The evening is a blur. For a good hour everything is chaos, but eventually the other waiters and I are able to get things under control after all of Vida Dulce’s reservations show up. My feet are officially killing me by the time 10:00 p.m. rolls around and the kitchen finally closes. Still, it’s been fun to see Esteban in his element, even when he was frazzled and panicked, trying to keep everything under control.

Thirty minutes later, the patrons of my last table are gone, and I can finally close for the night.

“You did great, Ines. Thanks for helping out,” Walter, one of the waiters, tells me in the kitchen. He offers me a glass of wine and clinks his chalice with mine.

“Glad I could help. It helps to know the menu inside out,” I say with a shrug.

Since I’ve done everything I can think of, I hang out in the kitchen with the other cooks and waiters who are having dinner around one of the main counters. Esteban is working on a few cashier duties and I don’t want to distract him.

When I’m done sampling the entrees the waiters are sharing, Cyrus makes me try a fluffy pumpkin cake with buttercream frosting he’s thinking of including in their fall menu.

“Do I taste cinnamon and nutmeg in this?” He nods. “So, is it just like an alternative to pumpkin pie?”

“If you will. People who don’t like pie usually do enjoy cake. This will be something different for them to try,” Cyrus says with a shrug.

I lick the frosting off my fork and look melancholily at my last bite.

“This frosting is amazing. Is there any more cake? You did give me a tiny slice, after all,” I tease.

“Sorry, I’m afraid that was the last piece,” Cyrus says, emphasizing he’d already done me a solid.

“Last piece of what?” Esteban asks. He looks beat, but when he finds me sitting on the kitchen counter, his gaze brightens up. I can’t wait to smother him with kisses. “Pretty sure that’s a health code violation, young lady,” he teases.

I immediately jump off the counter. “Yes, boss. Sorry, boss,” I tell him with a smug smile.

Amusement dances in his eyes and his lips curl into a mischievous grin. He gives Cyrus a pat on the arm and asks, “What were you two talking about?”

“This amazing cake Cyrus is testing for your fall menu. Here,” I pick up the last bite with the fork and lift the plate and fork closer to him.

“You’re giving me the last bite?”

“What, you don’t want it?” I prompt, arching one eyebrow and pulling the plate back toward me. “I’m nothing if not generous, but if you don’t want it…” I’m about to lift the fork back to my mouth so I can eat the damn bite, when Esteban stops my arm, one hand circling my wrist, and takes the bite of cake off the fork. His eyes don’t leave mine as he does that.

Up close, under the bright kitchen lights, I can see specs of gold in his wolfish, hungry eyes. I lick my lips instinctively, thankful that everyone else seems too busy chatting to pay attention to us. Everyone except Cyrus.

“Okay, you two,” he jokes to Esteban patting him on the back, “I think it’s time to call it a night. Good work, everyone. Make sure you finish cleaning up the kitchen before you leave.”

“Bye, Cyrus,” we all echo.

“Ready to go home?” Esteban asks.

“Which home? Mine or the Garcia manor?”

“Don’t call it that.” He lets out a laugh. He rinses the plate and fork in a sink and then puts it in the dishwashing station.

“Why not? We’ve been dating for over two months and I haven’t even seen the place. There’s obviously something you’re hiding. Maybe you’re a hoarder,” I tease, not that hoarding is any laughing matter, but it’d be nice if I could find out what Esteban’s major flaw is.

So far, I haven’t had any luck. He doesn’t gamble, doesn’t overdrink, he’s a hard worker, he doesn’t strike me as a cheater, and he’s also a business and home owner.

On top of that, he’s beautiful, amazing in bed, and has great style. Cyrus even told me he can cook, although I haven’t had a chance to have him cook for me yet.

It’s exhaustingly annoying dating someone who doesn’t have a flaw.

If I see his house, and I can confirm it’s a gigantic mess, I’ll feel better about myself. I’m thirty-one, I’m going through a divorce and I live in a two-hundred-square-foot rental. On the plus side, however, my boyfriend is a dream.

