Island Affair (Keys to Love #1)(91)

“But we’re good together,” he reasoned.

“On paper, maybe.” Sara shook her head, resigned to a truth she had ignored far too long. “But the reality is, no, we’re not. And I deserve better. We both do.”

It had taken her this week, the difficult steps paired with the amazing highs, to reach this important milestone in her recovery.

Having the first heart-to-heart with her sister.

Joking with her brother and sharing tight hugs with her parents.

Meeting and falling in love with Luis.

Her heart stuttered at the truth she hadn’t fully admitted to herself, and she pressed a hand to her chest, scared, but certain.

“Sara, I drove all the—”

“She asked you to leave, buddy.” Luis stepped close behind her.

Sara didn’t need to look over her shoulder to picture his tight-jawed, don’t-mess-with-me glare. The steel in his gruff voice warned her.

Ric’s gaze moved between her and Luis for several tense seconds.

Sara eyed him dispassionately.

“Fine, I’m out.” Ric held his hands up, as if he was doing them a favor by acquiescing.

“Thank you.” She tipped her head, determined to remain polite.

“So much for nice gestures like surprising your girlfriend,” Ric muttered as he strode toward her.

Luis swiftly moved forward, angling his large body to shield Sara from her ex. “Nice would have been not standing her up in the first place.”

“Whatever.”

Ric’s inane response to Luis’s truth exemplified the degree to which fortune had smiled on her last Friday. First with Ric’s no-show and then with Luis stepping up in his amazing way.

Moments later, the front door slammed behind Ric. Sara flinched. Framed artwork rattled on the shaking walls and a tense silence settled over the living room.

Sara faced her parents. Dread and, strangely, relief clashed inside her. She hated admitting the insecurity behind her foolish plan, but she was so very tired of the little pretenses negatively coloring her relationship with Luis when they were around her family.

She was ready for the truth to be set free.

“Mom, Dad, this is Luis Navarro.” She gestured at Luis. “Driver Engineer and master diver with the Key West Fire Department.”

It felt awkward, introducing him when they had all spent so much time together already, but he deserved to be shown that respect.

Luis gave a polite nod. “Sir, ma’am.”

His dark gaze cut to Sara, and she realized he was waiting to take his cue from her, the mastermind behind their charade. Even though it had all blown up, he gave her the power to decide how they would proceed.

“What’s going on here, Sar-bear?” Her father’s confused frown made her stomach churn.

Uncertain, Sara slid her gaze around the living room. Her mother and Jonathan stared at her with dismay. Edward’s pity and Carolyn’s compassion stung. But Robin’s stone-faced cynicism and Luis’s tight-jawed apprehension cut the deepest.

“I, uh . . . the thing is . . . well, it’s, it’s kinda funny . . .”

She trailed off, unsure where to start. But funny was definitely not it.

Pressing a hand to her temple and her whirling thoughts, she paced toward the sliding glass door that opened to the backyard oasis. The serenity of the waterfall pool called to her. Around the left side of the yard, the gate on the eight-foot-high privacy fence promised freedom, the potential to outrun the pain of her loved ones’ disillusion with her. That unhealthy escape had almost worked in the past. But she refused to go that route again.

Desperation clawed at her chest. She wanted so badly to not undo the progress she had made with her family. Certain any explanation she gave would only confirm her ineptitude in their minds.

And yet lies would only tarnish and destroy. Doubts pushed her to spit out the truth and lay claim to her foolishness.

“Ric Montez. The real one.” She jabbed a hand toward the front of the house. “Is, as I’m sure you have already noted, a self-centered jerk I should have dumped months ago. A fact that was confirmed when he decided not to show up last Friday. A decision he didn’t share until I had already arrived. I knew Mom was excited to meet my boyfriend, and Dad—”

Sara took a tentative step toward her father, pleading with every cell in her body for him to understand. Instead she was met by the disappointment she had always feared from them. She spun away, shattered, to pace her agitation.

“We wanted this week to be a special celebration for Mom. No stress.” She wrung her hands, fear and shame driving her, dogging her steps back and forth in front of the sliding glass door. “The last thing I wanted was Mom worrying, thinking I can’t get my life together. I can. I am. It’s just—anyway. Rather than admit I’d been stood up and . . . and put a damper on Mom’s excitement . . . I hired Luis as my pretend boyfriend.”

“What?!”

“No shit!”

“Unbelievable.”

The cacophony of responses from her mother and siblings halted Sara’s pacing. But when Luis reared back as if she had slapped him, Sara immediately realized her blunder.

“Luis, I didn’t mean—”

He gave a brusque shake of his head and she broke off. His nostrils flared. Pain flashed in his eyes, followed quickly by disdain. A mask of stoicism slipped into place, hardening his chiseled features.