“But true,” Dana said.

“She was great,” Skye said. “I went with her. They should have picked her.”

Kendra looked impressed. “What happened?”

“I didn’t make it. I got to training camp but was let go the first week. I couldn’t keep up with the dancing. I didn’t have enough training and I couldn’t learn the routines fast enough. I was still in college, so I went back to campus and buried my sorrows in business classes.”

Actually she’d gone out with friends, raced her car, lost it to Cruz and then slept with him. It had been a busy week.

“Did you try again?” Kendra asked.

“No. I could have taken dance classes and worked on my skills, but I was close to graduating and I knew I was going to go work for my dad. But yes, I did try out.”

“That’s so cool.”

“It was an experience. But if you want to hear about adventures, you should talk to Izzy. She’s done nearly everything. Climbed mountains, swam with sharks, sailed to Hawaii on a very small boat.”

Kendra looked more shocked than impressed. “Why?”

“I like the rush,” Izzy said, her eyes still covered by her gel pack. “I’m an adventure junkie.”

“What about you, Skye?” Kendra asked. “Any fun secrets in your past?”

Skye hesitated only a second, then shook her head. “Not me. I’m pretty boring. I’m Erin’s mom and I work. That’s about it.”

“But you were married before, right?”

“Yes. To a wonderful man.”

“So you were in love.” Kendra sounded wistful. “I want to be in love one day. Is it like people say?”

“I think it’s different for everyone. For me, love grew slowly. Sometimes, it’s a flash. Wasn’t it like that for you, Lexi? Didn’t you know the moment you saw Cruz?”

“Yes,” Lexi said, avoiding Dana’s gaze that warned her she was treading in dangerous territory. “Although it wasn’t the second I saw him. I knew from our first kiss that he was the one.”

A partial truth, she thought, still able to recall that first kiss, when his mouth had touched her and every cell in her body had responded as if they’d been waiting for him for a lifetime.

“You’re glowing,” Dana said in a low voice. “Be careful.”

“I’m fine.”

Dana didn’t look convinced, but this wasn’t the place to say that nothing had changed. Her engagement to Cruz was nothing more than a business arrangement.

“Izzy, have you been in love?” Kendra asked.

“No, and I don’t want to be. Men are great, but I don’t need one in my life.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m independent.”

“Don’t you want to belong to someone?” Kendra asked.

Izzy raised her gel pack. “Is that what you want?”

Kendra nodded. “I want to be special.”

“You are,” Lexi told her. “Very special.”

“And you have us,” Skye told her. “Cruz and Lexi are getting married, so we’ll be part of your family.”

“I’m going home soon.”

“But you’ll be back.”

Kendra shifted in her seat. “I know, but…my dad doesn’t settle down. He’s always saying that. I know he’s engaged to you.” She looked at Lexi. “I want him to marry you. That would be great. But I just don’t think…he’s going to.” The last three words came out in a very small, quiet voice.

“Kendra, you shouldn’t worry,” Lexi told her, feeling especially crappy at that moment. No one was supposed to be hurt by her deal with Cruz. Certainly not his daughter. Not that she could take responsibility for that. Lexi hadn’t known she existed. But Cruz should have been more careful.

“I know your father hasn’t settled down before,” Skye said. “But he wants to marry Lexi. You’ll see. They’ll be together and we’ll all be a family.”

“Maybe.” Kendra didn’t sound convinced.

“I WANT TO SEE my grandchild more,” Juanita said as she chopped tomatoes in her bright kitchen.

Cruz’s mother might be small, but she could see right through him. She was doing it now, giving him “the look.” It had worked when he’d been ten and it still worked.

“I’ll try,” he said, knowing that wasn’t going to be enough.

Sure enough his mother sniffed. “Try? You’re her father. You don’t need to try. Do. How often do you see her yourself?”

“Now and then.”

“A girl needs her father. Especially now. She’s fifteen. There are boys. You should make sure no one takes advantage of her.”

“Her mother…” he began.

Juanita waved her hand in dismissal. “I’m talking to you. She’s growing up too fast. The years, they pass faster and faster. When you told me your girlfriend was pregnant, all I could think was that I didn’t want your life ruined. But we made the wrong choice. All of us.”

“You think I should have married her?”

“No. But you should have been more involved. Sending a check isn’t enough.”