“I told you we couldn’t go over there because I was having some work done around the house, not because I don’t want you to see it. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to show you,” he says pointedly.

“Sure, sure.” I roll my eyes playfully.

We say goodbye to everyone and walk back to the office, so I can grab my stuff.

He leans in closer as we walk, and his breath tickles my cheek.

“That, and your place is closer…much closer.”

He gives me a long, lustful look, and when he places his hand on the small of my back, and then on my ass, a shiver runs down my spine. He’s right. My place is fifteen minutes from here, and by the time he gets off work it’s usually late. I glance at the time on my phone as I retrieve my bag and realize it’s already eleven thirty.

“It’s late,” he says, wrapping his arms around me from behind, placing a kiss on the side of my neck. “Let’s go home. I’ll take you to my house, so you can finally see for yourself.”

A smile spreads across my face as I catch the hint of humor in his voice.

“Do you have anything going on tomorrow?” he asks, his voice a whisper against my ear.

“No more than usual. Why?”

“I have the day off. We could stay up all night. I’ll make it worth your while,” he teases. My heart starts dancing in my chest, and I bite my bottom lip before I turn and wrap my arms around his neck.

“That sounds like the perfect plan.”

 

 

Our fingers are laced together as Esteban drives to his house. We have the windows rolled down, and my hair is blowing in every direction, but I don’t mind it. I stare at the sleepy neighborhoods we make our way through, as the mellow, nostalgic notes of “Thinking of a Place” by The War on Drugs fills the space between us.

It’s already past midnight by the time we make it to his house, a whole thirty minutes later. From the outside, his house is one of the more modern suburban two-story homes that still retain the traditional architectural elements of an adobe house. It has a big, two-door garage, but the walls are a terracotta color and the trim on the big windows and on the garage doors is painted in my favorite color, turquoise. Sometimes I think Esteban is my spirit animal. He parks the truck outside, for some reason, wanting to lead me through the small walkaway that leads to the front door. He opens the door slowly and gives me a long, pensive look before letting me in.

“What is it? Do you think I’m going to run for the hills? It’ll only happen if you have a taxidermy collection.”

“Negative,” he laughs. Humor dances in his eyes.

“Is the house haunted? It can’t be more than twenty years old.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but no. And yes, it’s fifteen years old to be exact.”

When Esteban turns on the switch, skylights illuminate a wide living room with high ceilings, light pine wood floors and off-white walls.

The vibe of the whole place is simple and comfortable. Furniture with clean lines and a modern vibe mixed with the relaxed structural atmosphere of the house.

In a corner there is the traditional New Mexico-style fireplace.

It is adorable, and that alone ignites a number of fantasies involving the two of us. However, I don’t have time to dwell on the space as a whole, because my focus is stolen by the large, floor-to-ceiling windows that capture my attention.

“Esteban, can you turn off the lights?” I ask in a soft tone. He narrows his eyes on me, amused by my request.

“How about this?” he turns a switch on the wall and the skylight softens in intensity.

I nod. “Thank you.”

Without asking permission, or explaining myself, I walk to the glass door and open it, going outside to discover the most magnificent view.

The same mountains I can see from my home are right in front of me, much, much closer than I’m used to. It almost feels as if I could have a private conversation with them. And when I look up, the glory of the night sky makes my eyes fills with tears.

The stars. There’s about a million of them. I didn’t notice them when we got out of the car. I was too curious to see what the inside looked like.

I wasn’t prepared to face the blanket of stars that covered the sky. I feel Esteban come behind me and wrap his arms around my middle.

“I can’t believe you hid all this from me for so long.”

He must detect the sarcasm in my voice, because he laughs against my shoulder.

“I’m only sort of kidding. I like how you never mentioned…all of this.”

Now that I’m slowly starting to recover from the view that left me breathless, I start noticing other details, like the wide patio we’re standing on surrounded by a big, gorgeous backyard. Five-feet-high walls surround the space, a few young trees are planted along the fence. On my right side there’s a table with a few chairs, and on my left there’s a beautiful pool that looks even more inviting under the starlight.

