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I hated sounding like an intellectual snob, but I’d never dated a man as smart as Ramón. He got me and challenged me in a way few people ever did. I was slowly beginning to understand him, his motivations, what made him tick. Without a doubt, the death of his nephew had changed him, but in both a good and bad way. Good, because he seemed to have this…respect for life—no, he valued life. He valued his time with me and somehow, I knew I was precious to him. Bad, because I could read him well enough to see the unending pain that filled him whenever he talked about Jason. He trusted me enough to unburden himself and his faith humbled me.
Gah, I sounded like a lovesick moron, but when I saw him step out of his sleek red Maserati, dressed in a black suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the neck, and his hair slicked back, I had to bite my lip. Damn, he was sexy. My pussy tingled as it began to warm, and I drank him in with a happy sigh. Mine, all mine. He strode toward me, his gaze locked on mine. Tino waited for us at the end of Mark’s drive, his attention focused on the scenery instead of us. I appreciated his discretion, and used our moment of semi-privacy to wrap my arms around Ramón and kiss the hell out of him.
Mmmmm. He tasted as good as he smelled.
When he pulled back, he studied my lips then smiled. “That’s it, I’m buying stock in this cosmetic company. Any lipstick that can stand up to our kiss is worth the investment.”
I laughed, then kissed him again. “And it tastes like peaches.”
“That it does,” he murmured against my mouth. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you.”
“Can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have you.”
“You should be flattered I agree to slum around with you.”
He grabbed my hair lightly in his fist, and tugged my head back. “Don’t I know it.”
Tino revved his engine, and I sighed. “Come on, we don’t want to be late.”
Ramón helped me into his car. When we were on the road to his parents’ place, he reached out and rested his hand on my thigh. “Relax. It’ll be okay, I promise.”
“You don’t know them.”
“Yeah, I do. I know all about your family.”
“How?”
He turned in the fading sunlight, his brow arched in a sarcastic way that made me want to kiss the smirk off his mouth. “You may have talked about them a time or two.”
I groaned, throwing my hands over my face before peeking through my fingers at him. “Then you know they’re all crazy. Please, don’t let them scare you away.”
His laughter filled the car, mingling with the soft R&B station he liked to listen to on long drives. “I don’t scare easy.”
“You haven’t met my sister yet.”
“Winter? She doesn’t frighten me.”
I stuck my tongue out at him as we raced beneath the large palm trees lining the street. “I meant my older sister Brittney.”
“She doesn’t scare me, either.” Before he looked away from me and back to the road, a scary coldness entered his gaze that reminded me of his mother. “If anything, I’m the one she should be scared of.”
“Uh, what?”
Abruptly, his mood turned teasing and the tension in the car melted as if it’d never been there. In a mockingly seductive and heavily accented voice, he said, “Come on, what woman can resist my charm?”
When we finally pulled up to his house, he let the car idle just past the gates. “I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Brittney is coming to dinner tonight with your niece.”
With a sick feeling, I hunched forward a little. “Wait, my sister is here? With Memphis?”
“Yeah, she came for a surprise visit with your folks.” He rubbed my back. “My well-meaning mother is trying to make you feel welcome by making an effort to meet everyone in your family. It’s how she was raised.”
“It’s okay. I mean, she’s my sister.” I took a deep breath and let it out. “Everything will be fine.”
“You’re really freaking out,” Ramón muttered. “I hate that your sister does this to you.”
“Look, honestly, Brittney’s been way better since she became a mom, but I’m always afraid she’s going to snap back into her bitchy ways.”
He gave me a reassuring smile as we pulled into the long drive. “You have nothing to worry about, I’ll make sure of it.”
The front door of his parents’ house opened. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of my mom, holding my almost three-year-old niece while she stood in the doorway.
I didn’t even wait for the car to come to a complete stop before I launched myself out, glad I wore flip flops tonight instead of heels. They allowed me to sprint across the wide cobblestone courtyard to snatch my Memphis from my mother in record time. Everyone laughed, but the moment she saw me, Memphis gave me a toothy little smile and leaned out of my mom’s arms so I could catch her.