“Mom, you need to get off me.”

“And you need to pay attention to your responsibilities. Kendra is practically a young woman. Girls grow up more quickly than boys.”

The “girl” in question was in the other room, watching television. They’d driven down from Dallas that morning to have lunch with his mother. Cruz was questioning every part of his decision.

“Do you want her to grow up, go to college and start a new life without ever knowing who you are?”

“She knows who I am.”

He wanted to walk away, but he couldn’t. Not from his mother. But why couldn’t they talk about something else? This was too close to the fight he’d had with Lexi. He couldn’t escape the women in his life.

“She knows your name and where you live, but you don’t have a relationship with her. She doesn’t know you as a father. You should have been more involved. Money isn’t enough. There has to be love.”

The one word Cruz didn’t want to hear. “Love is a crock,” he muttered.

Juanita moved behind him and hit him on the back of the head. “You don’t speak like that. Are you saying you don’t believe I love you?”

He rubbed the spot and wished he’d kept his mouth shut. “No.”

“Are you saying you don’t love me?”

He sighed. “I love you, Mom. You know that.”

“What about your daughter? Do you love her? Do you say the words?”

“Don’t push me on this,” he told her. “Kendra is taken care of. That’s enough.” What no one seemed to realize was that his daughter was better off without him always hanging around. Safer.

“It’s not enough. She’s family.”

“So was your husband. Did you love him?”

His mother returned to her chopping. She dropped the tomatoes into a bowl and stirred in the cilantro. “Our marriage was arranged, and no, I did not love him. He was not a good man.”

There was an understatement.

“But he gave me you,” she continued, giving him the look again. “You are my son and you made it all worthwhile.”

He thought about the beatings she’d endured. The abuse. How she’d had to go to work with broken bones and black eyes. How no one had asked if she was all right. No one had helped.

“I wasn’t worth that,” he said.

“You were worth everything. You are my son.”

She believed it. He saw it in her eyes. How was that possible?

“Mom, this is different.”

She wiped her hands on a towel then crossed to him and cupped his face in her hands.

“You’re not him,” she said, staring into his eyes. “You’re nothing like him.”

“I know that.”

“You don’t. You worry. I know. I see. You have to trust yourself. You have to open your heart. If you would let yourself love Kendra you would know that she was worth everything, too.” She released him and returned to the counter. “With your next one, I think it will be better. You and Lexi will have beautiful babies. A son to carry on the family name.”

He didn’t have to close his eyes to imagine Lexi pregnant. She would be radiant. But not with his child. Kendra had been a mistake and he wasn’t going to let that happen again.

Later, when he’d found the right wife-the one with the name and background he wanted-he would start a family. Have children.

And then what? Would he avoid them as he’d avoided Kendra? Would he be too afraid that his father lurked inside of him?

Questions to be answered another time, he told himself. Not for now.

“Tell me you’ll do better with Kendra,” his mother said. “Promise me.”

“Mom.”

“Cruz. I want you to say it.”

He looked into her determined eyes. “I promise,” he said, and knew that he was lying.

LEXI FELT AS LOST as C.C. looked as they wandered the empty rooms of the house together. The kitten snuggled close but didn’t purr, as if his kitty happiness depended on a presence that was no longer around.

Kendra was gone. She’d left that morning after breakfast, as she did on every school day, but this time she wasn’t coming back. Her mother was home and Cruz’s babysitting services were no longer required.

They hadn’t said goodbye. Kendra had insisted on that. The girl had eaten breakfast, then left without saying a word.

Lexi shouldn’t be surprised. Kendra had made it clear she didn’t think Lexi would be there the next time she came by and the teen wasn’t wrong.

Still, it hurt to have the house so empty.

She put down the kitten and went into the kitchen. While there was plenty of food in the house, nothing appealed. She heard the garage door open and knew Cruz was home. Was that going to make her feel better or worse?

They hadn’t spent much time together in the past few days. They hadn’t been intimate in nearly three weeks. She missed him in her bed, missed what he could do to her body. She also missed him. The man she could talk to, who made her laugh.

“Kendra’s gone,” she said.

“I know. She went home after school.”

“I miss her. She’s a giant pain in the ass and I miss her.”

He shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it on the counter. “You going to yell at me now?”