Alejandro

I called my mother on my way home from work the following day. Unfortunately, I’d had to work another full day, but unlike Wednesday, Thursday hadn’t been the day from hell. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that I was strutting around like a certain peacock I knew. I couldn’t help it—the night before had been incredible, and I was the happiest motherfucker alive.

“Hello sweet Alejandro,” Mamá laughed when she picked up the phone. “How is my oldest son?”

“I’m better than I’ve ever been because I’m in love,” I announced.

My family was up in the air on their way to California, just twelve hours from landing. The sound of my mother dropping her phone made me laugh. She got control of it quickly. “The girl next door that you’ve been dating?” she asked.

“Yes. She is everything, Mamá. You’re going to love her so much—maybe almost as much as I do. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would be this lucky.”

“The curse is broken?” she teased, referring to the way my family called me Seinfeld.

“Completely obliterated,” I laughed. “Apparently the gods were just messing with me until I could make my way to the perfect girl.”

“I can’t wait to meet her!” Mamá exclaimed with excitement.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” I answered. “I’ll bring her over to meet the entire family as soon as I get off work. Hopefully, everyone will be awake by then. I know you’ll all be exhausted since you aren’t even landing until four in the morning.”

She made a dismissive sound. “We are well used to the jet lag, Jandro. You bring that girl to meet us the second you get back from work. I can’t wait to meet her.”

I couldn’t wait to introduce her to everyone.

* * *

Once again I spent the night at Kaya’s, climbing out of bed with a satisfied smile as she curled up in the blanket and watched me dress. Her skin was still flush with color from our lovemaking, her eyes sparkling when I winked at her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I teased.

“Like what?” she laughed.

“Like you want more. This is my last day of work for the next week, which means I have no choice but to go. If you keep looking at me the way you are I’ll blow the whole thing off.”

She giggled as she sat up and pushed her hair back from her face. I growled when the comforter dropped and exposed her breasts to my hungry gaze. “Belleza,” I groaned.

She yanked the comforter back up and shook her head. “I didn’t do that on purpose,” she said. “Stop staring at me like I’m your next meal and you won’t see things that turn you on.”

I barked out a laugh as I pulled my shirt on over my head. “Even if I can’t see you, I know you’re there, and I want you. I can’t help it.”

“The sooner you go to work, the sooner you can have me again,” she pointed out.

I laughed as I leaned over the bed and kissed her again. “Good point. I’m headed out now, but I’ll be back sometime after lunch. You’ll have Elvis all to yourself today—Rafael is going to the office for the day to meet with his team so that he too can be off for the next week.”

“Aw,” she laughed, “As happy as I am that I’ll have the big boy all to myself I’m sure he’ll miss his non-feathered bro.”

Unable to resist I leaned in for another kiss. When I pulled away, she was breathless, and I was hard. “Okay, okay,” I laughed as I took a step back. “I’m going home to shower and change before I tear my clothes off and crawl back into bed with you. I’ll be home between noon and one.”

She smiled as she tucked her head and looked up at me from beneath her lashes. “Have a good day, dear.”

“How can I not when I know I’m coming home to you?”

“If you keep talking like that, in about four seconds I’m not going to let you leave,” she joked.

I smiled and stepped back closer to the bed before I leaned down, dropped a kiss on her head and then stood up. “I love you, Belleza.”

“I love you too,” she answered.

I knew I’d never, ever tire of hearing those words.

* * *

I grinned when I saw my mother's cell phone number pop up on the caller ID of my cell phone.

“Mamá,” I said warmly, “you’re awake. I’m leaving the office in about five minutes. Are you ready to meet my girl?”

“We need to talk, Alejandro.”

I frowned at the serious tone in her voice. “What’s wrong, Mamá?”

Her sigh was heavy. “After what happened with Francesca I promised myself that I would never stay silent if I knew one of my boys was making a bad decision. It kills me to do this, Jandro, but I have to. This girl is not worthy of you.”