I can’t believe we’ve spent so many nights holed up at my place when we could have been hanging out here. What’s Esteban’s angle? I don’t get it.

Any man I’ve met seemed inclined to show off what they had, but Esteban is the opposite.

“This place is beautiful,” I say, turning to face him. “Why didn’t you say something? Were you afraid I’d fall in love with the house and ask if I could move in?”

He laughs, the smile stretching across his face slow and easygoing. My question hasn’t fazed him at all.

This is no bachelor pad. This is a house for someone who’s looking to the future. Lupe’s words about him being in a relationship a while ago echo in my ears, and they make me wonder if he bought this house to settle down, or even if he was living here with his girlfriend.

“How many square feet is it?”

“It’s about twenty-eight hundred square feet.”

“You have almost three thousand square feet at your disposal? Why in hell have we been spending almost every night in two hundred square feet?

Esteban laughs bashfully. “I wanted to, but I had workers out here every day to put in that pool out there. It took longer than I expected, like any construction job. This house has been an endless project, but it wasn’t easy to have that going on while we were in the middle of opening Vida Dulce. Quite frankly, I’m ready to set renovations aside for a while.”

“You’ve done a very good job so far. It’s such a nice place. And the view out here…it’s certainly the best-selling point.”

“I might have showed it to you sooner if I had any idea how much you were going to like it.” A gaze full of joy locks on mine. The glow of the night highlights the traits of his face. It cascades on his high cheekbones, his nose, and full mouth and I’m dying to do indecent things to him.

This man, who’s solid from head to toe, is not only one of the most accomplished people I’ve met, but also the humblest. There’s something so intoxicating about the way he downplays how good he is, and it makes me even crazier for him.

“I haven’t even told you about the roof.”

“What’s on the roof?” I ask, impatient.

“A small terrace. You can see the most beautiful sunrises from there.”

“I bet you can see the most beautiful everything from out here.”

“I can now,” he muses, looking at my face. I feel blood rush to my cheeks and my chest is on fire. So much for taking it slow…I’m already so in over my head.

“Stop it…unless…” I pause, avoiding his eyes and staring at my hands resting on his chest.

“Unless what?” His voice is a mischievous caress. He tips my chin up, brushing his soft lips against mine. Once, twice, three times. It’s all it takes for my head to start swimming. He kisses my cheek slowly, diligently, and starts placing a trail of warm, wet kisses under the hollow of my ear, down my neck, down the line of my collarbone. I hold his head as he’s curved like this around me, and I run my fingers through his hair as black as the night sky.

“Stop it unless you want me to fall more and more in love with you.”

He lifts up his head, interrupting his seduction, eyes boring into mine, as dazzling as the stars above us. The smirk that slowly spreads across his face is both seductive and ornery.

“Oh, but I do.”

 

 

“I got this house a while ago. It was a foreclosure and not in very good shape to begin with. It also had a very weird layout. I’ve been working on it on and off for years.” Esteban unties my hair and lets it fall across my shoulders.

He slowly removes the cross tie I forgot to take off at the restaurant, and places it on the sink. We agreed to shower first, to remove the layer of scents from the restaurant that inevitably sticks on you when you’re in and out of the kitchen all night.

I convince him to tell me all about when he bought the house, after he’s given me a tour of the two-story home. There are four bedrooms and three bathrooms. We are in the en suite bathroom connected to his room, the one with a walk-in shower.

His eyes darken when he unbuttons my shirt, and pulls it off my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor.

“Talk about prime real estate,” I say, glancing at the shower that could fit six people, at least.

“I agree,” he replies, his teeth grazing his bottom lip as his eyes travel down my body, giving my breasts an appreciative look.

“That’s not what I was talking about,” I tease, playfully covering the top of my décolleté displayed in the demi bra with one of my arms.

“Oh, but I am,” he says removing my hands, holding them in his. Lust ignites his emerald eyes. “Undress me, Ines.” His voice is a low rumble, and as his mouth captures mine, he brings my hands to the buttons of his shirt. I remember that first night, and I can’t believe how fast things have progressed. How can I be constantly starving for him? The taste of his tongue, the feel of him against me, it’s all I need to forget about everything else. Blood rushes to my head as my body electrifies like a magnetic field under his touch.

