Alejandro

When I’d agreed to open the Malibu house with Rafe to make sure everything in the brand spanking new house worked as it should before the family descended I’d done so with the intention of working full time until our vacations officially started. That all went out the window when I met Kaya. I was fortunate enough to be in a position where work could be done remotely on a regular basis, and I’d decided to take advantage of that. I left the office after working slightly less than half a day and headed home with a hell of a lot of anticipation about seeing Kaya again. I figured I could catch up overnight, after I dropped her off.

I could hear the smile in her voice when I called her from the car to say that I was about to take the final turn off PCH toward our neighborhood.

“That’s good since I just walked through your front gate,” she sighed. “I swear Elvis knew I was getting ready to leave the house because he ditched me again. I’d be panicking if I hadn’t heard him squawking happily in your yard. I don’t know how I’m going to explain this insanity to Emery.”

I grinned as I pressed the gate opener in my Range Rover so that I could pull into the driveway. My eyes went right to her like her body held magnets that would make it impossible for me to look away. She’d just reached the front walkway of the house, and the way the sun bathed her in light was almost ethereal. She was crazy fucking petite but somehow perfectly curvaceous, and I ached to touch her all of the time. My cock stiffened in my pants as she turned toward my car and smiled. Fuck, she was making me so crazy. I hadn’t jerked off as much at fifteen as I did after meeting Kaya. I stopped the car just next to where she was standing. After putting it into park, I jumped out and strode toward her with what I’m sure was a shit-eating grin.

“Belleza.”

She was wearing a pale blue form-fitted sleeveless cotton dress with a long sleeved white cotton shirt tied around her waist. The pair of white Converse sneakers were oddly sexy, but in my opinion, she’d look hot as hell in anything. Her hair was down in a style my sister-in-law described as loose beachy waves. Kaya had finished the outfit with a pair of mirrored aviators that she pushed up onto her head as she smiled at me. I got lost for a second staring into her eyes and enjoying the way they sparkled. She was so beautiful that it was all I could do not to pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her. When her cotton candy scent wafted toward me, I had to stifle a groan.

“Um, hi,” she said softly. “So… I didn’t realize you’d be in a suit.”

The way she bit her lip as her cheeks went pink had me doing a little victory dance in my head. Kaya was shy, but I knew she was as interested in me as I was in her. Our chemistry was electric, so much so that you could almost see it arcing between. I’d do whatever needed to be done to get her on board with being mine. Already I knew I was hers.

“I’m getting changed before we leave,” I assured her. “I imagine that going to the movies in a business suit wouldn’t be the most comfortable thing in the world.”

She pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. “Phew. I was feeling seriously under dressed for a minute there. You go do that while I walk around back to give Elvis what-for.”

When she turned to walk away, I reached out and gently ran my hand down her arm. She stopped immediately, her little gasp music to my ears. The feel of her skin was the softest silk.

“Wait, Belleza.”

The color on her cheeks was more pronounced when she turned back to me. There was no missing her reaction to my touch.

“Come through the house,” I instructed. For reasons I couldn’t even fully identify, I wanted her in my space.

“Oh. Okay. Right. Sure.”

It was crazy fucking adorable how thrown off she was by the connection between us. I ached to haul her into my arms, to be connected with her in some way so that I could feel her pulse beneath my fingertips. She wasn’t ready for that, yet, but I planned to make it clear to her in no uncertain terms that I wanted to be with her as soon as I possibly could.

“How was work?” Kaya asked as we walked toward the front door.

“Long,” I answered without hesitation.

“Your super-short half day was long?” she teased.

I shrugged because it was true—the day had dragged. “Things always seem to go slower when you have something to look forward to. I wanted to come home so we could get our afternoon started,” I answered as I entered the code to unlock the front door.

I turned to look at her as the door opened and when her eyes met mine, she bit her lip and looked away nervously. Her soft inhalation when she took in the house made me wonder what kind of sound she’d make when I worked my way inside of her for the first time. She was fucking tiny, and I was—well, not. I knew it would take work, and I couldn’t wait until I could touch her freely. Once I had a solid green light from her, I planned to spend a hell of a lot of time buried inside of her.

