Chapter 8: The Taunt

I woke up on the folding sofa with Inés's head on my arm and sunlight across both of us.

My shirt was on the floor with one button missing.

She was awake already, looking at the ceiling.

"Good morning," I said.

"Don't say it like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you think you're in love with me."

I turned on my side.

"I'm not sure what I think yet. But I know what I did last night."

"Yes. You did." She smiled at the ceiling. "Twice."

"Three times, if we count the floor."

"The floor was a collapse. It doesn't count."

I laughed and pulled her closer.

She let me, for a moment. Then she put one hand against my chest.

"Rodrigo, listen. You were married until six o'clock yesterday."

"Yesterday at six I signed."

"And at six oh three, you were in my arms." She raised her eyebrows. "I'm just saying it was fast."

"You made the rule."

"I made the rule so I wouldn't be a woman you used to get over her."

"I wasn't using you."

"You can't know that yet." Her voice was gentle. "That's all I'm saying. Neither of us can."

I looked at her face in the morning light, the ink on her cheek, the hazel eyes that never looked away.

"Then I'll prove it," I said.

"Over time?"

"Over every Tuesday you've got."

"Good."

She sat up and pulled my shirt over her shoulders.

"And the next time you tell me you only came here for the staircase, I'll remind you about the floor."

"I would never say that."

"I'm preparing."

She kissed me once, quickly, and went to find coffee.

Keep reading free with an account. Start You Chose Another, Now Forget Me from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.