I snapped my head down the instant Joaquin’s gaze locked onto mine, lowering my eyes to the floorboards. My heart was a frantic bird hammering against my ribs, threatening to burst right through my chest.
Thick, suffocating anxiety wrapped around my throat, even though I knew Alexander and I were completely innocent. Riva was standing right there—a living witness that nothing untoward had happened.
Yet I knew how the scene looked through his paranoid lens. A innocent smile had been enough to drive him into a violent frenzy yesterday. How would his twisted logic process finding my bare leg draped across Alexander’s lap, with Alexander’s hand resting on my skin?
I tried to swallow the terror choking my throat, desperately trying to compose a sentence before opening my mouth. I knew if I
