“You’re not so bad-looking yourself, you know,” she responded, smiling.
“Is that so?”
She nodded quickly, watching as he approached and sat down next to her. He leaned down and kissed her, lightly at first, then deepening the kiss after a moment. She wrapped her arms around him and he shifted so he was all but on top of her. Kyle could feel his dick hardening every time she swiped her tongue across his, and it was all he could do not to strip her down right there. He eventually pulled back, eliciting an unhappy grumble from Drea.
“You keep that up and we won’t make it off this boat,” he said playfully.
“Would that be so bad?”
He let out a low groan before replying, “It would kinda ruin what I have planned.”
She sat up and turned so she was facing him head-on. “Where are we headed?”
“Well, first stop, Old San Juan to hit up our favorite street vendor, and then I figured we could pop over to Fortaleza Street to see the umbrellas.”
“I love the umbrellas!” she squealed, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him close.
“I know you do, sweetness,” he laughed, rubbing his hand up and down her back, toying with the bikini’s strings. “I figured you’d kill me if we stopped in San Juan and didn’t go see them.”
“I wouldn’t kill you, but I probably would have pouted.” She looked at him and pulled her lips downward into a frown to show off how she thinks she would have looked.
“No pouting allowed on this trip. After the umbrellas, we can just stroll around and do whatever, and then, I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Fine, be that way,” she said, putting on the frown again. Kyle laughed at her playful reaction and leaned in to kiss her.
“Sorry, sweetness, I’m keeping this to myself until it’s time.” He closed his mouth and pretended to lock it with a key. “But I promise, it’ll rock your world.”
Chapter Eighteen
Once they had docked and secured the boat, and Drea had slipped on something a little more substantial than the little red number she’d been sporting all morning, they headed into Old San Juan. They wasted no time, heading straight for the little street vendor who made the empanadas they loved so much.
The vendor was the same gentleman that Drea remembered from her childhood, and he smiled at her in a way that made her think he recognized her on some level as well. They’d stopped here every time they were in this city, and allegedly, all three of her uncles, as well as her father, had been sent on errands over here just to fetch some for Drea’s mother when she was pregnant. Time and time again Miller had tried to reproduce the little meat pies, but they just weren’t the same.
They found a little bench overlooking part of Plaza Colón, with a direct view of the massive Christopher Columbus statue that stood prominently in the middle. Drea took a big bite out of the empanada she was holding, sighing in contentment as she chewed.
“I’m not sure I fully understand why there is a statue to a man who isn’t from Puerto Rico in this plaza,” Kyle said in between bites.
“Because he got off the boat here,” Drea answered.
“So, because he made a pit stop here before continuing on to, arguably, commit genocide and be responsible for the death of millions, they built him a statue?”
“Yes,” Drea answered with a nod of her head. Kyle glared at her skeptically. “Okay, truth be told, I have no idea. Admittedly, I should know my Puerto Rican history better since I am half Puerto Rican, but history was never my best subject.”
Kyle laughed. “Do you remember anything about the history of the island?”
“I know why there are so many cats.”
“Okay, so why are there so many cats?”
“Because there once was an old cat lady who, as she got older, was worried that her cats would be lonesome when she passed away. So she married them off and encouraged them to have lots and lots of baby cats so they would never, ever be lonely,” she responded, as if the answer was completely obvious.
Kyle burst out in a roaring laugh, almost knocking the food out of his lap and his drink off the bench. Every time he thought he’d caught his breath, he’d look over at Drea, who was looking at him very seriously, and he’d lose it again.
“There is no way that is the real story!” he said, trying to catch his breath.
“No, it’s not, but it’s the story Uncle Miller used to tell me when I was a little girl and asked about the cats, and I always really liked it so I’ve always just stuck with it.”
“Oh, sweetness, you’re too cute.”
They returned to eating, this time in silence, even though every now and again Kyle let out another little laugh. Drea assumed it was because he was still thinking about the old lady and the cats. When they were all finished eating, Drea cleared their trash.
“Can I show you something?” she asked Kyle.
“Anything.”
She grabbed his hand and took him up the hill headed inland from the plaza. After walking a couple of blocks, she stopped them in an open space in between an old church and a Burger King.
“I am aware of the sordid history of that BK, Drea. I hope you don’t think that I’m that much of a horndog that you had to show me a fast food joint that used to be a brothel back in the day.”
Drea looked at him incredulously. “No, the Church. Iglesia San Francisco. Can we go in?”
“Sure, if that’s what you wanna do,” he said, confused.
They walked into the church and took a moment to look around, making sure they weren’t disturbing Mass or confession. When they saw that no one was in the sanctuary, they went inside and sat down in the very last pew.
“This is where my parents got married,” she said quietly. “Uncle Miller and Aunt Marta too.”
“I thought they got married on the beach?”
“No, they met on the beach. They got married in the church. Although, only because my grandparents insisted. After all, if they were going to marry gringos, they were at least going to do it in front of God.” She giggled, thinking about the story Uncle Miller had always told her.
After the rushed courtship and less-than-traditional proposal, her grandparents on her mother’s side weren’t entirely thrilled with the way their daughters were willing to just up and marry the first strangers to come along. But Miller and her father had won them over quickly enough, and agreed to the church wedding if that’s what the girls’ parents really wanted. So the priest was called, and three weeks later the two couples were married. Three months after that, Drea’s mother woke up sick to her stomach and a doctor’s visit soon confirmed that she would be doing something major not in tandem with her sister since they first met their husbands.
“Were they buried here too?” Kyle asked cautiously.
“No, there wasn’t enough left to bury.”
“Can I ask what happened? All I know is there was a kitchen fire.”
“A kitchen fire is putting it nicely,” Drea smiled sadly. “The resort had always been a dream of my uncles and my dad. I don’t fully understand how they came to own the property—something about an old man their grandfather used to know or something. Well, when their dad passed from cancer, they bought the resort from this guy and they, along with my dad, started to fix it up. So, everything is going along like it should and Miller is getting his ultimate kitchen, complete with some top of the line industrial stove. Install day comes and they are all so excited, because the oven that had been in there was sketchy at best. Well, short story long, the gas didn’t get shut off properly when switching out the equipment, so gas had been leaking into the kitchen the whole time.”