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Thank you for taking the time to read SUNSET SEDUCTION. Please take a moment to leave a review. Happy Reading!
HOMECOMING
ELANA BROOKS
Ryan Hertz never dreamed he would smuggle someone into the United States. But when his coworker asks him for help, he can't refuse. She wants him to accompany her on an all-expenses paid Caribbean cruise. There's only one catch—at their first port, she plans to switch places with her sister, and she needs Ryan to make their deception work.
* * *
Juanita Gomez was born in Mexico, but her parents brought her to the United States as a baby. When a wave of deportations catches her in its net, she's dumped in a country where she doesn't speak the language or know a soul. Desperate to get home to her dying mother's bedside, she agrees to her sister's crazy scheme. But she never expected that the friend her sister recruited to help them would be so likable—or so attractive.
* * *
Ryan and Juanita have to convince everyone they're a couple for the remaining five days of the cruise. Then they'll return to port, make it through customs, and go their separate ways. At first it seems like a long time to pretend. But as they make a show of enjoying the ship's luxuries together, they start to realize it might not be long enough. Can a lie built on water, wind, and sunshine grow into a truth strong enough to endure once they reach dry land?
For the dreamers.
CHAPTER 1
Ryan saved and closed his project, then shoved his chair back. He hadn’t made as much progress as he’d hoped, but there should still be enough time to finish it before the deadline on Friday. He was more than ready to leave the deserted office behind for the evening.
As he rose, someone cleared their throat. “Ryan? Can I talk to you for a minute?”
He jerked around and blinked at his coworker. She’d slipped up behind him so quietly he hadn’t even noticed she was there. “Carmen. Sure. I didn’t realize you’d stayed late, too. I hope your deadline isn’t as tight as mine.”
“Actually…” She shifted from foot to foot. “I’ve been waiting to catch you alone. I need a favor, a big one, and I don’t know who else to ask.”
The entirely uncharacteristic tremble in Carmen’s voice made Ryan frown and look closer. Good grief, she was on the verge of tears. Her hands were clenched together and her face looked puffy. He’d never seen her so upset.
“What’s the matter?” He pulled out the chair from the workstation next to his and gestured for her to sit, sinking into his own seat and swiveling to face her. “I’ll help if I can.”
She wrung her hands. “It’s too much. I don’t want to presume on our friendship. I shouldn’t even ask, but you were the first one I thought of, and I don’t think I can do this alone…”
“Hey. It’s okay.” Ryan leaned forward, doing his best to communicate his concern. “Just tell me.”
Carmen’s eyes shifted to the side. “You can’t tell anyone else.”
“Of course not. You can trust me.”
“I mean, really.” She took a deep breath. “Remember the other day at lunch, when we were talking about the latest round of deportations?”
Ryan scowled. He still couldn’t believe how low the current administration was willing to stoop. “It’s disgusting. The idea that someone who’s lived in this country their whole life can be arrested and shipped off somewhere they don’t even speak the language—” He broke off. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right, I completely agree with you. Your passion on the subject is what made me think you’d be willing to help.” She gulped. “My sister was one of the people deported.”
“Oh, my god, Carmen. I’m so sorry.” Ryan took her hands.
“Juanita was born in Mexico. My parents came here when she was only a few months old. We were all so happy when DACA went into effect. She registered right away. It was such a relief not to have to worry anymore that someone might find out she was undocumented. Then, after the election…” She sniffed and swiped her cheek on her shoulder.
Ryan felt helpless. “Can you afford a good lawyer? I’ll happily donate money and help you raise more. Although I have to be honest, if she really isn’t a citizen, there’s not much hope. Not with the way things are now.”
“We’re trying to arrange things legally. But even if we’re able to bring her home eventually, it will take time. Years, probably. And we can’t wait that long.” Carmen pulled her hands from his and scrubbed her eyes. “My mother’s cancer is back.”
Ryan cursed under his breath. Why did crap like this have to happen to someone like Carmen? She was a good person. He’d always liked her. They’d even dated a couple times soon after she started working at Space City Engineering, until they’d mutually agreed the chemistry wasn’t there. People like her suffered, while the jerks and assholes of the world prospered. It just wasn’t fair.
Carmen sniffled for a moment, then raised her head. A hard, defiant light shone in her damp eyes. “So I’m going to smuggle her back into the country.”
“That’s what you want me to help with? I will, of course, although I don’t know what I can contribute. Do you know how to contact the right people? It’s got to be dangerous. I’ve heard stories on the news about trucks stuffed full of people, without water or enough air, in the middle of summer—”
Carmen was shaking her head. “You’re right. Juanita doesn’t want to risk it. But I figured out a better way.”
A twinge of foreboding made Ryan frown. “Please don’t tell me you’re planning to do something that could get you in trouble. The last thing your family needs is for you to get arrested, too.”
She looked away. “I don’t have any choice.”
He caught his breath. “You’re not at risk of being deported, are you?”
