A Whole Latte Sass

by Marguerite Labbe

  “Oh.” Mariana was quiet a moment, and then she gave him another squeeze. “That’s good. I like him.”

  Felipe rolled his eyes and turned to look at her. “You met him for five minutes.”

  “So?” Mariana shrugged.

  “That didn’t give you any time to form an opinion,” Felipe said with exasperation. Her blind loyalty wouldn’t help him to win over their parents.

  “I saw Sophie and how happy and healthy she is. And I can see you. Even when you’re mad at him, you go all sappy-eyed when he texts or calls. Last guy you were mad at disappeared and we never heard about him again.”

  “You make it sound like I ninja assassinated him.” Don’t get him wrong, Felipe had considered that a couple of times, and now he wondered how he’d let Dakota and Brenden tie him up in such knots. His feelings for Dakota were nothing like his feelings for Trask. He eyeballed Mariana. Maybe she wasn’t so blind after all. He tensed as he heard the faint rumble of a truck. “Gotta go.”

  “I’ll run interference for you. Not that I think it’s necessary. Everybody’s occupied with goodbyes.” Mariana let go of him and went straight for their mom.

  Felipe caught Lola’s eye and blew her a kiss as he grabbed his coat. He slipped out the door before anyone could comment and shivered in the chill that had descended when the sun set. It was going to be another balls cold one in good old Southern Maryland. Felipe made his way over to the sound of Sophie’s barking, keeping an eye out for any ice slicks that might’ve formed. Then he forgot all about them as Trask came around the corner with Sophie trotting at his side.

  Felipe took off running with a war whoop, and Trask halted in his tracks, his eyes widening. His duffel bag fell to the ground as he caught Felipe when he leaped and held him close. Felipe buried his face against Trask’s neck with a happy sigh. Now it felt like Christmas. Everything he needed was right here. “Promise me you’ll give me a welcome like that every night?” Trask asked with a laugh in his voice.

  “Even when I’m irritated with you.” Felipe pulled back and landed a smacking kiss on Trask’s mouth. He grabbed Trask’s hand and tugged him toward the outside steps. “Come on, we have some talking to do. I promise, nothing too crazy. There’s just a few things I need to say.”

  “I suppose I ought to get used to you being ready to talk when you’re ready and not before. At least you do eventually talk. Seems like I’m the one digging in my heels this time.” Trask shook his head and reached down to scoop up his bag as he looked around for Sophie. “I think she went through the dog door to your parents’ house.”

  Felipe glanced over his shoulder at the chaos in the kitchen. Sophie was jumping on Mariana, who greeted her enthusiastically. “She’s in good hands. My sister will be overjoyed to play with her a bit. She was always kind of hoping she’d be able to convince Mom and Dad to let her stay. If she wasn’t leaving for college next year, she would’ve probably won.”

  Now everyone knew Trask was there, well, at least they wouldn’t question Felipe’s disappearance. He probably ought to prepare him for the idea of possibly being invited to breakfast. He knew Trask didn’t want to feel like he was intruding, but Felipe knew his parents. They’d extend the invite if Trask was still there in the morning. Especially after the last fiasco. They all wanted a chance to start over and try meeting Trask with an open mind.

  Felipe quickly led Trask up the stairs before they decided to invite him in for coffee. He shut the door, suddenly nervous. He’d rehearsed all the things he wanted to say while he waited for Trask to arrive, and now that he was here, for once in his life he found that he couldn’t talk. Somewhere, on another plane of existence, Morris was laughing his ass off. He’d encouraged Felipe to open up his heart to Trask weeks ago, and if he had then, and not stopped halfway, he might not be here now. Trask had distracted him with awesome gaming table sex that still made his toes curl in memory.

  Felipe turned away from Trask, staring at the scraps of leather and the hot glue gun he’d left on his table from his latest project. He really needed to pick up this mess. He heard Trask move behind him, felt his strong hands gently grasp his shoulders. Felipe blinked back the stinging in his eyes.

