Kaya

The sound of my ringing cell phone pulled me from a super steamy dream about Alejandro. I yawned as I picked the phone up and then gulped nervously when I saw his name on my caller I.D. It wasn’t like he could know that I’d been dreaming of rolling around in the surf with him, I assured myself.

I tried to play it cool when I answered the phone, hoping the fact that I was just waking up didn’t make me sound like a phone sex operator. “Hello?”

“Good morning, Belleza.”

I really needed to find out what that word meant. I was glad Alejandro couldn’t see me through the phone. If he had, he would’ve known I was smiling like a complete idiot. The sound of his voice did something to me every time. I was doing my best to keep myself in check but shooting the video with him the day before had only made me like him more. In addition to being one of the most gorgeous specimens God had ever seen fit to grace the earth with, he was also hilariously funny and incredibly kind. I hadn’t even balked when he’d suggested exchanging numbers when we’d finished filming. I also hadn’t turned down his insistence that we eat dinner together, citing that he needed to combat his sugar high. We’d picked up dinner from Jack in the Box out on PCH before we drove across the street to sit and eat our burgers while looking at the ocean. Somehow Alejandro made me forget all the reasons I was wary of liking men.

“What’s up?” I asked, surprised to hear from him since it was just before nine in the morning and he’d mentioned the day before that he would be working half days during the week. With the commute being what it was, I knew he’d planned to leave his house at seven.

“I don’t want you to freak out—”

My eyes widened as my heartbeat accelerated. I didn’t even wait for him to finish what he was saying. “You can’t start a sentence like that! Now I’m freaking out. What’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong, Belleza. All is well—but Elvis is over at my house.”

“Are you kidding me?” I yelped. Throwing off my covers, I jumped out of my warm bed and raced to open the drapes that currently concealed the patio doors. Throwing them open, I glanced out to Elvis’s normal spot on the sycamore tree and then to his favorite perch atop the waterfall at the back of the pool. Sure enough, he wasn’t in either spot.

“Is he eating your trash again?”

“No, nothing like that. It isn’t trash this time. Rafe just called and told me he was pecking on the glass of the French doors to his bedroom. Apparently, the idiot fell asleep without closing the blackout film or the shutters on his doors and Elvis saw him. When he was describing what was going on I realized Elvis wanted him to play catch. I explained to Rafe what he should do and now they’re out in the yard playing. Everything is fine, but I didn’t want you to panic when you went outside and realized the little criminal wasn’t around.”

“How did you know he wanted to play catch?” I asked, confused.

Alejandro’s husky chuckle made my core clench. “Rafe sent a picture of a small pile of toys that were right outside his doors. It was three baby teething rings, a bracelet, a car key, a hair tie and some lip balm. I figured he was either showing off to my brother that he’s an accomplished thief or he was hinting that he wanted to play.”

I had to laugh at that. I was sure Alejandro had never imagined he’d be dealing with a rogue peacock when his family built their vacation home next door.

“Sounds like maybe it was a little bit of both. Emery and I call that kind of thing the presenting of gifts. I’ve only ever seen him do it to the two of us, or Emery’s family. Apparently, Elvis has taken a shine to your brother, which is a surprise. I just woke up, and I can’t go over practically naked. Tell Rafe I’ll be over as soon as I get dressed.”

Something that sounded a hell of a lot like Alejandro expelling a tortured groan caused another flash of heat at my core. The man was proving to be lethal to my sex drive.

“Take your time,” he rasped. “My brother has made his first new friend in years, which is good for him. I’m not even upset that the friend has feathers.”

“Well, I guess I’m glad that Elvis’s new penchant for escaping to your house isn’t making you all feel like you’re in neighbor hell,” I murmured.

“Hey,” he said softly, “without Elvis, we might never have met. I have love for that bird—even if he is a little criminal.”

I spluttered, uncertain of what to say. Thankfully Alejandro kept the conversation going.

“What’re you up to today?”

I let out a snort of laughter as I opened drawers in the whitewashed dresser in my room and pulled out a pair of running shorts, a sports bra, a Nike t-shirt, a pair of underwear and some socks.

“I finished editing the video I did with you late last night, so once I reclaim my runaway ward, I’m going to run on the treadmill. After that, I’ve got nothing. I’ll probably binge watch some more Grey’s Anatomy while I try to decide what my next video will be about.”

“How about you hold off on that binge watch and come to the movies with me? Since Rafe is up playing with Elvis now, there’s no way I’ll be able to wake him up before dinner. They’re running The Breakfast Club as the Monday matinee at a theater in Sherman Oaks. You know you want to.”

My mouth opened in a small O as I realized why he was asking me to see The Breakfast Club. “Oh Lord,” I said with a choked laugh. “You’ve been going through my YouTube channel, haven’t you?”

I’d done segments on many of my favorite movies—The Breakfast Club, Grease, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Mamma Mia, Die Hard, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Dark Knight, The Departed and Inception. There was no way he’d just randomly chosen The Breakfast Club without knowing that.

“You caught me,” he said dryly. “For the record, you’ve got good taste in movies. Your taste in music, however…”

We both laughed at the same time. “What have you got against Justin Bieber?” I asked.

Alejandro groaned dramatically. “That was one I hadn’t caught. I was referring to your love for Britney Spears. She can’t sing, you know.”

He wasn’t necessarily wrong, but that didn’t negate her talent. “She might not be the best singer,” I conceded, “but it’s not like I’m listening to her for her range. I like her stuff because it’s catchy and I can dance to it.”

“You dance?” he asked, his voice husky.

