And Then He Kissed Me

by Curtis, Melinda

  “I don’t take orders from anyone in this room.” Aubrey turned toward the door, grabbing onto her grandmother who still had a fighter’s gleam in her eye.

  “You’ll want to hear this,” Mateo warned.

  Aubrey pivoted in the doorway, head high, shoulders back. “Anything you want to say can be said to my lawyer.” When Mateo opened his mouth, she cut him off with a slash of her hand. “If any words are to be said now, I’ll say them.” She pinned Nino with a look that was cold and hard.

  Nino’s heart sank. Whatever he’d done on her family’s cocoa plantation, it had cost him this woman’s regard and any chance they had at love.

  “From the outset, I have been manipulated. Nino lied to me about who he was. He deceived me with kisses and caresses.” Her words fell between them like hail on a winter’s day, cold and hard. “He had no regard for my reputation, my career, or my heart.”

  Nino fisted the hospital sheet in his hands, letting her have her say, letting his family hear what he’d done and what he’d become.

  “You don’t deserve me,” Aubrey finished, her voice cracking.

  “Agreed,” Mateo said without any hint of loyalty. “But that doesn’t change the fact that–”

  “I’m leaving the country.” Aubrey stared at Nino, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “If any more words need to be said, say them to my lawyer.” She hauled her grandmother out the door.

  “She’s suing me?” Nino reached for the papers Mateo held. “On what grounds?” He’d settle out of court. He’d be fair and generous, compensating her for whatever he’d done, whatever he couldn’t remember.

  His mother and grandmother babbled about the nerve Aubrey and her grandmother had.

  “She’s suing you for divorce,” Mateo said, oversimplifying things like always.

  “Divorce?” Nino’s world funneled down to the papers in Mateo’s hand, to the memory of nuns calling down to him at the convent.

  No unmarried men.

  He cannot enter unless he is married.

  There is always unido.

  Nino’s memory was fuzzy about that day, but he remembered the heaviness in the air that gathers before a downpour. The spider’s poison had struck like lightning. According to Mateo, Aubrey had been instrumental in saving him. According to Mateo, she’d made sacrifices.

  She married me.

  “That woman is my wife!” Nino tossed off the bedsheet and swung his feet over the side of the mattress, nearly falling to the ground. “Where are my clothes?” He was going after her.

  Snippets of images flashed in his mind’s eye. Water pouring over him at the convent’s door. Raindrops sprinkling on his feet as he lay in a small room. Warm and dry and being coaxed down the stairs by Aubrey, her voice drowned out by the sound of helicopter blades.

  Aubrey had been his. She’d been his for days and he hadn’t known. There was no way she was getting away from him through divorce.

  Nino’s knees buckled as his feet hit the floor. “Where are my clothes!”

  *

  The New York City ballroom was packed.

  Nino pushed his way through the crush in a black tuxedo, searching for a classy, conservative brunette with a heart as big as the sea. It had been two weeks since he’d seen Aubrey last. Two weeks spent wrangling with lawyers and trying to be patient. The wait was over.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, a moment of your time before the dancing begins.” A man stood on stage speaking into a microphone. “We’re here tonight to raise money for a canine rescue shelter. We’re here tonight because of a woman who has opened her heart to those in need with four legs, those who do not have a voice of their own. I’d like to introduce you to the chairwoman of the Summer Animal Rescue, my daughter, Aubrey Summer.”

  There was robust applause, more than the polite kind. Aubrey was clearly a favorite here.

  And there she was. His wife. Her hair was swept to the side and held with a diamond-studded clip. Her dress was long and black and gently hugged her curves. His hands itched to touch her soft skin. Her arms itched to hold her once more.

  “Thanks, Dad.” Aubrey said after kissing his cheek. “Every year, I say how impressed I am with our turnout, and every year this event gets bigger and bigger.” She held a small, scruffy dog in her arms. “Tonight, there are many four-legged friends in need of a family. For those of you who’ve been coming home to empty beds and staring at the ceiling all night long, you should open up your hearts and take a friend home with you.”

  Nino had reached the fringe of the crowd in front of the stage. He raised a hand. “I’d like to take a friend home.”

  The crowd laughed, making Aubrey blush. Her cheeks turned a soft pink color that didn’t reach her ears.

