Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(45)

The narrow, winding streets in Pascuallita discouraged any vehicles with more than two wheels. They had been constructed around the original buildings, sited on the flattest land available. The streets had been laid on the land that remained—the steepest land. Sets of steps and terraces broke up many of the streets, which further reduced traffic.

Bicycles were everywhere and many of the younger people used skateboards and skates. Most people walked. There was a lot of foot traffic and more of it the deeper they wound into the heart of the town.

At one intersection of three different streets, Calli heard her name being called from the street on her left. She looked that way, startled. At the far end of the street sat an open-topped Jeep. Nicolás Escobedo leaned against the front grille, his arms crossed, a black hat shading his face, sunglasses obscuring the dark blue eyes.

Calli controlled the first impulsive sound of delight that came to her. She brushed past Minnie and Duardo and hurrying up the narrow little alley. She stopped in front of him, her backpack slapping against her shoulder. “You came.”

“And you thought I wouldn’t.”

“I couldn’t see how. Never mind. You’re here. Although how you got here...”

“Later,” he said and lifted his chin. “Duardo.”

Duardo and Minnie had followed her up the alley. Nicolás held out his hand, and the younger man dropped his bags and shook it. He didn’t smile.

“Anyone?” Nicolás asked.

“No.”

“You have my thanks.”

“For you, se?or, anything.”

“I will take it from here,” Nick said, straightening up. “You will come to my house, yes?”

Duardo looked awkward. “No, se?or, as much as I regret missing such an honor, I have something I must do.”

Nicolás dropped his chin to peer over his sunglasses at him.

Duardo moved his feet and shrugged. Calli realized he had turned pink. “I will visit my mother. I want her to meet Minnie.”

Pleasure touched her. Calli suppressed her smile.

Minnie looked up at Duardo with a small smile of her own.

Nick nodded. “Of course.” He glanced at Calli. “Excuse me for just a moment.” He pulled Duardo aside. They dropped in low, quiet Spanish.

Minnie grabbed Calli’s arm. “Oh hell, now I’m terrified,” she whispered. “You don’t meet their mothers here unless it means something.”

“Which is just what you wanted, so why the terror?”

“What if she hates me? I’m American, I’m...I’m...I’ll never measure up.”

“You’ll be fine,” Calli assured her.

The two men finished their conversation and returned to the front of the Jeep. Duardo picked up his bags again and picked up Minnie’s hand in his right. He nodded at Calli. “Adios, la dama fuerte. I will take good care of your cousin.”

Calli heard Nicolás chuckle as she touched Duardo’s arm. “Thank you, Duardo.”

She watched them walk down the alley, suddenly shy—she battled her own terror. Deliberately, she looked at Nick. She could not see through the sunglasses whether he watched her or happened to be looking in her direction.

“Strong lady?” he said.

She grimaced. “It’s not as picturesque as red leopard,” she returned.

He pulled keys from his pocket. “I think it fits you perfectly.” He opened the passenger door of the Jeep for her and moved around to the driver’s side and settled in the seat.

“What did you mean when you said ‘anyone’ to Duardo?” she asked.

He paused with his hand on the keys, already inserted in the ignition. Then, he started the engine. “I asked him if anyone had followed you from las colinas.”

She shivered. “How did he know to watch out for that?”

“He’s one of the best captains in the Vistarian army. When I asked him to bring you here, he knew what I expected of him.” Nick switched off the engine and turned to her. He took the sunglasses off and reached to pull the edges of her shirt aside. He was checking to see if she still wore the medallion. He smiled when he saw it. Then he drew her forward and kissed her. His lips were warm, firm and demanding. Her shyness, her awkwardness, and the sense of unreality slipped away.

This was Nicolás. Nick. He was real and hot beneath her fingers.

He let her mouth go, his hand resting around her waist. “No more worrying,” he declared. “You decided, back in the city, to accept the risks, yes?”

“Yes.”

“So did I. We do not worry about the future now. Just this moment.”

“Well, okay.”

“No, Calli. I mean this. Here, I am me. Just me. Nicolás, that you call Nick.”

She tapped his jacket, down low on the left-hand side. Her fingernail rapped against metal as she had known it would. “You’re not just Nick,” she whispered. “You will never be just Nick, but that’s okay.”

He studied her with the same cool assessing glance he had given her in the prison cell. Then he swiveled back to face the steering wheel and put on his sunglasses. “I think, perhaps, you are even more of a realist than I.” He put the Jeep into gear and took off with spinning wheels.

She tried to calm her jumping heart. “You don’t like that?” She lifted her voice above the engine noise.