The Spanish Love Deception

I buried my face in his neck as I kept murmuring into him, “I’m here. I’m here. I’m running toward you. I trust you. I love you,” hoping it wasn’t too late.

And he kept repeating my name. “Lina, baby. Lina, are you really here?” Hushed and broken, sounding like he still didn’t believe it was me in his arms. That it was me who had finally come to him like I should have done days ago.

No. Like I should have done an eternity ago.

Aaron walked backward, sitting back down as he held me in his arms. As I held him into mine. My body curled into his lap, and his palm cupped the nape of my neck.

“I’m so sorry, Aaron,” I breathed into the skin between his shoulder and the underside of his jaw. “For everything. For your dad and for not being here, by your side, earlier. How is he? Have you seen him?”

I felt his throat swallow against my temple.

“He’s …” Aaron shook his head. “I have seen him, but he’s been out of it all this time. I just …” He trailed off, sounding exhausted. Defeated. “Are you really here, baby?” he repeated, holding me tighter. “Or is this my imagination playing tricks on me? I haven’t slept in … I don’t know how many days. Two? Three?”

“I’m here. I’m right here.” I lifted my head and moved, so I could cup his face, take a good look at that face I had been so set on despising and now loved so much. “And I’m going to take care of you.”

His eyes fluttered closed, and I heard a strangled sound coming from his throat.

“I love you, Aaron. You shouldn’t be alone—ever. And I am the one meant to be with you. Here. Holding your hand.”

His eyes remained closed, his jaw pressed tightly.

“Let me do it. Let me prove to you that I trust you and that I can earn your trust back. That I am the one who’s supposed to be by your side right now and as long as you’ll let me.”

“You want to do that?”

“Yes,” I rushed out quickly. “Yes, yes. Of course I want to,” I repeated. “I need to,” I whispered, not trusting my voice. “Let me be here for you. Take care of you.”

His eyes opened, our gazes connecting. After a long moment, a pained chuckle rose to his lips. “You drive me so fucking crazy, Lina. I don’t think you understand.”

One of his hands latched on to my wrist as I still cupped his face desperately. I was ready to fight. I was ready to beg if it was necessary.

“You came all the way here. You …” He trailed off, disbelief crumpling his face. “How did you even find me?”

“I had to come to you.” My fingers trailed down the side of his neck, my palm settling against the warm skin. “I remembered everything you’d told me. About Seattle, your dad being somewhat known here. So, I Googled your last name, the university football team, the coaching staff. Then, I looked for a list of hospitals where he could have checked in. I knew you’d be here because you wouldn’t leave his side if he was in critical condition, like Sharon had told me. And you haven’t. You are here. It only took me a few tries. I would have turned the city upside down if I hadn’t found you. I wouldn’t have rested until getting to you.”

I finally allowed my lungs to take in a breath. And I found Aaron’s eyes shining with something that made my chest ache in a warm and wonderful way.

“I did call you, but it went straight to voice mail, and then I just … didn’t want to busy your head with anything else. And …” My voice lowered to a whisper. “And I did not want to give you a chance to tell me not to come. I was terrified you wouldn’t want me to. So, I didn’t call again. I just came to you instead.”

A shudder rocked Aaron’s body.

“You blow my goddamn mind, my rules, my world,” he breathed, those ocean-blue eyes capturing my gaze like they never had before. “When I least expect it, I find you ready to dynamite your way right into my heart. As if you hadn’t done that already.” The grip of his fingers on my wrist tightened, pulling me to him, and I could feel the soft air leaving his mouth, falling on my lips. “As if you hadn’t already dismantled me for anybody else. As if I wasn’t at your mercy.”

Hope, warm and soft hope, fell over my shoulders. “I have done all that?”

“You have, Lina.”

Aaron’s forehead fell on mine, and I had no choice but to close my eyes. To take it all and control this whirlwind of emotion threatening to turn me inside out.

“With every smile, you have done exactly that.” I felt his lips brushing over mine briefly, sending a shiver down my spine. “With every single time you have been infuriatingly stubborn and impossibly beautiful, all at once.” He placed a kiss on the corner of my eye. “With every time you have shown the world how incredibly strong you are, even when you don’t believe so yourself.” A kiss on the tip of my nose. “With all the ways your mind amazes and disturbs me in ways I’ll never understand and not ever tire of.” His lips landed on my cheekbone, flicking across the skin. “With how every single time you laugh, I want to throw you over my shoulder and run somewhere I can covet that sound just for myself.” A kiss was brushed on my jaw, his lips then sweeping along until reaching my ear. “And with every other unfathomable way you have made me completely yours.”

“Yours,” I repeated, my heart expanding in my chest. Lurching itself against my rib cage. Wanting out and into Aaron’s. “I’m yours too, Aaron. So completely yours. I have … fallen in love with you. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. I love you.” I didn’t recognize my own voice, not with the loud thumping in my ears. “I was so stupid to let you walk away. So, so dumb. But I got lost in my head. I was so scared, Aaron. I didn’t want to lose everything I had worked so hard for. To have people look at me like they had all those years ago. To lose you, too, when you realized that I was a complication.”

“You’d never be one.”

“I know that now, but I somehow convinced myself that letting you go was the best thing I could do to protect myself from that happening again.” I shook my head, pushing that dreadful emotion out of my chest. I’d tell Aaron about Sharon and the investigation on Gerald. But now wasn’t the time.

“I’m sorry for not being here for you like I should have.”