Spanish Passions (Friends Forever Book 2)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “He needs special puzzles?” Javier asked.

  Natalie pushed her oatmeal away, not feeling up to eating when Javier was so close. Instead of answering his question, she looked to her son. “Honey, if you’re done with breakfast, bring your bowl over to the sink and then let’s go do our morning chores.”

  Alejandro immediately jumped off Javier’s lap, grabbed his bowl, and kicked his step stool closer to the kitchen sink. Once it was in position, he stood on top, carefully placed his bowl in the sink and filled it with water.

  “I’ll get my shoes!” he exclaimed.

  “Wait!”

  Alejandro froze, looking back up at his mother. She glanced at him carefully, then over at his step stool. With a sigh of frustration, a sound familiar to every parent the world over, Alejandro stomped over to the step stool and pushed it back to the corner. With that taken care of, he raced into his bedroom to grab his stable boots. They weren’t special boots, just a durable pair of boots she’d found at the thrift shop that she could easily rinse off once they’d come back up from the stables so that the stable dirt and…animal issues…didn’t come into the house.

  When she turned back around, she was startled by the expression in Javier’s eyes. “You’ve done a good job, Natalie,” he murmured softly, his voice filled with admiration. “He’s not spoiled at all.”

  Natalie blushed, feeling that compliment all the way down to her toes. “He’s smarter than most boys his age. At three years old, we should barely be able to understand what he’s saying. But he’s smart, already reading and doing math problems.”

  “That’s why you are trying to sell your stallion, isn’t it? To raise money for him?”

  Natalie was again shocked by his perception. “Yes. The preschool teachers tested his IQ and he’s off the charts. They don’t know what to do with him. They love him and are thrilled when they get to interact with him, but they don’t know what to do with him. He’s so far advanced for his age and so much bigger than the other kids, but he’s still only three years old. There are times I think I’m talking to an adult and then he reverts to his toddler age and…” she shrugged. “Well, it’s hard.”

  Javier knew what his son was going through because he’d been there himself. “With your salary, you can’t afford a private tutor, correct?”

  She sighed. “No. That option wasn’t even up for discussion.”

  “I can provide that for him,” Javier said.

  She shook her head. “No, Javier. You told me about your schooling. I know you were lonely and I’m not putting Alejandro through that.”

  “So, what’s the solution?”

  She bit her lip and shrugged. “I don’t know. My first step was to raise the money. Since I didn’t know how much I could get for Charlie and the other ladies, I hadn’t made plans. But the next step was to figure out what school would be appropriate for Alejandro. I can work anywhere, but Alejandro…he can’t go to just any school. He has to be challenged.”

  “I’ll have my staff start to research various places in Spain,” he announced. “In the meantime, I will have a tutor brought here to help challenge his mind.”

  Natalie shook her head, horrified and panicked at the idea of going back to Spain. That country only held painful memories for her now. She couldn’t go back! “No! First of all, we’re not moving to Spain.”

  “Why not?”

  She lifted a brow. “Do you really need to ask that?”

  He shrugged, looking back at her as if the answer wasn’t as obvious as she’d insinuated. “Obviously. I work in Spain. Alejandro is my heir. He needs to be raised in Spain where he can learn the responsibilities of becoming the next Marques d’Astrana.”

  She shook her head, angry now at hearing that Javier was already making decisions about their future without any discussion. “No, Javier. You lost the right to determine Alejandro’s future when I was booted out of your life. That boy has an American passport, he will stay in the United States.”

  Natalie braced herself for an argument, ready for whatever he might say just to be stubborn. The real reason she wouldn’t let Javier take her son to Spain was because he had too much power there. She would lose her son and that was just something she couldn’t allow.

  When Javier didn’t offer any new argument, she relaxed slightly. Oh, she didn’t think for even one moment that she’d won the battle. But she had only been with Javier for about a month before she’d been banished. She didn’t know him well enough to figure out what his next plan of attack might be. She’d been with him just long enough to know that it was coming and she needed to be ready. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was backing off for now though.

