Clambering to her feet from the sofa, she pulled the door open and stepped back.

“Hey, gorgeous,” Diego wrapped his arms around her and walked her back into the apartment.

“What are you doing at my door?” He’d surprised her, when she’d expected Mateo to come after her, but his silence spoke volumes. It had been thr

ee days since she’d found him in bed with Allie.

“I’m here because my brother’s an ass and he’s worried about you.”

“Oh, really.” She raised a brow, daring him to contradict her.

“Look, he was completely set up and I’ll explain all that in a minute.” Diego took in her apartment and focused on the image on her laptop. “Please don’t look at that shit. It’s all bullshit.”

“Talk to me then. Tell me what’s going on and why Mateo isn’t here himself.”

“He’s being stubborn, so I’m here instead,” Diego answered, looking uneasy.

“How’s he being stubborn?” She dropped down on to the sofa and watched as Diego sat across from her.

He relaxed back, his ankle over his opposite knee, hands behind his head. “You’re not going to like my answer.”

“Just tell me.”

“Erin, he’s been really sick.”

She sat up. “What?”

“I figured it was going to be easier to just blurt it out so I did. He was really sick when we found him so Kasey took him to the hospital.”

“Oh God!” She jumped up, searching for her purse.

“Sit and listen to me.”

Her eyes shot to Diego’s who’d gone from joking to serious. So she dropped back to the chair.

“Thank you. I need you to listen to me before getting annoyed if that’s what you want to do.”

She nodded.

“That night at the club, when he spotted Allie, he was like that for a reason. He wouldn’t have bothered with her but she was with a guy called Derek who has always had a hate relationship with Mateo. Basically Mateo got picked as a rookie and he didn’t. Derek also has a bad rep with women. He doesn’t treat them right. That was why he went to rescue Allie, or rather that was his intention.”

“He wouldn’t tell me what was going on.”

“I know, he told me when we went to his apartment and found him sick. Turns out they drugged him and walked him out of the club…Nothing happened with Allie. He realized it wasn’t you, which was when he woke up.”