Island Affair (Keys to Love #1)(20)

Featherlight, his lips brushed against hers. Once. Twice. The cool scent of the breath mint she had popped in her mouth earlier teased him with the urge to taste it on her tongue.

She pressed a hand against his chest, her eyelids fluttering open, and he stilled. Ready to back off. Her fingers curled, gathering his shirt in her fist as if she wanted to drag him closer. Desire surged, pushing him dangerously close to the edge of reason, and he cautioned himself to take it slow, when all he really wanted was to dive right into the pleasure he felt certain they’d discover together.

The chi-ching chi-ching of a bicycle’s metallic bell chimed outside the truck window. Luis and Sara started at the intrusion, inadvertently knocking foreheads.

“Oooh!”

“Ow!” Luis jerked back, smacking his left elbow on the steering wheel.

Beside him, Sara peered out at the street as she massaged the area above her left brow.

An old man wearing a ratty T-shirt and shorts, a beat-up straw hat shoved low on his head blissfully pedaled by on a rusty beach cruiser. Luis followed the guy until he turned left on Eaton, probably headed a few blocks over to check out the action on Duval.

Co?o, talk about rude interruptions.

“I guess we don’t have to bother making up our first-kiss story,” Sara murmured on a shaky laugh. An embarrassed blush bloomed on her face. “Not that I expect anyone in my family will ask.”

“That’d be my familia who wouldn’t mind butting in with unwanted personal questions. Which, gracias a Dios, we don’t have to worry about.”

Sara didn’t respond, and an awkward silence filled the cab.

Luis tracked a flurry of flamboyán petals the breeze chased across the truck’s hood. Their fiery color mimicked the heated passion Sara had ignited in him with nothing more than the feel of her soft skin against the back of his hand. The soft brush of her lips against his.

This was supposed to be pretend, he reminded himself. Their zany circumstances seemed to have skewed his sense of right and wrong. But he’d do well to remember that she’d asked him for help as a friendly favor. He had agreed mainly to fill the void of time off and assist someone in need. No sense mucking up their plan by allowing hormones to get in the way of common sense. Even if his hormones had never gone haywire like this before.

Outside, a young couple stopped while their goldendoodle puppy sniffed the ground where the sidewalk butted up against a white picket fence in front of a neighboring Conch house. Probably a normal everyday activity for them.

But for Luis, this entire afternoon was way outside his norm. Since Mirna’s death six years ago and the subsequent fallout with his younger brother, Luis hadn’t let himself get involved with anyone. He went about his job, pulling extra shifts as often as possible. Concentrated on building up his dive and snorkel side hustle with his boat. Answered the call for help from familia and friends.

Sure, he had the occasional hookup. That wasn’t out of the ordinary.

Real intimacy, though? What he thought he’d had with Mirna until the truth of her duplicity had been revealed after her accident? No gracias. Getting played for a fool by love once was enough.

And yet here he was getting himself embroiled in another situation involving a lie and a woman he thought he could save.

Helping Sara was one thing.

Confusing her gratitude for interest was a mistake he didn’t need to make. If he’d learned anything from Mirna, it was that gratitude or, even worse, hero worship was no substitute for real love.

Sara was in the midst of an emotional, stressful situation. She felt thankful for his assistance. That’s it. He’d do well to remember that.

Which meant he needed to pull the extinguisher trigger and put out the remnants of the flash fire smoldering inside him. If not, her plan and his bid to help were doomed.

“Are you—”

“About that—”

They spoke in unison, each quickly breaking off.

“Ladies first.” Palm up, Luis gestured toward her.

Sara dipped her head in thanks. “I’m the one who instigated all of this.” She motioned back and forth between them. “This whole charade idea, infringing on your time off. And, while it’s probably a good thing that we’re, uh, you know.” She stopped, swallowed nervously. Rubbed at the tiny worry lines wedged between her light brown brows.

“That we’re, what?” he prodded.

Sara huffed out a rush of air on what sounded like an embarrassed laugh.

“God, it’s like I’ve time warped back to high school,” she muttered under her breath. Twisting completely around to face him, she hiked up the material of her peach dress, treating him to a flash of her shapely calf as she crooked her knee over the cupholders in the center console. “Look, you’re an attractive guy. And I’m, well, I like to consider myself a reasonably attractive woman—”

His snort of disbelief had Sara stopping to give him the stink eye.

“That was totally meant as a ‘hell yeah,’” he clarified, swiping a hand through the air to underline his point.

Lips pursed in a cute pout, she hummed an “uh-huh” weighty with snark. “As I was saying, it’s only natural that we might be, you know, attracted to each other.”

She paused, brows raised like she expected some kind of answer from him.

After her less-than-thrilled response to his reaction moments ago, Luis played it safe and nodded.