Suspicious Minds (Fate #3)

  It did, however, serve its purpose. Ever since her night with Lorenzo, she’d stopped obsessing about the recent news she’d gotten via social media that her ex, Jay, was now engaged to Margie—her best friend. The only drawback was she’d started obsessing about her night with Lorenzo instead. But she didn’t think some harmless daydreaming about a meaningless night with someone she’d likely never see again was a big deal. That is, of course, until she found out she just may be running into him again. Not only was he related to the Moreno’s, Sal was going to be a regular client now.

  Something else made this whole thing even worse. Since finding out last week that her one-night fling was related to the Morenos, a certain conversation had come to her. It was one she’d overheard earlier that year while hanging out at one of her cousin Moe’s barbeques with the girls. They’d been talking about kids, and she clearly remembered Sofia, Sal’s younger sister, saying her cousin Enzo was going to be an instant family man since he was now engaged to a girl with a daughter. The cousin she spoke of hadn’t been there that day, but Olivia remembered the conversation well because she’d thought the name unusual and asked if that was really his name or short for something else.

  Yes, it’s short for Lorenzo.

  What were the freaking odds that the one time she had let loose and done something so unlike her she’d end up with an engaged relative of the family she and her siblings had been getting closer to for months. A family she’d likely forever be in touch with? Since that was a while back, for all she knew, Lorenzo may already be married. It would certainly explain his hasty exit and his no need of her number for a possible follow up. Maybe the guilt had been too much to bear. Not only did she face the possibility of having to face him again now but having to face him and his wife. Wonderful.

  The only thing she could hope for now was if that were the case—that he’d stepped out on his fiancée or possibly even wife—he wouldn’t be stupid enough to ever tell a soul about it. She certainly wouldn’t be telling anyone. Given his reaction to seeing her again at Sal’s place, she felt fairly confident that their night of lust would stay between just the two of them.

  The hostess showed them to the staircase that led up to the banquet rooms where the dinner was being held. Both she and her sister took in the incredible detail in all the Mexican decorations and painted murals on the wall.

  “Wow, Ollie, this place is way bigger and nicer than I expected,” Emilia said, her big eyes taking in the sights.

  Olivia agreed, letting her sister slide this time for still calling her Ollie. Instead, she was glad for the brief distraction as they continued oohing and aahing all the way up the stairs. The hostess had told them the banquet room their dinner was in was the third door down, and they easily found the repast.

  As expected in typical Hispanic fashion, rather than a banquet room full of somber people, music was playing, lots of cheerful conversation taking place, and food and drink flowing. Olivia and Emi followed their ears to the loudest table in the room, which of course led them to their uncles. Manny, Max, and cousin Moe, along with some other family members, sat talking loudly and laughing.

  “Hey, pretty ladies,” Manny said when he saw them.

  Instantly, they had the attention of everyone at the table, and Olivia felt her face heat. Olivia and Emi gave them all their condolences, while Moe kidded about the demons from hell who thought it was bad down there before cranky ass Janks showed up.

  They’d been chatting with their uncles and cousin for all of ten minutes when Sal and his two brothers, Angel and Alex, arrived, and to Olivia’s horror, Lorenzo was with them. As if the sight of him alone weren’t breathtaking enough, he was in a dark blue military dress uniform, and he looked amazing. Olivia took advantage that they arrived all together to give them all a generic group hello but couldn’t even bring herself to make eye contact with him.

  For once she was eternally grateful for Uncle Max’s nonstop talking. She concentrated on listening and laughed along with everyone else as he told the stories of Uncle Janks.

  “You know the only one he never unleashed his foul mouth on was his wife, Aunt Martha. God rest her soul,” Manny said with a chuckle. “Oh, she kept that man on a tight leash, and he was on his best behavior around her always.”

  “Yeah, he was,” Max laughed. “What was that he’d always say when she would call herself his trophy wife?”

  Manny laughed so hard he wheezed. “That’s right. That’s right! His wuss ass would always wait until she was out of the room to ask, ‘What contest in hell did I ever win to end up with that trophy?’”

