Danger Calls. Caridad Pineiro
huh?”
And wasn’t that an understatement of gigantic proportions? In the year after their father’s death, Sebastian had tried to help his sister cope with the pain. His sister had always been the strong one—until their father had been killed and Diana had fallen apart.
Diana had entered a dark and dangerous world, and Sebastian had thought he could somehow keep her from totally going over the edge. So he’d gone with her to clubs for those who liked to live precariously; been by her side on many a late night. Tried to make sure that in the numbing haze created by one too many tequila shooters, Diana did nothing that would harm her.
The defiant streak inside of him had responded to the make-no-excuses, take-no-crap kind of life. In that blurry world of alcohol and angry music, he’d finally discovered peace. He’d realized there was nothing wrong in walking his own path, rather than toeing his father’s line. His dead father, who he’d never been able to please anyway.
Rebellion suited Sebastian and gave him a place where he was free of his pain. But the freedom had been an illusion, and a dangerous one at that. The partying and drinking had only numbed his guilt over never having lived up to his father’s expectations.
It had taken great strength to untangle all the conflicting emotions within himself, to deal with Diana’s pain, and his own, and find a way back to who he really was. It hadn’t been easy, but it had made him a stronger man.
Years later, he had finally accepted that he could never have been the son his father wanted. The best he could do was be his own man.
“There’s a lot going on now, and I’ve dragged you into it again, haven’t I?” There was an edge of anguish in his sister’s voice that Sebastian hated to hear.
“You love Ryder and he makes you happy. I would never wish anything different for you.”
“But you want something different for yourself?” she pressed, apparently hearing something behind his words.
“I want the Happily Ever After, but with someone simple.”
“Someone not like Melissa—is that it?”
Sebastian was finding it difficult not to confide in his sister since they’d never kept anything from each other before. He didn’t want to start now. “There was something between us,” he said, although he didn’t quite know what to call the night he and Melissa had shared.
“Something, huh? You think you can just make that something go away?”
“I’m trying, although it’s not easy,” he stated flatly. “There are other things in my life that keep me busy.”
“Like your games? And your hacking?” Sebastian flinched as he heard the echo of his father’s words lashing out at him. Like father, like daughter.
Diana must have realized she’d struck a sore point, for she apologized instantly. “I didn’t mean to condemn.”
“Didn’t you? You sounded just like him. RoboCop redux.”
Her color paled at his rebuke and her generous mouth thinned into a tight line. But she still reached out and laid a hand on Sebastian’s leg in an effort to soothe the sting of her words. “Hermanito, I’m sorry. It’s just you and I are so different that way.”
“Don’t I know it. Didn’t Dad tell me often enough that I should be more responsible? That I should care about school more.” His sister started to speak but Sebastian silenced her with an angry wave of his hand. “You know what I remember best about Dad? Besides watching him die in your arms?” He paused, although he expected no answer to his question. “I must have been thirteen or fourteen. I was playing a game up in my room and Dad came in. He sat beside me, watching the screen but not talking. I tried to explain the rules, but after a few minutes, Dad mumbled something about wasting time playing games when life was so much more important.”
“He just couldn’t understand you,” Diana said, much as Sebastian expected she would. He adored his sister and trusted her judgment, but Diana had never grown beyond her hero worship of their police-officer father. She didn’t realize that while being a champion to others, their father had often put his family second and ignored a son who was totally different in temperament and interests.
“Do you think Melissa could understand me?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” Diana admitted.
“She’s uptight and über-responsible. I’m a no-strings-attached kind of guy.” He looked away from his sister. He didn’t want her to see his confusion or his guilt. Despite his best efforts these last three months, he hadn’t been able to forget Melissa.
More than most, he knew the hardship of conforming and being bound by another’s conventions. Sebastian sensed that Melissa’s life was not her own, that she needed an escape from the burdens she bore. He wanted to ease the weight off her shoulders. He hadn’t felt that way in a long time—as if he could help someone else. Be someone worthy for her. But he’d both disappointed and angered her tonight with his hesitation.
Funny how much it was like the situation with his father all over again.
After a long silent moment he turned to face his sister, not knowing what to expect. Certainly not the little Mona Lisa-like smile on her face. “Seems to me you’ve been thinking about it way too much, hermanito.”
Sebastian stood, took a breath, about to tell her that he didn’t want to talk about it, when Diana surprised him by saying, “I’ve got to get some sleep. Hasta mañana.” She rose and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“’Night, sis.” How could she understand him so well? Sometimes better than he understood himself.
After Diana walked into her bedroom and closed the door, it was impossible to concentrate on the mock investigations and battles of his game.
If he had any sense, he would stop wondering about Melissa. But it was difficult, given the impression she’d made. Months ago, she had been strong enough to confront his sister and convince Diana to look for a missing Ryder. When faced with Ryder’s injuries, Melissa had been capable and unafraid. But after the crisis was over, the pain hidden behind her competent façade had called out to him. He’d tried to soothe her emotional wounds, and they’d ended up making love.
Not that he considered himself shallow, but he had noticed more than her vulnerability. Melissa’s eyes—dios, but he could spend hours looking into her changeling blue eyes. A deep, dark slate-gray with worry. Bright and sparkling with bits of aquamarine when she was happy, as she had been in those unguarded moments the morning after.
She had a dimple when she smiled, and although her smile was sometimes hesitant, as if she didn’t experience it often, it lit up a face that was stunning in a healthy, blond, California-girl kind of way.
Sebastian couldn’t deny that he’d remembered on more than one occasion what she had tasted like when he kissed her. How her compact, curvy body had felt pressed to his. What she looked like without her…
He groaned as his nether regions sprang to life as they did way too often when he thought about Melissa. He heard a door opening, sat up slightly and grabbed a pillow, which he placed on his lap to hide his erection. A second later, Diana strolled into the room.
She was rubbing her hands together, as if she had just put on some lotion, and she had changed into her pajamas. “Still up?” she asked when she noticed him on the couch.
Oh, he was up, but not in a way he’d admit to his sister. “Sí, still awake. Trying to figure out a problem.”
Diana gave him a puzzled look, her brows furrowed together. “Need help?”
Sputtering, Sebastian quickly replied, “No, thanks. I think I’ve figured out what to do.” And the truth was he suddenly knew where to begin.
Chapter 3
Melissa had been