That suited Migs and Ariana perfectly.
In the end, the celebration this evening consisted of the Alcantara-Walker family and a few friends. The only family visiting was Joaquín who would be arriving via a convoy of three SUVs. His cousin told him Elena wasn’t coming, but he was bringing with him more security guys.
Cesar had ended his call and was walking back to them.
“What’s going on?” Migs asked.
His brother-in-law turned to the priest. “Bella asked to push the ceremony to eleven.”
Father Tomas frowned. “That’s fine, but is everything all right?”
“Yes, Cesar,” Migs gritted. “Why didn’t they call me?”
“Ariana is running late, and Bella didn’t want to call you because you would want to talk to your wife and delay her further.”
“That wasn’t Bella’s decision,” Migs growled.
“No, it was a directive from Abbi Mena.”
Migs swore under his breath, whipped out his phone and called Ariana while he paced the chapel’s entrance.
It was Bella who answered.
“She’s fine,” his sister said.
“What happened?”
“Period cramps,” Bella chirped.
“Fuck,” Migs muttered. “She has terrible ones. She doesn’t like meds.”
“Duh, we know. Abbi Mena already made her ginger tea. She’s feeling better.”
“Make her a hot water bottle. Shit. Maybe I should come home.”
“Don’t you dare!” Bella screeched. “We have this handled.”
“Miguel,” Tessa’s stern voice came over the line. “We’ve got this. She’s showered and we’re all getting her ready for you. Why don’t you stroll in the botanical garden?”
“I don’t want to take a stroll in the botanical garden.”
“Well, you need to chill.”
The line went dead.
Migs would have uttered a crisp expletive if he hadn’t remembered he was at a chapel in the presence of the man who’d given him his first communion.
“Ah, Miguelito,” Father Tomas said with a knowing look. “I believe you have this marriage thing well in hand. I doubt you will need my sermon. I’ve known you since you were a boy.” He gave a pleased smile. “Now I see a man who loves his wife very much. You were always in Abbi Mena’s prayers, her intentions. She always lit a candle for you and Pepito.”
At the mention of his uncle, his chest twitched. It wasn’t guilt, but a feeling of bittersweet acceptance.
Father Tomas sighed. “She told me she was at peace with Pepito. Now there’s Hector she’s praying for.”
Migs caught the muscle jumping at Cesar’s jaw. With the exception of Abbi Mena, the Alcantara-Walkers had not forgiven Hector yet. It was going to take a while.
“Come, maybe we can wait at the administrative office,” Father Tomas offered.
“If you don’t mind, maybe I will take their advice and walk.” He turned to Cesar. “Stay here and wait for Pops. I know he’s on his way, too.”
Migs was thankful that the botanical garden was a short distance from the chapel. The daytime temperatures were in the low seventies and he took off his jacket. It was a new suit. His last one didn’t survive the wreckage of the country club. There were no matching entourage clothes, thank fuck. He doubted the men of the household would be tolerating fittings as they had for Abbi Mena’s party. But Ariana insisted on new clothes and all the women were enthusiastic about them, especially Bella who immediately suggested several designers.
For Migs, he didn’t care what he wore, because his vows came from his heart and not the way he looked in a suit. He thought back to when they first got married. Deep down he admitted the vows had been real for him. When he offered Ariana the protection of the Alcantara name, his word had been absolute, unwavering. Migs wasn’t surprised he’d been ready to stay married to Ariana forever.
Only Ariana.
His One.
A bird warbled overhead, and Migs checked the time on the phone impatiently. Not ten minutes had gone by and he resisted the urge to call his wife. Sighing, he walked further ahead until he came onto a wooden arched bridge. Below him were water lilies and ducks floating along a man-made pond. He leaned against the railing and stared at his distorted reflection in the water.
They were moving back to LA in a few days. Actually, they’d been back and forth in the past two months with Migs diving back into the fray of terrorism threats, and Ari scouting locations for her new clinic. She and Connie had worked out their differences and remained friends, but it was Connie herself who said it was better if she didn’t work for Ariana anymore.
Migs couldn’t agree more with that assessment. Once that kind of trust was lost, it was hard to regain.
This last trip though was about closing on their first house together and Ariana finally putting hers on the market.
His fingers moved to his phone again, but he lowered his arm and bent forward, arms resting on the rail of the bridge. He decided to occupy his mind with steps to wean them from his family. He could see how Ariana loved them, but he also knew she was eager to start a life with him away from his meddlesome family.
A smile kicked up the corners of his mouth. Meddlesome, yes, but they showed his wife what it meant to belong to a family who loved fiercely. He could never thank them enough for opening Ari’s heart to trust people again despite her past. He recalled her talking to Abbi Mena about her plans once she returned to LA.
Migs didn’t know how long he’d been lost in his thoughts when a flash of movement on his right made him turn his head.
