Chapter 18
Jonah hadn’t let anyone pick out his clothes since he was about six. Even then, his mother hadn’t had a lot to choose from, so her picking out his clothes was largely a brief assessment of what was clean.
Carla fussing over his suit was different. He hadn’t had a woman fuss over him in so long it made it feel like the clothes didn’t actually fit, when they did. He pulled at the cuffs of the shirt she’d told him to wear to the rehearsal dinner.
“Stop fidgeting. You look great.”
“I don’t see why we had to go shopping.” He didn’t like that the clothes he’d brought with him hadn’t been good enough for her.
“I never see a reason not to go shopping.” She giggled as she walked out into the hallway of her condo building. “Geoff hated when I shopped.”
Jonah gritted his teeth at the mention of her ex-fiancé. “Is he going to be there tonight?”
They made it to the elevator, and he put his hand on her lower back. As usual, touching her calmed down his jumping nerves. He hadn’t met anyone’s family since Katie. Considering how that ended, he wasn’t sure what to expect.
“You need to relax.” She looked up at him, her eyes dancing. Somehow, even though he’d kept her up most of the night—proving her wrong about his control when it came to her—she looked less tired than she had when he’d arrived at her condo the day before. “My parents are going to like you.”
“You think?” He’d done research on the Hernandez family while Carla was in the shower that morning. There was plenty of information about them in the local press, and Carla’s father had had a few profiles done on him on finance-focused sites and blogs. Hector Hernandez had been a major player in Miami; people on Wall Street paid attention to what his firm was doing. He’d built the company from the ground up, and though he was retired, Jonah couldn’t imagine that he was less intimidating.
“Well, my mother’s going to like you. My dad will probably tell you to cut your hair.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” Jonah took his hands off of her and tightened his ponytail. “I would have cut it off instead of doing all that shopping today.”
Carla turned to him, mischief on her face. “I like grabbing onto it while you’re giving me head.” She said it like she would say that the sky was blue. “So no cutting the hair. I like the hair.” She grabbed his arm. “You’re keeping the hair.”
“Just don’t tell your parents why you like it.”
“Ha! My mom will probably guess because my parents are disgustingly in love after thirty-five years.”
Jonah had to respect that. His family had been broken before he was born. His mother had chalked up her affair with his father as a huge mistake. Sometimes, growing up, he felt like a mistake. His mother had worried so much about him, pinned so many hopes on him, that the responsibility had felt crushing. It had turned out that she was right to be worried.
He’d lost his religion after his mother died, but maybe he could have faith in Carla. Her parents were a good example, so maybe she knew how to do this. Maybe he could trust her to show him how to be good enough for her.
“Stop moping. There’s going to be food there. And beer. It’s going to be fine.” She patted his arm as the elevator doors opened to the parking garage. She walked ahead of him, and he got a full impression of what her dress looked like from behind. It was long and black with a sheen to it that emphasized her curves. She clearly wasn’t wearing a bra because it plunged down to the base of her spine.
Later, when they were alone, he would lick his way down her back before removing the dress. Fuck, maybe he would take her while she was still wearing it.
When she stopped at a convertible that looked like a toy, he sighed. How was he ever going to fit in that tiny car? He would look like an idiot getting in and out of it.
“We’re driving this?”
Carla unlocked the glorified matchbox with a key fob. “I know I’m going to have to give this up, just like I’ve given up alcohol and soft cheese, but I’m going to drive this baby until our baby comes.”
“You’re not even going to let me drive it?”
“No. No one gets to drive my car. I was engaged, and Geoff never even got to drive my car.”
Her mentioning him twice in the same conversation made him want to stomp his feet and refuse to go. He hated the guy for hurting her, and he hated that the guy was still around.
Everything in him wanted to find the guy at the wedding tomorrow and beat his face in. But, if he hadn’t done the dumbest thing in the world and broken up with Carla, they might never have met. And, even if they had met, he would have had to live with the fact that she was married to an idiot. Because he would have wanted Carla no matter who she was with.
He let out the breath he’d been holding since she told him about Geoff and the car, and he wedged himself inside the tiny vehicle. His knees weren’t all the way up to his chest, but they were close. Even itty-bitty Carla was going to have to give up this car before the baby came. Her belly would be too big to drive it in a few months.
Would they have to buy a minivan? The thought of it made sweat break out on the back of his neck. He was going to ruin the shirt that Carla had made him buy.
“What are you thinking about?” Carla revved the engine before peeling out of the garage. “Your thoughts are loud.”
“Minivans.”
“Ew.” She scrunched up her face and changed lanes. “Why would you think about those?”
