Page 85 of Fool Me Twice

“It’s a shame.”

“What is?” I dropped my hand.

“That you never introduced me and Georgia before. She seems amazing.”

“So I have hurt you too with my lies.”

“It seems to me,” Lucas said slowly, “that you’ve hurt yourself more than anyone else. You’re the one that’s beating yourself up.”

“I don’t know how to forgive myself for hurting my son. For hurting… everyone.”

“I bet he forgives you, though.”

The curtain in the kitchen window moved. Someone was awake.

“I’m not sure about that,” I said.

“Just see.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Thank you. I should go now.”

“Let me know how things go.”

“I will. Thank you, Lucas.”

We hung up, and I grabbed my coffee mug and made my way into the house. Georgia stood at the counter, dressed in a bathrobe, dark circles under her eyes. Even still, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. All I wanted was to pull her into my arms and lose myself in the touch and smell of her.

“Hey,” she mumbled.

“Hello.”

She poured herself a cup of coffee and stifled a yawn. “Sebastián is still sleeping. I just peeked in at him.”

“Good. May I?” I held out my own mug, and she filled it. “Thank you.”

“Did you sleep at all?”

I blew out a breath that made my lips vibrate. “No.”

“I barely did.” She scrubbed her face. “I don’t know why. Sebastián is home safe, but it’s like I still can’t calm down.”

I touched her wrist. “I feel the same way. I can’t stop thinking about everything that could have gone wrong. How the situation could have been so much worse.”

She smiled sadly. “All’s well that ends well.”

“This isn’t over yet. I still need to talk to him.” My face warmed. “Does he even have an understanding of what he did? Thank God Melba wasn’t here. She would have had a heart attack.”

“Don’t be too hard on him, Rodrigo.”

“He needs to know—”

“He needs your understanding.” She pinned me with a look. “He didn’t run away to hurt you.”

“How do you know that?”

“I…” She looked into her coffee. “I have my suspicions. Just wait and hear him out. If you come swinging out of the gate, you’ll push him away and he’ll shut down. Then you’ll never get answers out of him.”

“That’s true,” I sighed. “Thank you.”