  “I’m ready!” Alejandro announced, racing back into the kitchen and throwing himself across Natalie’s legs, his own dangling a few inches off the ground. “Can we go?” He didn’t wait for a response but pushed off her lap and took Natalie’s hand, tugging her along towards the back door. “Come on, Momma. Tonya and Toby are hungry! I can see them pacing in front of the door!”

  “Go get your coat,” she told him even as she stood up and took her bowl to the sink. He raced to the peg by the door and pulled his jacket on, only having a little trouble with the sleeves this time. She helped him get that second arm into the sleeve, then grabbed her own, draping it over her arm even as Alejandro pulled the back door open and raced through it.

  She followed him, but at a slower pace, not worried about him hurting himself on the race down to the stables. It was wide open grass with the morning sunshine streaming down on him.

  “We’ll talk about this tonight,” he told her as he took her jacket, helping her in the same way that she’d assisted Alejandro.

  She stopped, staring up at him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of what to say to him because he was close, his hand on the small of her back while the whole side of him pressed against her. It was more than slightly unnerving to react like this to him so she stepped away, wanting to diffuse the impact of him.

  It hadn’t worked in the past. Back in Spain, she’d been so enamored of him, of everything he was and did. She’d been naïve, vulnerable, and awed by everything he taught her about sex, about herself, about his country…she’d been in love with life.

  Natalie considered herself older and wiser now. She’d learned to grow up fast, had raised a son by herself…well, along with her friends Hayden, Kate, and Arianna…but she was smarter. Natalie wouldn’t fall for his charm and sexual prowess. Not this time!

  She hurried down the grassy slope towards the stables, towards Charlie and what she considered to be a safe area. With the animals to take care of, she would be distracted, she thought.

  So, Natalie was shocked when she felt one of his fingers slip into the loop of her jeans, pulling her to a stop. “What’s the rush, mi bella?” he asked, his voice smooth and soft as he moved closer.

  Already on edge, she swung around, thinking to dislodge his finger from her belt loop. Unfortunately, his finger stayed and his hold caused his arm to wrap around her waist. “What are you doing?” she gasped.

  He grinned down at her, that sexy, triumphant look in his eyes. “I was only trying to slow you down to talk to you, but…” he shrugged in that European way that said he didn’t mind the result. “I approve of your anger if it gets you back into my arms, mi bella.”

  “Stop calling me beautiful,” she grumbled, pushing against his chest, but his arms only tightened.

  “Stop struggling. Alejandro is looking up at us and we don’t want him to worry that we are arguing.”

  She still tried to shift out of his arms. “I am arguing with you. And I don’t care if he sees us.”

  “Yes, you do,” he pointed out, and darn it, he was right.

  “Javier, we’re not doing this again,” she told him firmly, hoping he would listen to her.

  “Not doing what?” he asked his feet shifting so that their hips came into contact. She gasped when she felt that bulge, shocked to find he
was already half erect and they’d only been touching for a few moments.

  “Don’t do this,” she whispered, feeling trapped, both by her need as well as his arms.

  “Don’t kiss you?” he asked softly. He moved again, shifting so that their bodies were more perfectly aligned and she closed her eyes so he wouldn’t see her go cross-eyed at the contact.

  “Stop trying to hide your reaction, Natalie,” he murmured as he lowered his head, his teeth nibbling at her neck. “You never were able to hide from me, so don’t even try to start doing it now.”

  She took a deep breath, groaning when she only inhaled a deep breath of his intensely masculine scent. It was too much. She pressed her forearms against his chest and, thankfully, he released her. “Javier, this is not going to happen.”

  “It already happened, amada.”

  She fisted her hands down by her sides, trying to hide her anger from Alejandro. He would be worried about his father leaving if they started arguing. “I’m not your love. I’m not anything to you other than the mother of our child.”

