Page 29 of The Forbidden Cabrera Brother
Judging from the way she had been frogmarched to his car, she was going for the full-frontal attack.
But at least they would not be having it at his house. At least, in the public arena, she wouldn’t feel quite so overwhelmed.
And the Plaza was just a wonderful place, a beautiful rolling arcade ringed with stunning sepia-and pastel-coloured buildings, a tribute to history and the stunning architecture of the period.
She might just be able to sideline his attack by absorbing her surroundings, a sort of displacement therapy.
The café was nestled in one of the sepia-coloured shops. From the outside, it looked as though it might be on the verge of collapse. Inside, it was a marvel of modernity, with a long steel counter behind which five chic young girls catered for the needs of the most discerning of coffee drinkers and pastry consumers.
‘I had no idea my brother would come to when I went to see him,’ Dante opened. ‘I had to go because of what happened between us at the pool.’
Caitlin cringed. ‘About that...’ she said faintly. She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t meet those arresting dark eyes that were pinned to her face. For the first time, she wondered whether he had kissed her because he had been caught up in the moment, just as she had been, or whether he had kissed her as some kind of test to find out whether she really was the adoring fiancée she claimed to be.
She felt sick. Her stomach churned. All her insecurities pointed her in the direction of that kiss being nothing more to him than a means to an end. Why else would a guy like Dante, a guy who could turn his back on a woman who looked like Luisa, look ather? Yes, he had said something about her beingsexy, but of course he would say that to butter her up and lower her defences for the moment when he leaned into her for that kiss, testing the ground, feeling his way to the answers he had been seeking.
‘Yes?’ Dante enquired coolly. He sat back as his double espresso was put in front of him, the attractive waitress taking her time as she positioned the cupjust so. His eyes remained fixed on Caitlin’s face, keenly noting the delicate bloom of colour in her cheeks. A guilty conscience would do that to a woman, he thought tightly.
‘I never meant for that to happen.’
‘I’m sure you didn’t,’ he responded smoothly. ‘Engaged to one brother but happy to get into an intimate clinch with the other? Not exactly an example of a woman with sterling moral principles, is it?’
Trapped by a secret that wasn’t hers to share, Caitlin could only bow her head in silence.
She would accept the full force of his condemnation. She would be gone in a heartbeat and she would be able to put it all behind her, except she knew that that would be easier said than done. Idiot that she was, she actuallycaredabout what he thought of her.
Somehow, she had been incapable of locking the man away in a convenient one-dimensional box. She’d tried, but he’d broken out of it and come right at her with all those complexities that had turned him into a living, breathing, fascinating guy who had fired her up in ways she would never have dreamt possible.
That was why she had kissed him. He stirred a crazy attraction inside her and she just hadn’t been able to resist, but she knew how it looked on the outside. Kissing him had boxed her in as a two-timing woman who was happy to fool around behind her fiancé’s back.
‘You don’t understand,’ she said, without much hope of him paying a blind bit of notice to what she had to say. ‘I know what it looks like, but I’m not that kind of person.’
‘Thank you for telling me that. That answers all my questions.’
‘There’s no need to be sarcastic.’
‘Then try coming at me with something a little better.’
‘What do you want me to say?’
‘What about the truth?’
‘I’m telling you the truth. I’m not that kind of girl. I don’t...’ She looked away and fell silent because there was nowhere to go with an explanation.
‘I told my brother about that kiss and you’ll never guess his response.’
Caitlin was pretty sure she could.
‘Actually, I had no idea my conversation would prove to be the thing that would rouse my brother from his deep and peaceful sleep, but it was. I started to talk to him...’
Dante paused and recalled the way he had felt, opening up to a sleeping Alejandro. For the first time he had felt something strong and bonding. It had been the one and only meaningful conversation he had ever had with Alejandro. The fact that Alejandro had been unconscious at the time had made it easy, had removed the inhibitions born over time.
Dante met her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. So green, so crystal clear...so full of a disingenuous innocence that was way off mark. ‘I started to talk to him andbang. He opened his eyes and was as with it as though he’d never been dead to the world at all. Funny thing, he didn’t seem all that perturbed by what we did. I had expected some kind of forceful reaction, had braced myself for his disgust and loathing for my weakness. I didn’t get any of that. Does that surprise you?’
Faced with that direct question, Caitlin frantically tried to compose an answer that would make sense. The truth was off the table. She stared down at her empty coffee cup and licked her lips nervously.
‘He’s...er...a very understanding kind of guy, as I’m sure you’d know if you’d ever taken the time to find out about him.’
Dante could only admire her attempt to divert him from her non-answer by launching a missile at him.
