Page 60 of All I Want Is Love
“This is so silly,” I chuckle. “But I am kind of here for it.”
“Robin keeps saying the same,” Soren sighs dramatically. “He usually gets really involved as well.”
“Are any of you joining the snowball fight?”
“God, no!” Soren exclaims. “Though they want us to join every year. That’s why Aspen barely leaves his coffee shop when the team members are being chosen. He is scared they will hunt him down and guilt-trip him into joining. Last year, they almost got him to join. Maybe this year they will be successful.”
I grin. Aspen has a kind side to him, so I can easily see it happen that someone with sad puppy eyes could make him join such a silly battle. “And Robin never tried to convince him?”
“Oh, he did!” Soren laughs. “But he wasn’t successful. I guess he is too sassy to pull off the sad, helpless look.”
Soren keeps telling me about the previous years, and how the events played out. It really sounds ridiculous, but also fun. Truth to be told, I probably wouldn’t have joined such an event even as a visitor back in my old world, but now it feels so refreshing.
Maybe it’s true what Aspen and Soren are saying, and I am finally able to be myself.
The drive home is faster than expected, mainly because we didn’t have any fresh snowfall. I am also not as exhausted as last night, probably because I didn’t hike up a mountain for hours, then had a nervous breakdown and then steamy hot sex.
Though, I do want to repeat the latter.
“Leo,” Soren says when he helps me unload my backpack and Barkley, who apparently loves driving so much that he doesn’t want to get out of the car. When I turn to look at him, he pulls me into a kiss.
“I will visit a client briefly. You are with the mayor for the afternoon?” When I nod, he purses his lips. “How about I drive past an Italian restaurant on my way back,” he says. “Will grab something for us for dinner. Any preferences?”
“Pasta,” I say. “I don’t mind which one.”
“Got you,” Soren kisses me once more, pulling me close and squeezing my ass. “Have a fun afternoon and don’t let yourself get dragged into the town’s shenanigans too much.”
“I won’t. And if I do, then only willingly.”
I watch Soren drive off, my chest aching slightly to see him leave. “I am a lost cause,” I mutter towards Barkley. “Seriously, I am going to see him in a couple of hours.”
Barkley woofs before burying his head in the snow.
“Good idea. I should distract myself.”
At first, I put my stuff away, then make sure I groom Barkley properly, before it’s time to meet with the mayor.
Mayor Hector Martinez is nothing like I imagined him to be. When I first heard his name, I thought he might be of Spanish heritage. I had a sexy hunk in mind, maybe even someone slightly dangerous, due to the first name being Hector. But the man I meet is white like a sheet and has messy hair, which he wears in a ponytail. He is also much older than I anticipated him to be.
It’s on me, however. Serves me right for assuming, just because of a name.
We meet at Aspen’s coffeeshop, and from the moment he introduces himself to me with, “Just call me Hector,” with a loud laugh, I know I am going to like him.
“Your confused expression says it all,” he grins when we sit down. “You couldn’t believe it’s really me, huh?”
“No, I mean…” I stumble over my own words like always when I am a bit anxious. “It’s just the last name.”
He grins. “That’s my wife’s name. Mine was Smith, one of the most common names ever.”
“Oh, you took her name!”
“There was no chance I would let go of the chance of being called Martinez.”
“I wouldn’t either!”
Aspen approaches us with our coffee. “What else can I bring my favorite person?” he asks me.
Hector blinks. “What about me? I don’t get such a kind offer!”