“Wow.” Her tone of voice conveyed her surprise as she looked around and took in the house. “This is incredible. I wasn’t expecting it to feel so…”

“So?” I prodded when she didn’t finish her sentence.

She shook her head as I tossed my key fob into a bowl on the large entry table against the wall to the right of the doors.

“Warm,” she answered as she continued looking around. “I knew it would be beautiful—the outside made that clear—but with how big it is I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been stiff and formal. I’ve often found that a lot of space and a lot of money can quickly become a museum style space with too much stuff going on. This isn’t like that at all. It’s perfection. The way the spaces are open but not cavernous is genius. Whoever the architect was, they’re a genius— and your decorator was worth every cent.”

I grinned as I guided her through the house. “Hart International designed and built it. When it was completed, my mother and sister-in-law did the interior. This family is too big for formality, to be honest. When we’re all together, it’s loud and a little crazy. Comfort has always been key.”

She nodded and smiled as she gestured to the custom-made fifteen-seat sectional sofa in the living room as we came to the thirty-foot wall of glass that led out to the yard. “Before now I would’ve said it would be impossible for a couch of that size to look cozy, but it really does. I could imagine binge-watching in here.”

I laughed as I pressed one of the buttons on the wall next to the glass doors so that a small portion of the wall of glass slid open to let us out to the yard. If I’d pressed another button the entire wall would’ve retracted. I made a mental note to show her that the next time she was over.

“It is comfortable,” I answered, “and you’re welcome to binge-watch to your heart’s content over here anytime you want. If it’s a streaming service you’re looking for, we have them all. My father is kind of fanatical about his television.”

She smiled as we stepped out onto the covered patio area, which had table seating for twenty and enough outdoor chairs to house the same number. Six fans whirred overhead, moving the warm summer air comfortably throughout the space. Directly ahead of us across the yard was the pool where the overhead rain fountains that arced over the back filled the air with the soothing sound of flowing water. We both paused our steps as we came out from under the covered patio and saw Rafe sitting in one of the double loungers to our left, his hand held out in front of him. The reason his hand was out became clear when I noticed the jar of peanuts at his side. Elvis was perched on the back of the lounger eating out of his hand. He nodded toward Kaya and me as we started walking again.

“It’s a shame he’s not a parrot,” he called out, “because I gotta think I’d have made a badass pirate.”

I let out a bark of laughter at the same time Kaya’s sweet laugh rang out through the air. My brother laughed too when Elvis pecked his shoulder, almost as if he understood what Rafe had said.

“Aw buddy,” Rafe laughed as he turned to Elvis, “I’m just playing. Having a peacock pal is just as cool as having a parrot. Besides, I don’t have a peg-leg, and I get seasick, so pirating is out.”

“I’m sorry that he came back over the fence,” Kaya said as we walked toward the lounger, “but I see that you like him.”

Rafe shrugged. “He’s a good time. No mindless chatter, unless you count the things I say to him. Not sure why he likes it over here so much, but it’s not a bad thing.”

Kaya smiled as Elvis jumped down from the lounge and walked to her side. “I’m reasonably sure one of the reason he’s excited is that you feed him,” she said dryly. “Watermelon earlier, peanuts now—you’ve got a friend for life. He must think your house is food utopia.” Looking down at Elvis, she raised a brow. “You know you’re a little criminal, right?”

Birds can’t smile, but I swear if Elvis could’ve grinned, he would’ve. He cawed and then pecked at Kaya’s side playfully. “Yeah, yeah,” she laughed, “you didn’t do anything wrong—gravity just floated you over here.”

Elvis somehow managed to look repentant and innocent at the same time. The love he and Kaya had for each other was readily apparent. “I’m going out this afternoon,” she told him, like he’d understand. “You need to stay at home while I’m gone, buddy.”

“Or,” I said, thinking out loud, “Rafe could babysit.”

“Oh, no,” she said, “there’s no need for that—”

“It’s no problem,” Rafe interrupted. “I’m not going anywhere or anything. He can stay with me.”

