SOFIA
“What’s wrong?” I ask as I follow him out the front door. He’s still carrying Mateo, who’s watching me over Nico’s shoulder. He’s comfortable with Nico, but wants to be certain I’m coming, too.
“Nothing.” He straps Mateo into the car seat and puts the sandals back on his feet before getting into the driver’s side.
“Why are you saying nothing when it’s obvious that something has upset you?”
Sighing, he says, “You were having a good time with my brother.”
“I was drinking coffee while he played in the pool with Mateo.”
“You were laughing and stuff.”
“Because Mateo was being cute. Are you jealous of your own brother? What is this, Nico?”
“I’m an a-hole because it made me crazy to see you laughing and talking with him, even though I know he’d never go near you because he knows I like you.”
“I wouldn’t go near him either. That’s not how I am. Although, he’s the one I should like.”
Oh, he doesn’t like that, but what’s interesting is that I felt comfortable enough saying something to Nico that might’ve gotten me a backhand from Joaquín.
“What the hell does that mean?”
I give him the side-eye. “I bet no one has ever described him as toxic.”
“Nope. He’s too good to be true. And you’re right. You’d be way better off with him.”
“And yet, here I am with you.”
“You don’t have to be if you’d prefer him.”
“Is that right? You’d just turn me over to your brother and be fine with that?”
He tightens his grip on the steering wheel and stares straight ahead, a muscle in his face twitching. “I wouldn’t be fine with that at all. But if it was what you wanted…”
“It’s not. For some reason, I want you, the toxic one, which is probably the last thing I ought to want.”
He glances over at me, his dark eyes as serious as I’ve ever seen them. “I said you don’t have to worry about that crap.”
“I know.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I want to.”
“Give me the chance to prove it to you.”
“How will you do that?”
“Like I said, one day at a time. Today, it’s Christmas, and we’re going to my mom’s, where you’re going to have a nice, worry-free day with your little boy.”
“That’s a good start.”
“We’ll see what we can do to make it an awesome start.” He pushes the button to turn on the engine and backs out of the driveway.
“I like your brother. He’s a very nice guy.”
“Yes, he is.”