“Hey, my birthday is next week,” she said. “Why don’t you cook dinner for me then? Otherwise, my parents might insist on celebrating with us.”
“Do you think so? I got the distinct feeling that your parents were avoiding me tonight after Sophie’s announcement. I’d mentally prepared myself for what I would say to them, but it was probably for the best that they focused on your sister’s and brother’s wedding. If your dad is one of those old-fashioned types that gets offended if a guy doesn’t ask for his daughter’s hand, I didn’t want to face the wrath of Gerald Robinson. That would’ve definitely been a party foul.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about. My father isn’t really the traditional type when it comes to love and marriage. In fact, if you asked his permission to marry me, he would probably think you were up to something. Or at the very least sucking up.”
“Have they said anything to you?” he asked.
“My mother cornered me earlier tonight. She said she was happy for us and she wants to get to know you better. She and my father want to take us out for dinner. Which means she wants to go out to dinner and my father probably knows nothing about it. She was trying to get us to come over tomorrow night, but I told her that we were both busy. I’ll keep putting her off as long as I can. Especially for my birthday.”
He picked up the bottle and refilled her wineglass. “What day is your birthday?”
“It’s next Saturday.”
“Maybe you should celebrate with them. When I was growing up, birthdays were always a big deal in our house. My mother would have a cake for us and we got to pick whatever we wanted for dinner.”
Olivia shifted, and pulled one foot up and balanced it on her knee. She began to massage her foot. When she noticed him watching her hands, she said, “Sorry, my feet hurt after standing in those heels all night.”
“Here,” he said, “put your feet in my lap. I give a mean foot massage.”
* * *
She looked a little taken aback. For a moment he thought she was going to refuse, but she swung her legs up onto the couch and stretched out so that her feet were in his lap.
He used his thumb to draw small, firm circles on the ball of her foot.
She tilted her head back and moaned. It made him think of the night in the Driskill bar when she kissed him. He had a nearly overwhelming urge to lean over and see if her lips tasted as sweet as they had that night. But it probably wouldn’t be a good move since he was going to be moving in with her and they needed to keep things cool just a little longer.
“That feels so good,” she said. “Are you close to your parents? It sounds as if they made a big deal over making you feel special on your birthday.”
“I’m close to my dad. My mom passed away about five years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Thanks. My mom was a wonderful woman. We all took her loss pretty hard. But it’s good to see my dad happy again with Josephine. There was a time when it seemed like he would never be the same again. I know you and your sisters are close but are you close to your folks? You seem like you’re avoiding the question.”
“Maybe I am.” She sat up and pulled her knees into her chest, hugging them and still managing to hold her wineglass. “My sisters and I are solid, but my parents? They sort of live in their own worlds. Separate worlds. I guess I might as well tell you because you’re bound to hear about it anyway. This reporter, Ariana Lamonte, has been doing a big exposé on my family. My dad mostly. Last year, evidence surfaced that he is actually part of the Fortune family.”
Alejandro nodded. “The Fortunes are a big Texas family. Seems like everybody’s related to them in one way or another—or at least most people have a close degree of separation. My brother Cisco is married to Delaney Fortune.”
Olivia shrugged. “This is still new for me. I’m still trying to digest it, because the implications are pretty damning. Not only does it mean that my father has been lying to us about his identity for as long as my brothers and sisters and I have been alive, but we are also coping with the fact that my father seems to have other children who keep popping up. Illegitimate ones.”
She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on her knees. A moment later, she looked up at him.
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you all this, but for some crazy reason I feel like I can trust you.”
He reached out and put a hand on her arm. “You can trust me, Olivia. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot of change this year.”
She nodded. “Not just this year. The truth has been a long time coming. I’ve always known that my parents didn’t have a great relationship. I just didn’t know why. But now that all of my father’s illegitimate children keep crawling out of the woodwork, it’s just hard for me to be around my parents. Their relationship is such a farce. I have no idea why they stay together because it’s all a lie. So you can see going to dinner with them for my birthday would be the ultimate torture. Will you please be my knight in shining armor and save me from that?”
He brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. He had heard rumblings about Gerald Robinson’s Fortune connection, but nobody seemed to know the true story. He hadn’t heard about illegitimate children. No wonder Olivia was freaked out about love and relationships.
“I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” he said. “You know, love is a tricky thing. My parents showed me the best example of true love and commitment. It was real and perfect. Not only did I see it in my parents’ relationship when my mother was alive, I’ve experienced that deep kind of true love myself. Yet I’m even screwed up when it comes to love. That’s because when you fall in love, you’re so vulnerable. You open yourself up and you expose yourself to the worst pain—”
The words got lost in his throat. Olivia put her hand on his. He looked at her sitting next to him on the couch in her yoga pants and fitted T-shirt and somehow the possibility of falling in love didn’t seem so out of reach anymore.
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” she said. “How did Anna break your heart?”
It had been years since he’d talked about this, but he heard himself speaking before he could stop himself.