  “You know in my culture, that makes you a very special person, Natalie,” he said, pushing a lock of hair off her forehead. “You are revered, put on a pedestal.”

  “I don’t want to be on a pedestal. I’m just a woman.”

  “A beautiful woman who has taken wonderful care of our child. But you are tired, worn out.”

  Her shoulders stiffened with that observation. “Is that how you see me?” she asked, horrified and self-conscious. “I look tired and worn out to you?”

  His eyes sharpened. “No, mi bella. You look gorgeous and my body is aching to be inside you again.”

  Goodness, she’d forgotten how blunt he could be! Europeans had a completely different acceptance of sexual matters. “I’m not!” she protested, lifting her hands to cover her chest.

  He threw back his head and laughed. “Natalie, you are precious.” He pulled her back into his arms, still chuckling, but this time, his touch was just a hug. “I tell you that you are tired from years of surviving, and you become offended. Then I tell you that you are beautiful, and you are offended.” He kissed the top of her head. “Such a bristly woman, mi cara.”

  Natalie allowed herself the comfort of his hold for one moment, and then pushed out of his arms. She didn’t want to send mixed signals, but it really felt good to have his arms around her.

  Pushing that thought aside, she turned around and started walking back down the slope towards the stables. “Charlie and his ladies are hungry,” she told him, trying to ignore his presence behind her. But in truth, she was painfully self-conscious of him behind her. Did he notice how baggy her jeans had become? She remembered walking like this with him back in Spain, how he’d commented on her figure, on how much he approved of her bottom.

  He most likely didn’t approve of it now, she thought.

  Javier watched as she walked, noticing how much weight she’d lost. And she hadn’t eaten enough for breakfast. She was probably still nervous around him.

  She’d said they weren’t going to be doing ‘that’, and he wanted to laugh. Oh, they were definitely going to do ‘that’ again. And very soon. He’d felt the way she’d trembled in his arms. She felt it too, this attraction. It hadn’t died in the four years they had been apart.

  Yes, they had a great deal of confusion and miscommunication to deal with. There was a lot of anger to diffuse. They needed to talk. He wasn’t completely confident about her side of the story, but he didn’t want to deny her claims either. His father was a wily fox. If he hadn’t approved of Natalie, Javier could definitely see how Juan Pablo might have come across. And Natalie probably misunderstood.

  Yes, it was all just a series of miscommunications.

  But eventually, everything would have to be figured out. They had a son to raise and this sexual tension wasn’t going away. In fact, the more they ignored it, the stronger it became.

  As he followed her to the barn, he wondered how she’d gotten through the past four years. He thought of the other women of his acquaintance. He suspected that Natalie hadn’t been spoiled like those women had been during their pregnancies. She couldn’t have been. His woman -and yes, he was starting to think of her as his woman again- would have been finishing up college and getting a job. Just thinking about what she’d gone through made him both proud and angry. Angry that she’d had to go through it alone, without his resources or his support. And proud because she’d done such a wonderful job in the face of such incredible trials. And even kept her humor about her!

  They reached the stables as he pulled out his phone, making a call to his assistant, telling her what he wanted arranged. When his assistant assured him that it would be taken care of, he slid the phone back into his pocket and stepped into the dim interior.

  What he saw surprised him. Bending down, his tiny son was petting two tabby cats that seemed bigger than small dogs. But he wasn’t pulling their tails, as other children might have done. He was gently stroking their fur as they both ate from their food bowls.

  When Alejandro realized that his father was watching, the little tyke went into a litany of instructions on exactly how to take care of cats, what they ate, how to touch them…and Javier looked over at Natalie, sure that she had been the one to teach him all of this. Learning how to care for animals was the first step in caring for people, he knew. As Marques and a future Duque, Javier knew that the prosperity of his people rested on his shoulders. The fact that Natalie had started the process, showing their son how to care for life, endeared her further in his mind.