  They all laughed, including Olivia and her sister. She wouldn’t turn and confirm it, but unlike last week when Lorenzo had barely acknowledged her, this time she’d thought she’d picked up on him stealing a few glances her way. And now from the corner of her eyes, she saw that he was staring at her, but she refused to turn and look.

  Adding to her already unnerved state, Manny brought the attention back to her and Emi. “I talked to Nathan earlier. Says you’re still doing a helluva job,” he said with a big smile then turned to the rest of the crowd. “Ever since their mother’s passing a few years ago, this one”—he pointed at Olivia—“as young as she is, she stepped up and took on her mother’s role in that house. And let me tell you with four siblings those were some big shoes to fill. All the while she started up her own business too.”

  “Wow,” she heard someone say, but whoever it was, was on her left where Lorenzo was still standing and Olivia didn’t dare look to see who’d said it.

  Max nodded with his own big smile. “So proud of you, baby girl.”

  Feeling her face on fire now, she smiled with a shrug. “I had Isaiah and Nathan, and it was a team effort.”

  “Nah,” Max said immediately. “There’s nothing like a woman’s touch in a home to keep everything in order.”

  “What are you talking about?” Romero said. “After grandma passed, you guys were on your own raising me the rest of the way. And look how I turned out.”

  “Exactly!” Both Manny and Max said at the same time and everyone laughed.

  Max pointed at Emi this time. “You and your sisters keep those boys in line or”—he pointed at Romero with his thumb—“tell ’em they might turn out like this one.”

  Romero rolled his eyes as everyone continued to laugh. Once Manny stopped wheezing with laughter, he started in on one of his many knuckleheaded stories about Romero growing up. Giving into temptation, Olivia glanced over in Lorenzo’s direction and instantly locked into his intense gaze. The heat she felt was for an altogether different reason now, and she looked away as fast as she could. It wasn’t fast enough, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

  She took the second Manny paused from talking to excuse herself and Emi. “We’re gonna go say hello to Isabel and the other girls,” she said to Moe and his uncles, nudging Emi and again doing everything in her power to not look in Lorenzo’s direction again.

  For a moment, she’d actually gotten a little excited that he was here alone, but then Angel and Alex had also joined the group of men alone, and she knew for a fact those two were happily married. Not that she thought a remote chance existed that anything would happen between her and Lorenzo again. She just thought it’d be less awkward if no fiancée or wife was in the picture, at least not the first few times she was forced to be around him.

  The thought only spiked her heart a little faster now. They were headed toward the group of women Moe’s wife Isabel sat with, and Olivia didn’t recognize all of them. One of them could be Lorenzo’s wife. Great.

  “Okay, is it just me, or is everyone in that Moreno family sexier than heck?” Emi asked in a lowered voice. “Did you get a load of the eye candy in the uniform? Holy cow!”

  Olivia squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Her sister’s observation confirming that she wasn’t the only one thinking Lorenzo was even better looking than she remembered was not helping her already frazzled
nerves. If her sister weren’t so young and impressionable, she might be tempted to tell her about her one-time indiscretion with that sexy-as-sin man in uniform.

  Her best friend Margie back home was usually who she got to tell these sorts of things to, but she couldn’t this time. Margie was her reason for needing to go out and do such a thing in the first place. Not only that, they were pretty much no longer speaking. So Olivia hadn’t been able to tell anyone about it, and it was beginning to fester.

  They said hello to Isabel, her sister Gina, Sal’s sister Sofie, and his wife Grace as Olivia tried in vain to calm her overworked heart. Whoever the other women were in the group they were busy chatting amongst themselves, and no one bothered to introduce them. Grace was holding a baby, and both Emi and Olivia bent over to inspect the precious little thing a little closer.

  “This one isn’t yours, right?” Olivia asked, remembering Sal mentioning their baby had recently started walking. The one she held now looked just a few months old.

