Page 78

“Feeling any better?” I asked.

She slid one eye open and glared at me. “Did you bring wine?” she mumbled.

“I got you something better,” I said, holding out a cocktail glass. “Here.”

She struggled to sit up, obviously dizzy, and reached out for the glass.

“You made me sangria?” she whined, and I chuckled, wondering why the hell it hurt so much to see her this way.

“If it was bad enough that you don’t wanna talk,” I said, sitting down on the sofa beside her, “then you can’t just drink some boring wine.”

“You’re the best.” She giggled, taking a long sip and groaning in pleasure. “This reminds me of the time my sister and I broke into my dad’s stash and got drunk on cachaça.”

“How old were you?” I humored her. Judging by the flush in her cheeks and the droop of her eyelids, she had another solid hour of consciousness before the wine put her in a mini coma.

The least I could do was be there for her. With her.

“I was already in my teens.” She giggled, covering her mouth with her free hand. “But my sister was still a kid. And when Mom walked in after work and caught us fighting over the bottle, I thought we’d both see God that day.”

I threw my head back, genuine laughter filling the hotel room.

All day, I’d been so worried that I’d shattered the precious relationship that Mia and I had built. Years of trust swirled down the drain all because I couldn’t keep my feelings professional. As she drained the last of her sangria and lay her head in my lap, the tension in my shoulders eased. But the ache in my chest only grew.

Chapter 25

O Que Você Disse?!

MIA

“Whydoyougetto drive?” Reid asked, the outrage as plain as daylight on her face.

My brows raised in disbelief, my fingers curled around the keys. We needed to get across town for our next meeting and our usual car was stuck an hour away in traffic.

The solution was renting a car. That I would drive, obviously.

“Because I’m the one with the valid foreigner’s driving license?” I said, my voice bordering on amusement. “And you hate driving.”

“I don’thatedriving,” Reid muttered, getting into the passenger side of the car with a scowl. I got into the driver’s side and shut the door. “I just hate that there are other people on the road as well.”

“Which is why I’ll be the one driving.” I chuckled, pressing the ignition. “Especially in Rio. New York has nothing on Rio’s traffic.”

The car rumbled to life around us, and I pulled into traffic.

“I find that hard to believe,” Reid said, continuing our conversation. “You’ve lived there for six years. I doubt that there’s anywhere as obnoxious as New York.”

“I wouldn’t say that Rio is obnoxious.” I smiled. “There are so many cars, and very little space. So it makes traveling a little unpleasant.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Reid shrug, scrolling through her phone.

We didn’t speak for a while, and even though it was common enough that the silence felt just as comfortable as the alternative, it meant my thoughts were allowed to stray.

Specifically to Donnie and his threats.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out how the hell he’d found me, let alone how he’d never really lost track of me. Even after years in a different country, he hadn’t let go. The fact that he’d found me so easily, and managed to do so when I was alone and unaware, terrified me more than anything else.

Though, not more than the possibility of him outing me to Reid. Or anyone else for that matter. All that time I’d spent doing my absolute best to put my past behind me, all the tears shed and hard work, unraveled in an instant.

I glanced at Reid, jumping a little when I found her already looking at me.