by Reina Torres
He just wasn’t sure what to say.
His stomach answered for him. Loudly.
ROAN: Hungry?
PILAR: OMG YES! How did you know?
ROAN: Can I bring something over? Hungry for anything special?
Her answer was as quick as he was eager to see her.
PILAR: FOOD
Laughing, he typed out his last message before setting aside his phone.
ROAN: I’ll call you from the curb so you know it’s me
Before he set it down, she had one last message for him.
PILAR: HURRY
He wasn’t prepared for the woman who opened the door. The only thing that hadn’t changed was her height.
Pilar had on a pair of glasses with pale pink frames. Her hair was up in pigtails. And her clothes… well, he focused his eyes firmly on her face because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to manage a coherent word if he didn’t.
“Whatever you have in that bag smells like heaven so it better be for me.”
She pulled him inside by his arm and he went all too willingly as she pulled him over to the table.
The chairs were already pulled back and there was a haphazard stack of napkins in the center.
She must have seen his curious gaze, because as she urged him into a seat she explained. “I’m not saying we’re going to make a mess,” she laughed and he felt her hand settle on his shoulder, “but I wanted to be prepared.”
“It shouldn’t be messy, but then again I don’t know how much sauce you use.”
“I love sauces, almost as much as I like food. But everything I have on is washable. No special treatment needed.”
He didn’t look, but he felt the cool press of cotton against his elbow and as he opened the bag she leaned closer to peer inside.
The subtle movement probably didn’t mean anything, but it didn’t change his reaction to her touch. The soft curve of her breast against his bicep, the scent of spice on her skin.
Pilar Bravo was drawing him in one sense at a time, and it wouldn’t be long before he fell for her lock, stock, and barrel.
Laughing to himself he realized that he’d just mimicked his step father explaining how he’d fallen for Roan’s mother. ‘She didn’t need me in her life, but I was bound and determined to make her want me there. Mark my words,’ he’d explained when he’d come to Roan and Walker to let them know, man to man, that he was going to marry their mother, ‘you boys will find women who will throw you for a loop. You’d best hold on once you know she’s got you lock, stock, and barrel.’
“Why don’t you bring the other chair closer?”
He saw the soft smile on her lips as she moved away to do just that. When she settled it beside his, she sat down and drew her legs up until her feet were on the chair.
He had to work to ignore the back of her thigh as it disappeared into her loose shorts. The purely feminine curve was going to test his control. Instead of reaching a hand over to trace the curve with his fingertips, he struggled to get the tub of salsa from the bag, and ended up ripping the brown paper halfway down.
“Well, that was smooth.”
Snorting a laugh, Pilar reached for the bag and in one short movement, she’d ripped the bag down to the bottom. “See? Now we can just get at the food.”
Shaking his head, Roan popped the top off of the salsa and then offered her the choice of, “the chorizo breakfast burrito or bacon?”
She gave him a solemn look. “Yes, thank you.”
As they laughed, he reached over and tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. He hadn’t intended to do it. He hadn’t even made a conscious decision to reach out to her, but she didn’t say anything.
Not at first.
But before he could bring his hand back to the table, she took hold of it with hers.
“I like that,” she told him.
He smiled back at her. “When someone touches your hair?”
“Not just anyone.” Her voice was softer, but her words were clear like the look in her eyes, “I like it when you touch me.”
And just like that, Roan was starving for more than just Manny’s off the menu breakfast burritos. He wanted to know what her lips felt like.
What they tasted like.
And he had a feeling he just might find out before long. But first…
“I think this might be a little dangerous.”
The look she gave him told him that he wasn’t alone.
“I think you’re right.” Her voice had a soft, wistful quality about it.
He wanted to pull her into his arms, onto his lap, and hold her close.
But they were both tired and keyed up from their shifts.
Pilar sat up and helped him pull out some napkins and then went back to her refrigerator for some bottles of water. “Please tell me that you’re not going to make me decide which burrito is mine, right? I’m too tired for a decision of that magnitude.”
He looked up at her with a grin. “I might have anticipated this problem when I ordered.” Setting the burrito down on the table top, he unwrapped the silver foil and pressed the wrapper flat. There was a neat cut through the center.
Opening the burrito in front of her, Pilar gave him a wink and rolled half of hers onto his foil and he did the same.
Her giggle ended in an almost-snort, and she lifted a hand to cover her mouth, still laughing.
“Please tell me that you’re not laughing at me.”
She leveled a look at him. “Is your pride taking a hit?”
He winced. “A little.”
She leaned an elbow on the table and balanced her cheek on the back of her hand. Reaching out, she set her hand on his arm. Every time she touched him, he wanted more. “I was just thinking that my mom would love this.”
Oh? That was unexpected. “Really?”
“Her favorite film was Lady and the Tramp. She loved the scene where he nudges the meatball over to her on the table. She would probably look at us rolling the burritos at each other and sigh.”
