“So what was that all about?” Tori asked when he finally slid the phone back into his pocket.
“That was mi primo being an imbécil over children they don’t even have.”
“Seriously? Are they getting married?”
“Apparently not if she has to name their firstborn after him, and he’s insisting on a little Hank Junior.”
“Wait, they are arguing over baby names? Are they even engaged?” Tori shook her head at the ridiculousness of it.
“They might be, but they haven’t told everyone yet. Ironing out the details first.”
“I would think the detail would be whether to have kids, not what to name them.” Even though she already had her first child’s name selected, she still wasn’t sure it was worth arguing over. She would cross that bridge when she came to it.
Les shrugged. “Hank never had his own name, so why should his kid?”
“What about you? Is your name your own?”
Les nodded. “Yep, all mine. You?”
“There was a Victoria a few generations ago, a vague family connection so that I could inherit some antique linens with the name embroidered on them.”
“Kids?” The question caught her off guard.
“Um, probably. I guess it depends on where I am and who I’m with.”
“But you already have the first name picked out, don’t you?” Les was razzing his cousin for arguing over names, but the tone in his voice didn’t make Tori think he was picking on her. She hadn’t expected to be at this bridge tonight.
She sighed, and nodded. That tightening at the back of her throat started. She pinched her lips shut and willed the feeling to subside. Her eyes flooded against her will.
“I think Sam is a good name.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
Tori lost control and buried her face against his chest with a sob. She wanted Sam to meet him so badly. And here he was, understanding and wonderful.
Les held her while she cried the unexpected surge of emotion out of her system. He muttered soothing words in Spanish while he stroked her back and smoothed her hair.
She felt Les’s arms tighten around her.
“Look at that, Hernandez is so bad at everything that Tori the farm girl is crying in public. What did you do, asshole, cook for her?”
“Back off, Stevens,” Les growled. He shifted Tori to his side, leaving one arm free.
She looked up at Josh and wished he would just go away. In the group behind him stood Erin and Ali with another man she didn’t know. Tori leveled a glare at them.
“Come on, ignore him. Let’s leave.” Tori took Les’s hand and started to lead him away in the opposite direction. Les followed her.
“You’re just a hack chicken shit that needs to get out of my kitchen. Not so tough when Chef isn’t around, are you?”
Les stopped and turned around. “It’s not your kitchen, dickhead. If it were, you would be the executive in charge on Chef’s days off. And you aren’t. I am. What you are is some trumped up sous chef with a big mouth.”
Josh charged forward. Les stepped up to him and halted in his path. Les was taller, but Josh was broader.
“Because of you I had to gut and de-ink sixty pounds of calamari.” Josh pushed his snarling face closer to Les.
“No, Stevens, you did that all on your own.”
“You don’t know shit about real cooking. You only know how to make pansy-assed desserts. Anyone can make a fucking cake.”
Les snorted. “Apparently not. You didn’t get the position, did you?”
Josh fumed like a snorting bull.
Tori pulled on Les’s arm. “Leave it, Les. Come on.”
“Ya know, Josh, maybe we should just leave.” Perhaps Erin wasn’t as dumb as Tori had been thinking.
“Yeah, listen to your little girlfriend.” Josh sneered.
Tori had enough of him. “What is your problem, Josh? You were actually a nice guy once.”
“Fat girls think they can talk to nice guys. So why are you talking to me?”
Tori shook her head. He was a sorry asshole, and if he kept this up, he would be a sorry asshole without any friends.
Les looked at Tori. She blinked up at him and placed her hand on his arm, begging him to leave with her eyes. He eased a step toward her and she released the breath she was holding.
“That’s it. Run away with your little piggy girlfriend.”
Les froze. Tori pinned both Josh and her ex friends with a glare. They had least had the decency to look uncomfortable.
When Josh began making grunting pig sounds, Les tensed up under her hand.
Les coiled. “This isn’t Chef’s kitchen.”
Tori couldn’t exactly remember how, but one second she was behind Les urging him to leave. The next her knuckles cracked as she slammed her fist into the side of Josh’s face.
Josh staggered back, his hands covering the spot where she made contact.
