Page 81 of A Taste like Sin

guard.”

“Any more detours, Ms. Thorne?” Julio inquires as I meet him beside the car.

“Not at the moment,” I say while climbing into the back seat. I wait for him to reclaim the wheel

before I add, “But can I trust you to keep this little trip between us?”

Even more so now. Not because I don’t trust Damien with what little information I learned, but I don’t

think I can say it out loud and parse its meaning. Not now. I don’t even have the energy to flip through

the file he left for me, either; it’s still lying untouched on the seat.

“We might have an agreement,” Julio says, surprising me. “But in return, I will need a favor from

you.”

“Oh?” I bite my lip, curious about what someone seemingly so loyal could want in return for

deceiving his boss.

“You may have noticed that it is…easy to forget Mr. Villa’s physical limitations,” he says. “¿Sí?”

I nod. “He does seem fairly capable.”

“And in some ways, it is easy to forget that he is not invincible. Human. I think even he has forgotten

that at times.”

I picture the suave, confident artist and find myself agreeing.

“Being around you is good for him,” Julio admits. “He’s had several women he’s strung along—but

you are the only one who talks to him like he is a man. The only one who punishes him when he upsets

you and makes him seek your forgiveness. You challenge him, and I think he needs that more than

anything. Friction. Resistance. Challenge. It makes him remember how to interact.”

“Because he’s used to getting his way,” I surmise, recalling Chief Harrison’s not-so-subtle

insinuation.

“You see a different side of him,” he admits. “A side I’d almost forgotten existed. The other Mr.

Villa…” He makes a low sound in his throat and shakes his head. “Trust me, he is a man you have not

seen, and you do not want to.”

But maybe I have. A man who sent me oleander as a warning and broke into my apartment when he

assumed I’d insulted him by merely buying his painting.

“He can be dangerous,” I say thickly. “Can’t he?”

“Can’t we all?” He shrugs. “I like to think of him as not cruel, but transactional. So many people

demand so much of him…he’s come to see the world as a game, where he must be on his guard at all