How did he do that? How did he know exactly the right thing to say and do to calm her?
Grateful for his words, his calming presence, Sara hooked a finger in his open collar and drew him closer. Her lips sought his for another butterfly soft kiss. Luis nuzzled her nose with his, then pulled back, his smile brimming with confidence.
“You’re going to wow them,” he whispered. “No doubt about it.”
* * *
“So, do you see yourself married with children in the near future?”
Heads swiveled sharply. Luis choked on his water. Anamaría’s gasped “Mami!” was punctuated by a fork clattering onto a stoneware dinner plate.
Sara cringed in surprise at Señora Navarro’s blunt question. Goodness, Robin had nothing on Luis’s mom when it came to speaking her mind.
“Mami, por favor,” Luis warned.
“¿Pero qué pasa?” the older woman complained.
“What’s wrong is, that’s a very personal question and Sara just met you. Everyone.”
Sara figured there was no need to get into a discussion about how long they’d all known her. That wouldn’t end well for her and Luis.
“Papi, help me out here,” Luis implored his dad, who sat at the head of the table, the family patriarch and, similar to Sara’s dad it seemed, also the unofficial umpire.
Tall and broad-shouldered like all three of his sons, José Ramón Navarro made an imposing figure. His salt-and-pepper hair was parted and combed to the side in a classic, debonair style that had nothing to do with hiding a bald spot. The lines bracketing his eyes and mouth told the story of a man who worked hard and loved deeply and laughed often, while the seriousness in his dark eyes reminded her of Luis’s quiet strength.
Señor Navarro looked past Luis on his right to meet Sara’s gaze. She smiled and forced herself to maintain eye contact, no matter how unnerving the older man’s perusal might feel. He dipped his head politely, then reached for the platter of sweet plantains Carlos had set between them on the other side of the long rectangular table.
“Lydia, at least let us fill our plates before the Inquisition begins,” Luis’s father said, his sober expression softening as he gazed down the length of the table at his wife of nearly forty years.
Luis had not been kidding earlier when he apologized ahead of time for his mami’s interrogation. Even Señor Navarro called the barrage of questions by name.
Lydia Navarro humphed at her husband’s request but silently set the cream stoneware serving bowl filled with white rice in front of her older grandson, José.
“Sorry about that,” Anamaría whispered, angling toward Sara, who sat in between Luis and his sister.
Sara hoped her tentative half smile didn’t look as forced as it felt. She slid the salad bowl toward Anamaría, chanting Truth. Divert in her head.
Her gaze collided with Enrique’s on the other side of Anamaría. His lips quirked in a sly smirk. Apparently, he was enjoying having someone else in the hot seat for a change. Based on what Luis had shared, his younger brother had typically been the cause of dinner table uproars growing up.
As adults, Enrique was still wreaking havoc, at least where Luis was concerned.
Sara quirked a brow at Luis’s younger brother, happy to have already one-upped him when she first arrived.
Enrique had greeted her in the living room with a smug, “Still searching for the perfect souvenir? Or have you realized you can’t leave without one of my wood paintings?”
Señora Navarro had smacked him on the back of the head and delivered a warning to be polite.
The smart aleck switched to Spanish, bemoaning the need to be on his best behavior in his own home just because they had a semi-celebrity visiting.
When Sara chimed in with her thanks for the compliment, in flawless Spanish, Luis’s mother had practically beamed, patting Sara’s cheeks with glee when she learned Sara was fluent in their native language.
Enrique had the grace to mutter a chagrined, “You’re welcome,” and ignore Luis’s grumbled, “Smartass.” Anamaría had high-fived Sara on her way into the kitchen to help with final dinner preparations.
“Would you like some picadillo?” Luis asked, drawing Sara’s attention. He held up another round ceramic bakeware dish, this one filled with a delicious smelling ground beef concoction with green olives, raisins, and bell peppers. Lowering his voice, he added, “No pressure to eat anything you’re not up for.”
