by Roxy Wilson
Someone applauded. Aron could sense that some people were eyeing them, speculating about whether or not he and Dayna would resume their relationship, but he only had eyes for her. Seeing her, his breath nearly stopped. How he’d missed her over the years! Now, it seemed like nothing had changed between them.
She flashed a smile at him, clearly enjoying the dance. When the music came to an end, they both stood still for a moment, her hand still clasped in his, their hips pressed tightly against each other. Her eyes shone with excitement.
Aron resisted the urge to deposit a blazing kiss on her lips. Slow down, Rodriquez that would be way too soon. He stepped away, as he put a hand under her elbow and guided her to a separate corner to talk. “So, are you back in San Diego for good?”
Dayna cleared her throat. “Hmm…I’m not sure.” She bit her lower lip with her even, white teeth. “So far it’s a—umm, one year sabbatical while I—I figure out some things.”
“What things?”
She paused and looked troubled.
He detected something in her eyes. Regret? Sadness? Before he could figure out the emotion it was gone, but Aron felt sure something important was behind her decision to come to San Diego. Was it something to do with her job? She was a successful photojournalist, featured in big magazines, and at the top of her career. He’d felt happy for her whenever he saw her work, proud that she’d made it so far.
“I’m not sure yet. Maybe when I figure it out, I’ll be able to talk about it with someone else.”
“I’m not someone else,” he countered. “I’m your—” He stopped at the shocked look in her eyes. Aron himself felt stunned by what he almost said. Novio…Boyfriend? It’d been at the tip of his tongue. Without realizing it, without thinking about it, he regressed back in time to a decade ago, when they’d been going out. “I’m your friend,” he finished.
She smiled. “Sure, you are.”
He could tell that she meant it.
“But I’m just not ready to talk about this move yet.” Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Tell me about yourself. Are you also here just for the reunion or for business?”
“Both. Since I wanted to come here, I figured I might as well stay and look for some business opportunity. I’m into import and export and there’s a high demand for Asian and Middle Eastern products here. I’m talking to some agents. We’ll see.”
“You always wanted to have your own business.”
He was touched that she remembered. “Yeah. I tried a nine-to-five job, but it didn’t work out. I like the freedom of making my own decisions. Being the master of my own destiny, at least where business is concerned. Never could do the same old office routine, too constricting.”
“Same here. But I’m ready to do something a little more permanent. Something that wouldn’t have me living out of a suitcase for months at a time.” She nibbled on her plump lower lip again. “Maybe? We’ll see.”
He could tell she was also amazed at her own admission. Perhaps the thought only occurred to her as she spoke it. Aron decided to change the subject. “Nothing seems to have changed in the school building.”
“They have a new wing which I just saw. And I met the old principal. She’s here.”
“Really? Can’t remember her.”
She grinned. “That’s because you were a model student and were never called to the principal’s office in the two years you were here.” She laughed.
Her laughter was like a musical sound that sent tingles down his spine. Then, he remembered the pure, sweet feeling she always gave him. His sweetness. His Dulzura.
“Me? I was there twice a year. My poor mother was always worried that I would be kicked out of the school,” she joked with a shrug of her shoulders.
Aron threw back his head and laughed. “Remember the time you removed all the toilet paper rolls from the girl’s bathroom and dumped them into the boy’s bathroom? There was complete chaos.”
“Yeah, it was hilarious.” Dayna laughed. “If I’d done the opposite, no one would have noticed.”
Aron chuckled and brushed his hand over his jaw as he considered Dayna. It was true that physically she hadn’t changed. Still hot and sexy, but the years brought a look of maturity in her eyes and there was something else there. Some emotion, strong and powerful enough to leave its mark on her. He couldn’t tell what it was. But it’d left a strong impression on her soul. Perhaps in time, she would tell him. Other than that, being with her felt as comfortable as it always had. He’d never been at ease with a woman like he’d been with Dayna. She had an open and honest personality. Like most girls, she didn’t consider her words or hide behind a facade. You got what you saw—a trait he’d always admired.
