Page 105 of Dream Chaser

“Getting water for Nova,” I said.

He left the flutes in the sink and scratched his chin. “And looking like someone corrupted all of your spreadsheets. Quite a change from before.”

I braced my hands on the counter. Fluffy snowflakes drifted from the sky behind the window. Nova would love it. I had to make sure she had time to take pictures while we were here.

Manu’s loud sigh echoed in the silent kitchen. “¿Qué mierda estás haciendo, Ale?” What the hell are you doing, Ale?

My guess was as good as his.

He sat at the kitchen table, gesturing to an empty chair beside him. I lowered myself into the seat, each muscle pulled tight. A speech was on its way. I’d always sensed those before they came. This time, I didn’t even have the energy to give him shit.

“We agreed to give ourselves one night,” I said.

He snorted. “Like that has ever worked for anyone.”

“It has to.”

He tapped his fingers on the table. “You’re turning thirty-five in January.”

“And she’s twenty-six. I’m her boss.”

He slid his fingers through his curls. “I don’t see a problem. It’s not like you’d fire her.” I kept quiet. He gave me a long look that called me dumb in a hundred different ways. “This is about Cris, right?”

I rubbed my palms over my face. “Manu, joder.”

A sore subject, but it never deterred him from bringing it up.

“She moved on,” he said. “You did the right thing. Gave her a job. Secured her future. Your noble sacrifice should end there. Should’ve ended there seven years ago.”

“Ignacio reached out to Asher,” I said. “Offered to represent him.”

Manu shook his head, snorting. “I assume Asher said no?”

“Thankfully. I wonder who else he’s tried to steal.”

“He’s jealous, but he’ll never be like you. And you aren’t like him. Never were, never will be. I doubt he put his personal life on hold after what happened with Cris.”

I folded my arms across my chest, tapping my foot on the tiles. “He didn’t put shit on hold. More like, fucked his way around Madrid and the neighboring towns.”

“And yet, you’re the one punishing yourself for what he did. The logic’s lost on me.”

“I’m choosing to do what’s right,” I said. “I have ethics. He doesn’t. This isn’t about him but Nova.”

Manu folded his arms behind his head, stretching, an infuriating smirk tugging at his mouth. “Ethics, you say? So, if someone asks her out, you’ll watch from afar like a good boy?”

My gut twisted. It was a possibility. A sickening, maddening possibility. She was young. Gorgeous. Sexy.

Smart. Funny. Warm.

Manu chuckled, rising. His heavy hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing. “Good luck with the one-night thing, Alejandro. You’ll need lots of it.”

“Qué te den,” I tossed half-heartedly once he was in the doorway. Fuck you.

But his words stuck like a splinter under my skin, barely visible but annoying.

I carried Nova’s water upstairs. Opened the door carefully. Undressed and slipped under the covers. She shifted closer, pressing her bare breasts to my chest.

“You’re cold,” she mumbled. “Where have you been?”