What Happens in Miami (What Happens In. Book 2)

by Tarrah Anders

  She looks at me for a moment, then there’s a slight nod.

  “Yeah, sure. That’s okay.” Something about the way she’s looking at me makes me hesitate about going along with Felipe’s favor.

  “Good, good. Hopefully he will warm up to the recent change in our friendship.”

  “You mean going from bumping uglies to only handshakes?” Connie smirks.

  “Yeah, something like that.” I nod.

  “Do you have something already planned?” she questions.

  “Yeah, I think he mentioned grabbing some cocktails tonight, you’re on shift again, right?” I ask, making sure that my memory serves me right in her schedule.

  She nods. “I’m about ready to fall asleep here. I’ll see you before my shift starts tonight?”

  “Yeah, of course.” I lean into her and she meets me halfway.

  Our lips brush against one another and my heart quickens as it always does when we kiss. Never before have I felt such intense need for someone else until her.

  She stands, smiles down at me, then retreats inside our home. I sit back against the wicker chair and look out while I let my mind take in the scenery.

  Half of our house has a view of the ocean, its serenity waking up to each morning. Especially those mornings when I’m lying in bed beside Connie. The ocean is calm this early in the morning, but inside my head is a storm.

  “It’s so nice to meet you. We’ve heard so many stories about you two that I was beginning to think that you weren’t real. But when we were told that you finally moved here, to be with our darling son, we knew that we would finally meet you.” The woman standing before me excitedly shakes my hand.

  I’m speechless, but I know that I need to say something before she starts in again.

  “Very pleased to meet you as well.” I lean in, still with her hand in mine and kiss her cheek. As I pull back, she’s blushing, then she turns to Felipe, beside me.

  “Mama, you don’t have to go and embarrass me. Is our table ready? I’m starving.”

  “You look like you could put on a few pounds, boy. Devin, darling, does he eat?” she looks to me.

  “Yes, ma’am. He eats all the dang time.” I reply.

  She laughs, then turns and directs us to the table. Once we’re all sitting down, we sit in silence.

  “So Devin. Felipe and you have been dating for what, three years now?” his mother asks.

  “Yes mama, three years. The length of time hasn’t changed from the last time you asked.”

  I watch the two of them bicker with their eyes for most of the night. Every time Felipe’s mother would ask something, he would be quick to chime in and answer. I would speak up here and there, but most of the questions were her seeking answers to questions that she already knew.

  At the end of the night, we said our goodbyes to her and got in our car that was waiting for us at the valet station behind hers.

  “Well, that wasn’t too bad, was it?” he asked.

  “It wasn’t. But your mom is practically planning our wedding. She will be heartbroken, you know that right?” I look at him.

  His head drops and he takes in a deep breath while I start up the car and pull out of the valet drive-way. “I know. It’s just a few dinners and then I can just tell her that we broke up. Being together in person versus long-distance wasn’t what we were expecting.”

  “I feel like I’m cheating on my wife, I feel horrible about this. Not only am I lying to Connie, we’re lying to your mom. That’s fucked up.” I shake my head.

  “Tell Connie then.” Felipe’s eyes shoot up at me.

  “I can’t. I already told her that we’re hanging out. If I tell her that we’re hanging out so I can be your beard to keep up some lie that you’ve told to you mom, she would be pissed. Purely because I’ve already lied to her.”

  “Why did you lie to her?” he asks.

  “Because you asked me to help you out with something, you implied that this whole thing was a secret, and it is. We haven’t been together in over a year. What did your mom think of that?” I ask.

  “She didn’t know any better. She stays out of all of my personal things, she knows that you were living across the country and she has just assumed that we switched back and forth on visits.”

  “I don’t know if I can look at your mom and play the boyfriend.”

  “It’s only a few dinners, we eat, chit-chat, and then we leave. It’s a little like how tonight was.” Felipe says.

  “Tonight was horrible. You were there. Didn’t you think so too?” I ask.

  “I mean, sure, my mom was extra. But it was the first meeting and the next one she will die down. I just need a month man, that’s all I’m asking. Then we can pretend break-up and go on with being friends.”

  “I need to tell Connie.” I say with the car idling at a red-light.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Connie

  He’s acting weird.

  He’s been acting weird for two weeks. And normally, we talk about everything, but there is something that he’s holding back and it’s killing me. Next week, I start my new schedule, one that means that I will be working on a normal schedule for the next month, and it will leave my nights free. Maybe I can join him and Felipe on one of their dinners.

  Maybe then, I can figure out what’s going on with Devin and hopefully I don’t need to figure it out on my own and he will come and talk to me.

  The front door slams and I hear Devin drop his keys on the catch-all table. He’s loosening his tie when he walks into the kitchen where I’m standing cutting vegetables for dinner.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. What day is it?” he asks confused.

  “It’s the first of the month, my schedule change is now in effect.” I smile.

  “Perfect. Let me cancel dinner, because I would rather have whatever it is that you’re cooking versus greasy hamburgers.”