The crazy bird looked up at Kaya hopefully, like he wanted to stay and hang out with Rafe.

“Ah, okay,” Kaya said slowly. “He can stay, but so that you know, he doesn’t need to be watched the whole time. At least not normally,” she said, looking down at Elvis with a raised brow. “He’s normally content to chill out. This is the most excitement he’s had since last molting season.”

She giggled when she noticed that Rafe and I were both looking at her blankly. “Toward the end of every summer he loses his feathers,” she explained.

My brother’s face scrunched up. “Elvis is going to lose all of his feathers soon? Being a naked peacock has to suck.”

Kaya clutched her stomach as she laughed harder. God, she was fucking sweet. “No, no,” she squeaked, “just the long ones. Everything on his body stays.”

Rafael let out a loud exhale. “Thank fuck. My dude wouldn’t look so good without all of his color.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes at my brother, the idiot. For someone who had originally been scared damn near shitless of the bird, he sure had come around to it.

“So you got this?” I asked.

Rafe nodded. “Just call me the bird watcher.”

“Alright, then we’re out as soon as I change my clothes.”

I reached out to touch Kaya’s arm again, not because it was necessary to get her attention. “Come inside—it’ll only take me a minute to get changed.”

She bit her lip as she turned and looked up at me and nodded. Fuck, I wanted to do things to those lips. How someone could look so beautiful and pure while simultaneously inspiring dozens of XXX rated fantasies was a mystery to me. Her face was flushed with color when she looked down at Elvis and ever so gently tickled his fluffy crown with her finger. “You be good, okay?”

The innocent look Elvis gave her made me snort. The little shit acted like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, but Rafe had filled me in on all the crap the bird showed up with that morning. Like Kaya had told me the day before, Elvis was a thief. I did not doubt that he had a substantial stash on the other side of the wall.

Kaya waved at Elvis before she turned and followed me into the house. I left her in the living room before I hurried up the stairs to my suite. The way the house was set up had my parents, Rafe and Diego’s rooms on the ground floor while mine was upstairs on the opposite side of the house from Mateo and Ava’s. Joaquin’s room was at the front of the house, next to the game room. My father and mother both had separate office spaces downstairs, but the rest of us had chosen to have one large office installed up on the second floor for all of us to use if need be. There were two large desks, two separate seating areas, and a boardroom table to accommodate the all of us, and whomever else we had in the office with us. The rest of the top floor was taken up with two guest rooms and an in home theater that had seating for twenty. The Malibu house was designed to be a fully functional vacation home for the entire family, and at just over twelve thousand square feet it still managed to feel cozy. In my opinion, my mother and Ava had hit the ball out of the park when they’d worked with the architects who designed it.

Once in my bedroom, I stripped out of my suit and quickly donned jeans, a white tee and a pair of white Nikes. I changed quickly before throwing open the door and running to the stairs to get back to Kaya. I found her standing in front of one of the many displays of family pictures that were woven throughout the house.

She turned my way when I entered and gave me a bemused smile. “How many times a day does your mother get asked if all of her sons are models? This many good looking people is ridiculous,” she said as she gestured at the photos.

When I snickered, she went on. “That’s not even taking into account how attractive your parents are—and don’t even get me started on your sister-in-law,” she said. As she spoke, she gestured to one of the biggest photos on the wall, a photo of the entire family picture that had been taken at Mateo and Ava’s wedding. We’d been told collectively and separately for as long as I could remember that we were blessed with beauty, which meant I was somewhat used to it—but that didn’t mean the fact that Kaya had, for all intents and purposes, admitted that she found me handsome, didn’t please me.

“Thank you, I think,” I said.

She swiveled my way with a grin. “It was a compliment but enough about looks. I wouldn’t want to give you a big head. Are you hungry?”

“Starved,” I answered. Technically I was talking about my hunger for her, but she couldn’t know that.

“Awesome,” she said excitedly. “Let’s get on the road.”

I gestured for her to walk alongside me as we headed to the front doors. “Your chariot awaits.”