“Anna Molino was my high school sweetheart. We would be married right now if fate hadn’t been cruel. Anna died in a car accident when we were just twenty years old.”
“Oh, Alejandro, I’m sorry.”
Maybe it was all the pent-up emotion that he had been harboring for years; maybe it was because he was actually starting to feel something for this beautiful woman. Whatever the reason, he reached out and ran his thumb along her jawline, moved his hand around so it cupped the back of her neck and lowered his mouth to hers.
When their lips met, he lost all sense of time and space. All he knew was things hadn’t felt this right in ages.
“Do you want to stay here tonight?” Olivia whispered. “We can go to the Driskill and get your things tomorrow.” Her expression was so earnest, he almost said yes, but if he stayed he wasn’t sure what might happen. He needed some space to think about what he was getting into by moving in with her—even if it was only for a week. He needed to figure out if he could handle it.
“In the guest room,” she amended as if she was reading his thoughts. “Because we probably shouldn’t be kissing like that unless we mean it.”
“You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “I’m not. But we probably should save the action for our adoring public.”
He stood.
“On that note, I should get back to the hotel tonight.”
Chapter Nine
Alejandro checked out of the hotel and was at Olivia’s condo by eleven o’clock on Sunday morning. After the kiss last night, she wasn’t sure what to expec
t today. Olivia had even prepared herself for the possibility of Alejandro deciding to stay at the hotel rather than with her.
They were both a little shy this morning as she showed him to the spare bedroom down the hall.
“Here’s the closet where you can hang your clothes. I put some extra hangers in there for you. There’s a dresser if you need some drawers. I’m sorry this room doesn’t have an en suite, but the bathroom is right across the hall. Here, let me show you.”
She knew she was talking too much, rambling away like a Realtor showing a house rather than someone welcoming a houseguest. But he wasn’t just a houseguest. The thought that she and Alejandro would be sleeping under the same roof made the muscles in her stomach knot a little too tight.
He smiled at her. “This is perfect. Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“It’s for a good cause. I’ll leave you alone while you get settled in. Please let me know if you need anything else to be comfortable. I put fresh towels in the bathroom and—”
“I can unpack later,” he said. “What I’d really like to do right now is go get something to eat. Are you hungry?”
She hadn’t really thought about it until he’d asked, because she’d been so anxious about whether or not he would end up bailing on her. She put a hand on her stomach and realized that she was famished.
“I am hungry,” she said. “Did you have someplace in mind? I would offer to whip us up something but I don’t have any food in the house. And that’s probably a good thing because I’m not much of a cook.”
He laughed. “I was serious last night when I said I was happy to serve as the chef while I’m staying here with you. I might even teach you some of my secrets.”
She would love to learn Alejandro Mendoza’s secrets, and not just those that pertained to the kitchen. And just like that, all of the potential awkwardness she feared would be spawned from last night’s kiss melted away like ice cream on a hot Austin day.
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said. “Maybe you can give me a cooking lesson tomorrow? But in the meantime why don’t we go to the South Congress Café? They have carrot cake French toast that is to die for.”
Olivia’s condo was just a short walk to the restaurant. It was a beautiful, sunny day, cool enough to make it pleasurable to be outdoors, but warm enough that the walk had Olivia working up a thirst even in the light sundress and sandals she wore.
Alejandro looked crisp and cool in his khaki shorts and ivory linen shirt.
When they arrived at the restaurant they found there was a short wait for a table. This was one of her favorite places to eat and Olivia was happy to see it doing such brisk business.
Even though she’d been there more times than she could count, the place looked both familiar and brand-new as she tried to see the exposed-brick walls and blond-wood-beamed ceilings through Alejandro’s eyes.
Once they were seated, Alejandro asked her, “Do you have to do anything constructive today? If not, do you want to order Bloody Marys? One of those would really hit the spot right now.”
“I scheduled myself to do absolutely nothing today but recover from the wedding,” Olivia said. “A Bloody Mary sounds good, but I think champagne is what I need.”
They ordered the drinks along with water and coffee, but asked the server to come back for their food order.
It was nice to be out like this with Alejandro. The pressure of the wedding was off her shoulders, and there was nobody around that they needed to impress. The entire day was theirs. It dawned on Olivia that this was the first time they had been together without any expectations weighing them down.
“I’m guessing that your day is clear since you’re drinking?”
He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “For the most part. I have some calls to make later this afternoon. I need to get in touch with my cousin Stefan. He and his brother Rodrigo are my business partners. Since I was basically out of pocket yesterday, I need to go over some things with them.”
“Do they live in Miami?” she asked.
“They do.”
“Will they be relocating to Austin once you take over Hummingbird Ridge?” That was a clever way of asking whether he’d found a new investor without appearing too nosy.
He shook his head. “Right now, I’m the one who will be in Texas. I know the Dailys so it stands to reason that I would be the one stationed here. Basically Stef and Rod are silent partners. Although I imagine they will want to take a much more hands-on approach once the wine starts flowing.”