“Ow, shit!” Tori held her hand to her chest. She looked at it and then cradled it again. “That really hurts.”
“She hit me,” Josh called out in shock. “I’ll get your ass fired for that.”
Les wrapped himself around Tori. “No, you won’t. Now get out of here before I knock those teeth out that she loosened.”
Josh turned to his group and muttered something.
Ali ran over and put a hand on Tori’s shoulder. “Are you okay? That was, wow, didn’t see that coming.”
Tori faced the other woman. She didn’t say anything, only shook her head.
“I gotcha. Sorry about that.” Ali left quietly.
“How’s the hand?” Les gently flipped her right hand over and had her wiggle her fingers. “I don’t think its broken. Let’s get an ice pack on it.” He lifted her aching hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back.
Chapter 16
Tori lay back on the blanket. The sky was a perfect pale blue, not a cloud to be seen. The vines surrounded them hid them from the world. “ChiChi suggested this?” Tori asked as Les unpacked their picnic.
“Yes, she did. She said something how Bacchus likes a little nookie around grapes, makes better wine. Do you like it?”
Tori pushed up on her elbows so she could look at him. He was scanning the fields of vines they were tucked up against.
“It’s pretty, and yes, I do.” She rolled into a sitting position and examined the goodies Les had pulled from the cooler. Wine, cheese, grapes, crusty sour-dough. She continued to open the containers as he unpacked them.
“Yum,” she said when she opened a bakery box with cream puffs and eclairs. “You certainly know how to pack a picnic.”
“I know food, mi amor. Picnics are not fried chicken and potato salad when you’re with me.”
“Not ever?” Tori teased.
“Okay, maybe sometimes, but I’m making the fried chicken myself.” He smiled down at her, and she got lost in his eyes.
Tori tried to pop the lid on a sealed container. “Ouch.” She dropped it and shook her hand.
Les was by her side and gently stroking her knuckles, still angry red and slightly swollen. “Take it easy. You bashed that pretty hard last night.”
Tori chuckled. She had, but it had been worth it.
“What the hell is it between you and Stevens? I mean, he’s an asshole anyway, but around you…”
Tori asked herself that question frequently. Well, she had until she’d met Les. By then she was focused on ignoring Josh and hoping he would just drop it. “Around me he’s worse?” Tori asked.
“Yeah.” Les nodded
Tori scooted so she could lean against Les. She turned her injured hand so she could play with his fingers. “What happens when you ask a girl out and she says no?”
Les shrugged. “I dunno. If I know her it’s awkward for a week or two and then things settle back to normal.”
“You aren’t one of those jerks who calls her names and threatens her?” She already knew the answer. Of course he wasn’t.
/>
“Hell no, what kind of a man do you think I am?” Les tucked a finger under her chin to lift her face to his gaze.
She smiled into his eyes. “I think you’re wonderful. I’m just setting a scene.” Tori focused her attention back to their fingers intertwined and touching. “So what do you think happens when Josh asks a girl out and she says no?”
Les huffed. “I have no doubt he’s one of those assholes. So you turned him down?”
“No, it was worse. I made the grievous error of being me and asking him out.”
Les lifted her face again. “You asked him out?”
“Uh huh. He seemed nice. He was nice, until I asked if he wanted to go on a date.” Tori gave Les a sardonic smile.
“You asked Stevens out, but you didn’t ask me out?”
Tori lifted her hand and caressed the side of his face. “I did ask you out, remember? But you acted like I hadn’t, so I didn’t push it. You didn’t suddenly start hating on me and being rude, so I figured I’d let it go.” And it had hurt deep in her chest.
“I’m so sorry I was dumb about that. You know that’s not normal, right?” Les lay down and rested his head in her lap.
“Josh isn’t normal. But yeah, that’s why I stopped doing the deliveries. I couldn’t handle it. I mean, Chef would tell him not to talk to me, but if Chef wasn’t around… And it’s why I won’t go to the Spigot. Josh hangs out there, and it’s like he’s peed all over the place marking his territory and I am not welcome.” Tori continued to stroke Les’s hair and gazed at his face. Damn those lashes.
