“Hi,” he responds. “So, about what I said earlier…”
“You don’t have to say anything. We can wait,” I tell him with a light shake of my head. His body tenses, and I feel the taut muscles of his chest through the thin cotton of his dress shirt. I love seeing him all dressed up. Or undressed. At the thought of undressed Esteban, I lick my lips. As if he could read my mind, I feel him long and hard against me.
“I don’t have to…but I need to, Ines. I’ve been wanting to tell you for days. Weeks, actually.” His voice comes out as a low rumble. I look into his emerald eyes, and I’m rewarded with one of my favorite looks: part sexy and seductive, part bashful, one hundred percent Esteban. If I could bottle up this very look for eternity and remind my eighty-year-old self one day how it felt to be loved by this man, I would. My heart starts mimicking the wings of a hummingbird and it’s impossible not to smile, not when he’s looking at me so carefully and so impatiently. I close my eyes, reeling from the rush of adrenaline running through my veins, and feel Esteban’s nose brush against mine, his lips a breath away from my mouth.
“I love you, Ines Sanchez,” he murmurs, his breath minty with a hint of cinnamon. A giant grin stretches across my face when I open my eyes and stare at him, drinking it all in for a few seconds.
“I love you too, Esteban.” I mold my lips to his, and soon his soft mouth is replaced by his hungry, needy tongue, stroking against mine slowly, as if we didn’t have anything else to worry about. He walks me backward against the door, and nothing can stop us, not even the clatter coming from the kitchen.
He keeps kissing me like it’s his job, like it’s the only thing he’s meant to master. And boy, does he succeed. A few minutes and several kisses later, I’m completely out of breath and a mess of a woman. I buckle my hips against his and tug on his shirt playfully.
“Wow,” I say, breathless, as he stares at me, pupils dilated with intensity. “Who knew kissing the boss could be this hot?”
A raucous laugh emerges from his lips and his eyes crinkle at the corners. He’s happy and I am too. The happiest I’ve ever been.
“Am I your boss now?” he laughs.
“At least for the night. And you’re certainly the boss of my heart.” I wink.
“Is it wrong that I like the sound of that?” he asks, eyes bright with amusement.
“Have at it. It can’t be helped. It’s probably time for me to join the workforce, don’t you think? You don’t want them to think I’m your favorite or something,” I tease, and he chuckles, shaking his head in the process.
“Right. You almost made me forget what you were here for.”
He pulls away, slowly, fingers laced with mine until another step separates us.
“So now it’s my fault?” I ask, feigning offense.
“No. Never yours. It will always be my fault for not being able to resist you.”
I sigh, hands pressed behind me against the door, not ready to leave. I need a minute to recover. I feel like all the oxygen has been sucked out of the room, and Esteban and I are just trapped in some kind of weird dimension in outer space. The truth is out. Declarations of love have been made. I would like to say that I feel lighter, but instead I do feel the weight of his love grounding me into place, and a voice in my head keeps telling me that this is where I belong.
There’s a very good chance Esteban might be my future, and even though I’m sure of my feelings, something about it all scares me as much as it excites me. My heart drums in my ears, and I know that if I don’t get out of here right this minute I’m in danger of latching myself onto him like a crazy woman, needing his body like a lifeline.
“I think I need to go use the restroom before I can start working. I’ll meet you outside. You’re going to show me around, right?” I’m about to turn the doorknob and open the door, but he stops me. He takes my arm and pulls me to him.
“One more sec,” he mumbles. I smile, realizing how we’re once more on the same page. As I rest my head on his chest, I listen to his erratic heartbeat. Something stirs in my chest and a knot forms in my throat. A tear escapes from my eye, rolling down my cheek. Overwhelmed by the depth of my emotions, I feel somehow both happy and sad.
He kisses my head before he lets go, and when he sees my glassy eyes, he frowns, but I wave it off.
“Nothing to worry about. They’re happy tears. Carry on.”