  He looked over his shoulder at Trask. “I don’t want to argue, please. I don’t want you telling me that you just want something casual. Because if that’s the case, I just can’t do that again.” Felipe bit his lip before he went any further. He hadn’t meant for all that to spill out. Not until he knew where Trask stood.

  “I’m sorry, Felipe. I was wrong to push back, to distance myself the way I did. I don’t know why I do that. I want to be with you, not hold you back at arm’s length.” Trask gently turned Felipe around, his gaze open and sincere, and Felipe felt the tension gripping his insides ease. “I never regretted pushing somebody back, never really missed them when they’re gone. But you’re entirely different. I miss you when you’re in the next room. I was afraid. I don’t want to hurt anyone else like I have in my past. I don’t want to be hurt.”

  Felipe continued to worry his lip as he thought about what Trask said and meant with those words. Because with him, there was always so much more beneath the surface. “The guy you were back then, the guy who hurt people, hurt himself, he was careless. You’re not him anymore. You’re the opposite and maybe a bit too cautious, afraid to risk yourself, afraid to risk others, so you just stay in your bubble. And sometimes that can have the same result.”

  Trask drew him closer, wrapping his arms around Felipe. He closed his eyes, laying his head on Trask’s shoulder, listening to the rumble of his voice. “I think you have a pretty good gauge on me.”

  “I love you,” Felipe blurted out. “And I want a forever future with you.”

  Trask pulled back and stared at Felipe in bafflement. “Why? I’m not exactly lovable. I’m not into grand romantic gestures. And I find it difficult to say what’s in my heart. I’m definitely not a brilliant conversationalist. I’m never going to be one who gets all gushy and talky feely. Can you really see yourself being with someone like that forever?”

  Well, that wasn’t the reaction Felipe expected or feared. At least Trask wasn’t running screaming, but how he could not understand how much he had to offer, Felipe didn’t know.

  “You put up with me, my dramatic scenes, my moods, my mouth—”

  Now Trask looked offended as he gave Felipe a gentle shake. “There’s no need to put up with you. That’s bullshit. You’re not someone to be endured. And if anyone ever made you feel like that, they’re an idiot,” Trask said fiercely. “I’m a moody bastard. At least your moods are easy to recognize from across a room. And your mouth is just fine. You say exactly what you mean. Maybe the language is a bit out there, but you make me laugh, you make me comfortable. Hell, Felipe, I’m content when I’m with you. I’m happy.”

  Trask let go of him and took off his cap, twisting it in his hands as Felipe stared at him in stunned disbelief. For Trask that was tantamount to shouting from the rooftops how much he cared about him, and damn if that didn’t make him want to grin. Felipe stuck out his chin, gathering all the hurt and confusion of the last few weeks and banishing it. Trask looked so befuddled, so anxious, and Felipe realized he’d never seen him so raw without that calm and cool façade he hid behind. Time to tell him just how he lit up Felipe’s life too.

  “You bring me coffee in the morning before I’ve had a chance to get up and complain. You send me pictures of Sophie when I’m stuck in my cell at work because you know they will make me smile. You listen to my rambles, not just tune into them all half-assed. You hold me at night like I’m a dream you’re afraid you’re going to wake up from. You even tried to shield me from a split with my family, misguided or not. That’s why I love you, because you love me and you tell me in one hundred ways every day. Just not with words, but I hear you anyway.”

  “I—” Trask broke off, almost twisting that worn cap into pieces. “Well hell, Felipe.” The panic in his eyes would’ve worried
Felipe if he wasn’t reaching for him at the same time.

  “What’s got you so tied up, Tin Man?” Felipe whispered, sliding his arms around Trask as he was held tight. “The fact that I love you or you love me?”

  “Both,” Trask admitted. “I’ve never let myself feel this way. And I couldn’t imagine anybody feeling that much for me either, beyond friendship I mean. It took me a while to accept that.”

  He fell silent, and Felipe made himself be still, recognizing that Trask needed that as much as Felipe needed the chatter and movement. It was nice to be held with such tenderness. Giving his love through touch and actions over words.

  “I’m sorry I stormed off like that.”

  “You came back.” Trask held him tighter. “And I’m pretending it’s because of me, not because Lady was there.”