Ariana appeared, and he damned near swallowed his tongue. He hadn’t seen the dress. The women had hidden it from him. All Bella told him was that it was a tea-length gown … whatever that meant.
Seeing her now, gorgeous in a bare-shouldered number that emphasized her tiny waist and flared out in voluminous layers of mesh fabric, Migs could only blink. And blink again.
“Hi,” Ariana’s husky voice jolted him out of his trance.
He strode forward, checking his phone to see if he had missed a call or a text. He hadn’t.
“You’re here.” His voice was hoarse. He was confused why she wasn’t waiting in the car and he had a sinking feeling in his gut that he had fucked up his purpose of making this wedding day better than their original one.
However, the expression on her face, her lips that had shaped into a smile on a face full of tenderness and adoration, told him he was missing a piece of the puzzle.
Migs swallowed the ball of emotion lodged in his throat. “You could have texted me. You didn’t have to walk.”
They were face to face, toe to toe, gazes searching deep within each other.
“Miguel, you were always the one coming for me. The one always saving me,” she said. Her eyes shimmering with love. “It was time I came for you, too. I love you, Miguel Alcantara Walker.”
She tipped her chin up for his kiss.
He didn’t disappoint.
It was well past midnight when they made it into the bridal suite at the Westin hotel. After Ariana’s unsettled morning, the rest of the day went off without a hitch. Close family were at hand when she and Miguel exchanged their vows at the San Lazaro chapel. It was followed by a family lunch at a restaurant before the guests started arriving at the ranch. There was excellent food and Abbi Mena finally got the entertainment she wanted for her birthday. Ariana and Miguel started off the dancing with the Tango and the rest of the grandchildren followed. In a way, they ended up combining the two affairs and, for Ariana, it became more meaningful. That after the challenges of the past few months they came out on top with these blessings.
And hopefully there would be one more.
Ariana was glad her wooziness was confined to the morning, which gave her renewed anticipation for their wedding night for more than one reason.
For good measure, she avoided alcohol.
The send-off from the Alcantara-Walker
family was boisterous, although as Migs drove them away in the Audi, there was a bit of poignancy as she watched the ranch lights fade in the distance. They would be seeing the family again for breakfast the next morning, but the ranch had been her home for almost three months.
“Ah, alone at last,” Migs said as he dumped his keys on the bureau and wheeled in their suitcase for the night—mostly Ariana’s stuff. Thankfully, her husband was already used to her propensity of not traveling lightly and barely raised a brow when she insisted on using the biggest suitcase for their overnight stay.
As the door to their suite swung shut, he gathered her into his arms, and Ariana rested her head on his chest. “You okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Today went well, didn’t it? Despite the delay this morning.”
Migs leaned away and tipped her chin up. “Usually you’re down for the day when that happens. I guess Abbi Mena’s tea worked well.”
She smiled. “Bella lied, Migs.”
His brows cinched together as his hands moved to her shoulders, gripping them. “What do you mean? Is something else wrong with you?”
“I wouldn’t say something is wrong with me.” She gently extracted herself from his arms and walked over to her purse, extracting a brown bag. And from that paper bag, she lifted an elongated box.
Turning to face her husband, Ariana almost laughed at the expression on his face. Jaw slackened, brows drawn deeper, eyes focused on what she had in her hands.
“Is that …” he started, visibly swallowing as his gaze captured hers. “You’re pregnant?”
Ariana shrugged. “I don’t know for sure yet. The Marias and Mamá wanted to find out, but I knew I wanted to do this with you.”
He reeled her into his embrace. “Ariana,” he rasped. “Thank you.”
“What? We don’t know yet.”
Migs’ eyes searched her face. She could feel his heart pounding where she had her palm on his chest. “It doesn’t matter what the result is,” he said. “You know that, right? But this … the act of doing this together … it’s strangely exciting and … terrifying.”
Ariana laughed because she was feeling exactly the same way. “Let’s do this then.” It was a wonder she was functional at the reception when her mind had been straying to what might or might not be growing in her belly.
Five minutes later, they were standing at the door leading to the bathroom, staring at a stick—several actually—that were laying on the counter beside the sink. Delia must have purchased all the pregnancy tests that were in the pharmacy.
She realized she was gripping Migs’ fingers tightly, probably cutting off circulation to them, but her man didn’t complain. He never did.
“Well,” he said, staring at his watch. “It’s over five minutes. We should know, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Ariana didn’t realize how much she wanted the test to be positive until this moment. This day had been surreal. So many things had gone wrong in her life she was almost afraid to take a step. Migs must have sensed her trepidation and urged her forward.
They looked.
Ariana exhaled a tremulous breath.
Two pink lines. All of them.
She puffed a breathless laugh. Her husband had already swept her into his arms and was carrying her into the bedroom. He laid her gently on the mattress and followed, looming above her, bracing his arms on either side of her.