  He caught the blush even in the dim light of the stable as she brushed down Charlie and the mares. “Are we riding today?” he asked.

  Natalie glanced at Charlie, who perked his ears up before going right back to his oats. “If you’d like.”

  “Yeah!”

  That was from Alejandro who loved to ride, even though he only got to sit in front of her as she exercised the horses. “You, little man, will not be riding Charlie today,” she told him.

  He didn’t seem disappointed and Natalie knew it was only because he loved riding horses and didn’t care how it happened or who he rode. He preferred Charlie, but he’d take riding any way he could. “I’ll ride Bella with Alejandro and you can take Charlie out,” she suggested to Javier.

  It didn’t take long to saddle up the horses and she was just about to lift Alejandro up when Javier plucked him off the ground. “You go ahead and get on the mare and I’ll hand him up.”

  She was grateful because Alejandro was such a solid guy. It hurt her arms to lift him over her shoulders like that. So she swung up into the saddle, and reached down for Alejandro. When both of them were settled, she turned and couldn’t pull her eyes away as she watched Javier hoist himself onto Charlie. The man was all muscle and, even in borrowed boots, he still looked suave and shockingly capable of handling the stallion.

  Javier took Charlie out, getting rid of his excess energy. Then the three of them went through the trails. For the next hour, they rode and Alejandro chatted about everything and anything. They spent time in the stables, grooming the horses and mucking out their stalls, then walked along the creek, listening to Alejandro talk about whatever popped into his mind.

  After lunch, Natalie knew that her son was exhausted, but still trying to stay awake, not wanting to waste time while his father was around. “Nap time,” she announced. “And afterwards, your dad will still be here, okay?” she assured him when he bristled, looking like he was going to argue.

  An little later, Natalie came out of Alejandro’s bedroom, pulling the door mostly closed. Sitting down on the couch, she avoided looking at Javier, just too tired to deal with any more questions. “He’s down for his nap,” she announced. Exhaustion was an almost physical force and she closed her eyes, leaning her head against the back of the sofa. Only for a moment, she promised herself. “I’ll clean up the breakfast dishes and then…”

  Javier watched the delicat
e beauty drift off to sleep. Never had he seen anyone fall asleep mid-sentence before, but she was worn out. He suspected that they’d ridden longer and farther than usual and he was grateful that she was giving him time to spend with Alejandro.

  Walking over to the sofa, he bent down lower and lifted her into his arms. Carrying her slight weight to her bedroom, he looked around, clenching his teeth at the sparsely furnished room. His son had more in his room than Natalie had in hers.

  He was going to fix this. He would fix everything, he vowed silently. Pulling back the covers, he set her down. And then, simply because she wouldn’t release his hand, he slipped into the bed himself. She curled up against his side, exactly as she’d done four years ago. It hadn’t mattered what time he’d come home from work, he remembered. If she’d been asleep, Natalie would curl up against him. Just like now. It was as if no time had passed between them. She might fight against the attraction they felt together while awake, but when asleep, her subconscious knew that they were meant to be together.

  Damn him for not following her four years ago! Javier stared up at the ceiling, thinking back to that time, wondering why his father had done this.

  Chapter 5

  Natalie braced her hands on either side of the countertop, breathing deeply to try and get her head back in the right place.

  “Be firm,” she whispered. “Be firm. Be strong. Don’t give him any room to argue.”

  “Talking to yourself, Natalie?” Javier’s deep voice came from behind her.

  Natalie swung around, startled, gasping as she took in his large frame blocking the doorway. Her hand swept up to her throat as her eyes took in his wet shirt and broad shoulders. “I didn’t know that you’d finished in the bathroom.”

  “He’s brushing his teeth now.”

  Natalie nodded, knowing her son’s routine but the moment felt awkward. Strained. “Um…I see he got you pretty wet.”