“Don’t parents drive minivans?” He really had no idea what he was doing. They couldn’t even have a conversation about a car.
“I was thinking an SUV.”
“A big one.” She and the baby would be safe.
She patted his knee before shifting gears. “Yeah, we’ll find one you fit inside.”
* * * *
Carla didn’t like how nervous Jonah was. Her father would sense it and pounce on any weakness. She wouldn’t be surprised if her father had a full dossier on Jonah—information including what he’d told her yesterday.
Even if she had looked him up after returning to Miami, it wouldn’t have changed what happened between them or how she felt about it. He still gave her a flippy-fluttery feeling in her stomach every time he looked at her.
She was still proud to have him on her arm.
By the time they pulled up to the church, he’d calmed down. She could feel it. Her parents and siblings were waiting in the vestibule when they walked in.
Alana, Maya, and Carla’s mother all sort of gaped at Jonah. Her brother, Javi, puffed up his chest. Cole smiled, but he grabbed onto Alana’s hip a little tighter. Carla didn’t care how they reacted to Jonah.
She looked to her father.
Hector Hernandez was an imposing man. He’d terrified most people in the business world. She’d bet he could make a grown man pee his pants with one glare. Her father’s eyes narrowed as he assessed Jonah.
Best-case scenario, Hector would nod and then ignore her date for the rest of the night. That’s what he’d done with Geoff—and he worked for him. Worst case, he would pull Jonah aside and threaten to destroy his career or kill him. And, given what she now knew about Jonah’s past, Carla guessed it would be the latter.
Carla’s mother broke the standoff. “You must be Jonah.” She walked over and extended her hand. “I’m Molly Hernandez.” Her mother’s broad smile told her that everything would be okay and that she approved. Even if her father went shotgun wedding on them, her mom would have her back.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hernandez.”
“It’s Molly. Mrs. Hernandez was my mother-in-law, and she was a nightmare of a woman.”
Carla rolled her eyes. Her family did not have company manners. Not ever. She should have warned Jonah. “Mom…”
Her mother turned to her. “You haven’t briefed him on the Hernandez family basics?”
They’d actually been busy being shell-shocked about becoming parents, but she wasn’t about to tell her mother that. That would come after Jonah left, and she had to explain that they just didn’t know each other well enough to make a go of it. “No, he just got here yesterday, and we’ve been catching up.”
“Carla told me that you helped her get through the storm.” Her mother’s words made Carla choke on her own spit.
Luckily, Maya walked over and offered her a water bottle with an arched eyebrow. “You okay?” Carla wasn’t sure if she was asking her or Jonah. As the newest member of the clan, Maya was the one most recently familiar with their father’s propensity toward being an asshole. “I’m Maya Pascual, Javier’s fiancée.”
Maya sounded surprised to be saying those words. Carla checked for Javier, and he looked as though he was going to burst from hearing them. They had a long, rocky road to being together. Javi had married someone else before realizing that his heart belonged to his longtime friend. Carla couldn’t be happier to have Maya as her new sister.
Cole and Alana walked over next. “This is Jonah?” Carla could tell that Alana had a lot she wanted to say—much more that she wanted to ask. She probably wanted all the gritty details. Even though she had more than she could handle, she would demand the information as payback for all the times that Carla had butted into her business when she first got together with Cole.
Back then, Carla thought she knew everything because she’d managed to get herself engaged. Like it was some sort of achievement. She’d been stupid. Particularly so because she’d almost gotten in the way of true love.
“Where’s the priest?” Her father ignored Jonah, which came as a relief to Carla, but she felt Jonah tense while standing next to her. “Don’t we donate enough to the church to merit him showing up on time?”
“Hector, you’ve got to relax. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack.” Maya was the only person, other than Carla’s mother, who gave her father rashers of shit. Everyone laughed at it now, but before it had driven a wedge between Javi and their father.
Her father wasn’t a modern man, not at all. He looked young for his age, but he was old-school. He believed in honoring one’s parents, and the worst thing she could do in his eyes was bring shame to the family. As far as he knew, both his girls were still virgins. He pretended he didn’t know that Cole and Alana had been living together for almost two years. Carla thought he might have been okay with Geoff because he didn’t see him as a threat to his baby girl’s virtue.
Hector walked off to find the rectory and probably read the priest the riot act about timeliness. Carla didn’t pity the man. She’d been on the receiving end of that lecture often enough.
“So, Daddy’s in a good mood, then?” Carla’s question made everyone laugh. Jonah put his hand on her lower back, and she reached back and grasped his fingers.