I have to find him and bring him back home.

My mind set, I crunch my dirty clothes in a ball and hurry out of the bathroom wearing only a tank top and panties to go get a fresh change of clothes from my room. I freeze at the bottom of the stairs. Diego is sitting halfway up them, and when he sees me he throws me a stare pretty much equal to the one Paul used on Julia.

“Hey,” I say tentatively. “I’ve made a mess.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” he replies, his tone glacial.

Worry wraps around me. “How much did you hear?”

“All of it.”

“Diego, I can explain everything, but not now.” I find the courage to climb up the stairs and walk past him and into my bedroom.

The moment I walk in, the door clicks shut behind me.

“Sorry,” Diego says. “I want answers now.”

“Well, now I can’t.” I drop the dirty clothes in a plastic bag and open my luggage to find new ones. “I have to go find Paul.”

“Paul, right.” Diego snarls. “Last night you swore you didn’t have any more secrets.”

“And I don’t.”

“Oh, so you just forgot to mention that I’m basically a product of your sister’s imagination? When I asked you why you picked me for this job, you said it was because you liked me. How many other lies have you spun me?”

“None.”

“Really? First, I find out you’re in love with your sister’s fiancé. Then, that you’ve chosen me to be her secret dream guy. What did you do? Did you put all her requisites in your agency’s search engine and wait for the best match to pop up?”

My face goes on fire. That’s exactly what I did, but I don’t think confessing it to Diego now would do any good.

I squeeze into a clean pair of jeans and button them up. “It’s not like that.”

“So you say. Why should I trust anything that comes out of your mouth?”

Socks, I need socks.

“Because you can. Ask me anything you want later, but now I have to go.”

“Because you have to run after Paul.”

Shoes… where are my boots? Ah, there under the bed. “Yeah, I have to find him and talk to him before it’s too late.”

I pull a knit sweater on, barely hearing what Diego says next.

“Guess now he and Julia are no longer an item, everything’s changed. Was this your plan all along? To bring me here to break them up?”

What did he say? I don’t have time to ask him. I search for the car keys, finding them under a T-shirt on my desk. I need to go and fast.

“Listen, I know you’re upset.” I stop a second to look at him. “But right now I need to find Paul and bring him home. Then we can talk all day if you want.”

Diego is still blocking the door, so I wait for him to step aside. He doesn’t.