“My mom, too-”
He turned toward her and ended up knocking his bottle of water over. It landed on its side and rolled right off of the round table between them. With her feet on the chair, Pilar couldn’t really lean over to grab it, which was great because they probably would have knocked their heads together.
When he grabbed a hold of it, he looked up and saw her looking at him. She looked so incredibly beautiful in her baggy clothes and perky little pigtails he couldn’t help himself. Roan leaned in and she met him half-way.
Her skin smelled like spice, and her lips felt like heaven pressed up against his. When she turned her head to fit their lips together, he felt the soft brush of her breath against his skin.
Roan wanted to drown in her touch, fall deep under her spell, because he knew that Pilar wasn’t just a dream. She was flesh and blood and he knew that if he held her close, he’d never want to let her go.
He felt her shift on the chair, heard the soft pats as her feet touched the floor, and he reached for her with both hands...
And ended up dropping the bottle back on the floor.
They paused and then sat back, startled.
Pilar spoke first.
She wagged a finger at him and gave him a stern look that didn’t match the sparkling laughter in her eyes. “Do you have something against that bottle of water, Doctor Ashley?”
He shook his head. “I guess I can’t help it if my hands would rather hold you.”
The air around them heated and Roan’s skin tightened as he watched her fight her own battle, wondering how close it was to his.
The clock on the wall of the kitchen chimed and they both turned to look. It was almost four.
“I’d better go.” He hated to say the words, but they were the truth. “Pretty soon I’m going to be too tired to drive. Even if I had a pitcher full of coffee, I’m going to be pretty useless to maneuver my car on the streets.”
He leaned down and picked up the bottle of water for the seco
nd time, knowing he was really in over his head with Pilar. Being this close to her was already playing tricks with his head, making his heart pound so loud in his ears that he could barely hear his own thoughts.
When he sat back up, he set the bottle of water carefully away from the edge of the table. “I hope we’re still on for Saturday?”
He watched her worry the corner of her lower lip for a moment, but she didn’t keep him waiting.
“You still want to go out with me now that you know what I wear inside my apartment? Who am I to argue? I should lock you into that date before you come to your senses.”
“I like the way you look,” he told her in complete honesty. “Even if you didn’t look cute as hell in these pigtails,” he reached out and tugged on one of them, “I’m interested in spending time with you. I could care less what you’re wearing.”
He started to stand up and his legs and back protested. He blew out a breath and reached for the corner of the foil sheet so he could wrap up the burrito and eat it on the way back to his apartment. “Make sure you get some rest, okay?”
“Roan? I was wondering...”
Her hand touched his shoulder and he felt something inside of him shift, bringing him even closer to falling all the way in love. It didn’t matter what she asked for. He’d give it to her, just to make her happy.
“Why don’t you stay.” She turned her gaze away from him and let it trail down to the table. “You’re tired. You haven't eaten anything yet. So, let’s eat and get some sleep.”
He hesitated. Was she just trying to be nice? Or did she really want him to stay?
“I promise,” she lifted her gaze to his and he saw her cheeks color with a blush, “I won’t steal another kiss until the weekend.”
He was in over his head with Pilar Bravo, but that was okay, he was a pretty damn good swimmer.
“Okay,” he agreed with her, “but I might just steal one in the morning.”
She shrugged and sat back down, waiting for him to do it too before she spoke. “Sounds good to me.”
7
When Pilar told Vitalia that Roan was going to take her to lunch at Lake Liberty, Lia brooked no argument and dragged her out to a little gem of a store that Pilar had driven past a ridiculous number of times, but had never actually gone in. The outside of the Moody Modiste was a red brick building with Art Deco cast molding that made it look every bit of a one-of-a-kind venue as the garments within.
There was nothing made after 1991 on the racks, and it only took a few moments of hemming and hawing before the woman who owned the store pronounced that she had just the thing for a day at the lake.
Still, Pilar was worried she was going to be either over-dressed or completely out of her league, but Vitalia took care of that too. Her friend actually had the nerve to call Roan and ask for a picture of what he was planning to wear so that Vitalia could be the intermediary and wardrobe ‘Consultant’ for her date.
If her friend had intended to ease some of her worries and concerns, she’d done pretty much the opposite, leaving Pilar to worry if Roan was going to think she was some kind of ‘high-maintenance’ woman.
All of those worries, okay, most of them were gone the moment Pilar opened the door on Saturday morning. Roan Ashley looked like Henry Cavil playing CIA Agent Solo in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Suit coat, dress shirt, and slacks that had to be professionally fitted because, yes, she’d checked out Roan’s spectacular backside a few times and they didn’t make pants that fit that well off the rack.
And if the look in his eyes was anything to go by, he liked the dress she was wearing just as much as she liked his suit.
Neither of them seemed to be in a hurry to move, and she liked the way he made her feel sexy with just a heated look.
“I was almost afraid that you weren’t going to show up after Lia called you to quiz you on your outfit.”
He looked down at his suit and then shrugged when his gaze met hers again. “I was a little confused at first, but Kate told me she thought it was funny. And once Kate told me a few stories about your friend, it made sense.”
