Page 36 of White Wedding
She opted for a snarky tone, hoping to keep things light. “You can’t text me late at night. It’s hardly fair.”
“True. But you upped the stakes bycallingme.”
She groaned. He was right.
“You’ve been thinking about me, haven’t you?” His words offered a sensual entreaty. Impossible to resist.
Was he in bed? Half-dressed? When they’d been together, he’d slept in the nude. At the thought of his naked, muscular body, her nipples hardened into tight buds. A throbbing ache coursed through her as she imagined his mouth on them. “Yes,” she murmured.
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I’ve been thinking about you.” How could she not? She’d never felt as free and passionate as she had during those two weeks in Baja. Though she and Rafael had done more than have sex, right now the sex was foremost in her mind.
“Anything you’d like to share? I’ve been revisiting the night we camped out on the beach. Remember?”
“How could I forget?” Up until that point, he’d kept things platonic. But she’d wanted more. She’d done her best to seduce him, brushing her lips against his bare skin, working her way down his body inch by glorious inch, tasting and teasing, until he finally capitulated. The sex had been mind-blowing.
“It was incredible,” he said.
Heat traveled up her cheeks. She grabbed her water bottle from the nightstand and pressed the cold metal against her forehead. “Rafael, I…”
“You know what I’d do to you if we were alone right now?”
Yes. She wanted him to describe all of it, in erotic detail. She let her fingers slip under the rim of her panties, hoping to relieve the ache building up inside her.
“Are you naked?” she asked softly.
“I could be. What about you?”
“Not yet. Maybe you should undress me.”
The slam of an outer door jolted her out of her fantasies. Her father was home. Though he rarely stopped by her room before bed, his presence in the house hit her like a dose of ice-cold water.
What was she thinking? She couldn’t get involved with Rafael. “I…I have to go.”
“Wait. Was it something I said?”
“No. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. We have to keep things professional.”
A long pause followed. When Rafael spoke again, his tone was measured, lacking its earlier warmth. “You’re right. Sorry. Have a good night.”
“Good night, Rafael.”
Her heart still pounding, she ended the call. It didn’t matter if she wanted him.
He was off-limits. End of story.
Chapter 14
Two Weeks Until the Wedding
Rafael yawned as he filled his insulated tumbler with coffee. He should have known better than to go out drinking with the restaurant crew on a Friday night. Especially when he had to be up by six forty-five the next morning. When his alarm went off at six, he was tempted to hit the snooze button. But he couldn’t risk showing up late for his Saturday outing with Mamá.
He grabbed a couple of canvas tote bags, threw on a fleece, and headed out to his car. The morning air held a definite chill, making him return for a pair of gloves and a knit cap. He wouldn’t need them once the sun came out, but he didn’t want a lecture about not dressing warmly enough for the weather.
Saturday mornings with Mamá were a tradition he and his brothers had started three years ago to spend time with her away from the rest of the family. They each took turns and picked an early morning activity they could squeeze in before they had to be at the restaurant. Martin had it easy, since all he had to do was bring his two boys over and let Mamá spoil them. Tony and his wife took her out for breakfast. Rafael’s default was a trip to the farmers market. Though they occasionally went into San Diego to visit the impressive market in Little Italy, they usually opted for the Poway Farmers Market, a twenty-minute drive away.
Mamá still lived in the family home, about a mile from Rafael’s apartment. When he pulled up, she was sitting on the front porch with her familiar blue “granny cart” at her side. Peeking out from under her navy fleece was a bright red Christmas sweater, embroidered with a smiling Santa head. A gift from Araceli, crafted during her embroidered sweatshirt phase.
