Page 46 of Yours, For Now

I moved to her back and she carefully lifted her long hair. Leaning forward, I maneuvered the necklace in the space between her arched arms, lock at the back. I got it on my second try.

"Thanks." She let her hair fall, and tousled the curls for a more casual look. Within the next instant, she grabbed a bracelet and dangled it between two fingers. "Can you help me with this one, too, please?"

The natural thing was to kneel next to her, so I did. But in this position it was harder to ignore her perfume, or my proximity to her and what my body wanted to do about it, while alone in her room.

I frowned. My fingers moved over the soft skin of her wrist; her veins were no more than a shadow in her delightful light brown skin. What would her pulse be, if I checked? Was she affected by this at all?

It took me three attempts to handle the lock, this time. Once finally secured, I held her wrist in my hand and kept it there.

I lifted my eyes to gaze into her eyes. "Will you have to explain to a lot of people why you have a boyfriend now and, one day in the future, explain what happened that made us break up?"

"Maybe." She didn't pull her wrist away. "But I can get away with superficial half-truths."

"Anything in particular you want me to say? Or do?"

"Will you dance with me? People can't talk to us as much if we're dancing."

I smiled. "I'll dance with you."

She responded with a soft curl of her lips. "You'll make someone very lucky one day."

My chest turned concave with a mix of longing for such a future, for the vision of what it could be, if Lina was right. And for Lina herself. Maybe she could see that in me, and care.

But I wasn't someone who could offer all of that to her or anyone, anytime soon. I wasn't good enough to do it all, and I wouldn't do it halfway. Things had to get done right, or I wouldn't do them at all.

"I'm not that good." I held her eyes. "I could be better."

"You're already amazing. You will be great for someone one day, too "

"I hope so. One day." I broke and caressed her face. "Ready to go?"

Call me cynical, but the ceremony was meh. Gabe was far more interesting to me, in his semi-formal trousers and jacket combo, than a priest talking about sacraments. My cousin did look happy, though, marrying his fiancée. The venue was beautiful; the bride and groom had taken their vows against a lake backdrop, a flower arch around them, and a big tree above them.

During cocktail hour, Gabe and I fielded questions like pros, keeping to the same conversation we'd used with Lucía and Rodrigo. Same with dinner and the cousins at the table. It had gone so well, I'd started to believe the lies myself.

People milled around now, having finished their meals. They visited and chatted with each other and, from the look of the folk working the event, the dancing was about to start. The lighting changed under the white reception tent, and soft music played through the speakers.

Gabe and I still sat at our table, and he leaned forward and placed his elbows on it. "These arrangements are very pretty."

The centerpieces were a mix of white, pink, and lavender hues, contrasted by pale greenery. They weren't very tall but they were lush, and Gabe touched a delicate petal with the tip of his finger.

I mirrored him and leaned forward on the table as well. "It is very pretty. Do you have an appreciation for delicate things? Or aesthetically pleasing things?"

"The latter, I think." He gazed at me. "I also like strength. Like in a properly built structure, for example. I think that if I hadn't gone into the family business, I might have been a construction engineer of some kind."

I chuckled. "Mr. Engineer, are you telling me that math and building codes give you a boner?"

He laughed. "Don't go there, Catalina. Not when I'm about to dance with you." He cut me a look that held every letter in the unspoken words:and this is fake.

The music got a bit louder, and the MC announced the first dance. People surrounded the dancing area, but Gabe and I stayed put.

"Understood," I said.

He nodded and looked forward again. He took a flower out of the vase and studied it. I didn't know much about flowers, but this one looked like a type of rose. Its petals were light pink and slightly opened, and they rippled as Gabe twirled the stem between two fingers.

"You don't like these, then," he asked. "Flowers."

"They are pretty, they just make me sad."