He lets out a sigh and gives me a circumspect look. “If you say so. I’ll catch up with you in a minute, okay? Don’t run away.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Chapter Twenty
The evening is a blur. For a good hour everything is chaos, but eventually the other waiters and I are able to get things under control after all of Vida Dulce’s reservations show up. My feet are officially killing me by the time 10:00 p.m. rolls around and the kitchen finally closes. Still, it’s been fun to see Esteban in his element, even when he was frazzled and panicked, trying to keep everything under control.
Thirty minutes later, the patrons of my last table are gone, and I can finally close for the night.
“You did great, Ines. Thanks for helping out,” Walter, one of the waiters, tells me in the kitchen. He offers me a glass of wine and clinks his chalice with mine.
“Glad I could help. It helps to know the menu inside out,” I say with a shrug.
Since I’ve done everything I can think of, I hang out in the kitchen with the other cooks and waiters who are having dinner around one of the main counters. Esteban is working on a few cashier duties and I don’t want to distract him.
When I’m done sampling the entrees the waiters are sharing, Cyrus makes me try a fluffy pumpkin cake with buttercream frosting he’s thinking of including in their fall menu.
“Do I taste cinnamon and nutmeg in this?” He nods. “So, is it just like an alternative to pumpkin pie?”
“If you will. People who don’t like pie usually do enjoy cake. This will be something different for them to try,” Cyrus says with a shrug.
I lick the frosting off my fork and look melancholily at my last bite.
“This frosting is amazing. Is there any more cake? You did give me a tiny slice, after all,” I tease.
“Sorry, I’m afraid that was the last piece,” Cyrus says, emphasizing he’d already done me a solid.
“Last piece of what?” Esteban asks. He looks beat, but when he finds me sitting on the kitchen counter, his gaze brightens up. I can’t wait to smother him with kisses. “Pretty sure that’s a health code violation, young lady,” he teases.
I immediately jump off the counter. “Yes, boss. Sorry, boss,” I tell him with a smug smile.
Amusement dances in his eyes and his lips curl into a mischievous grin. He gives Cyrus a pat on the arm and asks, “What were you two talking about?”
“This amazing cake Cyrus is testing for your fall menu. Here,” I pick up the last bite with the fork and lift the plate and fork closer to him.
“You’re giving me the last bite?”
“What, you don’t want it?” I prompt, arching one eyebrow and pulling the plate back toward me. “I’m nothing if not generous, but if you don’t want it…” I’m about to lift the fork back to my mouth so I can eat the damn bite, when Esteban stops my arm, one hand circling my wrist, and takes the bite of cake off the fork. His eyes don’t leave mine as he does that.
Up close, under the bright kitchen lights, I can see specs of gold in his wolfish, hungry eyes. I lick my lips instinctively, thankful that everyone else seems too busy chatting to pay attention to us. Everyone except Cyrus.
“Okay, you two,” he jokes to Esteban patting him on the back, “I think it’s time to call it a night. Good work, everyone. Make sure you finish cleaning up the kitchen before you leave.”
“Bye, Cyrus,” we all echo.
“Ready to go home?” Esteban asks.
“Which home? Mine or the Garcia manor?”
“Don’t call it that.” He lets out a laugh. He rinses
the plate and fork in a sink and then puts it in the dishwashing station.
“Why not? We’ve been dating for over two months and I haven’t even seen the place. There’s obviously something you’re hiding. Maybe you’re a hoarder,” I tease, not that hoarding is any laughing matter, but it’d be nice if I could find out what Esteban’s major flaw is.
So far, I haven’t had any luck. He doesn’t gamble, doesn’t overdrink, he’s a hard worker, he doesn’t strike me as a cheater, and he’s also a business and home owner.
On top of that, he’s beautiful, amazing in bed, and has great style. Cyrus even told me he can cook, although I haven’t had a chance to have him cook for me yet.
