I turned around to look at him, and he was staring up at the sky, sipping from his glass. I took a drink from mine and sighed as I squeezed his hand again.
“This is amazing. Thank you, I had no idea how much I needed it. I don’t think it would’ve ever occurred to me to just go away for the day.”
Nesto smiled and dipped his head. “One thing we know well in the islands is that sometimes you just need to drop everything and go to the water. Recharge.” He turned around, his face serious. “We needed this time.”
I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly, the doubts from earlier today a distant memory. “We did.”
“Are you happy, baby?”
Occasionally Nesto would ask me that out of the blue, at random moments, and I’d sayyesautomatically, but always thought it was such an odd thing to ask. In this moment, I actually took stock of the question and realized that I was.
“I am actually. Ifeelhappy. Why do you always ask me that?”
He shrugged, as an adorable blush rose in his cheeks. “It’s a Dominican thing I guess. We always ask each other. ¿Estas contento? ¿Te sientes bien?It’s important to ask, if the person you’re with is happy, if they’re okay. Those things shouldn’t be taken for granted.”
I looked at him again and found dark eyes intent on me. “No, they shouldn’t be.”
“I don’t want to take you for granted Jude. I—” He stopped talking then, his shoulders tensing like he wasn’t sure how to proceed, and then he held up his finger. “I’ll be right back.” He put down his glass and went into the room. Then I heard him looking through his bag. I was about to go in and ask if he needed anything when he came back with a little Bluetooth speaker and his phone.
He set it up on the arm of his chair, and soon the low notes of a slow merengue filled the balcony. Nesto crouched down and took my hand.
“Baila conmigo.”
I squinted up at him, trying to convey my bemusement. “I don’t think I could keep up with you dancing merengue.”
He took my other hand and pulled me up, then wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing us tightly to each other. “Just move with me, baby.”
We started a slow sway, listening to the music. I put my head on his shoulder, and we moved together in the quiet night. This was probably the most romantic moment of my life. Everything felt right. I didn’t want to break the spell by asking what he was about to say before he got the music. It felt important to let him take his time.
The first song ended, and the notes of an accordion and percussion sounded over the speakers. Nesto grunted in approval of the new song, and then he put his mouth next to my ear and started singing along.
My stomach flipped, and I felt like a thousand butterflies were fluttering in my chest. His voice was a lot deeper than the man singing on the speakers, and with his mouth so close to my ear, his lips brushed against my skin as he mouthed the lyrics.
The song was in Spanish and I was feeling so addled by the moment, I had to focus to understand the words. Nesto sang about setting a flight of kisses loose on my mouth, and painting rainbows on my skin.
I could barely keep up with the mix of his words and the things that I was feeling. Just as I started to drift in his arms, he pulled me closer and whispered a line from the song in a sure, clear voice.
“And when the roses bloom, my life, they can tell you how much I love you.”
I stiffened, and he laughed huskily. After a moment he kissed me. His tongue stealing into my mouth hot and hungry, I returned it in earnest.
He pulled back and sighed, keeping us swaying together. “Remember that first day you came to the truck?”
I nodded. “Of course, how could I forget? Best burrito of my life.”
“Oh, it was the burritos that kept you coming back, huh?” he asked, amused.
“Not entirely.” I was going for cheeky, but it came out pretty breathless.
“After you stopped by and dropped that one liner on me before walking away, giving me a view of this delicious ass,” he grinned as he smacked my butt. “My mom told me I should ask you out. She told me I needed balance. That I had to believe I could have my work and a life. My work has always been my life. I’ve always been hustling after something. Everyone around me was always running after something. Relationships were always secondary. Sure I dated, but no one ever made me stop and look around or think about what I was missing, what I could have with someone.”
My heart was going to beat right out of my chest.
“You make me want to slow down. Because of you, for the first time in my life, happiness feels like a very different thing than business success.” He shook his head like he was struggling to find words. “Jude, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the truck. Even though business is good, I’m still not sure if I can make a go of it, as a living you know?”
His face was so serious, like this was the most important conversation of his life, and my chest tightened, because it felt like that for me, too. “All I know is, I don’t want to give up on what we have.”
I looked up at him. His face so beautiful in the moonlight. He’d let his hair grow out and his curls looked like a halo around his face. His nose and mouth like carved wood, handmade. I brought my fingers up to his lips and traced them.
