19. Luis

CHAPTER 19

LUIS

A s soon as the elevator doors closed, Luis's whole body lost its strength. He staggered back and leaned against the elevator wall, tipping his head into his hands with an audible groan. What had he just done? Thrown everything out the window, that's what. But it was the right thing to do. There was no doubt in his mind about that. He'd set the woman he loved free, despite wanting to catch her up and hold her in his gilded cage forever. Luis was a man used to getting what he wanted. He was used to things going his way, so this was particularly hard to sit back and accept. But sit back and accept it was exactly what he did.

He rode the elevator down to the lobby and got into his limo alone. The driver asked him if he wanted to go back to his hotel, and to his own surprise, he answered, "No." He instructed the driver to take him to the bar where he'd first met Clara. Why he wanted to go back there, he couldn't have said, but the instinct was strong, so he went.

The bar was smaller than he remembered. At the time, he supposed, his life had felt small, closed in, and so the bar felt huge in comparison. His focus had been on the beautiful woman sharing a drink with him. At the time, he'd thought he was at his lowest, and he was ready for anything, open to anything. Now, though he wouldn't have thought it possible, he was even lower, and he didn't know how to open himself up to possibility, to hope.

He ordered the beer that Clara preferred, though he couldn't have exactly explained why. Torturing himself with memories of her didn't seem like the grandest idea, but at the same time, he couldn't help thinking of her, so he may as well lean into it.

It didn't take time for someone to notice him. She was a young woman, brunette, cute. In normal circumstances, he would have enjoyed her attention, and he tried to make himself do so now. If he was going to get back to his normal life, he would have to find the morale to do the sort of things he'd done before he met Clara.

The woman sidled up beside Luis and sat one barstool over. She pretended not to know him but ordered his brand of beer a bit more loudly than she would have needed to. Luis got the impression he was meant to notice. So he noticed.

"Like that brand, do you?" he said.

The look on the woman's face told him he'd reacted just the way she wanted him to. "Oh, it's my favorite." She smiled a charming smile. "I just love how refreshing it is, don't you?" She sounded exactly like a commercial. Maybe she was trying to audition for one, after all. Luis wished he could tell her he wasn't in charge of casting for ads, but he knew that would only disappoint her. She was playing the part of someone who didn't know who he was, clearly. She was playing the part of Clara.

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Luis said, taking a sip off his own imperial stout.

Then the bartender decided to ruin the poor girl's performance. "Don't you know who that is?" he said, laughing. "That's Luis Morales! Make him buy you one, girl — he can afford it."

"Oh!" The poor girl blushed and fidgeted. She hadn't anticipated having her script altered. "I mean it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Morales. I've… I mean of course I've heard of you. How could I not have?" She laughed nervously and shifted in her barstool.

Under normal circumstances, Luis would have enjoyed the attention, but he was struggling to enjoy anything at all tonight. Even the beer tasted bland. But he was going to have to find a way to enjoy his life without Clara, now that she was gone, wasn't he? "Can I talk you into a dance?" he asked the woman.

She leapt out of her seat so fast, he thought she might shoot right through the roof. He smiled because it was good to make someone happy, even if she was a stranger to him. They stepped out onto the dance floor, and Luis took the woman into his arms. She wasn't unattractive. She had long dark hair, a warm smile, and a shapely figure. But the whole time, he just kept wishing she was Clara. "What did you say your name was?" he asked.

She laughed. "I didn't, but it's Cher."

"Like the singer?"

"Yep. Like the singer. My dad was a fan."

"Are you?"

She shrugged. "Never really gave her a chance, I guess. You know how it is. You get told who you are when you're young, and then you rebel against as much of it as you can. No one ever really appreciates any of that stuff until they get older."

"Aren't you older now?"

She stepped closer and draped an arm over his shoulder. "Not that old yet… Hey, can I call you Luis, or do you prefer Mr. Morales?"

"Luis is fine." There was absolutely nothing wrong with this woman, but Luis couldn't bring himself to enjoy her company. Because Clara had smiled at him and told him to get some rest after he told her she wouldn't have to marry him. Because she looked so…so happy. Happy to be free of him. And his heart was breaking a little more with every minute that passed.

"You're looking a little down, Luis," Cher said. "Is there anything I can do to cheer you up? I have some really good jokes I could tell."

He tried to smile down at her. "Oh, no. I'm sorry. Please don't take it personally. I've just been having a really bad night."

She squeezed his upper arm. "You look like you've just had your heart broken into a million little pieces."

"Try a billion," he muttered. He hadn't meant to say it aloud, but once it was out, it was out.

Cher cocked her head at him and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "She doesn't deserve you," she said. "That's what I should say, anyway, but… it looks like you really love her. I don't think ever seen someone so down in the dumps before, and I spend a lot of time in dive bars." She laughed a charming laugh. "Look at you. You're handsome, rich and famous, and you seem like a good guy to boot. If this isn't a misunderstanding, then she really doesn't deserve you. How can she have broken your heart? Who would turn you down?"

"She didn't," Luis said, realizing for the first time that it was true.

"What?"

"I cancelled our wedding."

Cher's eyes went wide as saucers at that information. "So you broke her heart."