Damn this man and his capable mouth…and capable hands. As I undress him, he manages to take off my bra and unbutton my pants. He lets them fall down to my ankles. His tongue strokes against mine maddeningly slow, but I savor the taste of him, a faint hint of cinnamon still on his tongue. When I unbuckle his pants, I caress his hardness through the fabric of the pants, and he moans into my mouth. It’s the hottest thing and it makes me even more wet for him. My hands run up the smooth planes of his torso while he tries to take his pants off with swift movements and then he breaks the kiss to hang them somewhere. I step out of mine and take off my shoes and socks. He switches off one of the lights on the large vanity, leaving just the main bathroom light on. He opens the glass door to turn on the hot water.

We’re facing each other, standing in our underwear, and I can’t help staring at him, at his bulge, the proof of how much he desires me. Where he’s hard, I’m soft, but somehow our bodies complement each other in the best, most important way. Gripping my ass, he brings me closer to him as his mouth ravishes me once more. Glimpses of his hungry eyes have me breathing hard, thinking about what’s to come. The way he wants me, the way he loves me, makes me forget about the few extra pounds, about my full thighs and rounder ass.

I’ve never felt so beautiful before.

I feel emboldened by his love for me.

After stripping off our underwear, he leads me into the shower, and I place myself under the showerhead, soaking myself. When I open my eyes, he’s staring at me, part wolfish, part playful.

“I’ve been a damn fool,” he says.

“About what?”

“About not bringing you here sooner. You look so damn good in my shower. You look like you belong here,” he says in a low, husky tone. The words alone could send me over the edge, but Esteban’s intentions are matched by his expert hands. One of them caresses one of my breasts, pinching the nipple. He grabs some body wash and starts lathering me with it.

His hands are everywhere, touching every curve, every sensitive spot, and the aching in my lower belly is merciless. I take his hard length in my hand, stroking it, and when his fingers part my lips and find my swollen clit, I see stars behind my eyelids.

His lips cover mine, and when his tongue finds mine, I have to remind myself to breathe. I keep stroking him as he’s determined to bring me over the edge.

And then it happens, and my body goes into havoc. The orgasm rips through my body and I break the kiss, crying out his name, holding myself up digging my nails in his skin.

He kisses my cheek.

“God, you’re so beautiful. I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing you come.”

My head is swimming, I’m under the water, but my body is on fire and I need more of him. I need him, and I want him to feel as good as he makes me feel.

Emboldened by my orgasm, I drop to my knees.

The soft but hungry look in his eyes is priceless. If he thought he liked me in his shower before, he’ll never be able to forget the image of me in it sucking him off. I take him in my mouth, my tongue rubbing along his smooth, velvety shaft. I suck him and stroke him up and down keeping a steady rhythm. With one hand in my hair, my love has to hold himself up with the other. His low, guttural moans make my nipples harden and I can only hope he’ll keep his promise to keep me up all night, because I need more of him.

“I’m about to come,” he warns me as he gets harder in my mouth, but I don’t stop. I’m one hundred percent committed to this. My hands go up to his hips, steadying him as he comes, trembling. I swallow his release, and when he’s through, I get up to hug him and hold him to me. His teeth graze the skin of my jaw, my ear, biting and nipping wherever he can reach. He’s ravishing me, pausing every few seconds to give me a dreamy, lust-filled glance. The saltiness of him tickles my throat, but the look in his eyes is worth everything.

“Good fucking God,” he whispers. “Let’s get out of here so I can properly return the favor.”

 

 

“I can’t believe you’ve kept this gigantic bed all to yourself. I’m not sure I like you anymore,” I tease. Esteban chuckles as I try to get away from him in his king-size bed, but he manages to reel me in and he holds me tight to him.

“Really? You don’t like me anymore?” His laughter tickles my skin.

“Nope.”

