Alejandro

I could tell she was hesitant to agree and it stung far more than it should have, considering I'd spent a total of fifteen minutes with her since we'd met. It didn't matter because just like Mateo had said about the night he saw Avelina in the sunroom, I knew what Kaya was to me. I held my breath and said a silent prayer as I waited for her answer.

“You want to go to the Farmer's Market?" she asked, her voice incredulous. I would have been mildly insulted if it hadn't been so funny. It also didn't hurt that I was turned on by the way she bit her lip when she said it, as if my desire to go, was a real conundrum.

I grinned but kept my laugh inside. “I do,” I confirmed.

She made a face that caused her brow to furrow and her nose to scrunch up, which was oddly fucking hot. “Well then. Um, sure,” she answered after a lengthy pause. “I mean, it would be a sin not to experience it if you want to go.”

I couldn't have given less of a shit about the Farmer's Market experience, but I wanted to spend as much time with Kaya Porter as humanly possible.

“Thanks for letting me tag along, neighbor” I smiled. “I’ll go get my wallet.”

She swallowed and looked away for a few seconds. “I need to run back to the house to grab my purse and lock the doors,” she explained when she looked back at me. “I’ll swing by to pick you up in about five minutes. Meet me at the gate?”

I opened my mouth to offer to drive only to firmly close it before the words could come out. Something told me that Kaya needed that control, and I was fine giving it to her. She was wary, and I needed to work with it. "I'll be there," I answered.

The look of relief that flashed across her face told me I'd been right to acquiesce. "See you then," she said before she turned and walked away.

I watched her walk away, enjoying the deliberate and determined way she walked. She was tiny as hell, but everything about her packed a massive punch. Kaya made a bigger impression than anyone I'd ever met. I couldn't help the way I watched her until she walked out my still open gate, nor could I contain my grin when I realized she was purposely not turning to look back. I had no doubt she was well aware that I was watching her, but she didn’t want to acknowledge it.

After she was out of sight, I ran into the house to wash my hands and grab my wallet before I tore off down the drive to wait for her at the gate. My heart rate skyrocketed when I heard the motor of the electric gate at Kaya's opening. When a cherry red VW Cabrio with two white fluffy dice hanging from the rearview mirror pulled out and stopped next to me, I couldn't contain my laugh. It matched Kaya and her personality to a T. She looked at home behind the wheel, the crystal accents on her white horn rimmed sunglasses twinkling in the sun.

“Cute car,” I said as I slid into the passenger seat.

She glanced over and wrinkled her nose. “Velma doesn’t like to be called cute,” she answered.

“You’ve named the car?” I asked as I clicked my seatbelt into place.

Kaya laughed as she put the car into gear and headed for our destination. I watched her movements with interest that surprised me. Never before had I been so enthralled by anyone, but her ease behind the wheel was downright sensual.

"I did," she answered as she shifted gears. "Velma belonged to my neighbor from down the street. I was so obsessed that I made her promise me that when I was sixteen, I could buy it. I was nine at the time. She assured me that if she still had it, I would be welcome to it. I saved up all of my allowance and birthday money for years. Later the money I made working at Emery's family peacock farm each summer went right into the bank. This car needed to be mine. It was a significant moment when the keys were handed over."

I could tell it meant a lot to her because the smile on her face told a story of its own, but for a few seconds, I was unable to say anything because I was busy fighting off what I knew would be a damn noticeable erection.

The day before Kaya had smelled like coconuts and sunshine. Earlier I'd gotten a faint hint of something sweet when I walked alongside her, and in the car, I realized what it was. She smelled like delicious cotton candy, and I wanted to trail my tongue over her skin to see if she tasted as good as she smelled. Realizing that I was supposed to say something, I let out a cough and forced myself to get my head back into reality.

“It’s a great car.”

She looked over at me when she came to a stop at the light that led out to Pacific Coast Highway. "Not as nice as either the midnight blue Maserati Quattroporte or the black Range Rover with new tags still on it that are parked in your driveway," she said dryly. "I bet your first car was brand new and it probably cost an arm and a leg."

Never was I so glad that my parents hadn't spoiled us all miserable rotten. "Remember what I said to you about assumptions?" I teased. "My parents flat out refused to get any of us nice cars until we had one year of perfectly clean driving under our belts. I was a little heavy on the gas pedal back then, so it took me two years to work my way up from an old black Renault that had no air con and stank like an old woman's perfume for the first six months I had it."

“So you hated every second of driving it,” she said as she shifted into gear and took the turn onto PCH.

"Actually, I didn't. The car was good to me, and I was good to it because it had personality. When it was passed down to my brother Diego, I threatened him with bodily harm if he fucked the car up. He managed to keep it safe for the year he had it—only one for him, no speeding tickets. It'd probably still be in the family now if my youngest brother Joaquin hadn't left it unlocked in a shitty area. It was stolen, and we never saw it again."