  Aubrey searched the crowd for the one who’d made a joke, still smiling. And then her smile fell.

  “I’ll take home that one.” He gestured toward her and the little dog in her arms. He gestured with his water bottle, the one with the symbol of Cantuña and the dent from his motorcycle accident.

  “Cantuña is not up for adoption.” She clutched the little dog closer. “I’ve given him a home. And my heart.”

  “I wasn’t talking about the dog.” She’d named the dog after him? Heartened, Nino leapt onto the stage. “I was talking about you.”

  The crowd quieted. The dog made a sound, half whimper and half growl, as if he couldn’t decide if Nino was friend or foe.

  “It’s all right.” Nino stroked the small dog’s head. “I’m a little uncertain, too.”

  Aubrey eyed him warily but kept silent.

  “I am here to apologize and ask your forgiveness,” Nino said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’ve made mistakes. It’s what men do when they are too stupid to realize the value of what’s in front of them and when they don’t recognize the value of what’s inside of them.” Nino broke their connection to look at the battered water bottle he held. “But I know now that I have great love and compassion in my heart.” He found her gaze again. “I am in love with you, mi cielo. I lie awake at night in my lonely bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing you were in my arms.”

  Aubrey blushed so deeply, her ears turned red. “How can I believe anything you say?”

  “Because I gave up Caradoc Confections for you. I sold it to your cousin today.” At a fraction of its value. “Because I’m going to match every donation here tonight dollar for dollar. Because I’ve made Mateo my business partner. Because I am trying to live my life with honor, a path that leaves no regrets in its wake. And because…” He dropped to one knee. “I brought you my heart, hoping you won’t break it.”

  “Marcos–”

  “Nino,” he said firmly. “I will always be Nino to you.”

  Her mouth worked, but she didn’t tell him to shut up or go away.

  “Aubrey.” The expression on her father’s face was dark and thunderous.

  “Open the water bottle, Aubrey.” Nino held it out to her.

  “No.” She backed up and the dog made that half whimper/half growling noise again.

  “You didn’t open this water bottle after I left the plantation. And I didn’t open it when I was in the hospital. You married me and then you left me because you thought I didn’t love you enough not to steal. Well, I’m here. Let’s see if I planned to put my desire for success and revenge ahead of you. If there’s slurry in that water bottle, if there was ever any smelly yeast in that water bottle–”

  “You’ll leave.” Her chin went up and the dog, sensing her upset, reached up to lick her chin.

  He hadn’t opened the bottle. He’d been unable to, just as she’d been unable to.

  “I counter your offer.” After all, Nino was a hard negotiator. “If there is no slurry in the bottle, we will stay married.”

  “You married this man?” her father demanded in a loud voice, looking at Nino the way a king looks at a man who wasn’t a prince. “When?”

  “When I was in Ecuador.” She waved aside her father’s
concern that she’d married the wrong man with a wave of her manicured hand. “It was only way to save his life, so I could kill him later.”

  “You should be proud of your daughter, Mr. Summer,” Nino said without taking his eyes off Aubrey. “She is a conscientious, honorable woman. A woman I am proud to have as my wife.”

  Aubrey’s eyes narrowed. “Open the bottle, Marcos.”

  Nino didn’t. He had more to say.

  “When I held you in my arms in Ecuador, the world didn’t seem as if it was against me. And you…You made me see what a waste my life was, living for revenge that would never come, no matter how much money I made. I was weak. I was selfish. I was wrong. But you…You healed me, grafting a piece of your heart to mine. Say you’ll love me forever, mi cielo. Say you’ll never let me go.”

  She was silent. The crowd was not.

  “Show her the ring,” someone cried.

  “Give her a kiss,” shouted another.

  Nino held out the water bottle again.

  Aubrey set the dog down. It was on a slender black leather leash, but it wasn’t going anywhere. It loved her, just as Nino did. He wasn’t going anywhere either.

  She took the water bottle from him, opened it and looked inside. She sniffed the contents tentatively.

  “There was never any slurry inside, Aubrey.” You couldn’t wash out a smell like that.

  Her gaze did not soften. “But you considered taking it. You opened the jar.”

  There was no use lying. “I did.” And he’d regretted doing so ever since.

  Her gaze softened. “But you didn’t.”

