Chapter 3
Friday morning brought with it an anxiety Carlos hadn’t felt in years. How was it this woman had him so tied in knots? He completely dreaded the thought of having to spend the afternoon alone with her.
It was ridiculous really. Carlos had mentored several people here and at other businesses. None of them, men or women, had ever knocked him off course like the quiet, stoic woman whose blush was causing him to have all sorts of unwelcome sensations. To make matters worse, he’d had to meet with Kim again that morning. The contrast between the two women only made Amy seem that much more sweet, innocent, and appealing.
He shook his head and turned back to the map application open on his computer. He needed to take her out of the office, somewhere public. But it also needed to be a place where he could give all kinds of career advice, like he was supposed to.
He perused the local establishments within a five-mile radius, all the while thinking about Amy and her application. An overqualified woman floundering as an HR assistant, a job she clearly wasn’t into, because she wasn’t sure what direction she wanted to go in. Or because Kim stood in her way?
A few hours later Amy walked into his office, looking like a lamb to slaughter in a soft sundress and sandals, a chunky sweater draped over her thin shoulders. It was perfectly appropriate dress for Friday at E.E.R. Hell, it was appropriate for every day dress since Everett was pretty laid back.
Carlos had noticed Amy tended to wear sweaters or blazers. And he’d figured the air conditioning in the office, which he’d attempted unsuccessfully to get turned off several times, made her cold. He made a mental note to talk to Everett about it, again. Air conditioning was a needless waste of money in the Bay Area. Just open a window, for crying out loud.
He stood when she entered, a habit any time a woman came into a room. He imagined any one of his four older brothers clapping him on the back of the head if he didn’t.
“You need to grab anything? We’re leaving.” He became uncomfortably aware of how gruff he always sounded when he talked.
“Um…We’re leaving?” she asked, looking unsure.
He nodded and tried to soften his tone. “You good?”
“I’ll just grab my purse.”
He followed her to her cubie, which was now cleared of all the debris. Neat stacks of papers and a folded and charging laptop sat beside the phone. She pulled her purse from the bottom drawer of the desk, turned around abruptly, and nearly ran into him.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, backing up to let her out of the space.
Carlos spun around and marched out of the central office area, down the hall to the elevators. Amy’s sandals swished on the carpet as she worked to keep up with him. She was short, he reminded himself, short and slim, and probably soft…
Carlos jammed the elevator button with his finger and waited an eternity for the stupid thing to arrive. All the while Amy stood beside him, silent and still.
****
Amy wasn’t able to stop staring as Carlos teed up his putt on the mini-golf obstacle. He’d insisted she go first, which was a mistake because he’d had to wait forever as she floundered around on the first hole, taking what felt like a million strokes, or at least until she reached the limit of seven.
Carlos’ dress slacks showed off his muscular form and stretched themselves perfectly around an incredible…seat. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, exposing muscular, tanned arms. His large hands choked up on the club, his strong grip making Amy’s breathing shallow.
Things were getting weirder. Amy had never taken notice of a man like this. She’d become accustomed to her apathetic stance on all things romance and sex. Her cousin YaYa called her Asexual, though she wasn’t sure she was interested in putting a label on it. In fact, her libido was so non-existent it didn’t seem worthy of a label. But all that was changing because of Carlos Diaz.
“You’re not upset about your score,” Carlos observed at the fifth hole as he recorded her miserable twenty-seven.
Amy laughed and waved her hand dismissively. “No. I couldn’t care less, to be honest.” Then she grew serious. “Does that me make unambitious or something?”
“Not necessarily. I’m guessing that it’s more a matter of lack of a competitive nature.”
“I’m not very competitive.” She swung her golf club idly. “Hell, I’m not competitive at all.”
He rested his hand on the top of his own club and cocked his hip. “Only child?”
“Yes. Good guess. I have a single mom and no siblings, but I have three cousins and we all grew up together. My family is very close. My cousins were super competitive with each other, but not me. In fact, they let me win a lot. Not that I cared.”
He shook his head and smiled. Amy was getting used to seeing his smile, and each time she did it was a like a wrapped gift that landed at her doorstep. “I can’t even imagine. I grew up the youngest of five boys. Everything was a competition. And they never let me win.”
Amy teed up at the sixth hole. It was one of those painful ones with the stupid loop-d-loop in the middle. “Five boys! Your mother must be one tough lady.”
“The toughest. I think that’s how I ended up with Kim.”
“Hmmmm.” She took a swing and watched as the golf ball veered way off course. “So your mom is to blame for Dragon Lady?”
She realized her mistake at the exact same moment Carlos burst out laughing. By the time she’d whirled around to look at him, he was doubled over, his booming voice exploding from him. “Dragon Lady!” He wiped at his eyes. “That’s perfect!”
“Sorry,” she said, though she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.
“No. You’ve just made my day. You know, I actually told my mom during the divorce it was all her fault. She’d made it so that I expected a woman to wallop the crap out of me.”
“And how did she take that?”
“She laughed. My mom could take it. Anyway.” He straightened up and his expression grew more stoic. “I really shouldn’t talk about Kim with you. I’m sorry. I never talk about her with co-workers. I really don’t. It seems my mouth gets away from me when you’re around.”