Under the tan linen tablecloth, she put a hand on his thigh, expressing her thanks for his understanding. Certain he was remembering the embarrassing fiasco over dinner with her family at El Meson de Pepe Friday night.
“I’d love to try it, please.”
“Picadillo is Lydia’s specialty,” Señor Navarro told her. “You won’t find better anywhere in the Keys.”
“Not even at Miranda’s, and that’s saying something,” Carlos added.
Nods from the others around the table and a “the bestest” from little Ramón, whose Captain America shirt already sported a drizzle of honey mustard salad dressing, had Luis’s mom preening at the same time she waved off the compliment.
“Miranda’s?” Sara asked everyone in general.
“Ay, mijo, you haven’t taken her to eat at Miranda’s yet?” Señora Navarro chided Luis. She shook her head at him with parental dismay, before addressing Sara. “Our close family friends, Victor y Elena Miranda, own a Cuban restaurant in Midtown. Anamaría used to work there in high school. At one point, we thought she might be running the place alongside their oldest, Alejandro. Pero—”
“But nothing,” Anamaría jumped in. “That’s old news, Mami. Anyway, Sara, my brother should take you before you leave. The food’s delicious, and the owners are good people. If you enjoy your meal, I know they’d really appreciate you mentioning Miranda’s when you blog about your vacation.”
“I had planned for us to stop by for lunch yesterday,” Luis said. “But we got a little sidetracked at the beach and wound up not making it.”
Sidetracked. Sara wiped her mouth with her napkin, covering her smile. That was one way of putting how they had spent their afternoon alone at the rental home.
Resting his left arm on the back of Sara’s chair, Luis reached across her to hand his sister the picadillo dish. “Excuse me,” he murmured, the words a whisper near her ear. His chest pressed against Sara’s shoulder. His left hand splayed on her upper back, heavy and warm.
For a time-warp moment she was in their room, wrapped in his embrace, indulging in the pleasure-filled activities that had “sidetracked” them from lunch at the Navarros’ friends’ restaurant. She ducked her head to glance at Luis under her lashes. The satisfied curve of his lips told her he knew exactly what his touch had her remembering.
Across the table from them Carlos cleared his throat. Sara straightened in her seat and found Luis’s older brother and his wife studying her and Luis.
Her cheeks flushed and she reached for her water glass.
Luis rubbed a slow circle on her back, his touch lingering before he turned to start eating.
Carlos nudged Gina with his elbow, but then one of their boys asked for help serving himself and their attention turned to their son.
The rest of the meal passed in a blur of family updates from the week past and the ones ahead, a plea from the two boys for their Tío Luis or abuelo to take them fishing on one of their boats soon, and a battery of questions about Sara’s family, career, and personal life.
Sara found herself caught up in the easy banter, and Señora Navarro’s scrumptious authentic Cuban food had Sara cleaning her plate. The boisterous familia atmosphere reminded her of dinners at Mamá Alicia’s house when Sara was a kid. Another loud, entertaining, loving family coming together to nourish their bellies and their hearts.
As a child, then a teen, and later a college coed, Sara had wished and prayed for a similar dynamic with her own family. Now it seemed that her parents, Jonathan, and Carolyn were trying to inclu
de her in their lives. Only, she was the one who had to stop keeping them at arm’s length in the guise of protecting herself from rejection.
Doing so she only wound up hurting herself.
Oddly, while she and her family might be finding their way to healing their rifts, based on what she’d seen tonight, Luis’s family was either used to the rift between him and Enrique or they believed there was little they could do to resolve it. The brothers participated in conversation at the table, but each barely spoke directly to the other. Everyone else talked around them, jumping in to fill awkward moments.
Knowing the caring, kindhearted man Luis was, Sara felt certain the fracture in his relationship had to eat away at him. Much like hers with Robin.
Luis had pushed her to reach out to Robin, attempt to find some semblance of understanding between them. For his own sake, she wished he could do the same with his younger brother.
With school the next day, as soon as dinner finished, Carlos and Gina readied the boys to leave. A flurry of good-bye hugs and kisses and knucklehead rubbing with the kids ensued.
