Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 74882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
She never texted me back.
When I finally arrived in California, I texted her. An embarrassing amount of times. All of which were ignored. This could all be for nothing. She might have some new boyfriend and doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.
Then why is she here?
I have to hold onto hope that she was good on her promise. That she’d be waiting for me to come find her. Well, here I am, hunting my woman down.
We arrive at the hotel and I bolt out of the bus. As soon as I take in the hotel, I stop dead in my tracks.
More construction.
The first thing I notice is a wooden walkway from the parking area to the front office. I stalk in through the doors—also new—and take in the updates. Everything has been removed and it’s a shell of how it used to be. Men are hanging new drywall and Araceli is bossing them around with Rodrigo attached to her breast.
“What is this?” I demand.
She rolls her eyes. “Long time, no see, cousin.”
“What the hell is going on around here?”
“Ask the owner.”
I growl, already annoyed at her bitchiness. “Where’s Mamá?”
“With Eduardo. But she’s not the owner anymore.”
Time slows to a halt. My cousin is smiling wickedly, clearly enjoying my horror.
“What?”
“You heard me, Camilo. She sold it. Fancy rich folks bought it out from her and are fixing it up.”
“No,” I grit out. “Impossible. Mamá would never sell.”
“Rodrigo ripped this place apart,” Araceli argues. “She didn’t have the money to fix it back up.” Her little Rodrigo pops off the nipple to stare up at her, flashing me in the process.
Gross.
I don’t want to see my cousin’s tit.
“This is ridiculous,” I snarl.
“Should have been here to stop it from happening.” She smiles unkindly at me. “Thanks for visiting Hotel Zaragoza. Come back soon.”
I flip my cousin off then haul ass on a mission to find my mother.
Chapter 27
Sheridan
Icringe when Mateo and Nicolás start bashing at the drywall with two huge sledgehammers. I’d suggested regular hammers, but they were like two kids in a candy shop, eager to destroy the hotel room Rodrigo ruined when it passed through.
“Careful,” I warn above the noise. “If you go through that outer wall, you’re fixing it and it’s coming out of your paycheck.”
Mateo winks at me before swinging his giant tool again. Freaking brutes. As they demo the walls, I can’t help but thrum with eager energy. Soon we’ll have all the old cleared out and we can start with the new. It’s going to be so awesome.
I feel him before I see him.
Camilo.
Strong. Radiating with anger. Warm.
My entire body alights at his nearness while my heart cracks down the middle. Hope is a silly, useless emotion, though I can’t help but latch onto it anyway.
“A word,” he says over the noise, his hand gently gripping my elbow.
I chance a look his way and hate how my heart stutters in my chest. He looks furious. Hot, but angry as hell. As I knew he would be. Rosita warned me.
Jerking my arm from his grip, I march past him out of the room and onto the walkway. I cross my arms over my chest and glower at him. “Yes?”
His dark eyes drop to my lips flickering with heat before he hardens them and snaps them to my stare. “This is all your doing.”
“Is that a question or a statement? Oh, and hello to you too, stranger.”
His jaw clenches. “All you or do you have partners? Araceli indicated more than one person bought Mamá out.”
“After all this time spent apart, this is how you greet me?” I scoff, shaking my head. “I don’t even know why I missed your grumpy ass.” I start to walk away, but he grabs my hand. Warmth surges through my veins at his touch. I don’t shake him away. “What?”
“I want to know…” His features fall. “Why did you take away the one thing my mother loved?”
Take it away?
“I didn’t take anything away,” I snip. “You’d know that if you’d ever cared to visit.”
Confusion furrows his brow. “I don’t understand.”
“My partners and I purchased this hotel for a generous price. We’re renovating it and have a plan to make it the best it can be.”
“Who’s they? David?”
I snort. “No, but your jealousy is cute.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“You so are, bird boy. Now are you going to stop being a prick so I can show you what we’ve done and what Estefania and Damian and I are planning on doing?” I start to tug my hand from his, but he tightens his grip, keeping me near.
“Why did you do it?”
“I needed a change of pace. I wanted to do something with my friends. I felt like this location has potential, but Rosita will never have the means to make it what it could be.”