“Why did you start doing the deliveries again? ’Cause Penny is pregnant?”
Tori felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I wanted to see you again.” And this beautiful face.
“You liked me enough to deal with Stevens, even after I was stupid? You could have asked me out again.”
“Would you have said yes?”
Les shrugged. Tori tapped him on the forehead. Les grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. “How’s your hand?”
“Sore. Josh has a hard head. What would you have said if I had asked you out again?” Tori wanted to giggle. Les’s lips tickled.
“Ask me something, see what happens.”
He pushed Tori so she lay on her back and he held himself above her. His eyes seared hers, his intense gaze bore straight into her soul. He slipped his hand up her thigh. Tori caught her breath as her skirt lifted higher.
“You want to date me, Les Hernandez?” Tori bit her lip. Being this close to him, with his hands on her, she couldn’t focus. She just wanted to suck on his tongue and feel him on her skin.
“I think we’ve already established that.” He slid his hand up higher and caressed her hip. His eyes never left hers. “You aren’t wearing any panties.”
“Neither are you.” She reached for his kilt and squirmed trying to get Les’s fingers to move more.
It worked. Les stroked across the top of her leg and up her inner thigh toward her core.
“Ask me something else.” His hand teased her.
Tori let out a mewing sound as she squirmed to bring him closer. His fingers gently stroked around, but never making complete contact where she wanted him.
He reached behind him where she’d ineffectually pulled at his kilt, captured her hands in his other hand, and held them above her head. His fingers teased her. It was making her crazy.
“Are you or aren’t you going to close the deal with those fingers?” she moaned.
Les chuckled. He slid his finger down the delicate skin. “Ask me something else.”
“What do you want me to know? I don’t know. What’s Les short for, Lester?”
“Hell no, Leslie. I was named after some old time movie star.” He dipped his head to her breast and bit at her through the fabric of her dress.
Tori arched her chest toward him. She needed to be naked. She wanted him touching all of her. “Leslie’s good,” Tori managed between gasps for breath.
His teeth scraped a nipple, and she let out a small cry. “Ask me something else.”
Tori inhaled sharply as his fingers finally caressed into her and stroked around her most sensitive parts.
“Will you please make love to me?”
His fingers plunged into her. Tori’s hips thrust to meet his hand, and her head fell back. He stroked once and then stopped.
Tori whimpered.
“Why?” His grin was mischievous.
“Les, you’re torturing me here,” Tori whined.
He moved his finger half a stroke. She moaned at the friction.
“Why do you want me to make love to you?” His face was so close to hers that she felt the air from his words against her mouth. His fingers began moving again and Tori lost all sense other than how good he made her body feel.
“Because I love you. Because I want…”
Les stopped again. “Because you want what, Tori?” His voice was low and husky.
Tori mewed and thrust her hips to try to get his hand moving again. “Because I want you. I want you to marry me, and I—”
Tori’s eyes went wide. Les stopped and pulled away from her.
“I’m sorry. That just came out. I just—“
Les laughed. “Didn’t you already propose to me the first time we met?” Tori began to protest, but he silenced her with a finger on her mouth. “No, you were serious. You wanted to marry that cheesecake and have its creator’s babies.”
“It slipped. I…” Tori did want to marry him and have his babies. She hadn’t intended on letting him know that so soon. In a year, maybe, but not right now.
Les lowered himself to lay against her, his gaze holding hers. “Sí, me casaré contigo.”
“Les, I…”
Tori felt a tug at the back of her head as he fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her lips to his. His kiss was fierce and seeking. Maybe she had asked him the right thing.
“I already said yes. No take backs.”
“That’s the best birthday present ever.” Tori lifted her head to try to kiss him but he pulled his face away from hers.
“I thought you said this morning you had received the best birthday present.”
“The two-year grant Penny got that funds my job is just good in comparison. Trust me, this is much better.”
“Oh yeah. I think I can make it even better.” Les positioned himself between her knees, pulling the fabric of his kilt out of the way. He fumbled with what she could only imagine was a condom, and then he slid into her.
Tori moaned and thrust up against him.
He was right. This was much better.
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