Pilar lifted a hand to cover the blush she could feel heating her cheeks. “Is it too late to close the door and pretend it’s not Saturday yet?”
Roan didn’t give her the chance to even try.
He stepped forward and stopped when the toes of his shoes touched the bottom step up to her front porch. Wrapping his arms around her, he drew her close. They met somewhere in the middle when his lips touched hers and her hands settled on his shoulders, to hold on.
They were almost the same height that way, but she knew he was taking nearly all of her weight since she was just about on the tips of her sandals. He kissed her at first like it was a memory, a slow, softly comforting touch of skin to skin. When one of his hands followed her spine up the center of her back and then reached the bare expanse of skin above her halter dress, he pulled her in closer.
Yes, Roan Ashley had literally swept her off of her feet, and the way he held her against him, securely but not so tight that she couldn’t breathe, made her feel utterly feminine for the first time since her Junior Prom.
She tipped her head back a little and just the simple shift of position, opened her mouth under his. Roan didn’t miss a beat. He chased her indrawn gasp with his tongue and her arms wrapped tighter around his neck, holding him to her body.
Everything, she decided, everything changed in that moment. There she was utterly comfortable in his arms and yet, she was also completely aroused. All it had taken was a kiss and the gentle touch of his hand on her bare back.
Someone cleared their throat nearby and Pilar pulled back. If it wasn’t for Roan’s quick thinking and large dexterous hands, she might have fallen back onto the porch, but instead, she found herself held against his side as she looked at her boss.
Her date’s sister.
And her next-door neighbor.
As intimately intertwined as the First Responder community had been in San Antonio, Pilar was beginning to wonder if she’d moved to a city where it was even more of a mess, but it was probably too late to change her mind.
“Don’t you two look perfect together!”
Lifting up her phone, Kate turned it to the side. “I need to get a picture.”
Leaning closer to Roan, she whispered near his ear. “Is there anything wrong with my hair or makeup?”
He looked down at her and damn if he didn’t make her toes curl with just a look.
“You look perfect.”
With a quiet exhale, she turned toward Kate. Even though she wasn’t really big on pictures unless she was on the other side of the camera, Pilar found that she didn’t have to work to smile when Roan stepped up behind her and set his hands on her hips.
They stood still for a couple of shots because Kate said she wanted to make sure that she got a ‘good one.’
And then they escaped, walking quickly to Roan’s car, both of them trying to ignore Kate’s overly cheery voice calling after them. “Have fun at the lake, you two!”
Roan opened the passenger door for her and she shook her head. “You don’t have to do that, you know. I already know you’re a gentleman and-”
The kiss he gave her had her weak enough in the knees that when he reached in to help her with her seatbelt, she didn’t even think to wave him off.
By the time he settled himself in the driver’s seat, she was slowly pulling herself back together.
“You look even better now.”
“Hmm?” She slowly turned her head to look at him. “I’m sorry, what?”
He paused at an intersection to look back at her. “You look even better now.”
She was almost at full speed again. “Why? Because I’m blushing from that little photo shoot? I bet it clashes with that makeup Lia made me buy.”
His soft laughter eased some of the tension in her shoulders. “No, not quite from that, but now that I know you bought all of that I’m going to have to take you out some
more so you can use it.”
Pilar winced a little. “I’m not huge on wearing makeup, just so you know. I wear some base to work because it has sunscreen in it, but I’m not really a makeup kind of girl.”
Roan slowed down for a stop light and reached out a hand to comb his fingers through the curls that just touched her shoulders. “I like you made up, fresh-faced, or anyway I can get you. I certainly enjoyed kissing you the other night at your table.”
She sighed and settled back in the seat as the lights changed and they could go on their way. “And the next morning was fun too.”
Now it was his turn to blush a little. “It was more than fun,” he nodded, “I’m hoping that won’t be the last time. Not that I’m pushing for more.”
She eased even further into the comfortable seat. “Oh, you just keep doing what you’re doing and I think you’ll get another invite... soon.”
It was a little late in the year for a lot of action on Lake Liberty, or at least that’s what people told her. Still, there seemed to be a bunch of families enjoying themselves along the lake shore and quite a few boats were out on the water. Pilar was glad that she’d picked out some sandals to wear that were comfortable and still gave her a little lift in height.
As they walked along the lake shore toward the main activity area, she found herself enjoying the leisurely stroll. Even though she loved red pumps that would have gone perfectly with her dress, she would have had to take them off or end up pulling her heels free of the damp dirt.
“I should probably ask you if you’re hungry, or if you want to shop for a bit first.”
“Shop?” The question startled her enough to put a short stop in her stride. “I thought you’d changed your mind about that when you mentioned coming to the lake.”
He tugged lightly on her hand that he held in his and brought her closer to him. Roan gave her a soft smile before he spoke. “When I promise you something, Pilar, I’m not going to forget it. I’m not going to change my mind.” He pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead and then leaned back to look at her.
