Page 110 of The True Garza

One would think that, by now, I’d be used to getting whiplashes with him.Nope.

He gets out his phone and swipes around on the screen until “Electric Love” byBØRNSspills into the night air. He puts the phone on the table, then takes my hands and begins dancing, making me laugh.

“What’s wrong with you?” I ask through a giggle.

He whirls me around and flails my arms, until I have no choice but to dance along with him. A big grin on my face the whole time. Fingers laced together, we dance to not just the beat of the music, but of each other. My heart is so light and happy in this small moment. If only the song could go on forever, so we could live in it, in this rhythm, this beat. So he won’t ever stop looking at me like he is now. Like I’m the only woman in the world and nothing else exists or matters.

Alas, the song ends.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths, and I start to pull away. But he tugs me back, my body crashing to his, just as “Sweat” byZaynstarts playing.

“One more,” he says quietly, wrapping his arms around me.

And because I’mallhis, heart, mind, body and soul, I give in without a fight. Arms around his neck, face against his chest.

Even though he’s hard against my belly and the lyrics of the song aredrippingsex, I know it’s not what’s on his mind right now. He wants me. Just not in the exclusive, all-consuming, tragically heartbreaking way that I want him.

Of their own volition, my arms tighten around him.I’m going to miss you so much.

In return, he presses me even tighter to him. His hot breath caresses the shell of my ear as he whispers, “One more week, London. Please, give me this.”

Because I can’t deny it anymore, that Ineedthis extra week more than he does, on a resigned sigh, I reply, “Okay.”

CHAPTER Twenty-Seven

“Too bad all you’ve got is a mattress.”

Lonny

After we land, unwilling totake the risk of me changing my mind, True takes me straight to his place. Which leaves me no option but to call Brook and ask her to pack some things for me. As we’re discussing picking them up after work, True grabs the phone and tells her he’ll swing by for them tomorrow. Then he forbids me from going anywhere near home for the entirety of the week I’ve promised him. He’s so convinced I’ll run off and he’ll never see me again. Ridiculous. Does he have any idea the kind of power he has over me?

We have a mini fight about staying at his Santa Monica complex, but he makes it clear that he’s never once slept at the downtown condo since he bought it, because it was bought for one reason only, and he’s not about to start sleeping there now. He argues that his Santa Monica house is his home,andhomeis where he wants me. Not surprisingly, I let him win. So I guess I’m about to be a hot topic in the Garza group again.

Now that I’ve given in to all his asks, his mood has shifted. He seems light, relaxed, as if he’s finally dumped a shoulder-load of tension I hadn’t even noticed. Humming along to the music from the radio as he swings into his driveway. Flashing me a wink with his signature grin. His mirth is so contagious that I can’t help grinning back at him.

True Garza is a man who loves towin, that’s for sure.

Once he’s parked, I shrug off my jacket and throw it over my head, then jump out of the vehicle ahead of him and dart up to the house.

True shakes his head at me as he leisurely walks up the pathway, holding the hardcase in one hand, and flipping his keys in the other.

“Could you move any slower?” I hiss at him.

“Told you before,” he says when hefinallygets up to the front door, “they’ll know it’s you even if you wear a hazmat suit.”

“How? Do you alert them when you’re taking a woman home or something?”

He drops a quick kiss to my lips, then opens the door and nudges me inside. “Because you’re the only woman I’ve ever brought here.”

I halt across the threshold, but he prods me farther in so he can shut the door. “You’re serious?”

His head jerks with a nod as he rests the hardcase on the floor.

“Why?”

“Because I like and enjoy women, but not enough to invite them into my life.”

“Um… okay. But… like, why amIhere?”