“The three condoms in the trash can would suggest otherwise.”

“What can I say? You can be very persuasive.” I’m not sure what time it is, but neither one of us is showing any sign of slowing down. After our shower, we dried off and Esteban made good on his promise to ravish me. Over and over and over.

I’m teasing him, of course, but I can’t believe that this whole time we’ve been having sex in my tiny bed when we could have been using his gigantic one.

“Yeah?” His body hovers over me. “But you still don’t like me?”

“We’ve been shacking up every night in my full-size bed, when you have a perfectly good king-size right here. And it’s so comfortable.”

“So is yours.”

“But it’s so small for the two of us.”

“Are you saying you don’t like me wrapped around you every night?”

“That’s not what I mean. But it would have been nice to know this beauty was here,” I say, stretching my arms wide across the soft memory foam mattress.

“The only beauty I see here is you,” he says with such startling honesty, my nose tingles almost immediately and tears form in my eyes.

“I love you,” I tell him, putting an end to my charade. “I love that you passed up the chance to sleep in this wonder to sleep curled up next to me.”

“About that…I know that we already rectified, but I wanted to have a proper do-over?”

“A proper do-over?” I laugh. “You had it. At the restaurant.”

“That shouldn't count,” he says.

“And why not?” I'm too entertained by the look of amusement in his eyes to not go along with whatever he has in mind.

“Because that was not where I wanted to say it either,” he explains.

“Where did you want to say it the first time?”

“Here.” The gravelly tone of his voice sends a shiver down my spine. His eyes are black pools fixed on me, and his arm wraps around my waist.

“Okay. You can…whenever you want.” I caress his face, ready for my heart to leap out of my chest again. The notion that he loves me still feels like a foreign concept, a beautiful dream I don’t want to wake up from.

He runs a hand up and down my side, and my skin turns into goose bumps.

“I’m sorry I said it to you on the phone.”

I run my fingers along the stubble on his face.

“I’m not really sorry it came out that way. It was spontaneous.”

“Yeah…but I had been thinking about that for a while and that’s not how I wanted to do it…” He glances down at me and bites his bottom lip but doesn’t say anything.

I frown. What’s he waiting for? Is there a more perfect moment than this?

Something flashes across his eyes, and he jumps out of bed. “What time is it?” he asks while he pulls a curtain to look outside.

“I don’t know…” I roll over and grab my phone. “It’s almost six.”

“Remember what I told you about the terrace?” he asks. “How would you feel about venturing upstairs?” I vaguely remember what he said earlier this morning about seeing the sunrise.

“Okay…I guess. Let me grab my clothes.”

“Here, wear this.” He hands me one of his T-shirts and a pair of soft jersey sweatpants. I put the T-shirt and then the pants on, foregoing trying to find my underwear in the bathroom. I’d like to say that just like in any given romance novel, my boyfriend’s clothes swallow me, but it’s not true, at least for me. The T-shirt is just slightly big for me, but the pants fit me just fine.

“Ready?” He stretches his arm and we walk hand in hand. He grabs a light blanket from a closet nearby and we head upstairs. I’m smiling now, because I know what he’s up to. It’s not as spontaneous as the first time he told me, and it’s a bit cheesy, but I can’t fault him for being romantic. It’s been years since I’ve been up all night, but here I am, at six in the morning, wrapped in a blanket with the man I love, waiting for the sunrise. We snuggle on a chaise, mostly in silence, exchanging a few kisses as the sky starts to change, and then we see the sun slowly rise from behind the mountain.

It’s so quiet and beautiful out here, I couldn’t be happier than I am with Esteban holding me, his nose running along my jaw.

“Ines?”

“Hmmm?” I ask, acting as if I have no idea where he’s going with this. As much as my heart is jumping with joy in my chest, I can’t believe I have this man’s love. However, something stirs when I turn and look into his beautiful eyes, glossy with emotion. It’s the realization that this wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, and it’s certainly not a dream.

This is true, this is real.

I’m in love with him and he’s in love with me.

“This was how I wanted to tell you that I love you.”