Page 89 of The Lost Guardian

“Who?” Ali asked.

“Oh, Brooke,” he amended. “Sorry.”

“You two seem very close,” Ali said after a while. “You’ve known each other for a long time?”

“Oh yeah,” Santiago responded, smiling a little. “Since we were kids. She’s been my best friend for almost as long as I can remember.”

“Yet you seem…different,” Ali said. “Your personalities, I mean.”

After all his years of friendship with Brooke, he knew better than to take offense. But the words still stung a little, coming from her.

He knew what people thought when they saw them together. Brooke was so confident and carefree and full of life, while he was uptight and dull by comparison. He’d never cared too much what other people thought of him, but he was embarrassed that Ali had noticed it, too.

“She’s a lot more fun than I am,” he admitted. “She’s the social one; she loves to go out dancing and to parties or concerts.”

“You don’t like that sort of stuff?” Ali asked.

“I don’t hate it,” he answered. “Maybe not parties or clubs but…I’ve been known to dance.”

Ali grinned, tilting her head to look him over.

Santiago felt his cheeks burn as her eyes drifted down his body, then back up.

“I remember,” she said, her voice husky.

Santiago pulled at the collar of his shirt, desperate for some air to cool his balmy skin.

“I know how you feel,” Ali continued, as if she hadn’t just completely knocked him off-kilter with a single gaze. “She sounds a lot like Naya.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised.

Ali nodded. “I like this,” she said, motioning to the forest surrounding them. “And reading. Travel, but to visit museums and churches and walk on new streets and taste new food.”

Santiago smiled wistfully.

“Naya is like your friend Brooke. She loves people, has a million friends. She wants to travel, too, but to places like New York City or Ibiza.” Ali shrugged, her pack jumping on her shoulders with the movement. “I like my life a little more…quiet.”

“You literally broke into my house with a gun to save me from two criminals.” Santiago did a double-take. “And kicked their asses, I might add. You ride a motorcycle like an action star.”

Her grin was wide and mischievous. “I’ve got to get around somehow,” she said.

A puff of breath escaped Santiago’s lips. He shook his head, not sure he believed her. It was hard to reconcile the leather-clad, high-speed-chase, martial arts expert with the woman Ali described.

But then, hadn’t he seen a different side of her since they left Cajamarca? People were beautifully multifaceted, and Ali held more mysteries than most.

“So,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “Are you going to ask me to dance again?”

Santiago gulped, imagining stripping off both their packs and pulling her into his arms right then and there.

But of course, he knew that she was just joking. Teasing him again. Still, he had to say something, didn’t he?

“Maybe when this is all over, we can find another wedding to crash,” he said, already feeling foolish over his words.

But Ali’s soft chuckle made it all worthwhile.

27

Hours later, the pair had abandoned conversation in favor of preserving their quickly dwindling energy.