Aron realized he’d been secretly hoping to run into her at the reunion. Yep, he might as well admit the truth—he’d only come because he wanted to see Dayna again. Although their break-up had been amicable, it’d been brutal for both of them. In a practical sense, the decision seemed right at the time, but he’d certainly never gotten over the emptiness he felt off and on because of the choice they’d made. Did she also spend time regretting their romance ending so abruptly? “Did you ever wonder what would have happened if we had decided to stay together?”
Her eyes shifted from his. “A couple of times, yes,” she answered in an evasive manner. “The thought did cross my mind.”
“I always wanted to see you but since I knew you travelled, it was hard to figure out where to find you,” he admitted. A hard thing for him to say, especially to someone he hadn’t seen in ten years, ever since they were both eighteen years old. Maybe they should have tried a long-distance relationship. But he’d already spent enough time wondering if he’d made the wrong choice by letting her go. Now, that he’d found her again, he didn’t want to let her slip through his fingers. At least, not before they’d given themselves another chance with each other.
Her breath seemed to hitch in her throat. “Oh! Yeah!” she replied to his statement of her whereabouts for all these years. “I’m not surprised. I’ve been travelling for the past six years, ever since graduating from college.”
“Would you like us to pick things up from where we left off, Dayna?” Until he said it, he didn’t know that he would actually utter those words. He wanted his Dulzura back. Sweetness, as he used to call her. He wondered if she remembered that too. He wasn’t an impulsive guy when it came to matters of the heart. Though, now that he’d laid his cards out on the table, he desperately wanted her to say yes. His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for an answer.
CHAPTER THREE
Dayna simply couldn’t believe she’d heard him right. Did Aron just ask her out? Did he want them to get back together as a couple? Wasn’t it a little too soon? For God’s sake, they’d only met just now after a decade-long separation. They weren’t the same people. She’d certainly undergone a lot of changes and there was one single defining moment in her life when everything changed for her. Something so momentous and so significant that if she told Aron, he would probably never want to see her again.
Dare she tell him?
Could she tell him? She pondered over the matter but before she could make up her mind, he grasped her elbow and ushered her out of the hall. Dayna was pressed against the wall while he braced himself against it with his hands on either side of her. A very familiar stance. In high school, they could often be found in various corners, standing like this and talking. The memory brought a lump to her throat.
“Come on, Dayna. Dulzura.” He smiled with that same heart-stopping smile. “You have to admit, we have a spark between us. Time hasn’t dulled it.”
“Umm…”
Aron leaned closer to her, his warm breath caressing her eyes, nose and lips. “What do you say? I think we would be good together, dulce corazón.”
Dayna remembered him calling her this all those years ago. It meant sweetheart or something close to that. His low accented voice still sounded so warm and sexy. She couldn’t deny
that she still felt attracted to him. In fact, the moment she saw him, her breath had become trapped in her throat. His short, black hair, the lean cut of his face and those rich, dark brown eyes made her lose her thoughts. Aron was the love of her life. Amor de mi vida…He used to say.
She’d never gotten over him and added to their smoldering love for each other was the complication—his exit had brought to her life. The connection had never been broken and she knew now, it could not be severed by anything. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell him about it. She’d made that choice years ago—too late for regrets now. “I—yes, of course, I’m still attracted to you.” She at least had the guts to tell him the truth. “But is it enough? Too much time has passed. You and I, we’re not the same people anymore.”
“Then it will be all the more fun to figure out how we have changed. “ His lips lifted in an easy smile.
The intense look in his brown eyes made her feel as if he could see into the depths of her soul.
“And we don’t have the limitations that we had all those years ago. We’re both free to be with each other, and we don’t have to worry about our jobs or families. It will be a fresh, clean start.”
