She smirked, and I grinned. “Don’t try to argue with me,” I said.
“I would never try to.”
We shared a full smile, and for the first time since walking into the hotel room and seeing her I felt something like hope.
“I hope you’re not leaving Rio too soon,” I said.
She looked down at her broken leg. “I don’t know. It’s either sit in a hotel room here or sit in my apartment in Baltimore. At least back home I’ll be near my friends.”
“Remaining in Rio doesn’t have to include sitting in a hotel room. May I take you out to dinner tomorrow night?”
She hesitated. “Um…”
“To catch up,” I said.
“It’s fine. I didn’t think you were asking me out on a date.”
I tried to hide my disappointment. And what if I were to ask her on a date?
There was no “what if”—I hadn’t come close to a relationship since Georgia. It hadn’t become a rule, but I hardly ever dated. Instead, my days were filled with work and my son.
“Sure,” she said, taking me by surprise. “Let’s do dinner. Why not?”
“Excellent.” I grinned. “I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow?”
“That works.” She pressed the call button on the elevator. “This is crazy.”
“I know.”
Our eyes lingered on each other for a moment, and then the elevator doors rushed open.
“See you, Rodrigo.” She nodded at me before hobbling into the elevator, and then was gone.
The door shut behind her, I let out a sigh. This was more than crazy. It was a fantasy come true. Many times, I’d dreamed about fixing things with Georgia, about finding her and apologizing for how I’d hurt her.
Now that she was back in my life, I understood that could never happen. I’d pushed Georgia away out of self-preservation. If I were to tell her why, that would mean stabbing myself in the back.
So we would forget about the past. Move forward as new people in our new lives.Friendlynew people.
Because Georgia was off limits, from now until the end of time.
CHAPTER8
RODRIGO
“Hello?” I walked into the living room and looked out the windows, only to find the backyard empty. “Sebastián? Melba?”
Where were they?
The house was a large one, but it had its limits. Surely they’d heard me calling.
“I’m home,” I said, walking up the steps. “Where is everyone?”
On the second-floor landing, I took a right and walked to Sebastián’s room. After knocking on the door, I slowly pushed it open.
Sebastián sat on his bean-bag chair, tossing a bouncy ball at the wall. At the sight of me, he sank further into the chair.
Uh-oh. This wasn’t a good sign.