  “No, this sweet little thing is my niece—Ruby,” she said, touching the baby’s hand with her finger. “My kids are with my mom, but this is my sister’s first, and she’s still way too attached to leave her with anyone.”

  “Aw!” Emi said, reaching to touch the baby’s tiny little fingers. “She’s beautiful.”

  Grace smiled big and proud. “Yeah, she is. She looks just like her mommy.” She glanced up as someone approached. “Speaking of which,” she said, “here she is now.”

  A younger version of Grace smiled at all of them as she took her seat next to Grace. “Rosie, this is Olivia, the groomer for Yogi and Baloo.” Grace turned to Olivia, smiling even bigger. “We were just talking about you the other day.”

  Rosie’s eyes went wide and smiled. “So you’re the one,” she said in a tone that made the hair on the back of Olivia’s neck stand. The one what?

  “I saw what you did with the pups,” she added, making Olivia instantly relax a little. “My Sheba needs some major work. You do poodles?”

  “I do every breed,” Olivia said, nodding. “Poodles are a bit more challenging, but then so are Chows, and I welcome a challenge.”

  The anxiousness she’d begun to feel about the possibility that Rose might be Lorenzo’s wife was finally axed when Rosie started talking about wanting her to come out and groom her dog. Rose mentioned her husband Vince, and Olivia literally felt the tension drain from her tensed muscles. Talk of grooming and Sheba kept Olivia’s mind distracted for the moment. Rose even booked a day for Olivia to come out later that week to her place to work on Sheba. Then Olivia excused herself to the ladies’ room. Emilia stayed back because she was holding baby Ruby.

  To Olivia’s relief, Lorenzo was nowhere in sight. Maybe he’d left. He had been in uniform. Maybe that meant he had to be somewhere soon. Olivia could only hope. She hadn’t realized just how tense she’d been until she was in the ladies’ room, powdering her nose. She loosened her arms and shoulders, rolling her neck a bit, and took in the amount of detail even in the ladies’ room: from the brightly colored walls and Mexican artwork that hung on them to the sink bowls that sat atop the counter, giving the appearance of rustic wash basins.

  With her mind still on the decor of the restaurant, she ambled out, continuing to take in all its intricate details. Whoever did the decorating definitely knew his stuff. The entire hallway leading to the banquet rooms had the look of a quaint Mexican village. She glanced up at what appeared to be windows with shutters and smiled, feeling bittersweet at the colorful pottery that hung from the ceiling. They reminded her of the many times she and Margie had taken the drive and crossed the border to Ciudad Acuña for a day of shopping and eating at their favorite restaurant. While it was supposed to be their girl time, many of those times Jay accompanied them, and, of course, Margie had always been just fine with it.

  Walking smack into a wall jolted her instantly out of her thoughts. The moment she realized the solid wall was actually a man’s chest was mortifying enough, but when her eyes met Lorenzo’s uncompromising expression, her legs went weak.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling her face go hot, and pulled her hand away from his chest where it’d flown in reflex.

  She was caught in his intense eyes as she had been earlier. Like she had been so many times the night she met him. But it was only momentarily.

  “Don’t be,” he said, glancing away quickly, and if she weren’t mistaken, he seemed a bit panicked. Maybe his wife or fiancée was here. “I wasn’t paying attention either.”

  They stood there in heavy silence for a few awkward seconds until she finally smiled and shrugged. “Small world, huh?”

  The miniscule nod said he agreed, but his vacant expression now bordered on hard. His eyes lowered, and she gulped when she realized he was staring at her lips. He licked his lips as the memory of his kisses inundated her. Is that what he was thinking of too? She stared at his lips as she felt his face lean in a little closer to hers and froze when she could actually feel his warm breath so close to her lips. Just when she’d been certain he was going to kiss her, he froze too and their eyes met again. “Too small maybe.”

  Ouch.

  “I can assure you,” he went on as he pulled back suddenly, “if I’d known you’d be here . . .” He glanced away with a frown without finishing then tipped the edge of his hat with a painfully forced smile. “My apologies for running into you,” he said tersely. “Have a good day.”

