He plants his hands onto the desk and leans into my space. “Then let me take you to make up for it.”
I discreetly look around the shop for Mateo or one of the guys, but there’s no one. “Oh, um, I don’t think…”
He reaches out, as if to touch me, and I take a small step back.
“Say yes, sugar. I promise we’ll have a good time. And hey, you like cars… I’ll let you look under my hood if you let me under yours.”
Wow, that’s forward. And gross. “I think I’m busy.”
His eyes narrow. “I haven’t said when.”
Crap! I try to backpedal; he seems like the kind of guy you don’t want to cross. “I just meant with the shop opening, long hours, you know… busy with work and stuff.”
“Come on, now. You can’t be all work and no play.” He pulls his phone from his pocket. “Let me take you to dinner tonight. You gotta eat, right?”
I shift uncomfortably on my feet. Why can’t this guy take a hint?
“Tonight?” I suck in a breath through my teeth. “Tonight—”
“Tonight won’t work,” Mateo says, startling me. I have no clue where he came from but I am so freaking glad he’s here.
Cliff’s entire face hardens as he glares at Mateo with the kind of anger reserved for mortal enemies. “And why’s that?”
Mateo wraps an arm around my waist and draws me into him. “Because we have dinner with my family tonight, don’t we mariposita?”
I quickly nod my head, all too eager to play along.
“Then another night.”
“No.” Mateo releases me and moves me slightly behind him. “No other night. Not today, not ever. Unlike you and your friends, I know something of value when I see it and I don’t share. Now, get out of here before I call the cops on you for harassing my girlfriend.”
Butterflies, moths, birds, an entire menagerie of winged creatures all take flight and rip through me at his use of the G-word. I know it’s only a part of his ruse, but my God, it feels good to hear.
“Thought she was a close family friend?”
“Guess we grew closer,” Mateo deadpans.
Cliff clucks his tongue as he turns toward the door. “You’re not worth the fight anyway.”
“¿Qué, pendejo?” Mateo says, his voice a lethal mixture of disbelief and fury. “What was that?”
The unwanted patron turns back toward us, his feet rooted where he stands, as his lips tip up into a grotesque smile. “I said your girlfriend” —he makes sure to emphasize the word— “isn’t worth the fight. I can get ass without the baggage. Ain’t no pus—”
It’s like a thread snaps and Mateo lunges over the counter, grabbing a fistful of Cliff’s shirt and hauling him close. “You will not speak of her like that. Like she’s a piece of meat. That woman is a fucking queen, and you’re worth less than the gum on the bottom of someone’s shoe. She is everything and you are nothing. Nothing.”
“Look, I didn’t mean any harm, man.” Cliff’s suntanned skin looks as white as a sheet as he tries to pry Mateo’s hand off of him. “Just let me go, and I’ll get outta here.”
Mateo pulls him in closer instead. “Apologize.”
“What?”
He yanks him closer still, bringing most of Cliff’s body over the counter. “You heard me.”
“Sorry. I’m sorry.”
My knight in coveralls shoves him back, smirking as he stumbles before finding his feet. “Don’t ever come back here. Your friends either.”
Cliff practically runs out of the shop. As soon as the door shuts, Mateo’s out from behind the counter.
“Danton!” he yells, and the younger mechanic rolls out from beneath the car he’s servicing. “Come watch the front.”
“Got it.”
Mateo wraps an arm around my shoulders and ushers me toward the office. Before I can process it, he has us in the office with the door locked and his arms around me, holding me close.
Under different circumstances, I’d appreciate his smooth moves, but I’m currently stuck in a weird state of déjà vu.
“Why was he so familiar?”
I don’t realize I’m crying until the wobbliness of my voice hits me.
Ever so softly, Mateo pulls away and wipes my tears. “You really don’t know?”
I shake my head.
“Take a seat,” he says, pulling out a chair and helping me into it. I expect him to grab the chair on the other side of the desk for his own use, but instead he surprises me and drops to his knees in front of me.
“He was one of the cabrónes—bastards—from the fair.”
“Oh,” I whisper, as memories of that night and what could have been, assault my mind. I can’t help but wonder if he sought me out or if him showing up here was simply happenstance. The uncertainty has my palms sweaty and my stomach churning.
As though he can read me like a book, Mateo pulls me from the chair and onto his lap. “I will never let him hurt you, mariposita. I will never let anyone hurt you. Never again.”
I want to wrap myself in his promises and wear them like a protective cloak. But deep down, I know they’re only words. “You don’t owe me anything. You don’t need to pro—”
Mateo’s lips land on mine, silencing me. The kiss is so unexpected, I gasp, giving him immediate entry. Our tongues swirl together in an agonizingly chaste dance before I pull away.
“What was that?” I exhale the words as I lick my own lips in an effort to savor his taste.
“You… I cannot resist you. Not always.”
His confession leaves me equal parts flattered and annoyed. I decide to cut him a break and change the subject. “Seriously, though, thank you. The way you stepped in and protected me. You seem to keep saving me.”
He grins. “I know a way you can make it up to me.”
I climb off of his lap and stand before extending a hand down to him, as if I can actually help him up. “How’s that?”
“By actually coming to a family dinner tonight.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
With his eyes cast downward, Mateo scratches the back of his head. “My family is having a celebration dinner for me tonight. Please come.”
“Oh.” I shake my head. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
He laughs ruefully. “Would it sound crazy if I said your attendance was mandatory?”
“Says who?”
“My mother.”
“Your… mother?” Why on earth would his mother want me at a family dinner?
“Yes. And trust me when I say, it is easier to give in to her than to fight it.”
I stare at Mateo without really looking at him, lost in thought over the strangeness of the day.
“Please?” he asks, taking my hands in his.
It’s that single word that seals my fate. “Sure. What time?”
Chapter Sixteen
Seraphine
“What does one wear to a family dinner?” I ask Magnolia, my phone pressed to my ear as I rifle through my closet.