"No. She was happy about it. She was… relieved." His tone was far more unsure than he thought he actually was. Then again, things were far from normal, and he'd never done well when forced to improvise. He was better with a day planner, his days scheduled to the hour. Clara had thrown him so far off course, he hardly knew where he was anymore. "I love her," he murmured, "but she doesn't want love. She doesn't want anything. She's the first person I've ever been with who didn't want anything at all. I have no idea what to do for someone like that. What would you do for someone like that?"

He was being intolerably rude, dancing with one woman while pining for another. Luckily for him, Cher seemed far more charmed by the story than offended. The music slowed to a stop, and she led him to a booth in the corner. She brought both their drinks from the bar, and sat opposite him. "I can't stand a sad billionaire." She reached across the table and patted his hand. "It doesn't make any sense to me." She laughed.

Luis shook his head, ashamed he'd failed to purge Clara from his head. "I apologize. This isn't what I meant to talk about with you. I was just trying to?—"

"Get her out of your head?" Cher finished his sentence so he wouldn't have to. "No worries. I was just having a bit of fun anyway. Look, I don't know what all you're going through, but I can tell you a little something about myself and maybe it'll help. I had my heart broken once. I was young and in love, and he didn't want to get serious. So I pretended not to care. It was all pride, you know. I laughed at him and told him I was worried he was going to ask me out. I told him I was relieved he didn't. It was cruel, but I'd been cut, and I wanted to swipe back. It was just pride."

"That's sweet of you to say, but I doubt that's what's happening here."

"Really? Why? Because she didn't cry? She's a woman, Luis. All she's done her whole life was walk that line to be everything everyone wants her to be. She knows how to build a decoy heart to distract you. No doubt, it's made of stone. They all are. Cold bitches, they call us. But you know what I did after I laughed in his face — the boy who broke my heart all those years ago?" She leaned in, and Luis shook his head. "I went home and cried until I was hoarse from it. I felt like my life was over, like I'd never find love again. I don't think I'd ever cried so hard as that. That stupid boy had no idea what he'd done to me, but… that was the whole point. Don't you see? She can't let you see what you've done to her. She has to be stronger than that."

The truth behind Cher's words hit Luis hard. She wasn't lying — that was clear enough. She was laying her heart out on the table between them so he could see she meant what she said. "You really think that's what's happened? The marriage was a sham from the start, just a stupid business arrangement." The alcohol must have gotten to him because he was definitely oversharing at this point. Ah, what did it matter anyway? His citizenship was secured. His company would continue to do well. He had everything lined up and perfect. Except her. "It was all an elaborate lie."

Cher frowned at him. "That's bullshit if I ever heard it. Look at you. You're all broken up about ending an elaborate lie? I don't think so. You're in love. And me convincing you of that should tell you how deep you're in it. Ten minutes ago, I was about to snag me a date with a billionaire, but I quickly saw how futile it was. Now, I'm pretty sure my best bet is to save you from a broken heart, and maybe you'll remember me one day."

Luis bit back a smile. Her honesty was refreshing, at least. "I won't forget."

"I swear your girl knows how you feel about her. You're way too obvious. But you broke it off, and now her pride is hurt. If she'd felt nothing, she wouldn't have put on the act. Trust me. The act was to show you her strength. She protested way too much. I'd put money down that she's crying herself hoarse as we speak. She'll never let you see it. But tomorrow, her eyes will be all puffy and red, and she'll be feeling like her whole life is over. She'll tell herself how stupid she was to put on the act, but instinct is instinct and she can't be vulnerable like that."

Luis gulped down the last of his beer and sighed heavily. "You're a sweet girl, Cher."

"I'm not sweet. I'm right." She waved her bottle in front of his face. "Okay, I'll prove it to you. Let's make a bet. Fifty thousand."

He gaped at her.

"I'm not going to lose," she said. "That's how sure I am. Go on back to her and tell her how you really feel. Find a way to do it that she can't even begin to doubt. Don't let her pride second guess a moment of it. Hit her with everything you've got, and see how she reacts. If she doesn't throw her arms around your neck and marry you yesterday, then I'm a monkey's uncle."

"Then you're out fifty thousand."

"Pffft!" She kicked him under the table, clearly even drunker than he was by now. "I can't pay that. It's got to be an equal loss. Fifty thousand for you is nothing. If I lose, I'll take you out to dinner or something. But I'm not going to lose. I'm getting myself a half a fortune tonight." She began writing her name and number on a napkin for him, and he had the thought that this was probably the strangest way he'd ever gotten a woman's number, and for the strangest reason, too.

"Make it a hundred thousand," he said.

Her effort to hide her smile was a failed one. "You really don't think she loves you, do you?"

"It's not that," he said, taking the napkin and slipping it into his coat pocket. "It's just that, if you're right and I win her back by telling her how I really feel, I'll owe you that and so much more. She's the mother of my child and the love of my life. And you're right. I should have been fighting for her all along. It was her pride, and it was mine, too. I was stupid to let her go. I've never really fought for someone before, but that's because I've never really had to. I would never have recognized it if it hadn't been for you."

Cher bit her lip and looked unsure. "Stupid of me, really. Wait until I tell my mother I danced with a billionaire tonight and instead of seducing him, I talked him into getting back with his fiancée."

"No," Luis assured her. "You tell your mother you passed a test tonight. You tell her you did everything right. You passed a test, and now all your dreams will come true. I'm going to make sure of it."