Dayna stared at his face. His dimples were a distraction, to say the least.
“What do you say?”
“I—um…”She wanted to say no. She should say no. For their own good. It was too complicated and dangerous. Rekindling an old romance wasn’t as easy as it sounded, especially given the fact there were things he didn’t know. But despite her effort, the word got stuck in her throat and she simply couldn’t look away from those dark, mesmerizing eyes.
He reached forward to take a lock of her curls in his fingers.
The gentle touch invoked a sea of sensations inside her.
“You’re as beautiful as I remember. Even more so, mi vida. Don’t break my heart, Dayna.”
What about her heart? Did she want to risk it by getting embroiled in an affair so soon after her break-up? Plus, it would be with a man who’d left a more than permanent impression on her life…“Yes,” she found herself saying. Dayna simply couldn’t believe she’d uttered it. The short but simple word betrayed her mind and her better sense.
His eyes lit at her acquiescence. “Maravilloso!” He smiled. “Wonderful! So dinner later, after this reunion crap is over?”
“Don’t you want to reconnect with our friends?”
He chuckled. “Now that I think about it, I’ve already met everyone who matters.”
“Damn!” another voice piped in. “And I thought I was important enough to at least be given a hug.”
Aron straightened himself at the sound of the familiar voice. So intent on convincing Dayna to give them another chance, he’d tuned out everything around him. Now, he swiveled around to see who dared to interrupt the interlude between Dayna and him. “Jamie! It’s good to see you.” His pleasure was genuine.
“Yeah, yeah!” She pushed him away as he tried to hug her. “I heard that scandalous comment. Apparently, I’m not on your list of priorities.”
“Not you. I just never thought you would be here. Last I heard you were in New York.” He managed to give her a hug. “You look as pretty as ever, muy bonita.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“But with you, I actually mean it.” He grinned and let go. “I swear.”
“Oh…sure you do. You Spanish Rogue!” Jamie’s lips lifted in a smile. She glanced at Dayna. “I was standing there, trying to place this devil when Erin sashayed forward and bagged him. Before I could make a move to rescue him, he dumped her and cornered you. You should have seen the look on Erin’s face.” Jamie laughed in obvious glee at Erin’s misfortune. “It looked as if she’d swallowed an entire sour lemon.”
Dayna pushed her hair back. “Erin is here? Didn’t see her when I did the first round of meeting people.”
“Well, now that you’ve stolen Aron from her yet again, and rubbed that fact in by that very public and hot dance, I would advise that you don’t get within ten feet of her. Our girl may be all grown up but she hasn’t lost her acid tongue. Jamie wiggled her eyebrows. “Ask me. I run into her fairly often, because she just happens to work in my favorite grocery store,” Jamie continued on, blissfully unaware that she’d interrupted them at a most crucial juncture.
Privately, Dayna was glad for the interruption. Her conversation with Aron had been too intense for comfort.
“…That woman could make a saint lose her temper.” Jamie shook her head. “Last time I was there, she told me my younger daughter had broken an egg when in fact she’d been sitting on the shopping cart. I tell you—”
Aron interrupted her. “You have kids?”
Her eyes shone with pride. “Oh, yes. I have two girls. Why don’t you come by and meet them? And my husband…” She slapped her hand against her forehead. “Oh, shit! I better go rescue him.” She flitted away without a backward glance.
Aron raised an eyebrow. “Rescue him?”
“Brett is a successful movie director. His last film was released three months ago and opened to full houses everywhere. Naturally, people want to meet and ogle him…”
“Brett?”
“Brett Carrington.”
“Jamie is married to Brett Carrington? Wow! Why did she move from New York?”
“Her sister, Selene, lives here. So, she wanted to be closer to her.”
He grabbed her hand as she made a move to slip inside. “So, how about that dinner?”
Whoa. Not so fast. She needed some breathing space. “Why don’t we meet for lunch tomorrow? I’m staying with Jamie tonight until I get my own place and we made plans to have a girl’s night tonight while Brett babysits the girls.”
