Page 55 of Fool Me Twice

“Come here.” A grin sliding across his face, he reached his hand out.

Taking a deep breath, I slid my palm into his and allowed him to draw me across the threshold. The warm night air caressed my skin, and the moon shone down on my shoulders.

Feeling Rodrigo’s gaze on me, I turned to him. His gaze was soft, his mouth slightly ajar as if in wonder.

Seeing that I’d noticed him, he cleared his throat and looked away. “It is a nice night.”

“Yeah.” I bit my bottom lip. “Turns out I couldn’t really sleep.”

“I understand how that feels.” He fiddled with a dial on the telescope.

“So this is where he gets it.”

“What’s that?”

“Sebastián showed me his telescope. It seems like he’s really into it.”

An unmistakable look of pride crossed Rodrigo’s face. “He has learned a lot in a short amount of time.”

“It’s almost impossible to imagine someone that smart could be failing at school.” I leaned against the balcony and gazed at the massive fence surrounding the property.

Rodrigo didn’t answer, and I understood that I’d hit a nerve. This was the exact conversation we’d abandoned at dinner.

“I’m sorry.” I turned back to him. “I shouldn’t have brought that up again. It’s insensitive.”

He shrugged. “It was true, though.”

I smiled in sympathy. “What were you looking at?”

“I was looking for aliens.”

I stared at him, waiting for him to reveal whether he was joking or not. Rodrigo only gazed back, not a shred of humor on his face.

“Really?” I asked.

“No,” he chuckled. “But if I were to see something unusual, I would not entirely rule it out.”

I smirked. “Okay, then.”

“You don’t believe in aliens?”

“I don’t believe or not believe in them. How could I? It’s not like I’ve ever seen one.”

“Then we are saying the same thing.”

“I guess so.”

From out of his pocket, he drew a small flask. Unscrewing it, he offered me the first sip.

“Sure. Thanks.” I took a tiny slurp, the liquor burning its way down my throat.

All of a sudden, the facts of the situation hit me.What am I doing?

I was on a balcony late at night, drinking with my boss. Drinking with my ex-boyfriend.

I couldn’t decide which one was worse.

Rodrigo would probably say we were friends first before those other labels, but he was having a different experience than me. He didn’t have as much to lose. If the job I’d just started were to fall apart, he would hire someone else and continue on with his life, business as usual.