Page 45 of Cartel Rose (Jorge)

“True, but what I’m saying is also true. He came to help me, no questions asked. He’s been kind to all three of us, and right now, he’s the best suited person to help us.”

“You keep deflecting and moving away from talking about your feelings. There’s something between the two of you.”

“Maybe—possibly—I don’t know—I guess.” I’m conflicted.

“Have you kissed him?”

“No. I told you, I will never cheat on Bastian.”

“I know, but sometimes the heat of the moment?—”

“Absolutely not. You know me, Heidi. You know no heat of the moment would make me forget Bastian or my commitment to him.”

“All right then, do you want to kiss him?”

I look away as I nod. “Maybe all of this is just heightened emotions from this situation. I’m confused, and I’m looking for someone to save us.”

“Maybe so, but did you want to kiss him before all of this happened, when you were just meeting with him as a potential client?”

“Well, yes.”

I feel so guilty admitting that. I hate it because it makes me sound like a horrible girlfriend, and it makes me sound so unprofessional, but it’s true.

“You know you could’ve called Bastian and had him come here too. He would obviously take off work for this.”

“I know that.”

“You know I didn’t put up as much of a fight about calling Friedrich as I could have because I didn’t want to make it more difficult for you with Bastian. But I can’t keep this from Friedrich beyond tomorrow morning. He’ll expect me home.”

“I know, and that means I have to tell Bastian. He can’t hear this from Friedrich or from you.”

Heidi shoots me a rueful expression before she admits the obvious. “You know they’re both going to be livid that we didn’t tell them right away.”

“I know. Do you think Friedrich will understand if I say I asked you not to?”

“Hardly. It still means I chose you over him. That’s not exactly what’s supposed to happen in a relationship when we’ve been talking about getting married.”

“Oh, Heidi, I’m sorry. I know you guys have been thinking about it, but are you really getting that much closer to him proposing?”

“Yes, I even considered proposing to him.”

“I may risk my relationship, but I don’t want to risk yours,Schwesterlein.” I feel horrible now.

“Should we call our boyfriends after all?”

“No, not yet. I think it’s plausible to say we didn’t because we wanted to lessen the danger to more people.”

“It truly can’t go on beyond tomorrow morning, Anne.”

“I agree.”

“What’re you going to do about your feelings?”

“It’s too soon for me to tell. I can’t make a reasonable decision about anything right now, but I can’t help but wonder about this. I’ve met other handsome men since Bastian and I got together, and I didn’t have this kind of reaction to them. I didn’t even really have this strong a reaction to him when I met him. It’s just visceral. It’s like Jorge’s a magnet to me.”

Heidi offers me a sympathetic smile. “I get that.”

“I can’t help but wonder, if I can have any type of feelings for someone else, is there something broken in my relationship that was invisible until now? Or did this cause a crack?”