Page 25 of Along Came Amor
The evening he’d shared with Ava, while eminently satisfying, was the extent of what he could afford to fit in right now. And luckily, it seemed like Ava was on the same page.
If she never called him again, it would be fine.
Still...
He really hoped she did.
Chapter 6
“Did anything interesting happen at the conference?”
Ava kept her face blank as she answered Jasmine’s question. “Not particularly.”
Michelle smirked. “No ‘teachers gone wild’ scenarios?”
You mean like grinding on the hotel owner in a rooftop swimming pool?Ava took a quick sip of champagne to cover her reaction to the memory and kept her voice cool as she replied aloud.
“Only if you mean wild with boredom. Wouldyouwant to spend two hours in a master class on standardized test prep?”
Michelle wrinkled her nose. “Absolutely not.”
From her spot between them, Jasmine shook her head. “Do they at least pay you for the hours you’re at the conference?”
On Ava’s other side, Jasmine’s sister, Jillian, snorted. “You know they don’t.”
Jillian, a quantitative analyst on Wall Street, was hunched over a laptop balanced on her knees. Aside from the occasional muttered comment, she largely ignored the champagne and conversation flowing around her.
It was Sunday afternoon, two days after Ava’s one-night stand with Roman. Ava and her cousins—along with Jasmine’s mother, Titi Lisa—were sitting in what had to be the mostostentatious bridal showroom in New York City. The place was huge, decked out with heavily padded purple sofas, gaudy golden chandeliers, and coldly beautiful mannequins modeling every style of wedding dress one could imagine. Ava couldn’t help but compare it to the more tasteful ambience of Roman’s hotel.
Thanks to Jasmine’s celebrity status, their little group had it all to themselves, though not for lack of trying on Titi Lisa’s part. When Jasmine’s mother had attempted to invite all the other tías and cousins to come along to watch Jasmine try on dresses—and offer their opinions—Jasmine had put her foot down. As a result, only the five of them were present.
Titi Lisa rushed over to them with her phone outstretched. “Smile, girls.”
Jillian snapped, “I’m working, Mom!” and leaned out of view. But Ava and Michelle obliged, leaning in on either side of Jasmine and smiling widely.
Titi Lisa was Filipina and Puerto Rican by way of Southern California, and both of her daughters favored her. Jasmine was gorgeous, with golden brown skin and dark hair even curlier and thicker than Ava’s. But after getting her photo snapped by paparazzi on wash day with the headline, “Hot Mess: Is Jasmine Lin Okay?” Jasmine now straightened her hair more often than not. Jillian looked a lot like Jasmine, but taller and more serious-looking, with a short haircut and thick-framed glasses. Michelle was short and curvy, with creamy skin and dark wavy hair.
Ava towered over all of them. She often felt like a giant lumbering amongst her more petite Rodriguez relatives. Her height came from her maternal grandfather, who lived in Barbados. Her cousins there were tall, like she was, but she didn’t get to see them often.
Sometimes she wondered if she’d only married Hector for his height.
Roman wasn’t much taller than she was—she guessed he was five-foot-ten barefoot, which hardly counted asshort—but he had so much... presence, he seemed to take up more space. He commanded attention and was fairly bursting with personality.
His solid physique didn’t hurt either. He was muscular without being overwhelming, as she’d told Damaris in their hotel room. Her friend had shown up with a chilled bottle of sparkling rosé—bless her—and demanded all the juicy details of Ava’s passionate evening with the handsome hotelier.
Damaris was Dominican and despite being half a foot shorter than Ava, people often mistook them for sisters. They both had big curly hair and a similar facial structure, although Damaris’s light brown skin was a few shades darker than Ava’s. Damaris also had massive boobs, whereas Ava’s own breasts could best be described as modest.
When Ava had finished recounting a loose outline of the events that had taken place, Damaris had stood up and clapped, the tiny jewels on her manicured nails glinting in the lamplight. But then her dark eyes turned serious.
“On the one hand, I’m really proud of you. You deserve to have fun, and this man sounds like a dream.”
Ava’s brows drew together. “I feel a ‘but’ coming.”
Damaris raised her own expertly tweezed eyebrows. “But on the other hand... what would Colleen say?”
Ava had huffed. Colleen had been the only person in Ava’s life who felt Ava should hold off on dating. The therapist hadn’t said it in so many words, but she’d urged Ava to work on her boundaries in other areas of her life—namely with her family—before entering into another relationship.
“It was a one-night stand. How much more straightforward about boundaries could I be?”