It’s exhaustingly annoying dating someone who doesn’t have a flaw.
If I see his house, and I can confirm it’s a gigantic mess, I’ll feel better about myself. I’m thirty-one, I’m going through a divorce and I live in a two-hundred-square-foot rental. On the plus side, however, my boyfriend is a dream.
“I told you we couldn’t go over there because I was having some work done around the house, not because I don’t want you to see it. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to show you,” he says pointedly.
“Sure, sure.” I roll my eyes playfully.
We say goodbye to everyone and walk back to the office, so I can grab my stuff.
He leans in closer as we walk, and his breath tickles my cheek.
“That, and your place is closer…much closer.”
He gives me a long, lustful look, and when he places his hand on the small of my back, and then on my ass, a shiver runs down my spine. He’s right. My place is fifteen minutes from here, and by the time he gets off work it’s usually late. I glance at the time on my phone as I retrieve my bag and realize it’s already eleven thirty.
“It’s late,” he says, wrapping his arms around me from behind, placing a kiss on the side of my neck. “Let’s go home. I’ll take you to my house, so you can finally see for yourself.”
A smile spreads across my face as I catch the hint of humor in his voice.
“Do you have anything going on tomorrow?” he asks, his voice a whisper against my ear.
“No more than usual. Why?”
“I have the day off. We could stay up all night. I’ll make it worth your while,” he teases. My heart starts dancing in my chest, and I bite my bottom lip before I turn and wrap my arms around his neck.
“That sounds like the perfect plan.”
Our fingers are laced together as Esteban drives to his house. We have the windows rolled down, and my hair is blowing in every direction, but I don’t mind it. I stare at the sleepy neighborhoods we make our way through, as the mellow, nostalgic notes of “Thinking of a Place” by The War on Drugs fills the space between us.
It’s already past midnight by the time we make it to his house, a whole thirty minutes later. From the outside, his house is one of the more modern suburban two-story homes that still retain the traditional architectural elements of an adobe house. It has a big, two-door garage, but the walls are a terracotta color and the trim on the big windows and on the garage doors is painted in my favorite color, turquoise. Sometimes I think Esteban is my spirit animal. He parks the truck outside, for some reason, wanting to lead me through the small walkaway that leads to the front door. He opens the door slowly and gives me a long, pensive look before letting me in.
“What is it? Do you think I’m going to run for the hills? It’ll only happen if you have a taxidermy collection.”
“Negative,” he laughs. Humor dances in his eyes.
“Is the house haunted? It can’t be more than twenty years old.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but no. And yes, it’s fifteen years old to be exact.”
When Esteban turns on the switch, skylights illuminate a wide living room with high ceilings, light pine wood floors and off-white walls.
The vibe of the whole place is simple and comfortable. Furniture with clean lines and a modern vibe mixed with the relaxed structural atmosphere of the house.
In a corner there is the traditional New Mexico-style fireplace.
It is adorable, and that alone ignites a number of fantasies involving the two of us. However, I don’t have time to dwell on the space as a whole, because my focus is stolen by the large, floor-to-ceiling windows that capture my attention.
“Esteban, can you turn off the lights?” I ask in a soft tone. He narrows his eyes on me, amused by my request.
“How about this?” he turns a switch on the wall and the skylight softens in intensity.
I nod. “Thank you.”
Without asking permission, or explaining myself, I walk to the glass door and open it, going outside to discover the most magnificent view.
The same mountains I can see from my home are right in front of me, much, much closer than I’m used to. It almost feels as if I could have a private conversation with them. And when I look up, the glory of the night sky makes my eyes fills with tears.
The stars. There’s about a million of them. I didn’t notice them when we got out of the car. I was too curious to see what the inside looked like.
I wasn’t prepared to face the blanket of stars that covered the sky. I feel Esteban come behind me and wrap his arms around my middle.
“I can’t believe you hid all this from me for so long.”
