“They’re very smart women.” I grinned, gathering her into my arms while my stomach roiled with dread from the call with Tina. “You should listen to Maritza, no phone for a couple of days.”

I slid her phone into my pocket, dreading having to tell her the news.

“Did you have a good talk?” I asked, and she nodded, and though her smile was a little fragile she looked happy.

“We had a really good talk. Maybe you’re magic, Theo Ganas.” Her big brown eyes shone and that made my heart tighten. “I figured I’d never see the day when my mother actually encouraged me to go have premarital sex with a man.” I chuckled at her horrified expression and pressed my lips to that sweet little spot on her neck I loved. “She said she’ll call you if she needs anything.” I made a sound of approval and kissed her. Licked into her mouth and wrapped my hands around her hips. Getting lost in her was as easy as breathing. “I think she’s right,” Alba said, as she rested her face on my chest. “Maybe prioritizing rest a little more will be good for me.”

Her words made the decision for me. I couldn’t do it. Could not rob her of the first time off she’d had in years. I’d tell her about the show when we got back from Santa Fe. She’d be pissed at me, but the truth was that my telling her would only destroy any chance of her letting herself relax and it would not change anything else. What happened with the show was not up to us.

“I plan to spoil you,” I mouthed against her neck, struggling to swallow down my guilt for keeping her in the dark. “You’ll be completely addicted to me by the time we leave New Mexico.”

“Mm, I like the sound of that.” I slid her shirt off her body and carried her to the couch without a word, and by the time I was buried inside her, I’d convinced myself that everything but this could wait.

Chapter Twenty

Alba

“This place is crazy,” I told Theo as I walked into the sunroom of his huge-ass ranch in Santa Fe. We’d gotten in an hour earlier, and after a very delicious lunch he’d told me to shower and meet him here for a surprise.

He was in his usual jogger and long-sleeve T-shirt combo, but this time he was standing next to a massage table, which faced the enormous window overlooking a valley. The skyline here was breathtaking. That big sky and expansive plains. Felt like I could see across miles and miles.

“Hop on.” He patted the table with a very suggestive grin tipping up his mouth.