“Sure, sometimes,” I lied, majorly downplaying what I did. I said a silent prayer that he’d lose interest in my YouTube channel before he found the videos of Emery and I dancing when we were teenagers. We’d once had pipe dreams of being a choreography team. Thankfully that phase had passed, but I still had a love of dancing. In fact, I’d just wrapped up a twelve-week pole dancing. The idea of Alejandro knowing that about me made me feel oddly hot inside.

“When my family gets here you’ll have to come with us when we go clubbing. My sister-in-law loves to dance, even though she can't actually find the beat. My brother makes us all go as some kind of personal security in case someone looks at her funny.”

“Sounds like he’s a little over-the-top,” I chuckled.

“That’s what I thought too, but now that I—”

I waited for a second for him to finish his sentence but he didn’t, so I prodded him.

“Now that you?” I prodded.

He let out a dry sounding cough. “Sorry, Belleza. My assistant just came in to remind me that I have a conference call with the New York office in five minutes. Are we a go on the movies for this afternoon?”

“Sure. What time do you want to go?”

“I’m leaving here just after eleven, and the movie starts at three. How about we leave around twelve-thirty and grab some lunch? I can look up some restaurants in and around Sherman Oaks to see what’s good.”

“No need,” I answered. “I’ve taken care of a few houses in that area, so I know a ton of places. Do you have any food preferences?”

“I’m easy, Belleza. My mamá made sure none of us were picky eaters. If it’s put in front of me and it looks and smells good, I’m eating it.”

“That makes it easy,” I joked. “Alright—I’ll see you when you get home. Just text me and I’ll pick you up.”

He chuckled wryly. “Do you have something against other people driving or is it just me?”

“My bad. A lot of the people I’m closest to hate driving, so I’m just used to being the designated driver. You can take charge if you’d like.”

“I’d enjoy being your driver, as long as it won’t bother you.”

I was grinning as I headed toward the bathroom to get dressed. “It’ll be great. All right, I’ll let you get to your conference call. If you could shoot Rafe a text and tell him, I’ll be there in a few minutes that would be great.”

“I’m on it. Our gate code is 2-1-9-7. Just let yourself in—Rafe and Elvis are playing in the back. I’ll see you at twelve-thirty, Belleza.”

“See you then.”

After quickly brushing my teeth and throwing my hair up into a messy bun I got dressed to head over to the Alejandro's. I entered the code into the gate before I made my way into the backyard where I spotted Elvis dashing across the lawn toward Rafe, who was sitting on the grass.

“You’re damn good at catch, for a bird,” he laughed. When he spotted me as he threw Elvis’s yellow teething ring through the air, his entire demeanor changed. Gone were the easygoing smile and the relaxed posture, both of which were replaced with something I could only think of as an invisible steel wall. I wondered if he suffered from social anxiety or if he just didn’t care for me for whatever reason.

“Hey,” I said cheerfully as I made my way across the lawn, “I'm sorry for this. It seems like Elvis has taken a shine to you.”

Rafe nodded as he rose to his feet. “It’s not a big deal. Now that I know he isn’t hostile, he’s welcome to explore this side of the wall,” he said as he walked past me to one of the outdoor seating areas. He gestured to a pile on the table. “Here’s all the stuff he brought over today.”

My brows snapped together as I looked it all over. I’d assumed the car key Alejandro mentioned would be mine, but except for the teething rings that belonged to Elvis, everything on the table belonged to Emery. Judging by the dust on the key, it’d been outside in one of Elvis’s hiding spots for quite a while. I shook my head in exasperation as I felt him tap at my hip. Turning, I looked down at the little thief.

“Elvis!” I scolded with a laugh. “Mommy is going to lose it when I tell her about all the stuff you’ve been stealing, mister.”

He made a few bird sounds as he blinked up at me as if to say, stealing? Come on, Kaya. This all belongs to me. I stand wrongfully accused.

“Nice try with the innocent act, but we both know you don’t need lip balm and you don’t own a big white truck.”

Elvis cocked his head and looked at me like I was the crazy one. I stopped talking to him when I heard Rafe taking a bite of something. Turning, I found him holding a bowl of sliced watermelon.

“I gave Elvis some of this as a treat,” he said as he raised the bowl a bit to draw attention to it. “Hope that’s okay. It was one of the things he seemed to be digging on in our trash the other day so I figured since it didn’t make him sick it would be okay. He seemed hungry.”

I shook my head and glanced down to Elvis, who was giving me the world’s most innocent look. It would be almost impossible for him to be hungry since he pretty much grazed nonstop. I’d never seen an obese peacock before but I did not doubt that left unchecked Elvis would pork right up.

“Watermelon is fine,” I answered. “He loves most fruits and vegetables, except apples which he’s never taken to. His real love, though, is bread.”

Just saying the word bread perked Elvis up even more. He started dancing from foot to foot, looking around for his carb addiction.

“It’s at home, buddy. Wanna go to our side of the wall and have some nice warm wheat bread?”

The sight of him turning and hauling ass back home was the answer to the question. I grabbed up the treasures he’d brought to Rafe and took a step back.

“Thanks again for being nice to him.”

“He’s welcome anytime,” he answered. I noticed the way Rafe stressed the he in that sentence, but I let it go and figured I’d mention it to Alejandro. To be honest, I was kind of miffed that Elvis seemed so interested in Rafe. Then again, Dennis the Menace had basically lived to hang out with Mr. Wilson. Even the ornery had their fans, apparently.

As for me, I much preferred the oh-so-kind and easygoing—not to mention ridiculously hot—Alejandro. And speaking of Alejandro, I had lunch and a movie to look forward to and I was anxious to get my run over with so I could start getting ready. I waved goodbye to Rafe and made my way back to Emery’s, planning what I’d wear that afternoon as I walked.

I kept assuring myself that it wasn’t a date, but the rational part of me knew that wasn’t necessarily true.