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“But…but why didn’t anyone tell me where you were? I asked and asked, but they just brushed it off like you were visiting friends in the jungle. Don’t they know how much you mean to me?”
He gave me a sad, slightly lopsided smile, the scars pulling at the right side of his mouth. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it was a matter of security. The less people that knew, the better.”
Clinging to him, I buried my face in his strong chest, inhaling his cologne and struggling to contain my sobs. “I’m so sorry. I was so mad at you. I thought you’d played me.”
“Why the hell would you think that?”
Feeling dumb and petty, considering what Ramón had been through these past few weeks, I looked away. “You disappeared. And I…I needed you.”
Holding me tighter, he buried his face against my neck. “I’m so sorry, mi amore. I promise I’ll never leave you like that again. I love you, Joy. You’re the only reason I made it out of there alive. When the pain was so bad that all I wanted to do was end it any way I could, it was the memory of holding you, the promise of having you in my life, that gave me the strength to get out.”
This confession brought on another round of crying. Ramón tried to sooth me as I basically had a hysterical breakdown. Through it all, he held me, rocking me and letting me soak his shirt with my tears. All the crap I’d been through in his absence, all the nights I’d woken up alone in bed, rushed through my mind in a blur of aching loneliness. By the time I’d calmed down, my breath was coming out in those ugly hitches I hated. I felt as worn out as if I’d just run a thousand-mile race, but I felt better. Good enough to realize I probably looked like a hot fucking mess.
“Oh God,” I moaned as I tried to push away. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out like this. You must think I’m a lunatic.”
“I think you’re amazing.” He used his thumb to wipe under my eyes. “And I’m so sorry you were hurting while I was gone.”
I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder, my thoughts spinning out of control even as exhaustion seemed to sap all the strength from me. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too, sweetheart.” He sighed and gently moved me off his lap. “Come on, let’s go home.”
With Tino driving us in Ramón’s SUV, we made it to his house in what seemed like record time. I spent the drive in the backseat with Ramón, my tired mind and body luxuriating in the feeling of being in his arms again. For his part, he simply held me close, constantly stroking me and whispering how much he loved me. The more I relaxed, the more my libido woke up and soon I was eager for more than comfort. I worried about Ramón’s injuries and inadvertently hurting him, so I managed to control my wandering hands.
Kind of.
I couldn’t resist the urge to touch him back, but I kept my hands above his waist, instead caressing every inch of him I could reach, reassuring myself that he was really here with me.
By the time we pulled up to his house, it was still pitch black outside. He led me out of the car, nodding to Tino, who gave us a jaunty salute and a small smile. I waved goodbye to him and cuddled into Ramón’s side as he led us into his home.
A small gasp escaped me as we entered the lit foyer. Instead of the construction site I’d seen last time were here, I found a fully furnished and finished home.
An enormous spray of red roses and ivy sat on the dark wood table in the middle of the circular foyer, and double staircases led to the second floor. I had an odd sense of seeing into the future as I imagined what my daughters and sons would look like, coming down that staircase for prom. It was a beautiful space, but not pretentious. There were coat hooks for both kids and adults on one wall. And they were really cool, shaped like different fantastical animal heads and made of gleaming silver. The more I looked around, the more I took in the little details of the house, the attention that had been paid to every part of its construction.
“Do you like it?” Ramón whispered against the top of my head as I turned in his arms to get a look at everything.
“It’s perfect,” I breathed. “Ramón, it’s absolutely wonderful. After talking about it with you, and that meeting we had with your interior decorator…I never imagined it would be this perfect.”