Well, that sounded encouraging.
“Who wouldn’t?” Olivia said. “In fact, if you’re ever in need of a taster, I’d be happy to volunteer. It’s a tough job, but I am willing to step up and sacrifice myself.”
He laughed. “That’s magnanimous of you. Not many would sacrifice themselves like that.”
Their server reappeared and they ordered—the French toast for Olivia, and the goat cheese and bacon omelet for Alejandro.
“How long have you lived in Austin?” he asked once the server had refilled their water glasses and left to turn in their order.
“All my life. I was born and raised here. I’ve done a fair share of traveling—you know, study abroad semesters and a postgraduation backpacking trip through Europe. But I keep coming back to Austin. It’s home. My life is here. It’s where my heart lives. Are you sad to leave Miami?”
“I don’t know that I will completely leave. It’s hard to say where I’ll be after everything is settled with the winery.”
Oh.
Disappointment tugged at her insides. She hadn’t realized it, but she had been hoping he would say he was eager to call Austin home. It was a crazy thought, though. He was so Miami sophisticated, so big-city, he probably wouldn’t be happy here long-term. For all its quirks and artistic originality, Austin had a different vibe from Miami.
“So Miami is home?”
He shrugged. “For now. But less so than it has been. My uncles and cousins still live there, but my father and my immediate family are all in Texas now. As I told you, we’re a pretty tight-knit bunch.”
“That’s nice. Maybe you should think about joining them and making the move. Austin has a lot to offer thanks to the university, and the town has a pretty progressive music scene. Have you ever been to the South by Southwest festival? It’s a fabulous film and music festival.”
“I know what it is. Or maybe I should say I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never been. I’ll have to catch it sometime.”
“It’s always in March. So you just missed it by a couple of months. But there’s always next year.”
He raised his glass to her. “Here’s to next year.”
They spent the next ten minutes or so asking personal questions, in a verbal dance of getting to know each other: colleges, careers and craziest things they’d ever done. When their food finally arrived, they ate in the companionable silence that came from good chemistry, each digesting the fresh information they had gleaned—until a familiar voice pulled Olivia out of her reverie.
“Olivia? I thought that was you.”
She turned to see Pamela Davis, an accountant at Robinson Tech.
“Hi, Pam. Happy Sunday.”
Pamela looked expectantly at Alejandro, obviously waiting for Olivia to introduce her. She was opening her mouth to do just that when the older woman beat her to the punch.
“And this must be your fiancé.” Alejandro was a good sport as the woman introduced herself and fawned all over him.
“I was so excited for you when Sophie announced the big news. I had no idea that you were even seeing somebody.” Pamela reached out and grabbed Olivia’s left hand. “Where’s the ring?”
Olivia shot Alejandro a glance. She should have anticipated this. She should simply go to the mall and buy a suitably impressive, but
budget-friendly, cubic zirconia because this would surely not be the last time this happened. But then again, if they were going to call off the engagement by this time next week, a ring might complicate matters.
“I wanted to take her to pick out the ring of her dreams,” Alejandro said. “We’ve been so busy with Sophie’s wedding that we haven’t had a chance to do that yet.” He turned to Olivia. “Querida, would you like to do that as soon as we finish here?”
“That sounds lovely.” For Pamela’s benefit, they made googly eyes at each other.
The older woman put her hand over her heart. “Be still, my heart. There’s nothing like young love. It makes an old woman like me feel like a kid again. Alejandro, it was so nice to meet you. You take good care of our girl. She’s a keeper. And I’m sure you are too if she chose you. I’m going to leave you lovebirds so that you can finish your breakfast and go get that ring. I’ll come by your office first thing tomorrow and get a good look at it.”
As soon as Pamela cleared the doors of the restaurant, Olivia turned back to Alejandro. “What kind of a fiancé are you to not give me a ring?”
He laughed.
“Querida, you heard what I told the lady. We are going right now to pick out the ring of your dreams.”
When the dishes were cleared and the server presented the check, Olivia tried to reach for it, but Alejandro was faster. “This is on me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “Please let me split it with you. You need to save your money for that ring.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that, but this is my treat.” He smiled at her. It was a knowing look that made her feel like he could see right through to her soul.
“You can’t stand not being in control, can you?” he said.
What was she supposed to say to that? Of course, the answer was yes, but she wouldn’t acknowledge it, nor would she admit how she was feeling—as if she and Alejandro had just had their first date.
As they made their way back to her condo, arms bumping and hands brushing occasionally as one or the other slightly leaned into the other’s space, they passed a block of storefronts. Olivia paused to linger at the windows. She wasn’t in any hurry to get home. Out here they were a man and a woman spending time together, getting to know each other. Once they got back to the condo, he would make his phone calls and she would prepare to return to work tomorrow after being off this week for the wedding. And they would be swept back into their separate lives—separate lives lived under the same roof for the next week. At least she had him to herself right now.
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