She looked over at me quickly before setting her gaze back on the road. “Exactly how many siblings do you have?” she asked.

“There are five of us,” I answered, “all boys.”

“Who’s the oldest?”

“I was the oldest until I was almost eleven,” I explained. “That year we found out about my brother Mateo after his mother passed away, and he came to live with us. He’s almost four years older than me.”

She chewed on her bottom lip as she focused on the road. "Did it bother you? Finding out you had a sibling and not being the oldest anymore?" she asked.

I was pleased with the interest in her tone.

I shook my head. "Not at all, because I immediately had a wicked case of hero worship for Mateo. It wasn't like my father had kept him from us. That was all his mother's decision. To this day it tears our father up inside that he did not have those first fourteen years with his son. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. Anyway, I am close to all of my brothers, but of the bunch, Mateo is who I have the closest friendship with. Rafe is a twin to our brother Diego, so they were born best friends and then Joaquin seemed to be born with a ball at his feet. He's always done his own thing."

She laughed as she shook her head. “I can’t even imagine having that many siblings.”

I got that a lot. The truth was that I couldn’t imagine what it would be like not to have them. Even when they drove me nuts—like Rafe was at the moment—they meant the world to me. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“Do you have any siblings?”

The smile on her face slipped away. "Uh. None that I know."

She didn't elaborate, but I could tell there was more to it than what she'd said.

“They say only children are strong and focused on their goals,” I offered. “That’s not a bad thing.”

Kaya let out a dismissive sound as she took a turn into the parking lot of the Farmer's Market. "Whatever strength I have didn't come from being raised an only child. Everything good I learned came from Gigi and Dean."

I wanted to ask who they were but didn't get the chance since she had found a parking spot. I unlatched my seatbelt as she pressed the button to close the convertible roof. Once we were out of the car, she opened her trunk and gestured to a pile of reusable grocery totes.

“Want one?” she asked.

I nodded and then accepted a mint green fabric tote that was embroidered with the words Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. She then pulled three more bags out for herself, all brightly colored with the same slogan on the front.

"I'm going to start with fruit," she announced. "Anything specific you want to go check out? I know this place like the back of my hand, so just tell me what you're thinking, and I'll point you on your way."

I figured it was still too soon to tell Kaya I just wanted to spend time with her, so I didn’t.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll explore with you and see what catches my eye.”

There was a brief hesitation as color spread across her cheeks. "Sure. Follow along, and we'll see what they've got today. Fair warning—I stop at about seventy percent of the booths. If shopping annoys you, get ready to be bored to tears."

I grinned down at her, unfazed by her telling me that. Stopping at the majority of the booths meant time and the more of it that I got to spend with Kaya, the better. Also, I'd spent thousands of hours of my life food shopping in order to learn everything there was to know about it. Going slowly wouldn't faze me at all.

We worked through fruits and vegetables first, where Kaya bought the biggest strawberries I'd ever seen in my life. I bought half-dozen ears of locally grown corn while she stocked up on fresh herbs, salad greens, and carrots. Her initial anxiety dissolved within the first few minutes, which was a relief. For having known each other for such a short amount of time, it was surprising that there wasn't any real discomfort between the two of us. We were able to travel from booth to booth without awkward silences or inane conversations about the weather. When we were silent, it was comfortable, and when we discussed things that were being sold at the booths we stopped at, it felt natural. Nothing was forced between us.

When we got to the prepared foods tents, I saw that there was an area with tables set up for people to eat. Since I wanted to draw our time together out as much as possible, I pointed to the tables and asked if she'd mind eating because I was starving.

"I generally stop and eat anyway," she answered. "What's caught your eye?"

I gestured with my head back at the stand to our left. “The smell of those homemade chips is making my mouth water.”

Kaya beamed at me like I’d given her the answers for the final exam in a class she hadn’t studied for.

“Their chips are amazzzzzzing,” she drawled, “and the homemade salsa and guac will take you to food heaven. Let’s grab a table so I can drop my bags and I’ll go order.”

As soon as we’d chosen a table and had set our bags onto an empty chair, Kaya stepped back to leave. I held out my hand to her. “Wait, I’ll go get—”

She shook her head firmly. “This is my treat. I owe you for all the aggravation with Elvis.”

I felt like such a piece of shit. Although the first incident had occurred naturally, I was the reason Elvis had come over the wall the second time.

“You don’t owe me anything, Kaya. Please—”

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared me down. “We can argue about this, but you’ll lose. The bottom line is that it’s important to me.”

I nodded and held my hands up in surrender. “Whatever you say.”

Kaya nodded her head once and grinned cheekily before she spun on her heel to go get the food.