“No, I was born here, the year after my parents came over the border. Juanita and I are less than two years apart. When we were growing up, people always thought we were twins.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and thumbed it on. “We still look alike. That’s what gave me the idea.”
She handed the phone to Ryan. The screen displayed a photo of two laughing women, their arms around each other’s shoulders. Ryan had to study it for several seconds before he figured out which was Carmen. After looking up and down a few times, he decided that the woman on the left must be her sister. Her face was a tad thinner than Carmen’s, and her eyes were a bit deeper brown. But she was just as attractive as he’d always found Carmen.
Carmen extracted a card from her wallet and shoved it at him. “Look at my driver’s license. Don’t you think she could pass for me?”
One glance at the grainy picture printed on the card told him she could. No one would ever guess it didn’t depict the woman in the photo. “Yes, but what good will that do? You can’t both use the same ID.”
“True, but I also have a passport.” Her voice quickened with enthusiasm. “I went on a cruise last year with the man I was dating at the time. Security was much less strict than at an airport or even a land border crossing. They only required us to have driver’s licenses for identification. And they barely glanced at them, either when we were getting back on the ship after a day in port or when we arrived back in the US.”
Ryan stared at her, his stomach hollow. “Carmen, you’re not—”
She nodded fiercely. “There’s a cruise that leaves from Galveston next Saturday. It stops in Cozumel on Monday, then goes to Belize and Roatan before coming back to Galveston the following Saturday. I’m going to be on it. Juanita is going to meet me in Cozumel, and we’re going to switch places. She’ll enter the US using my driver’s license.
I’ll take a bus to Matamoros. Once she’s safely home, I’ll use my passport to cross the border.”
“That’s crazy.” Except it wasn’t. Ryan had been on a few cruises, and he’d seen the lax security she’d described. His eyes were drawn inexorably back to the pictures on the phone and card, so very much alike. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Not as dangerous as the other options we’ve considered. If anyone gets caught, it will be me, and I really am a citizen.”
“You could still go to prison.”
“I’m willing to risk it for Juanita’s sake. And my mother’s. It’s bad, Ryan. The doctors say she only has a few months.” Her voice broke. “All she wants is for Juanita to come home. It will break her heart if she never gets to—”
He dropped her phone and driver’s license on his desk and moved his chair so he could put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed raggedly for a couple of minutes.
Eventually she straightened and pulled away, giving him a wan smile. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”
“I’d be curled up in a dark corner somewhere bawling my eyes out if I were in your place.” He picked up her things and handed them back. “What can I do to help?”
She hesitated. Ryan realized what she was going to say an instant before she blurted it out. “Go on the cruise with me. Stay with Juanita after we switch so no one will suspect she’s not me.”
“Carmen, I—”
She rushed on. “Juanita’s never been on a cruise. She won’t know her way around the ship. And she’s going to be terrified of getting caught. If anyone notices and starts asking questions, I’m afraid she’ll fall apart. She needs someone to be there for her, to keep her company and support her and cover for her if she gets flustered. And not many people take cruises alone. Our act will be a hundred times more believable if we can pose as a couple traveling together.”
Ryan was sure she was right. The thought of her sister alone and afraid, surrounded by thousands of strangers she had to deceive, caught at his heart. Someone she could trust, who could accept her act without question and smooth over any suspicions that arose, might make all the difference. But what Carmen was asking of him was illegal and dangerous. If they were caught, he could go to jail. He’d be a fool to agree.
“I’ll pay for your ticket, of course. All you have to do is enjoy a nice vacation. I’m only asking for one week. Afterwards you can put it behind you and never think about us again.” Carmen balled her fists and gazed at him, both proud and pleading. “I’m going to do it with or without your help. I’m not going to let my mother die without her daughter at her side. I’m not going to let politics ruin my sister’s life. This is important, Ryan. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t.”
Ryan swallowed. He’d been vocal about his opinions during the campaign and since the election. He hated the direction his country was going. He ardently believed that America should welcome immigrants, no matter their race or religion or where in the world they came from. Families like Carmen’s, who’d risked everything for a better future, deserved to live here just as much as he did.
Did he have the courage to put his convictions into practice? Or were they just words to him, after all? Nice ideas to post about on Facebook or Twitter, to argue about with his less enlightened neighbors and relatives, perhaps even to call his senator or representative about if he felt really strongly. Not worth taking any actual risks for. Certainly not worth putting his comfortable existence on the line for. Even when faced with a real flesh-and-blood person whose whole life was deeply affected by things that until this moment had been only abstractions to him.
Carmen dropped her eyes and shoved her chair back. “I’m sorry. I should never have asked you to get involved. Don’t worry. I understand.”
“Carmen, wait.” Ryan reached for her hand. “I was thinking about taking some time off, anyway. I’ve been working on this project for months without a break. After I turn it in, I’ll be ready for a vacation. A cruise sounds wonderful.”
She caught her breath, staring at him incredulously. After a moment she broke into a shaky smile. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Oh, I think I do.” Ryan grinned at her, ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach. He turned to his computer and opened a new window. “Let’s book a cruise.”