  “Oh, you were going out tonight?” I ask.

  “I can cancel it. I would much rather spend it with you than anyone else.” He walks up to me, slides his arm around my waist and leans down, nuzzles his nose against mine, and then kisses the tip of my nose.

  My stomach is doing flips in response.

  He steps away and pulls out his phone from his pocket. He swipes on the screen and holds the phone to his ear.

  “Hey, yeah… I’m going to need to cancel plans for the night… I’m going to do dinner here at home… yeah man, I’ll talk to you later.” He puts his phone on the counter and looks at me with a sexy grin as he returns to stand in front of me.

  “Do you have anything in the oven?” he whispers as his lips graze my cheek.

  “I was just starting, it’s pre-heating,” I tell him.

  “Perfect.” He lifts me and whisks me towards the bedroom.

  Our lips press together as he kicks the door shut and lays me on the bed with his body over mine. He dips his head as his mouth takes the lobe of my ear in his mouth. He breathes lightly, which stirs warmness throughout my body. His hand moves up my body, cupping my breast, and he squeezes before slipping his hand up my shirt and pulling the cup of my bra down. His fingers pull at my nipples, which pull a throaty moan from my lips as I arch my back.

  Devin lifts and gazes down at me.

  “Do you understand all the things that go through my mind when we’re like this? The things I want to do with you and to you? I want to spread your legs as far as they can go and fuck you so hard that we break the bed. I want to slap my cock across your pussy and push into you repeatedly until we’re both at the brink of an orgasm but deny that orgasm and push you to your breaking point, until I bend you over and take you from the back as I hold your hips. You’d be gripping the sheets as I spank you and bite your shoulder until I we finally come together. But I hold back in fear that I would lose you if I took it too far.”

  “Well, you won’t know if you take it too far, until you try.” I tell him.

  “You wouldn’t object to any
of that?” he asks.

  “Try me.” I give him a devilish grin and bite my lower lip.

  Devin

  It’s the very last of my dinners with Felipe and keeping up the rouse. After dinner tonight, my promise to help out Felipe is done, and I will no longer be lying to Connie. I’m ecstatic, but I’m also feeling completely guilty for leading on his mom. Over the month, I’ve seen how happy she has been that her son has found someone.

  “Devin, tell me. Do you miss California?” his mom asks.

  “You know, I do and I don’t. I miss my parents, despite their quirkiness, but I’m pleasantly happy here in Miami.”

  “That’s so nice to hear. Do your parents have any plans to come and visit? I would love to get to meet them when they’re in town.”

  My stomach drops. I look over to Felipe and see that all the color in his face is gone as he looks over his mother's shoulder. My gaze follows his.

  Shit.

  “Are you boys okay?” Felipe’s mother asks, turning her head.

  To her, nothing that she sees is of any concern to her. What I see if my wife, Connie, walking towards our table with a smile on her face until she gets closer, and she slows her steps.

  “What’s going on here?” Connie stands beside the table and looks between Felipe and I, then to his mom. “Oh, I’m sorry. Hi, I’m Connie, Devin’s wife.” She holds her hand out to Felipe’s mom, whose hand is in hers and her jaw is on the floor.

  Chapter Thirty

  Connie

  “I’m sorry dear, say that again?” the older woman sitting at the table with Devin and Felipe asks.

  “I’m Connie Richards, Devin’s wife. And you are?” I look to the older woman, who looks shocked to see me.

  Devin stands, clears his throat and grabs a chair from an empty nearby table. I hesitantly take a seat, knowing that I will need to get up soon to meet my neighbor, that I promised to meet for dinner.

  “There must be some mistake.” The woman shakes her head.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Felipe, what’s going on here?” the woman asks looking across the table.

  “Mama, I can explain.” He says.

  “Devin?” I look to him and the look on his face tells me everything that I feared.

  “Listen, Con. This isn’t what you’re thinking. I can see it all over your face.” He stands as I stand.

  I hold my hand up to silence him.

  “I’m not entirely sure that I want you to explain right now.” I say.

  “What’s going on here?” the woman continues to ask. “Devin, you’re married–to a woman?”

  I can’t help but to laugh as I walk to the front of the restaurant.

  So this is what my husband has been doing, moonlighting with his ex and having meals with this woman, who I’m assuming is Felipe’s mother, based on her eyes that look exactly like his.

  Devin is trailing behind me, calling my name, and I don’t turn around until I reach the curb.

  “I’m going to ask you one time and I need you to be honest with me.” I point my finger at him.

  “I am not having an affair with Felipe.” He says with force.

  “Then what the hell was that?” I sneer.

  “That was a meal that I was sharing with him and his mother. I’m doing a favor for him.”

  “The only reason that you need to be having dinner with him and his mother would be if he was introducing you to his mom, in relationship terms.” I say, holding in my tone from shouting at him.

  “Connie, I’m telling you the truth.” He says firmly.

  “What is this favor?” I ask.

  “He needs me to pretend to be his boyfriend, something about having the whole thing come full circle.”

