Page 31 of A Dish Best Served Hot

Before Lola could answer, from behind them a high-pitched voice said, “Can you big ol’ gorillas move?”

Saint’s body jerked forward as a beautiful woman pushed her way through Saint and theGQmodel before pausing next to Saint, her shoulder touching his arm. Her curls were escaping their high ponytail and her deep tan skin was perfectly smooth and luminous. Her big, light brown eyes were filled with surprise and welcome. “Hi,” she said with a big warm smile that lit up her entire face. Holy shit. She was incandescent, like looking directly at the sun.

Lola wondered if she was finally meeting Rosie’s mom. The thought made her stomach clench. She frowned. There was no reason the thought of this gorgeous Instagram model being Rosie’s mom should cause her body to do anything. There was definitely no reason for it to make her irrationally angry.

At Lola’s expression, the other woman’s face changed too, becoming confused. “Are you a new nurse?”

“No,” both she and Saint said at the same time.

Everyone’s heads swung between the two of them.

“I’m Lola. My grandpa lives here too,” Lola explained.

“What are you doing here, Lola?” Saint asked, ignoring the look he was getting from the woman at his side.

Right. Now she had to tell him that she’d hurt his grandpa. This was going to suck. She opened her mouth, but Papo Vega beat her to it.

“She was helping me get back to my room,” he said. “¿Y qué ustedes ya no saludan?”

A chorus of “Bendiciones, Abuelo” rang through the room.

Papo Vega just smiled and shoved another chip in his mouth.

“Hey, where did you get that from,” the woman cried at the same time the cop asked, “Why did you need help getting back to your room?”

“Because I got lost on my way back from Doña Concepcion’s room.” He took a swig of Coke.

“Give me that.” The woman rushed forward and yanked the soda out of his hand along with the bag of chips. “And stop begging at her door like a stray dog. I bring you plenty of snacks. Ones you’re actually allowed to eat.”

Papo Vega let out a burp. “If you’re talking about that rabbit food you left after stealing my pork rinds, I threw that in the garbage where it belongs.” He seemed inordinately proud of himself for that. Preening like a beauty queen.

Saint stepped forward until he was standing next to Lola, close enough for her to feel his body heat but not enough for her shoulder to touch his arm.

She fought the urge to close that space and then look at the Insta-model like,See. I know him too.

Not like the woman would’ve noticed. Her attention was only on Papo Vega. “It’s low-fat granola and homemade curry kale chips.”

The cop and glasses guys made the same face of disgust while theGQmodel said, “Eww. Why would you do that to him? Isn’t it bad enough that G.I. Joe over here has him in solitary confinement?” He waved a hand carelessly in Saint’s direction.

As Lola expected, Saint’s face revealed almost nothing; only a slight tightening around his mouth gave away his annoyance at being called G.I. Joe.

“He’s in trouble because he almost put someone in the hospital, Leo,” the woman replied. She walked into the kitchen with the confiscated snacks. “What should we have done?” She began pouring the soda into the sink. “Thrown him a party?” She put the can on the counter and then looked at the mess all over the tiny kitchen. “What in the world did you do in here, Abu? It’s like you pulled everything out of the cabinets and fridge.”

Papo Vega, who had settled back in his chair and had been cackling at whatever El Chavo del Ocho and Quico were up to, grumbled, “Ay, qué mucho tú jode,” causing three of the other men in the room to chuckle.

“I wouldn’t have to be annoying, if you’d listen for once,” she said.

It sounded so much like conversations she’d had with Benny that Lola felt an instant connection to the other woman. Then something clicked in her head.

“These are your siblings,” she whispered in an aside to Saint.

He gave her a funny look and nodded. “You went to school with the twins,” he whispered back.

Right. Cristian and Eduardo Vega. They’d been sophomores when she and Saint dated. The youngest two, whose names she couldn’t remember, had still been in middle school. Lola felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner and then she felt like more of an idiot for the relief that flooded her system. Finding out this gorgeous woman was Saint’s little sister and not his partner should not loosen all the tension in her body.

“You’d still be annoying, Kamilah,” theGQmodel responded. “You were born that way.”

“And you were born an ass, Leo,” she replied sweetly.

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