  “I couldn’t steal your work or Dotty’s family legacy.” Nino reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a blue velvet ring box and opened it. “Please do the honor of marrying me again, when I’m conscious this time. I love you, mi cielo. I think I have since the moment you told me your grandmother couldn’t have canelazo.”

  “How small is that ring?” said an onlooker. It was, after all, New York.

  “This ring was my abuela’s,” Nino said. “She and my grandfather had a long and happy marriage, based on love, respect, and trust. It was a common law ceremony. What we call unido in my country.”

  Aubrey didn’t move. The dog walked over to sniff Nino, wagging its tail when he scratched behind his soft ears.

  Nino removed the ring from its box and held it out to her. “Trust is the most important part of a relationship, because love is a risk. You don’t know if it’s going to fade away or grow every day. Take a chance on me, mi cielo.”

  All Aubrey had to do was take the ring and his love.

  Dotty appeared beside Nino. She drew him to his feet and cleared her throat. “You’ve had your heartbreak, Bree. It’s time.”

  There were tears in Aubrey’s eyes, but she still hadn’t moved. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

  “Mi cielo, I will always follow where you lead.” Nino slid the ring on her finger. “I love you to the ends of the earth and back. And I will love you through sickness and health.”

  “Even if you go bankrupt and lose that fancy hotel of yours? And your other businesses? Even if someone cheats you out of everything?” Aubrey was only half joking. There was doubt in her eyes.

  He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “How could I be poor with the richest thing in my life? Love.” He drew her close to the delight of their audience. “Your love is worth more to me than all the money in the world.”

  “I love you, Nino.” She framed his face with her palms. “And yes, I’ll marry you a second time.”

  “A last time,” he murmured as he drew her close for a kiss.

  Epilogue

  Lily Summer leaned against the back wall at Aubrey’s rescue fundraiser and sighed, both happy for Aubrey and envious of her finding true love.

  As a junior state congresswoman, dating was awkward. She couldn’t really get to know anyone. If things didn’t work out, what if they kissed and blabbed?

  A waiter stopped in front of her. “Ma’am?”

  Ma’am?

  No one should be allowed to call a thirty-two year-old woman ma’am. It made Lily want to go home and search her hairline for grays. It was bad enough she couldn’t distinguish the young waiter’s features without her glasses. Geez. Ma’am?

  “Um…The man at the bar asked me to give you this.” The waiter handed Lily a business card.

  In the darkened section of the ballroom and without her glasses, there was no way Lily could read what was on that card. She accepted it and thanked the teeny bopper anyway, shoving it into her clutch with her cell phone.

  It was probably from one of her constituents. Someone who needed a new sidewalk in front of their brownstone or wanted to complain about the high rate they paid for garbage.

  Just in case the man at the bar was someone who could advance her career or find her true love, Lily waved in the general direction of the bartender. And then she stifled a yawn.

  Just a few more minutes, and then she’d congratulate Aubrey and make her way home.

  “Lily.” A man appeared next to her. He was tall, dark haired, and smelled like a sunny day at the Hamptons.

  She almost reached inside her clutch for her glasses so she could see what he looked like.

  “Thanks for agreeing to this.” He slid his arm around her waist and guided her toward the door.

  Did you read A Kiss is Just a Kiss, the first book in the Kissing Test series?

  Get your copy here.

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  Other Series by Melinda Curtis you may enjoy:

  Sunshine Valley – Poker playing widows give Cupid a hand in small town Sunshine!

  Can't Hurry Love (Sunshine Valley Book 1)

  Mountain Monroes – They inherited a small town in Idaho! Now what?

  Kissed by the Country Doc (The Mountain Monroes Book 1)

  Bridesmaids Novellas – A funny thing happened as bridesmaids count down to the wedding!

  The Wedding Promise (The Bridesmaids Series Book 1)

  Melinda Curtis is the USA Today bestselling author of light‐hearted contemporary romance. In addition to her independent books, including the Kissing Test series, she’s published with Grand Central Forever and Harlequin, including her book Dandelion Wishes, which is a soon-to-be-released TV movie. She lives in California's hot central valley with her husband—her basketball-playing college sweetheart. Between books, Melinda spends time with her husband remodeling their home by swinging a hammer, grouting tile, and wielding a paintbrush. Oh, and keeping up her energy by eating chocolate!