The Spanish Love Deception Elena Armas (free ebook reader for ipad .TXT) 📖

Those three dots bounced back to life on the screen. She typed and typed and typed. For a stupidly large amount of time. I frowned at my phone, bracing myself.

Rosie: I KNEW IT.

A strangled sound climbed up my throat. That’s all she was typing?

Rosie: SO? Spill it. Type it, so I can tell you that I saw it coming.

I chuckled under my breath. Had I been that blind?

Lina: …

Rosie: SAY IT. SAY IT OUT LOUD. Say. It.

Lina: Chill, Edward Cullen.

Rosie: Catalina, if you don’t start talking, I’m going to get pissed. And I never do. You still don’t know what a pissed Rosie looks like.

Lina: Aaron’s. I’m at Aaron’s apartment.

Rosie: Of course you are. I want to know the rest.

Lina: The rest?

Rosie: A condensed version—for now.

Lina: We sort of kissed. Kinda slept together.

Rosie: SORT OF? KINDA? What does that even mean?

Lina: *eye roll emoji* We did. Kissed. Had sex.

Rosie: AND?

And so, so much more, I was about to type. But my thumbs froze above the screen. Ugh. Then, they worked at breakneck speed.

Lina: … and I’m a mess. I’m scared and giddy. Stupidly happy too. And he’s so good to me. So good that it feels like a dream I’m going to wake up from with cold sweat sticking to my skin. And you know how much I hate when that happens. Remember when I dreamed that I was getting raunchy with Joe Manganiello and the fire alarm in my building went off right as he was unclasping his belt buckle, and I was cranky for a whole month?

Lina: This feels a million worlds better than that dream. Galaxies better.

It was, and I wasn’t just talking about the way my body seemed to come alive under his touch. Hell, that was the smallest part of all of this.

Lina: I don’t want to wake up, Rosie.

Rosie: Oh, sweetie.

I could almost feel the hug that would have followed that.

Lina: Anyway, I’ll tell you everything about it tomorrow.

This wasn’t a conversation we should be having via text anyway.

Rosie: You’d better do that. Otherwise, I’ll kick your ass.

A knock came from the door.

“Baby?” said a deep voice from the other side. The word traveled right to the center of my chest. “I’m going to start thinking that you are hiding from me.”

God, I sucked so much.

Aaron continued, “Come out, and let’s go get something to eat. You pick.”

My jet-lagged stomach grumbled at the thought. “Even fish tacos?”

“Especially fish tacos.”

Dammit. He was really going after my heart.

“Okay, one minute!” I called as I typed another message to Rosie.

Lina: Gotta go. We are picking up takeout.

Rosie: Okay. But tomorrow, you and I. We’re talking.

Lina: Sí, señorita.

Rosie: And, Lina?

Rosie: It doesn’t have to be a dream you need to wake up from.

With that thought—no, with that hope because that was exactly what I felt as I read my friend’s message, foolish hope—I left my luscious and tiled hiding spot and went hunting for Aaron.

I found him standing in his living room, looking out the industrial-style windows facing the waterfront.

Aaron’s apartment was in Dumbo, an area of Brooklyn I wasn’t all that familiar with but I was starting to love more and more. The place was incredible. Spacious and stark, elegant but simple.

Walking up to him, I peered out the massive windows myself. “These views of the East River are breathtaking.”

“I’m very lucky to be able to afford all this,” he said, and he sounded thoughtful. More than he usually did.

Turning and angling my body in his direction, I laid my back on the windows and faced him. How could I tell him that this view—him—was just as beautiful? One simply didn’t say stuff like that. So, I limited myself to look and soak it all up.

Aaron stared into the distance, the sunlight coming through the glass of the windows and kissing his skin. His blue eyes glinting under the light.

But there was something on his mind. I could tell.

“Is everything all right?” I reached out and placed my hand on his arm.

Only then did he look at me. “Come here.” In a swift motion, he had me tucked against his chest. He squeezed me, swaying us. “Better. Now, everything is much better.”

I couldn’t disagree with him. Anything that involved being in Aaron’s arms was far better than anything that didn’t. I let him tug a happy sigh out of me, and I relished in the way he hummed when I squeezed him right back.

When he finally released me, his gaze wandered out of the window again, but this time, it did with a small smile on his face.

Baby steps.

My eyes somehow ended on an industrial-style console that perfectly complemented the vibe of the windows—and the rest of the place. The only items on its surface were a framed photo and what looked like a textbook.

Feeling curious about who was in that photo, I walked up to it and picked it up. A woman. A beautiful, blue-eyed woman with raven hair and a smile I was starting to need to breathe a little easier. My heart warmed.

I felt his arm come around my shoulders, and then a kiss was brushed against my hair.

Letting my body fall into him, I asked, “What was your mom’s name?”

“Dorothea.” I felt his voice rumbling in his chest, right against my back. “She used to complain about it constantly. She made everybody call her Thea.”

“Tell me more about her, about your family.”

He released a breath, and it hit my hair with a puff. “It was her grandmother’s name. ‘A pretentious old lady’s name,’ my mom would say. Her side of the family was very wealthy but always unfortunate when it came to their health. They called it a curse.” He paused, sounding a little lost in his memories. “When I was a kid, my mom was the only living member left, so I never met my grandparents. And when my mom passed away, the last one of the Abbots became me. So, I inherited everything. That’s how I can afford this place.”

“That makes