It was like all of the air had been sucked out of my body. I sagged back in my office chair in absolute disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right? She couldn’t be more perfect for me if God himself designed her from a wish list I wrote. I love her, Mamá. She is everything to me. You haven’t even met her yet!”

When she sniffled several times in a row, I knew she was crying or trying not to cry. “You are wrong—she’s in the family room right now. She sauntered in here like she owns the place and started asking the most ridiculous questions I’ve ever been subjected to. How can you love her? She is awful, Alejandro—absolute trash. She makes Francesca look like a semi-decent human being.”

My eyes bulged in disbelief as I sat up ramrod straight. “Are you fucking serious right now?” I roared.

“Watch your mouth!”

“No, Mamá. I will not take this. You’re talking about the woman I worship like she is some kind of sickness. I’m horrified. She is the sweetest person on earth. Dealing with Rafe and Francesca may have warped your view of anyone who isn’t Avelina, but that’s not going to stop me. I love her, Mamá, more than anyone or anything in the world. She is my soulmate, and some day in the not too distant future I’m going to marry her.”

“She has put a spell on your brain, Alejandro. It isn’t just me who dislikes her. Your father is about four seconds from throwing her out the damn door and Mateo looks like he might snap her neck the next time she says something snide to Ava. This girl is the definition of rudeness. I cannot believe that my son is in love with someone so crass. She asked your father if what she’s heard about our net worth is true and then she demanded that I contact designers for her wedding gown, which, for the record, sounds like the ugliest thing—”

My heart nearly exploded in my chest as the realization of what was happening hit me like a freight train. “Mamá! That is not Kaya. Press one of the security buttons now.”

She gasped. “I—what?”

“Is she a teeny tiny blonde with the face of a fucking angel and the sweetest disposition of all time, or is she a very tall woman with black hair, fake tits and the aura of one of Satan’s minions?

“Black hair,” my mother whispered.

“Her name is Letty, and she is nuts,” I barked as I grabbed my key fob and ran out of the office at high speed. “Press the button now. Once security has her, call the police. I am on my way home.”

I peeled out of the parking garage at high speed, anger flowing through my veins like lava. I’d asked the designer who had set me up with her several times if he’d been the one to give her my cell phone number after I changed it. I’d believed him when he denied it, but with her having knowledge about where my family’s vacation house was, I wasn’t going to give him the benefit of the doubt again. I put in a quick call to my lawyer and instructed him to draw up papers to terminate the designer's employment with strict instructions that he was to tell him that if the psycho had any more information on me that came from him, there would be hell to pay.

After I finished that call, I hit Kaya’s name on my phone. I frowned when I could tell it was sent straight to voice mail. Figuring she was busy with Elvis, I waited five minutes and called back. Once again, she sent me to voice mail. I called six more times and was sent to voice mail each time, the pit in my stomach growing ever larger every time it happened. On the seventh call, she picked up the phone.

“How dare you call me, y-you lying s-sack of shit?” she sobbed, her voice shaking with anger. “I-I h-hate y-y-you s-so much. Don’t ever c-call me again!

As bad as things were before that, her call hurtled me into a panic, unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I called five more times, and she sent me to voice mail every single one of them. I floored it down the freeway, the Range Rovers engine humming as I put it through its paces in order to get home faster.

When I finally dropped down onto Pacific Coast Highway about five miles from home, I got a call from my mother. I cringed because I could hear Letty screaming obscenities in the background.

“The police are here, and they wanted to wait for your statement, but this girl is completely off her rocker. She just attacked one of the officers, so now they’ve got her in handcuffs. They’re taking her down to the station and filing charges of their own—they wanted me to tell you to head there as soon as possible.”

I shook my head. “Tell them I’m stuck at work but will be there in about two hours. Somehow Letty talked to Kaya, and things are bad. I don’t know what she told her; I just know that I have to take care of that first. I can’t lose her, Mamá. I would not survive it.”

“This just goes from bad to worse,” my mother sighed. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I will do as you’ve said. You take care of things with your girl and then bring her here so that we can meet the actual love of your life.”