CHAPTER 2
J uanita paced the hotel room, pausing on every pass to peer out the window and scan the sidewalk below. She should never have agreed to Carmen’s plan. She should have told her family to forget that they’d ever had an older daughter. She should have refused to let her sister risk her own future to save Juanita’s. And even after fear and loneliness and homesickness weakened her so much her resolve broke, she should have told Carmen an emphatic no when she’d proposed involving an innocent stranger in their scheme.
Oh, god, there they were. Carmen was wearing Juanita’s favorite sundress. They’d shared clothes since they were teenagers. Carmen had promised to pack a suitcase full of the things her family had moved out of Juanita’s apartment before the lease expired. The immigration officials who’d arrested her hadn’t even allowed her to retrieve a few belongings. They’d put her on the plane to Mexico City with nothing but what she’d had on when they’d picked her up. She angrily blinked away the tears that always gathered when she remembered that terrifying, humiliating moment.
She pressed her forehead to the cool glass and studied the man at Carmen’s side. He was several inches taller than her sister, dressed in khaki slacks and a casual short-sleeved knit shirt, his sandy blond hair bright in the tropical sunlight. Was his face kind and trustworthy, the way Carmen had assured her he was? How would that look, anyway? He seemed friendly, at least. He smiled as he bent to say something to Carmen, the expression crinkling the skin around his eyes in an appealing fashion. Her sister hadn’t exaggerated when she’d told Juanita he was attractive.
The two of them disappeared into the hotel’s front entrance. Juanita made one last nervous circuit of the room, making sure there was nothing she wanted to add to the small pile of items on the bed, ready to be swapped for the contents of the tote bag Carmen was carrying. The rest of her meager belongings would go with her sister. She hadn’t accumulated much during her time in Mexico. It all fit into the secondhand suitcase she’d bought for her journey by bus and ferry to the island.
She returned to the window and stared out at the impossibly blue water and the enormous white ship moored at the end of the long pier. She was used to the ocean being brownish-green, the way it was off the beaches of Galveston and Padre Island. Cozumel’s water was such a brilliant turquoise it looked like something out of a painting.
A rap sounded on the door. Juanita hurried to open it, her heart racing.
Carmen rushed in, dragging the stranger behind her. “Quick, close the door. We can’t let anybody see us together.” As soon as Juanita complied, Carmen flung her arms around her. “My god, Juanita, are you okay? We’ve all been worried sick about you.”
Juanita crushed her sister close, desperately grateful for a familiar touch. “I’m fine. Really. I am.”
Carmen reluctantly disengaged and held her at arm’s length, studying her critically. “You’ve lost weight.”
“I needed to.” Juanita had been skimping on meals so her modest savings would last as long as possible. The occupational therapist’s degree she’d worked so long and hard for was useless without the ability to speak Spanish to patients. The job at a souvenir shop she’d found once her work papers had finally come through barely provided enough to cover the rent on the cheapest apartment she’d been able to find. “And I’m in great shape, because I’ve been walking everywhere.”
Carmen’s skeptical expression made it clear she knew Juanita was glossing over the truth, but she let it pass. “You’ll gain it all back over the next five days, I expect. I’ve done nothing but eat since we left Galveston.”
“Carmen, about that—”
Her sister cut her off with a wave of her hand. “Ryan, this is my sister Juanita. Juanita, this is my friend Ryan Hertz. He’s promised to take good care of you while you’re on the ship.”
The stranger extended a hand to Juanita. She accepted it, trying hard to hide her nervousness. His grip was firm and impersonal, his gaze direct. After a relaxed handshake he released her with a smile clearly designed to put her at ease. “It’s good to finally meet you. Carmen’s told me all about you.”
Juanita bit back a self-deprecating comment. Instead she merely nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Have a seat.” She gestured to the two chairs at the tiny table by the window. “We need to talk.”
He hesitated, but when she gestured again more forcefully, he took one of the seats. Carmen sank into the other. Juanita perched on the edge of the bed, facing them. “Carmen, I can’t go through with this.”
“Don’t be silly.” Carmen glared at her with the stubbornness Juanita knew all too well. “Ryan and I didn’t come all this way for nothing. You’re getting on that ship, just like we planned.”
“No, I’m not.” Juanita had never been able to stand up to her sister when they disagreed, but she was going to have to this time. “I’m not going to let you put yourself at risk for my sake. Either of you. It’s not worth it. I’ve got a place to live and a decent job. My Spanish is getting better every day. I can make a life for myself here. There’s no need for any of us to break the law just so I can go back to my old life.”
Instead of the fierce argument she’d expected, Carmen looked at her hands and spoke softly. “I’m not doing this for you. Or at least, not only for you. I’m doing it for Mom.”
Damn it, that was a low blow. Juanita fought back tears. “There’s nothing I can do for Mom. We’ve been talking on the phone every day. Once I get a computer we can do video chats. It will be enough.”
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