  “It was a little of both,” Felipe admitted.

  “As much as we say we want to talk things through sometimes, both of us do better when we give ourselves time to cool off and think it over.” Trask rubbed his hand up and down Felipe’s back in that loving way of his that just made Felipe gooey. “Otherwise we just argue in circles and our emotions get in the way. We both needed time to process in our respective corners. The problem is, our respective corners are far away.”

  “I don’t want them to be.” Felipe hated how forlorn he sounded, like a damn lost puppy.

  “Me neither.” Trask traced his finger down Felipe’s cheek. “I think by the time that little house is all fixed up and ready to be lived in, I’ll have gotten used to the idea that I’m not alone anymore.”

  Felipe couldn’t help the smile of pure glee. “Are you asking me to live with you, Trask Briscoe?”

  “I guess I am in a roundabout way.” Trask smiled back. “I’ve been wondering what you’d do with the place if you had your chance to get your hands on it. About the only thing I’ve been able to think of is expanding the deck when we redo it and maybe turning that back room with all the sun into a project space for you.”

  “I have a few ideas,” Felipe admitted, completely charmed that Trask had planned out space for him already. He adored Trask to bits, but the man was a minimalist, and with a little attention to detail, that house would be a place where both of them could come that would feel like home. “Nothing too outrageous.”

  Trask laughed and pulled him into another hug. “I’m not sure I entirely believe that, but after the New Year, what do you say we meet with the contractor of your choosing and start going over some plans?”

  If Felipe got any happier, he’d spontaneously combust. He had his Tin Man, and he was never going to let the man go. And he would make damn sure that he never regretted giving Felipe his heart.

  “Sounds perfect.” Felipe scraped a hand through Trask’s hair and brushed his lips over Trask’s. “I love you. Merry Christmas.”

  “Me too, imp. Me too. I love you, I mean.” Trask shook his head with a look of exasperation. “Take it as I mean it and not how awkward I damn well sound. It’s not a state I thought I’d ever find myself in.” Trask held up his hand as Felipe’s mouth opened. “Now just wait and hear me out, okay? I don’t have as much practice talking as you do, and I want to get this right.”

  Felipe cocked his head, a soft smile on his lips. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  Trask hooked his thumbs into his pockets, a nervous look coming back to his gaze. As if he was afraid this was going to come out all wrong. Trask didn’t realize how much he said, how much he showed. The words weren’t always necessary.

  Trask cleared his throat. “If having someone else’s happiness be as important to you as breathing… if being with them, even when you’re irked with them, makes your day better than being without them. If seeing them smile just lights you up inside and makes all the dark places warm… then yeah, I love you, Felipe.”

  Felipe slid his arms around Trask’s neck. “You got it right.”

  Relief lightened Trask’s expression. “Well then, let’s celebrate our Christmas now that we’re together.”

  Felipe grabbed Trask’s hand and pulled him toward the bedroom. “Now, I think I promised you presents, but that’s going to have to wait. Because if I don’t have you naked in the next five minutes, I’m going to stage an epic scene.”

  Trask swatted his ass with a laugh. “At least you give a guy some warning.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  TRASK PULLED up at the back of Felipe’s place with a sense of growing excitement and more than a few nerves. The deed was already done, and Donato was waiting for him, so there was no damn sense in being nervous about it. Things had been pretty chill since Christmas. He and Felipe had found a new balance. A part of him still couldn’t believe the imp loved him. But maybe Felipe didn’t need somebody like himself who was able to discuss all that stuff that made Trask squirm inside. Felipe must be crazy for loving him… but crazy seemed to suit him, and frankly, Trask didn’t want him any other way.

  The back door opened and both of Felipe’s parents emerged. Trask blew out his breath and unhooked Sophie’s harness. “Time to do this, baby girl.” If Felipe and he were serious about moving in together in the spring, then he had to get used to being around Felipe’s family, and they needed to get to know him.

  “Morning, Trask,” Donato greeted as Trask climbed out of the truck and held the door open for Sophie to jump down.