Carlos wrapped Sara in a tight hug, whispering something about fate and shaking up Luis. Before Sara could ask what he meant, little Ramón tackled her legs and begged for his adios kiss on the cheek.
Moments later, her hands full of dirty plates, Sara followed Anamaría to the kitchen, where Luis’s mother had already started tackling the dishes by the sink.
“If you’re free on Thursday morning after you finish your yoga session with my mom, how about we plan on connecting to review your business plan?” Sara told Anamaría.
Luis entered with the last of the serving dishes in time to catch his sister’s squeal of glee.
“What did I miss?” he asked.
“Your girlfriend helping your baby sister,” Señora Navarro answered, her rubber-gloved hands deep in the soapy dishwater. “They’re already bonding like two sisters-in-law; isn’t it wonderful?”
Luis heaved an exasperated huff, mouthing, I’m sorry, at Sara behind his mom’s back.
“No me faltes el respeto, Luis,” his mother chided.
“How could you possibly know I’m disrespecting you, Mami? Your back is to me,” Luis complained, setting the dirty dishes on the counter by the sink.
“A mami’s intuition. Here, dame un beso.” She tilted her head for Luis to kiss her cheek as she had requested. “You too, Sara.”
Delightfully surprised to be included, Sara hurried over to give Luis’s mom a farewell kiss.
“Anamaría, go get your younger brother to come say good-bye so you can all head back to Key West. It’s late and you know I worry about my babies driving the highway at night.”
“Thank you so much for your hospitality,” Sara told Señora Navarro in Spanish.
“It is good to have you here, mija. I look forward to many more familia dinners with you at our table.”
Sara’s stomach hitched with uncertainty. Neither she nor Luis responded.
Stick with the truth. So far, they’d done well executing their plan. That didn’t make her guilt weigh any less heavily on her heart.
As they drove home in the dark, Sara couldn’t stop thinking, yearning, for their truth to include more Navarro familia dinners like tonight.
She only had three days to find out if Luis might want the same.
Chapter 19
Life couldn’t get much better than this if you asked Luis.
Bueno, it could, but he wasn’t much for gluttony. Unless it came to the sexy woman currently sprawled in his arms while the Fired Up floated in the shallow waters off Snipes Point on a sunny, wispy-clouds day.
A Wednesday with local schools still in session meant they had the sandbar and surrounding area to themselves. Come the weekend, the clear water would be teeming with sunbathers and beach lovers old and young. People grilling on their boats, floating in tubes and on crazy blow-up rafts. Footballs flying in the air, sometimes even from boat to boat.
The weekend could keep its crowds. Luis preferred the quiet peacefulness of right now.
Feeling keenly satisfied, he adjusted the ball cap shielding his face from the intense midday sun, then went back to lazily dragging his fingertips up and down Sara’s bare arm. They lounged on a seat cushion in the bow, Sara resting spoon-fashion between Luis’s bent knees, her back against his chest. She shifted slightly, her shapely legs stretched out in front of them, their smooth skin a soft golden glow from the sun’s kiss.
“I think they’re having a good time.” He pointed to her family standing waist-deep in the water closer to the shore.
Used to the intense Phoenix heat, they’d slathered on sunscreen, with Ruth and a couple others opting for long-sleeve swim shirts for extra protection. Sara, bless her thoughtfulness, had foregone her shirt and enlisted his assistance applying another layer of sunscreen a few minutes ago.
Luis had taken his job seriously. Tube of SPF 50 lotion in one hand, he’d rubbed the white substance over every gorgeous inch not covered by her sexy black bikini. And wound up trying to hide the hard-on tenting his suit. Sara’s promise to help him take care of it back in their room hadn’t helped his predicament. The little minx.
“Yeah, they’re definitely enjoying this,” Sara mused. “My mother looks so happy. Thank you for this.”
Craning her neck to gaze up at him, she smiled her pleasure. Of course, it felt only natural for him to dip his head for a kiss.
