Page 107 of When We Believed in Mermaids

“And—his ex-girlfriend started threatening me. My sister heard about it, and she got into a fight with the girl. Josie broke her nose.”

“Oh.” There’s amusement in his voice.

“It wasn’t funny. She was one of the prettiest girls I’d ever seen, and—”

He chuckles, bending to kiss my shoulder.

“James was furious with my sister, andtheygot into an actual fistfight too, and that was that. We broke up. He quit Orange Julius, and when school started, he was back together with his old girlfriend, and he never spoke to me again.”

“He was a pig, that one.”

“No, I think that was you, wasn’t it?” I turn, teasing him.

He laughs, sliding his hand around my ribs. “But I was never so cruel.”

“No,” I say quietly. I suddenly and urgently wish I could stay right in this room forever. I pat his stomach. “I like your tummy.”

He laughs. “In the winter, there is more of it. You wouldn’t like it so much then.”

“I think I would still like it.”

He sighs sadly, pats it. “That fat little boy is always ready to take over. I might be a fat old man someday.”

I place my hand on that belly, soft over the muscle beneath. “Still.”

“You can find out how it looks in the winter if you wish.”

I look away.

He touches my chin and slides down so that our faces are close. I can see the way individual lashes grow and the flecks of gold in his dark eyes. “So your heart was broken, and you cannot bear to let anyone in now.”

“It wasn’t just that. It was everything—the earthquake and my dad and Dylan. All of it.”

“I know.” He leans in to kiss me, gently, and pulls back. “I need you to listen for one minute without saying anything in return.”

Something flutters in my chest.

“You think I am only flirting when I say that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, but I am not. It is not extravagance. It is not a way to get you in my bed...though I see that it may have been a good tactic.”

“I need to remind you that this is my bed, señor.”

“Well, either way.” He touches my mouth. “When I saw you, I recognized you, like I’ve been waiting, all this time, for you to show up. And there you were.”

My heart aches. “We live on different continents.”

“Yes.” He bends and kisses me, longer this time, and I find myself kissing him back. “But I think you also have found feelings for me.”

I take a breath, and for once in my life, I am honest. “Yes, I have. I might actually have been falling in love a little bit.”

“Have been?”

“I’m leaving in a few days.”

“Mm. That is true.” He kisses my throat, and flutters move elsewhere. “Unless I convince you that you should stay longer.”

Burying my hands in his hair, I pull him closer. “You can try, I suppose.”

I find myself memorizing the feel of him. His shoulder blades and the tip of his ear, his voice in my ear, murmuring in Spanish, the feel of his thighs between mine, the taste of him on my mouth.