A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) by Darynda Jones

She rolled over to the other side of her bed and looked down at the boy lying faceup on the floor, ankles crossed, arms tucked under his head like he hadn’t a care in the world. Then again, he didn’t know her mother as well as she did.

“Penises are stupid?” he asked.

After stifling a giggle with her hand, she said, “They are. Boys do stupid things.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“Have you ever asked someone to hit you in the stomach as hard as they can?”

“Guilty.”

“There ya go.”

His full mouth widened across his face. A face that had taken her breath away the first time she saw it. “I can’t argue with that.”

Auri officially met Cruz the first day of school, but of course she’d noticed him sooner. Though she’d grown up in Albuquerque while her mom was in college, and Santa Fe when her mom was an officer then a detective for the Santa Fe Police Department, Auri had spent every summer since she was two with her grandparents. That meant getting to know many of the locals.

She thought she’d first noticed him at the lake when they were about ten, but thinking back, she realized she’d had an encounter with him when she was younger. She doubted he remembered it, but she would never forget even though it took her a while to realize he was the boy who very likely saved her life. A man in a white van offered her a ride. He tried to coax her closer. Then a boy on a bike skidded to a stop between them and the guy took off.

That would mark the second time she’d had her life saved. She’d wanted to ask him if he remembered the incident since she’d put two-and-two together last week, but she kind of didn’t want him to. She’d been stupid when the man said her grandmother was looking for her and he offered to take Auri to her. Cruz didn’t need to know the depths of her gullibility.

But she would never forget that boy on the lime-green bike. Dark hair. Rich, brown eyes. Fearless. Absolutely, utterly fearless. If not, Auri might not be here today.

“You good?” he asked, gazing up at her.

“I’m better. Thank you for coming over. You didn’t have to.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “’Course, I did.” He took a hand from behind his head, reached up, and captured one of hers.

She let him. Let him entwine her fingers with his. Let him rub a thumb across her palm. Let him pull that very same hand down so he could place a soft kiss on the back of it.

There was something so gracious about him. So gentlemanly. He completely respected her for who she was. Her ideas and opinions and dreams mattered to him. And when he kissed her, his affection carried that same hint of respect, but there was something else there, too. Like he wanted to do more but held himself back to let her take it further if she wished to.

Every time they were together, everywhere they went, it was like he had to touch her. He put his hand on the small of her back when they went through a door. He tugged on a strand of hair when he sat behind her in class. He rubbed his shoulder to hers when they were talking to kids at school. Never suffocating. Never possessive. Just …there.

If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he had ESP. His touches were warm and reassuring and perfect. Exactly what she needed at any given time, as though he could sense her every desire. Which was a distressing thought.

“I’m sorry about Mr. Ravinder,” he said softly, brushing a thumb over her knuckles. “And I get why you’re so upset seeing him like that, but who is he to you? I mean …” He groaned and covered his eyes, then started over. “That came out wrong. I just meant—”

“It’s okay,” she said, letting him off the hook, though watching him squirm was fun. “He’s just really special. He … he helped me when I was a kid. And he’s always been there for me.”

His brows slid together. “How did he help you?”

She pulled back her hand and tucked it under her chin. She remembered it so clearly. The time she’d decided to take her own life. When she stood on the cliff over Del Sol Lake with that very intention.

Just one step. One tiny step and the product of all her mother’s woes, the product of her mother’s rape, would be gone and her mom could get on with her life. She could live and be happy and fall in love without the burden of an unwanted child dragging her down. But Levi and his nephew Jimmy showed up and started talking to her about the most everyday things. They didn’t try to stop her so much as just listen.

She’d only recently admitted the truth of that day to her mother. The conversation that followed healed years of misery and self-doubt, and she now knew that her mother wanted her no matter what. That her mother loved her. Had always loved her.

Cruz had overheard a conversation about that day she’d had with Jimmy, so he knew that much. He did not know what Levi did for her though.

She lifted a shoulder instead and whispered, “The time I considered jumping off the cliff at the lake.”

He looked away. Based on past experience, the subject upset him. A lot. If she remembered correctly, the words fuck and you popped up during that conversation.

“He stopped you?” he asked, snapping her out of her musings.

She tilted her head, appreciating his profile. “Let’s just say he was the first person to ever save my life.”

He refocused, training his powerful gaze on her. “The first person?”