“I don’t want to be one of your conquests, Nico. I learned that word in a romance novel about a guy like you.”
“I want to do better for you, Sofia. And for Mateo.”
“We’ve been through a lot, he and I.” All hints of amusement are now gone. “Between his illness and everything with his father… It’s been a lot.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” The sharp tone of her voice catches me by surprise. “I’ve been through hell, and the last thing I need is another man in my life.”
And here I thought we were getting somewhere… “I understand if it’s not the right time for you.”
“I’m not saying that. Exactly.”
“Then what are you saying?”
She takes a second and seems to choose her words carefully. “If we’re going to do this thing you refer to as a relationship, we’re going to do it very, very, very slowly or not at all.”
“I can do slow. Isn’t that what we’ve been doing all along?”
“I suppose we have.”
I glance at her. “We’ve both got a lot going on, and neither of us was looking for what this has become.”
“What’s it become?”
“Something special and important to me. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Neither was I.”
I venture a glance her way. “So it’s important to you, too?”
“If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be here.”