Island Affair (Keys to Love #1)(35)
Sara bit back a smile. The moniker actually seemed to fit him almost as well as the one she’d given him already.
“Santo, don’t be like that! Come here!” the man yelled again.
Muttering a curse, Luis stopped in the middle of the crowd. Several people bumped into them from behind, but like a huge boulder parting a running brook, he remained immovable, forcing others to step around him.
Slowly turning, Luis’s chin jutted a greeting at the guy who stood several booths away. Geometric-shaped pieces of wood with painted tropical scenes decorated the sides and counter of his stall. He was dressed in the typical Key West attire of comfy shorts and a tee, and the guy’s darkly tanned skin and curly black hair were a foil for the slash of white teeth at his huge grin.
The vendor raised an arm in the air to wave them over.
Luis cut a sharp look at Sara, then shook his head.
Undeterred, the man motioned again, this time with more gusto.
“Co?o,” Luis muttered, angling himself to block Sara from the other guy’s view.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, catching Luis’s pinched expression in the waning sunlight.
“Freddie grew up around the corner from us in Big Coppitt. Graduated with my older brother, Carlos.”
Sara immediately ducked down like that would help her hide from Luis’s friend. “Damn” was right. The last thing she wanted was to make things more difficult for Luis by running into someone close to his family. It’d only compound the lie fest she had initiated.
“I can’t blow him off or I’ll risk hearing about it later.” Luis’s pained expression intensified. “Our moms attend weekday mass together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
“Omigosh, you should go!” Sara splayed her hands on his chest to give him a little push. Fat lot of good it did. The man was like a brick wall. “Go! I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, go!” she assured him. Seeing him with a family friend would be a vivid reminder that he belonged here. While her stay was only temporary. “I’ll poke around, see if there’s anything I might want to buy, while you chat.”
“This should only take a few minutes. I don’t want you to miss your first sunset.”
Sara shooed him off, then ducked her head for cover as she moseyed over to the booth next to Luis’s friend’s. Once there, she picked up a shell necklace, pretending to read the tiny price tag. Her gaze flicked back to Luis nearby.
He clasped hands with Freddie, both men leaning in for a one-armed hug that was more like a thump on the back. Luis dwarfed his friend by at least thirty pounds and several inches, vertically and horizontally. Sara heard Freddie slip into Spanish, either for privacy or out of habit. Probably a little of both.
Luis shrugged off a question about who he was with, turning the tables by asking Freddie about his mom. All the while, Luis’s posture remained stiff, hands deep in his front jeans pocket. The relaxed, yet guarded, calm she’d come to expect from him had vanished like the day’s heat.
Behind Freddie’s booth, another man stepped out of the shadows cast by a stately palm tree and the streetlight above it. He moved toward the tiny walkway separating the two booths, his black tee and jeans easily camouflaging him in the dark. The humid breeze fluttered the palm fronds and the shadows undulated, the yellow streetlight illuminating the man’s face.
Sara started. A younger, slimmer, but equally as tall version of Luis stared back at her. His dark eyes peered at her with interest, assessing. He shared the same angular jaw, straight nose, and olive-toned skin. Yet his loose-hipped walk and confident, definitely cocky smirk gave him a kiss-my-ass swagger that reminded her of the type of men her girlfriends complained about scrolling through on those dating apps she was reluctant to try—the players.
His smirk broadened when Luis took a step in their direction.
“Hey, it’s almost like a family reunion with two Navarros swinging by tonight!” Freddie crowed.
Neither Navarro brother looked as thrilled by the situation as their friend. If anything, based on the tic of his jaw muscle and the thundercloud frown creasing his forehead, Sara’d guess Luis was inwardly freaking out about having to introduce her to a member of his family.
“?Oye, Enrique, me traíste mas pedazos pa’ vender?” Freddie asked.
Even if their friend hadn’t mentioned his name, based on the question of whether or not Luis’s brother had brought more pieces of art to sell, Sara would have guessed this was Enrique. One of the few bits of information Luis had shared about his younger brother was that he’d gone to art school before joining the city’s fire department. Now Enrique made a little money on the side selling his artwork through a few local spots.
Besides, based on what she had gathered earlier today, if this had been Carlos she was fairly certain the handshake, back-thumping greeting would have been exchanged between the two brothers. Not the tight-jawed head dip Luis gave his younger sibling now.
What Luis hadn’t mentioned was the friction between them that practically zapped everyone in a five-foot radius of the brothers’ unplanned gathering.
Not wanting to add more tension to the situation, Sara edged away. Unfortunately, an older couple sidled up to the shell jewelry booth at the same time, inadvertently sandwiching her between them and Enrique.