Page 57 of Fool Me Twice

“No, no.” He laughed, but it was a desperate sound. “I wanted it as well… I do want it.”

He reached out to me, but I didn’t move.

Every atom in me ached to be pressed against him, to be safe in his arms, forgetting about all of the reasons not to be there. But life wasn’t that simple.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed.

Turning on my heel, I left the balcony as fast as my feet would carry me.

CHAPTER16

RODRIGO

Coffee clutched in hand, I paced the back patio. It was a wonder I hadn’t worn a hole in the tiles.

How could I have been so dumb? Yes, Georgia had kissed me, but I’d known it was coming. I had seen the way she was looking at me.

There’d been time to intervene, to tell her goodnight and end things then and there, and yet I hadn’t.

Because I was a fool. A selfish fool.

The sound of the sliding door opening made me look up. Instead of Georgia, though, Sebastián stepped onto the patio.

“Where’s my glitter slime?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Probably wherever you left it last.”

“It’s not there.”

“Have you looked?”

He turned away, avoiding answering, which gave me all the information I needed. He most certainly had not looked in his room yet.

“I’ll ask Georgia,” he decided. “She knows where everything is.”

That made me startle. “Georgia only arrived here the other day.”

“But she knows where to find everything. I couldn’t find my stuffed elephant, and she knew where it was.” He ticked the numbers off on his fingers. “She knew where my coloring pencils were… She knew where my headphones were…”

“Sounds like Georgia keeps better track of your things than you do.”

“She would make a good nanny.”

“Uh…” How was I supposed to respond to that?

“For any kid,” Sebastián added.

“Yes.” I chose my words carefully. “Speaking of nannies, Melba is ready to take you to school. Run and have breakfast, okay?”

Instead of mothers, Sebastián seemed to have shifted the topic to nannies. Perhaps he thought he would get a response that way.

Honestly, though, what was I supposed to say? He already had a nanny. And I wasn’t going to replace Melba! She was as good as family.

Sebastián went into the house, and I sat in a lawn chair and ran my hands down my face. I felt like the worst father ever. The worst boss ever.

Even though Georgia had been the one to kiss me, the responsibility was in my hands. In that sense, I had taken advantage of her.

At the sound of the door sliding open once more, I turned to see what Sebastián needed, but was surprised to see Georgia walking outside.