  Trask touched the front of his cap. “Thanks for agreeing to help with this. I’d never get Felipe’s present up the stairs by myself. Morning, Miz Suero.”

  “I must admit, you have my curiosity bitten.” Mrs. Suero stopped by the truck bed and peered inside. “Donato hasn’t given me a clue, and Mariana got Felipe out of the house by nagging him into some clothes shopping at the mall.”

  Trask smiled as he clambered into the truck to unhook the belts around the table. “I’m sure it didn’t take all that much arm twisting.”

  “Nah.” Mrs. Suero tucked her hands into her back pockets. “I need to apologize for that scene at dinner. That wasn’t what I intended when I asked for Lolo to come with us. And for my own part in it.”

  “I have to add mine as well.” Donato approached the tail of the truck. “I know I said it over the phone, but I’d like to say it again in person.”

  “I’m sorry, too, for walking out like I did.” Trask made sure the blanket was still secure around the table as he considered the rest of his reply. “But I think Felipe’s the one who was owed the apology from his grandfather, and I gather from what he said that they came to an understanding.”

  “A long overdue one,” Donato said with a faint smile as he helped lift the table out of the truck. “Once we set this up, why don’t you come downstairs for a cup of coffee while we wait for the others to get home?”

  Trask clamped down on the trickle of unease. He would never get comfortable with them if he hid every time they reached out a hand. Bad enough that he’d missed the post-Christmas breakfast invite. He’d been out the door at dawn so he’d be at the Den when the doors opened. The day after the holiday was usually a busy one as people came in to redeem gift certificates or Christmas money. “I like coffee.”

  “So Felipe tells me.” Mrs. Suero watched them maneuver the table. “I’ll go put a pot on while you get settled. Then I’m coming up to look.”

  “He also mentioned that you bought the house and asked him to move in with you,” Donato said as soon as she disappeared. His tone was so even that Trask had no clue how he felt about that new development in their relationship.

  Trask cast a quick, cautious glance in Donato’s direction, then concentrated on moving backward up the stairs. “I did. If he isn’t tired of me by the time we’ve completed necessary repairs. We’re looking at late spring, probably.”

  “You don’t think less than a year is rushing things?” Donato’s weather-beaten face was set, but Trask wasn’t sure if it was because of the conversation or the task at hand.

  “To be honest, for me, anything under five
years is probably rushing in,” Trask said with a wry smile as they set the table down in front of Felipe’s door. “Your son has an unnatural influence on me, pushing me out of my comfort zone. I often wait too long, biding my time, and then I lose out. I don’t want to lose out with him.”

  And that was saying a hell of a lot more than Trask intended to say. He propped open the screen door with a plant container and opened the main door to see Lady sitting and waiting. Sophie wiggled her way around him and made a beeline for Lady’s toys.

  He pointed toward the corner where he’d envisioned Felipe’s table. There were a few of his plastic tubs in the space, but they could shift them out of the way, and once his rickety craft table was gone it would actually appear more spacious. “I was thinking of putting it right there.”

  “Well, let’s see what we’re dealing with.” Donato eased the cover off the table and let out a low whistle. “Felipe will lose his mind when he sees this.”

  Trask smiled and ran his hand over the finished top, the newly varnished wood glowing in warm tones. “It was pretty beat up when I found it, but it came together beautifully. It had too much potential to leave it behind. I have the drawers and cabinet doors individually wrapped in the truck.” He wanted it completely set up before Felipe came home so he’d get the full effect.

  “You do a good, patient job. The pictures didn’t do this justice.” There was a warmer gleam in Donato’s eyes when he looked at Trask. “Did Felipe know you had something in the works for him?”

  “He did.” Trask began moving the tubs of supplies. “He’s been hounding me to let him take a peek. But I didn’t want to rush it.”

  Donato clapped him on the shoulder and helped him shift Felipe’s supplies. When they set the table in the corner, it gave Trask a sense of satisfaction. It fit just as he pictured it would. Working together they grabbed drawers, and Trask fitted the glass paneled doors on the hinges. He hoped his imp didn’t linger at the mall.