Amy put her hand on her hip and gazed at him. “I like that.” It was not only the unadulterated truth, it was also—believe it or not—flirty.
Carlos looked down at the plastic grass for a moment. Then he grumbled. “Better see if you can get that thing in the hole. Then we’ll talk about how this activity is relevant to your future career in business.”
****
Her bright blue eyes shining, her mouth turned up in a smile, Amy was stunning. Carlos had a whole speech planned about mini-golf being a metaphor for conducting yourself in business. It had been good, but as soon as she’d made that cheeky little move, her hand resting on her hip, it all completely left him.
They spent the rest of the afternoon in quiet conversation. Since neither of them was particularly verbose anyway, it was an easy companionship. Their discussions consisted of talk about the golf game and how Amy’s first week in the finance department had gone.
By the time they drove back to the office, Carlos had already decided what they’d do that following week and he told Amy as they left for the weekend, “Next Friday bring shorts and a T-shirt to change into.”
****
As Amy ascended the rock wall in front of Carlos he congratulated himself on thinking up this particular activity for their weekly mentoring time while simultaneously giving himself a good internal kick in the ass. The reason for the dichotomy tied directly to the way Amy looked in her shorts and tank top dangling twenty feet above him.
Since the divorce, Carlos had dated exactly twice, as in exactly two dates. Both were arranged by his best friend, Everett, and both were a complete disaster. “Get back out there,” Everett had said. “You gotta see women again or you’ll stay stuck in your bitter little Carlos world.”
The first woman had been simply dreadful. Possibly, Everett was trying too hard to find someone that was like his ex-wife, because she was deeply mean. Carlos had run as fast as could away from that one. He hadn’t let Everett forget it either.
The second one had been a nice enough lady, but she didn’t hold any interest for him. She was just…bland. Since that date, which he figured was at least six months ago, he hadn’t really even shown much interest in women. And, of course, he tried to look only outside the company.
There was no company policy against dating, except that a supervisor could not date someone directly beneath them. There were certainly couples who worked together and a few married folks who were in different departments. But Carlos had learned his lesson. Kim’s presence reminded him of it every day.
So looking at the firm and muscular ass of his mentee was a terrible, terrible idea.
When she lowered back down and unharnessed, she turned to him, her eyes alight with excitement. “That was amazing!”
“Yeah?”
She bounced on her toes. “I have always wanted to do stuff like that. I must have watched a million videos of extreme sports on the Internet when I was a kid. I watch the X Games religiously. And I know climbing a fake rock wall doesn’t even rate on that scale, but it’s more than I’ve ever been allowed to do.”
Carlos wanted to ask her why she hadn’t been allowed to do the things she was obviously so excited about. Instead, he said, “I got some good pictures.” He held out her phone. She took it from him, brushing her hand against his. The touch was somehow so much more significant than it should have been.
“Awesome.” Her face turned down as she quickly scrolled through the few dozens shots he’d taken of her. “I just have to be careful never to show them to my family.”
“Why’s that?” He took her upper arm in his hand and moved her toward the front of the rec center.
Amy looked up at him. “They’re…” She bit her lip. Carlos’ stomach clenched as he focused in on it. “Overprotective. I don’t mean regular overprotective. I mean extremely overprotective.”
That explained some of what she’d said earlier. “Your mother and cousins?”
She nodded. “And worse, my uncles and aunt. My mom has two brothers and a sister, all of them like major mother hens. They excel at worrying, and all of it is focused on me.”
“Do they live around here?”
She shook her head. “Only me and my cousin, YaYa. Everyone else lives in San Diego.”
Carlos opened the door for her. She stepped through and angled toward his car parked in the lot. He wanted to know so much more. “YaYa?” he asked.
“Yeah. Her real name is Yasmine. But I haven’t called her that…ever, I guess.” Amy paused in front of his SUV. “What about your family? Where do they live?”
Why had the tables turned? He wanted to talk about her. “Mostly in the Bay Area. I was born and raised in Vallejo. We have a big, rowdy Mexican family. Most of them stayed nearby.”
“Are your parents married?”
“Yes.”
She cocked her head to one side. It was adorable. “I am so fascinated by people whose parents are married. Most of my friends’ parents are divorced and, of course, I have a single mom. My uncles and aunt are all divorced.”
“What’s the story with your dad?” He knew he was stepping over the bounds, but he couldn’t stop finding things out about her.
“He was a lawyer, a married lawyer. And my mom was his paralegal. She got me and a hefty monthly payment, and he got out of any responsibility to us.” She shrugged. “I never minded. I had my uncles in my life. I was lucky.”
Carlos couldn’t help but be intrigued by Amy’s easy acceptance of everything. He’d felt an almost constant need to change or better himself and his situation all his life. It wasn’t until he’d come to E.E.R. that he’d calmed down about his career situation. But the itch had not left other parts of his consciousness.
Carlos opened the car door for her and she slid inside. As she did, she looked up at him with a massive grin on her face. If he survived the next six weeks it would be a miracle.