A Second Chance
Page 51

Oh, the man did know a lot. They’d obviously spent a long time together, probably wrapped up in each other’s arms—and sheets. Carlos tried to expel the breath he was holding. “She dumped me yesterday morning.”
“Knew you were still in love with Maddie?”
Maddie? He’d already begun with the pet names. But Carlos only nodded.
“Well, then.” He handed Carlos one of the daiquiris. “She’s grown fond of these. I wouldn’t recommend putting the ring in it, though. Perhaps teeter it on the umbrella.”
“I don’t understand.” This man, who had spent time with their Maddie, was giving him advice? Carlos didn’t know if he should punch him or thank him. Punching him seemed more logical. Had this guy touched her? The thought made him tense.
“She’ll be very glad to see you.”
After having met Corbin, Carlos wasn’t so sure she would.
“These are on me.” He picked up the other drink and handed it to him too. “Give her my best. And good luck to you. She loves you very much, and she didn’t have to tell me specifically for me to know.”
Corbin gave him a firm pat on the back. “She’s under umbrella thirty-three just over there.” He pointed in the distance.
“That’s it? You can walk away from her like that?”
Corbin put his sunglasses back on his face. “She was never mine. Only for a moment, but never forever.”
The sun was hot, and Madeline was glad Corbin had talked her into the umbrella. With its shade, she figured she could spend all day on the beach.
She closed her eyes and let the warmth wash over her. Certainly, the next vacation she took she was going to take with Regan and Arianna. No matter what, they were still her friends, and damnit, she wasn’t going to lose that.
With her eyes still closed, she felt the presence of someone standing over her and she smiled.
“I wondered how long it was going to take you,” she said, letting out an airy laugh.
He didn’t say anything. She heard him set the glass on the table beside her and relax in the lounge.
Madeline sat up and lifted her sunglasses.
The shock of finding Carlos lounged next to her in a white linen shirt and khaki pants gave her heart an unnatural rhythm.
“What are you doing here?” Her skin stuck to the lounge or she would have shot up.
“Soaking in the sun with your new favorite drink.” He sipped from his and gave her a sideways glance. “This isn’t bad. Corbin said you liked these.”
She felt the blood drain from her face as she sat up fully. “Corbin? You met Corbin?”
He sipped from the glass again. “Nice enough guy. I’m not sure I like the thought that he slept with my wife.”
“He what?” Confusion would be an understatement for what Madeline was feeling now. “Carlos, what are you doing here and where is Corbin?”
The thin line of a smile on his lips let her know he had something brewing in his head, but then his lips turned downward and he sat up on the lounge.
“Maddie, tell me you don’t love the man. Tell me that Corbin was a fling and that you didn’t run off to Mexico to be with him.”
“Carlos, have you lost your mind?”
“Yes.” He let out a breath. “I can’t stand the thought of another man touching you.”
The man she really loved was sitting across from her accusing her of having some lustful affair. He had indeed lost his mind. What did he think of her? She let her shoulders drop. Why would it matter? She’d contemplated sleeping with Corbin, hadn’t she?
“Is that why you’re here? You think I’d belittle myself to sleeping around with men I don’t know? You think that’s what this was all about?”
Carlos shrugged.
“You don’t know me as well as you think you do, Carlos Keller.”
“Oh, I know you pretty well.”
He did too, and that was killing her at the moment. “Then tell me. Did I run down here and sleep with the first man I met?”
Carlos lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head. His dark eyes scanned her face and the smile slowly returned to his lips. In that moment she knew he had his answer. He did know her that well. He relaxed back on the lounge and sipped from his drink again.
Madeline felt the urge to shake the man. Was he trying to torture her because she hadn’t gone to his wedding? Why was he here? Why was he ruining her vacation? He should be in Hawaii right now, on his honeymoon, not sipping daiquiris next to her in Mexico. And why was he drinking daiquiris next to her? She swept her eyes over the beach. “Where is your wife?”
“Sitting next to me.”
“What?” This time she came off the lounge and he stood to meet her.
He raised his hand to her cheek. “You heard me.” She pulled his hand from her face and looked at it. His ring finger was bare. “Where is your ring? Where is your wife? Damnit, why are you here?”
He moved into her and brushed a kiss across her lips. She was paralyzed. Why could she never move away when Carlos kissed her?
When he pulled back, he kept his eyes locked on hers. “I have been dumped by my wife.” He reached for her hand. “We both knew I’m in love with someone else.”
Her breath caught in her lungs and the heat around her swirled until she felt dizzy. Without another thought, she sat down on the lounge, and Carlos knelt down before her, his knee in the sand.
“See, for the past five years it seems that I kept thinking about moving on, but really I didn’t want to. You moved on, and so I thought I’d better just do it.”
“Carlos, I never moved on.” Though she’d sure made a mess of things trying.
He nodded and sat back on his lounge, her hand still grasped in his. “I remember these two foolish kids who got married and had a family. They should have talked more. Instead they said mean things and lived in separate houses. When really they should have been sharing the same one.”
Madeline covered her mouth with her free hand.
Carlos took that hand in his and pressed a kiss to her palm. “You told me you loved me when they wheeled you away for surgery.”
She swallowed hard. “Oh, I’d hoped you’d forgotten that.”
He shook his head. “Burned into my memory.” He smiled. “It stayed there because, honey, I’ve never stopped loving you. In my heart, you are my wife and always will be. So I don’t see any reason we shouldn’t be married and pull our family back together.”