Free Stranger Danger by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy Page B

said. “I’m not proud of
it, but I did. I’ve beaten men, stolen, cheated, lied, and broken the law.”
    “Did you fuck
women, too?” She threw the question at him with force.
    Santiago
stared at her and beyond his grim facade, she saw the man she knew. “Not
often,” he said after a long silence.   “It meant nothing to me, nada.   And it doesn’t touch what we have, what I
feel for you.   You have to know that,
Sara.”
    Images of his
nude body skin to skin with stranger’s bodies rushed through her mind, so vivid
she thought she’d puke.   Then she thought
of Erik and their intimacies, acts which never touched her love for Santiago,
and she searched her heart.   “I do,” she
said. “I can’t believe I can say so, but I do. Were you in LA most of the
time?”
    “Until six
months ago, yes,” he told her. “Then they told me to come to Arkansas.”
      His lack of names struck her as odd. “Who told
you?”
    “I won’t tell
you who. You’re in danger now, because of me.   If you know names, you’re in much more trouble.   I was sent here to be muscle.   Do you know what that means, Sarita?”
    Her throat
burned, dry as a Nevada desert during a drought. “I think so.   They send you out to beat up people, hurt
them, or kill them, right?”
    Santiago
nodded. “ Si, that’s pretty much it.
Sometimes I could persuade them.   Fear is
one hell of a motivator.”
    She tried to
imagine him as a ruthless enforcer, as someone who would take life without
remorse and act with cruelty.   Sara struggled,
the nature of the man she thought she knew as well as herself held in
comparison against what he described.   As
her thoughts spun in wild circles, he threw down his cigarillo and stalked
across the room.   He knelt in front of
her chair.
    “Say something,”
he said, his voice a plea. “ No tengas
miedo, la muñequita, por favor.”
    He shocked her,
but she wasn’t afraid, not of him. “I’m not,” she told him. “I’m just trying to
process everything, but I love you, Santiago, no matter what’s happened.   Whatever you did, I suppose you had to. It’s
hard to take in, a little, but you don’t scare me.”
    His taut face
sagged with relief. “ Te
amo. Yo
haria cualquier costa por ti.”
    Sara never
doubted he would. “I’d do anything for you, too.” She put her hand on his shoulder
and he lifted it to his mouth.   He kissed
the back of her hand, light and gentle.
    “You already
have, Sarita. I tore your life to hell when I knocked on your door, but you’re
here, with me.”
    She laughed.
“It wasn’t much of a life anyway.   The
only thing I miss is my shop.”
    Seconds later,
realization hit with the force of a delivery van.   She’d forgotten Posies and Pretties.   For the first time since she’d bought the
business, she hadn’t notified staff.   On
the rare occasions she’d missed work, she had always called Catie, her
assistant.   Catie must be frantic, wondering where I’m at.   “Oh, sweet Jesus,” she exclaimed.   It wasn’t a prayer.
    “What?”
    “I forgot
about the shop! I should’ve called Catie, let someone know I won’t be in for a
few days.   If my staff heard about the
shooting at the complex, they’ll be crazy.”
    His sigh
echoed through the room. “You can’t call them, Sara.”
    “I’ll have to
get in touch tomorrow.”
    “No.”
    She shook her
head. “Santiago, it’s important. It won’t take long.”
    “M13 has
people who can trace the call.   If they
do, they find us.   I’m not in shape yet
to fight, la muñequita. You can’t use
your phone, not now, not at all.   Don’t
even answer it if it rings.”
      Sara said nothing.   Then she sighed. “Okay,” she told him but
with regret. Surely one call wouldn’t be so bad or easy to track, but she’d do
what he asked. She wouldn’t even turn it on, she thought, to avoid temptation.
      “ Gracias, ”
he said, accepting her answer as agreement.
    “Is your