  “Full circle?” I ask.

  “He’s told her that we’ve been together since the day we met. I’m not sure why, I never asked. But I’m doing him this favor, then he will tell her that we’re no longer in a relationship. Tonight was supposed to be the last dinner that we would have together with her. Easy as that.”

  “So, these hangouts, these dinners that you’ve been having with Felipe–are all a part of something that you’re doing for Felipe? Nothing more?”

  “I promise you, nothing more.” Devin says stepping closer as I take a step back.

  “I don’t know what to think right now.” I shake my head.

  “Connie, I swear, nothing was going on.”

  “Right now, I just want to go home.” I say exasperated.

  “Can we talk there?” he asks.

  “Fine.”

  Devin

  I fucked up and I fucked up good. I know that I should have been truthful from the moment that Felipe asked for my help.

  I know that part of me felt guilty for coming back to Miami without keeping in contact with Felipe and disclosing to him that we wouldn’t have any sort of romantic relationship between the two of us.

  I drove back to our house and took a deep breath as I pulled my truck in the garage beside Connie’s car. I step out of the truck and enter the house from the garage. I find Connie in the living room, sitting on the couch in silence.

  I sit down and turn to face her.

  “When you and I met in that dance club, I was instantly attracted to you. I knew that I had to have you and came up with some ridiculous scheme to keep you in my life. I confided in my preference in lovers, and you also became a lover. And soon, I only wanted you. Since then, I have not had any transgressions and refuse to. I want you and only you. No one else. I need you and only you, and no one else.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I knew something was going on basically as soon as we moved here. Why wouldn’t you tell me?” she looks at me with tears in her eyes.

  “I don’t know. It just seemed like something that you would question.”

  “Of course I would question it. You used to come to Miami and basically sleep with him. And you going behind my back and not saying a thing, would of course, make me suspicious to anything that you say now.”

  “I’m not being dishonest; nothing is happening or has happened with Felipe. I have done nothing with him since you and I have been together. I swear by that.”

  “Nothing?” She wipes the unshed tears from her eyes.

  “I have been one-hundred percent faithful to you. There is no one else but you.”

  Epilogue

  Connie

  There’s been only a few moments in my life that I was unsure of where my life would be. First it was waking up in a Miami hotel room and learning that I had gotten married. The other thought is that my husband had cheated on me. He didn’t, after a long talk, some tears -mostly from him- we figured everything out and I learned that my man was a damn good friend. Which I knew all along.

  But now, another hurdle has come my way and I’m terrified on what the future holds. I’m a bouncing ball of energy as I walk into the house, not entirely sure whether I can muster up the nerve to share the news.

  Devin has the music up and I can hear him in the kitchen singing along. I walk further into the house and I’m hit with the smell of bacon. I clutch my stomach and cover my mouth.

  The smell makes my throat tight and my stomach do whirls of unease. I clench my jaw and fight the urge to throw up in the middle of the room as Devin turns around.

  “I’m making BLT’s,” he cheers, then his features change as he looks at me, “are you okay?” he asks.

  “I’ll just, I’ll just be right back.” I run down the hall to the bathroom, slam the door shut and grasp the toilet.

  “Are you okay, babe?” he asks from the other side of the door.

  “Can you open the windows and get rid of the bacon?” I say wiping my mouth.

  “But you love BLT’s,” I hear him say.

  “I’m kinda not liking the bacon part right now, I’m sorry.” I stand up and grab the mouthwash from the medicine cabinet, then leave the bathroom to a concerned Devin.

  “How can someone say that
they don’t like bacon, everyone likes bacon.”

  “It’s not that I don’t like bacon, it’s more that someone else doesn’t like bacon.”

  “Someone else?” Devin asks.

  “Dev? I’m pregnant, we’re–pregnant.” I say grinning.

  “No way? How is this possible?” he asks, shock resonating across his features.

  “Well, when a man and a woman love each other -.”

  Devin steps closer and places his hand on the slope of my neck, pulls me closer. “I know how it works,” he whispers. “We’re going to be parents?”

  “We’re going to be parents.” I confirm in a whisper.

  “I’ll go get rid of the bacon, and any other pig products.” He kisses me and then pulls away, fist pumping the air, and with a little skip in his step, he shouts a “Woot”.

  “I’m going to be a dad!”

  THE END

  Start the What Happens In… Standalone/Interconnected Series with book one today.

  What Happens in Vegas

  They say what happens in Vegas, stays there, and that’s exactly what Peyton is counting on.

  After waking up in a hotel room that isn’t hers, next to a naked man she doesn’t know, with a ring on her finger and no recollection of the previous twenty-four hours, she hops the first flight back home with two new mantras.

  Whatever happened, happened. And no looking back, only forward.

  Only a few months later, her past shows back up on her doorstep in the form of one very determined husband.

  A few months ago, Maxwell woke up alone in a hotel in Vegas with a hangover and a lingering feeling that something important had happened to him the night before.