She opened her mouth for him, her tongue brushing against his. A hint of the lime seltzer water she preferred teased him, along with the heady sweetness that was hers alone.
Her slender fingers clung to his nape, urging their kiss deeper. Lust flamed through him. Blood surged low in his body, swift and ready. He ached to cup her breasts in his palms, dip his hand into her bathing suit bottom, and bring her the delicious satisfaction he knew he could give her.
Over the past three nights they’d each wantonly discovered the erogenous zones that drove the other wild. He loved the way her eyes dilated, his name on her lips as she reached the pinnacle and dived over the cliff, her hands and mouth and tongue luring him over the edge with her.
“Hey, are you two gonna sit there and make out all day or come join us?”
Luis chuckled against Sara’s lips. His eyes drifted open in time to catch her giving her brother the finger.
“Geez, the guy’s taking this bratty older brother routine to the extreme,” Sara grumbled, collapsing back against Luis’s chest.
“Ah, I’d venture to guess that you actually like his attention.” Luis gave her right temple a chaste peck before whispering in her ear. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Brothers needle the ones they love the most.”
“That’s because you’re obviously warped.”
He threw back his head and laughed, enjoying the feel of Sara’s body shaking as she joined him. He patted her right hip, a signal for her to stand up so he could, too.
“But you love my warped, depraved mind, don’t you?”
For the smallest fraction of time Sara’s hands stilled in the act of adjusting her bathing suit bottom. Long enough for him to catch it and regret his slip-of-the-tongue use of the l word.
“Oh, your depraved mind is only one of the many facets I find attractive, but I won’t list them.” She padded to the seat in front of the boat helm where she snagged her wide-brimmed straw beach hat. “No need for your head to get any bigger than it already is.”
With a saucy wink, she blew him a kiss and flounced toward the dive door on the port side of the boat’s deck.
“Smartass,” he called.
The cheeky woman reached back to give herself a pat on the butt.
Amusement laced with an emotion he wasn’t prepared to name spread through his chest. Ever since Monday evening when he’d taken her home for familia dinner, something inside him had changed.
Seeing her at ease with his loud, meddling family.
Receiving the me encanta text from his mami—to
which he truthfully responded: Sí, I like her, too.
Reading Carlos’s: Hermano, you lucked out with this one. Gina and I approve.
They were consecutive one-two-three sledgehammer blows to the foundation of the guarded reserve protecting his heart. A foundation Sara’s charm, fun-loving spirit, and vulnerability rattled the longer he spent in her company.
Yesterday, the rain had them all lazing around the house. Luis and Sara spending a good chunk of the afternoon in their room. Him, reading a biography of Jacques Cousteau from the rental’s living room bookshelf. Her, answering emails, talking to her agent, and reading over a contract that, if it worked out, would see Sara spending more time in Miami working on her clothing line.
They hadn’t done anything extraordinary, but to him it had felt like an extraordinary day. Because of her.
With her family waiting for them, Luis followed Sara to the boat’s deck where she turned to climb down the removable ladder. Halfway into the water, she paused, squinting up at him.
“I’m going to head to the beach.” She turned toward the large sandbar’s shore.
Luis did the same and found Robin, sitting by herself, the calm ocean lapping at her pale legs. Her parents and Edward strolled along the shore about thirty feet away. Behind them, the sandbar’s dense vegetation awaited those willing to brave a hike through the mass of mangroves teeming with tiny ecosystems.
“Wish me luck.” Sara let go of the handrail and sank up to her shoulders in the crystal green water.
He watched her swim away, marveling at her inner strength. A trait she questioned about herself at times. Yet here she was, taking that uncomfortable first step toward her sister.
While, had the situation been reversed and his prickly brother been waiting on the sand, the timing and situation ripe for a frank conversation . . . Luis would probably still be where he was right now. Standing on his boat. Alone.
* * *
Sara swam toward the shore, lamely batting away a stiff-arm-induced wave of water from her brother as she neared him.
Island Affair Page 26