He must detect the sarcasm in my voice, because he laughs against my shoulder.
“I’m only sort of kidding. I like how you never mentioned…all of this.”
Now that I’m slowly starting to recover from the view that left me breathless, I start noticing other details, like the wide patio we’re standing on surrounded by a big, gorgeous backyard. Five-feet-high walls surround the space, a few young trees are planted along the fence. On my right side there’s a table with a few chairs, and on my left there’s a beautiful pool that looks even more inviting under the starlight.
I can’t believe we’ve spent so many nights holed up at my place when we could have been hanging out here. What’s Esteban’s angle? I don’t get it.
Any man I’ve met seemed inclined to show off what they had, but Esteban is the opposite.
“This place is beautiful,” I say, turning to face him. “Why didn’t you say something? Were you afraid I’d fall in love with the house and ask if I could move in?”
He laughs, the smile stretching across his face slow and easygoing. My question hasn’t fazed him at all.
This is no bachelor pad. This is a house for someone who’s looking to the future. Lupe’s words about him being in a relationship a while ago echo in my ears, and they make me wonder if he bought this house to settle down, or even if he was living here with his girlfriend.
“How many square feet is it?”
“It’s about twenty-eight hundred square feet.”
“You have almost three thousand square feet at your disposal? Why in hell have we been spending almost every night in two hundred square feet?
Esteban laughs bashfully. “I wanted to, but I had workers out here every day to put in that pool out there. It took longer than I expected, like any construction job. This house has been an endless project, but it wasn’t easy to have that going on while we were in the middle of opening Vida Dulce. Quite frankly, I’m ready to set renovations aside for a while.”
“You’ve done a very good job so far. It’s such a nice place. And the view out here…it’s certainly the best-selling point.”
“I might have showed it to you sooner if I had any idea how much you were going to like it.” A gaze full of joy locks on mine. The glow of the night highlights the traits of his face. It cascades on his high cheekbones, his nose, and full mouth and I’m dying to do indecent things to him.
This man, who’s solid from head to toe, is not only one of the most accomplished people I’ve met, but also the humblest. There’s something so intoxicating about the way he downplays how good he is, and it makes me even crazier for him.
�
��I haven’t even told you about the roof.”
“What’s on the roof?” I ask, impatient.
“A small terrace. You can see the most beautiful sunrises from there.”
“I bet you can see the most beautiful everything from out here.”
“I can now,” he muses, looking at my face. I feel blood rush to my cheeks and my chest is on fire. So much for taking it slow…I’m already so in over my head.
“Stop it…unless…” I pause, avoiding his eyes and staring at my hands resting on his chest.
“Unless what?” His voice is a mischievous caress. He tips my chin up, brushing his soft lips against mine. Once, twice, three times. It’s all it takes for my head to start swimming. He kisses my cheek slowly, diligently, and starts placing a trail of warm, wet kisses under the hollow of my ear, down my neck, down the line of my collarbone. I hold his head as he’s curved like this around me, and I run my fingers through his hair as black as the night sky.
“Stop it unless you want me to fall more and more in love with you.”
He lifts up his head, interrupting his seduction, eyes boring into mine, as dazzling as the stars above us. The smirk that slowly spreads across his face is both seductive and ornery.
“Oh, but I do.”
“I got this house a while ago. It was a foreclosure and not in very good shape to begin with. It also had a very weird layout. I’ve been working on it on and off for years.” Esteban unties my hair and lets it fall across my shoulders.
He slowly removes the cross tie I forgot to take off at the restaurant, and places it on the sink. We agreed to shower first, to remove the layer of scents from the restaurant that inevitably sticks on you when you’re in and out of the kitchen all night.
I convince him to tell me all about when he bought the house, after he’s given me a tour of the two-story home. There are four bedrooms and three bathrooms. We are in the en suite bathroom connected to his room, the one with a walk-in shower.
Enchanted By You Page 16
