Angry customers are knocking on the window, but Juanita doesn’t seem to care in the least as she hugs me long and hard. “So many people admire you, amiga. The way you’ve carried on after losing your sweet husband. Everyone wants to see you happy and smiling the way you’ve been with that hot doctor. It was a sight for sore eyes.”
I frantically blink back tears, determined to press on without them. “Thank you, Juanita. I truly appreciate the support.”
“If it doesn’t work out with him, you’re going to find someone else. I know it. A heart like yours is too big to hold all that love you have inside you. You gotta give it away, amiga.”
I didn’t know she felt that way about me. “Thank you. That means so much to me.” I hug her again. “Now get back to work before you have a riot on your hands.”
“Eh.” She waves a hand at the window as she hands me my cortadito. “They’ll wait. They’re addicted.”
I laugh because that’s the God’s honest truth. Like me, they can’t get through the day without a shot of Juanita’s magic. When I try to pay her, she scowls fiercely at me. I send her a grateful smile and emerge from the shop, feeling the glares from everyone in the long line directed at me as I make my way to my car.
“Don’t you be looking at her that way,” Juanita says. “I brought her in here, and if you want your fix, you’d better be nice to mi amiga. Now, who’s next?”
I smile at her sauciness as I get into the car, perching my coffee carefully in the cupholder because God forbid I should spill it. Juanita’s cortadito is liquid-gold deliciousness.
I’m getting ready to pull out of my parking space when Priscilla roars into the lot and comes to a stop next to my car. I’m frozen in place, unable to move or think or breathe or do anything other than drink in the sight of Jason’s gorgeous face. I’d have to be blind to miss the yearning in the lovely eyes that always look at me with affection and desire. Now is no different. He conveys so much with just a look.
He gets out of his car, comes over to mine, and knocks on the passenger window. I eye the unlock button warily. It took every ounce of fortitude I could summon last night to take a step back from him. If I let him into my car, I’ll be right back to square one.
I glance at the passenger window. He’s bent at the waist, staring at me imploringly through the glass. Every part of me wants every part of him. Even as I curse my own lack of willpower, I unlock the door.
He gets in, closes the door and turns to face me.
I crank the AC so we won’t roast to death.
A quick glance tells me he’s tired—as tired as I am. He didn’t shave, and his hair looks like he “brushed” it with an impatient sweep of his fingers.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Sure. Never better.” I take a sip of my coffee so I’ll have something to do with my hands besides reach for him and beg him to stay with me forever.
“You willing to share your fix?” Offering a small smile, he tips his chin toward the cup.
I hand it over to him and try not to react to the moan that’s become far too familiar to me for reasons that have nothing to do with cortadito.
He gives the cup back to me. “Ginger was at my hotel last night.”
I gasp, nearly spill the coffee all over myself and realize my efforts to remain detached from him are for naught. I can no more remain detached from him than I can suddenly decide to quit breathing. “What did she want?”
“Who knows? I told her to get lost.”
“How’d she find you?”
“That’s a very good question, but I didn’t care enough to ask. I just wanted her gone.”
“Wow, she came down here to find you. That’s pretty crazy.” Suddenly, I’m chilled to the bone and not just because of the AC, which I turn down to low.
“She’s nothing to me, Carmen. Surely you have to believe me when I tell you that.”
I tell myself it doesn’t matter. He’s leaving. I’m not. I know he doesn’t feel anything for her, so I want to not care that she came here looking for him. Except I do care. I care more than I’ve cared about anything in years, despite my futile effort to step back from him and this crazy situation. With him sitting next to me, his familiar scent filling my senses and reminding me of so many intimate moments with him, remaining removed is all but impossible. “I do. I believe you.”
“I miss you.”
“You saw me yesterday.”
“I missed sleeping with you last night. I slept like shit.”
“I did, too.”
“I know it’s a lot to ask of you, but will you please give me a couple of days to figure out my life before you write me off forever?”
“I haven’t written you off forever. I’m just trying to avoid, you know . . .”
“Heartbreak?”
“Yeah,” I reply, sighing. “I’ve had enough of that for one lifetime.”
“The very last thing I want to do is cause you more. I hope you believe that as well.”
“I do.”
“The offer from New York was unexpected. It’s thrown a wrench into things, and I’m trying to figure out how to proceed. You’re very much a factor in my decision-making process.”
“Which I absolutely should not be. Nine days, Jason. You’ve known me for nine days.”
As if he can’t resist the need to touch me for another second, he takes my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing my palm and the inside of my wrist, where he has to feel the thundering beat of my heart in the throbbing pulse point. “The best nine days of my whole life, Carmen. Hands down.”
“Really?” My voice sounds high and squeaky.
“Really. I need you to have some faith in me, and in us. We’re going to figure something out, okay?”
Hope swells within me, a wave of happiness so big I couldn’t hold it back even if I wanted to, which I don’t. I nod, because what else can I do but put my faith in him?
He leans across the center console but can go only so far.
I have to meet him halfway, so the choice is mine to make. As if there’s any choice at all. I lean in.
His hand curls around my neck as his lips meet mine in a kiss that starts off sweet but quickly becomes about frenzied need and intense desire.
We resurface many minutes later, hands buried in each other’s hair, lips tingling and other parts on fire for more.
“Whoa.”
His single word sums it up rather well.
“I have to go to work.” I glance at the clock. I have fifteen minutes to get there on time and will need every one of them at this hour.
“Me too.” He kisses the back of my hand and lets it go, seeming reluctant. “Can I call you later?”
I think about that before shaking my head. “Call me when you figure out what you’re doing. We’ll go from there.”
He groans dramatically and drops his head back against the seat. “You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Giordino, but okay. We’ll do this your way.” He rolls his head my way and looks at me with those beautiful eyes. “Don’t fall for someone else before you hear from me, okay?”
My lips quiver from the effort not to laugh. I sense he wouldn’t appreciate that right now. “I’ll try not to.”