He let go, looking disappointed. “All right. I’ll pick you up for lunch.”
Knowing she had no way out, Dayna nodded. She gave him her number and plucked her cell phone from her silver clutch, which matched perfectly with her heels, to save his number. She then tucked it back into her bag. “Guess we’d better go in and meet more people.”
“Sure, but you’re the one who has to protect me from Erin.”
Dayna chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect your honor to the fullest.”
As they strolled inside, they joined Jamie and Brett who were surrounded by a knot of people, fans really of Brett’s work. After she introduced the men, they struck up a conversation, when the crowd dissipated after getting the handshakes, autographs and pics of the movie director.
“I didn’t really like the fact that she died,” Aron shared his opinion about the last movie Brett directed. “But I admire your guts for highlighting the issue with drugs as realistically as possible.”
“Thanks,” Brett replied. His eyes glinted with amusement. “Fiction doesn’t have to be completely separate from reality. Even a person, who seems boring on the surface, usually has a story that resonates with other people.”
“True,” Aron agreed and turned to Jamie. “So, when are you inviting me home to meet your girls?”
Jamie shared a glance with Dayna. She must have sensed the direction in which Dayna’s relationship with Aron had turned, because she smiled. “Drop by tomorrow evening.”
“Why don’t I meet them when I come to pick up Dayna for lunch?”
“Sure.” Jamie’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “That would be great.”
So, with that, the date was sealed.
Later, after Dayna went home with Jamie, the girls’ sat in the den while Brett worked in his study.
Jamie tapped her fingers on the table as she considered her friend.
“Spit it out,” Dayna said, knowing her friend was teetering on the edge of a storm. Jamie had never learnt to keep an opinion to herself and especially, not when she thought that she could help a friend by setting them on the right path.
“You and Aron? Never thought that would happen again.”
Jamie wasn’t one to mince words, so Dayna wasn’t surprised by
her frank assessment. “He asked me out. I couldn’t say no.”
“And Adam?”
“He’s history.”
Jamie picked up her glass to sip the wine. “Have you told Aron about…?”
Dayna shook her head. How could she tell him? But of course, now that they were rekindling their relationship, she would have to share the secret with him. Soon, she promised herself. But after she got her bearings back. “No. Not yet.”
“You will have to tell him.”
“Didn’t you give me the same advice back when we graduated?” Dayna remembered each word, each hour and each day of those difficult months. She recalled how Jamie had stuck by her when others had deserted her. Seeing her now, happy and secure in her relationship, easily managing two kids and a career, Dayna couldn’t help but wonder if she’d made a mistake. Had she spent too much time on her work? Maybe she should have had a family. Would that have made her feel more complete and at ease with her life? Not that she wasn’t happy with all that she’d achieved in the past decade, but sometimes a kernel of doubt lodged itself into her heart. Maybe she should’ve chosen a different path? She was still young. Twenty-eight was far from being over-the-hill. Certainly not too old to make a career change.
“And I meant it even then.” Jamie put her hand on Dayna’s as if she could sense the direction of her thoughts. “You did the right thing then, but it would’ve been better if you had told Aron.”
“I never thought I would see him again. He was gone…remember? We made a conscious decision to let each other go. If I’d known then...” She couldn’t complete the sentence or the thought. All of it still felt painful. Dayna hadn’t spent much time in the past decade revisiting old decision, but being back in San Diego, brought back all the memories.
Jamie sighed and leaned back. “But he’s back in your life now. And as difficult as it is, you’ll have to come clean.”
Dayna ran her finger over the edge of her wine glass. Jamie was right, of course. Too much time had passed, but some things stuck by you no matter what you did. At some point, she would have to have a difficult conversation with Aron. She had no idea how he would react. But tonight wasn’t that time. “I’ll tell him.”