“Miguel …”
He stole her breath with a ferocious kiss. Migs pulled back and stared down at her, his eyes flaring with emotions Ariana couldn’t describe. Love, adoration, and passion.
“We’re pregnant,” he growled with an absolute fierceness that made her quiver. His hands worked between them and somehow she lost her panties and he was sliding inside her. “We’re celebrating.”
She rounded him with her limbs, but she could tell he was holding back. Smiling, she whispered, “You’re not going to hurt the baby if you pump harder.”
“Fuck,” he groaned, and he sank into her in slow, deliberate thrusts that somehow felt deeper than ever. Exhilaration swept straight to her core. He started kissing her again, not abating, receiving her cries of orgasm in a way that he let her know that those unequivocally belonged to him and him alone.
When Migs reached his peak, he tore his mouth away and grunted into her neck. He slowly rocked into her kissing her ear, her jaw, and then her lips before looking into her eyes.
Ariana spoke first,“That was some celebration.”
“Yeah?” he answered. “You just made me the happiest man alive.”
She beamed at him. “You make me happy, too.”
“I love you, Ari.”
*** THE END***
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed Migs and Ariana’s story, please consider leaving a review. Reviews help authors!
Coming next in the Rogue Protectors series … THE BOSS ASSIGNMENT.
Haven’t read the first one? Check out THE EX ASSIGNMENT.
Afterword
One of the challenges of Protector of Convenience was considering which foreign words to italicize and which ones to accent. I’ve agonized over this during the proofreading stage, but I finally decided to err on the side of readability. Italics and accents make the eyes weary, so although there were words that could have used the accent marks or italics, I left them out. There were no hard and fast rules on this and a book on copyediting suggested not italicizing when it’s Spanglish.
The town of Cayetano is fictitious, but it was based on the town of Tancítaro which is a municipality in Michoacán. It really did rise up against the cartels and formed its own paramilitary force. Another article about green gold causing war and violence in Mexico was featured in the LA Times and provided a springboard for the plot. All the cartels in this book are fictitious.
This was one of the fastest books I’ve ever written. I wrote the first draft in six weeks. The bulk of that happened in May when I decided to shake off the lockdown blues and get my writing mojo back into gear. But as usual, it did take me some time to clean up the draft and prepare the manuscript for publishing.
The final polish of this manuscript wouldn’t be possible without my wonderful book tribe.
A big thanks to my developmental editor, Geri. As always, you’re a great sounding board for my ideas by helping me expand on its possibilities. I love that you encourage me to overwrite since I’m technically a sparse writer while promising to ground me if I ever do get on the crazy train. A few books in and we’ve hit our stride. I look forward to all our brainstorming sessions and enjoy our impromptu book chats.
Special thanks to my editor Kristan Roetker. I love how you “get” me and my writing. I’m always confident that whenever I send you my work it’ll be in great hands. I also love our random daily chats about books, life, and everything in between.
To Sue, thank you for your continued support over the years. I look forward to sending you my manuscript each time for your fabulous feedback and suggestions. I’m constantly impressed by your command of the English language and I know whenever I would massacre an idiom or slang, you would always set me straight. ;)
Thank you to Dana Curtlett-Dunphy of A Book Nerd Edits for your excellent proofreading skills and turning this around quickly for me.
Thank you to Penelope Croci for finding time in your busy schedule to give my manuscript a critical eye and double-check my Spanish. I appreciate the great suggestions or alternatives you’ve given that enhance the authenticity in certain scenes that called for them.
To Debra of Buoni Amici Press. Thank you for being on top of author-related stuff so I can spend most of my time writing.
I absolutely love my readers! Special mention to my Very Important Paige readers and book bloggers/bookstagrammers who continue to read/review my work. Thank you for letting me write what I want as long as I promise that HEA.
And lastly, thanks to the hubby for understanding the importance of my writing time, and Loki for his snuggles whenever mom needs
a break and a hug. Both of you are everything that this author needs to thrive and I love you endlessly for it.
Also by Victoria Paige
Rogue Protectors
The Ex Assignment
Protector of Convenience
The Boss Assignment (coming 2021)
Guardians
Fire and Ice
Beneath the Fire (novella)
Silver Fire
Smoke and Shadows
Susan Stoker Special Forces World
Reclaiming Izabel (novella)
Guarding Cindy (novella)
Protecting Stella (novella)
Always
It's Always Been You
Always Been Mine
A Love For Always
Misty Grove
Fighting Chance
Saving Grace
Unexpected Vows
Standalone
Deadly Obsession
Captive Lies
The Princess and the Mercenary
* All series books can be read as standalone
Connect with the Author
Find me at:
Facebook: Victoria Paige Books
Website: victoriapaigebooks.com
Email: [email protected]
FB Reader Group: Very Important Paige readers
* Sign up for my newsletter and receive Beneath the Fire for free.
Protector Of Convenience (Rogue Protectors Book 2) Page 30