  Olivia stood there stunned for a moment as he strode past her. She was tempted to say something—retort. It was one thing for him to have no interest in anything more with her. It was even understandable that if he were married or engaged he’d want to avoid any awkward run-ins with her, but he didn’t have to be a jerk about it.

  Still feeling the sting of his insult, she decided to not give him the pleasure of knowing she cared. She only wondered now if even his apology about running into her was meant literally or figuratively, because from what he’d begun to say, clearly he was sorry he’d run into her.

  The moment he was far enough away Olivia was able to let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. She watched him head for the stairs and hurry down them. He might be a rude jerk, but, after seeing him again and in his uniform and being so close to him she could almost taste his mouth, denial wasn’t an option. The man was a walking dream. Olivia could hardly believe now she’d had the pleasure of sleeping with him. He couldn’t be much older than her and Jay. Maybe it was that she’d known Jay from the time they were kids, so she’d never seen him in terms of being a man. He’d been just as young naïve as she’d always been until the change. But even when he’d become that Jekyll and Hyde douche who’d played with her heart for years, she’d never seen him as a man. The games he played were too immature for her to give him that title. And even as irresistible as she found Jay once upon a time, he paled in comparison to Lorenzo in almost every way.

  It made her angry that her heart still fluttered when she remembered how incredibly exciting that night with him had been. Frowning as her still weak legs began to move again toward the banquet room, she tried to snuff the disappointment. Even if Lorenzo weren’t engaged or in a relationship, he was making one thing abundantly clear: he was in no way interested in anything more with Olivia now than he was that night.

  ~~~

  With Lorenzo gone and obviously not coming back, Olivia and Emi had spent far more time at the repast then they’d originally planned. She and Rose had really hit it off, and they talked for hours. She was sweet and super easy to talk to. Though, Olivia had to get used to hearing her own last name when Rose referred to her cousin Moe. It seemed to everyone here in California, with the exception of his uncles, he went by his last name—Romero. But aside from that, she and Rose had one of those instant connections as she’d had many years ago with Margie where Olivia just knew they could easily become good friends.

  When Olivia showed up at Rose’s house that week to groom Sh
eba, Rose had come out and chatted with Olivia again in the van. She’d even brought out lemonade and snacks.

  “Since I had Ruby I hardly get any time for girl talk anymore,” Rose explained as she opened up the bag of cheese popcorn. “I’m still working, but I do it all from home now since I don’t want to leave Ruby with anyone. It’s easy enough,” she said, putting some popcorn into her mouth. “I do the books for the restaurants and for my husband’s business, but before I had Ruby, I spent a lot of time at both businesses. I got to chat with the other girls who work at the restaurants and have lunch with them and such. Now I’m home alone most days. Just me and the baby. My sister, whom I usually do most of my chatting with, is too busy these days with the three kids, and she’s still the head chef at their restaurant. So sorry”—she laughed—“if I just made myself at home here while you try to work. Let me know if you’d prefer to work without an audience. I’ll get out of your way.”

  Olivia smiled, glancing up from Sheba’s wet fur. “Actually, I could use a little girl talk myself.” Olivia shook her head when Rose held out the popcorn offering her some. Then she frowned, looking back down and brushing Sheba. “Kind of sucks when you stop speaking to the only friend you’ve ever really talked to like that.”

  “Stopped speaking?” Rose asked.

  “Yeah,” Olivia locked on Rose’s curious eyes. “My best friend back in Texas. Even though I moved out here almost two years ago, we never went even a day without some kind of communication, and a lot of it was talking on the phone, not just texting or social media.”

  “So what happened?”

  “A little over a month ago I found out she and my ex-boyfriend . . . Well, I don’t know if technically he was ever actually my boyfriend,” she admitted with a somewhat embarrassed frown. “But he was my first, you know . . .” Rose’s eyes went a bit wide and she nodded, but she didn’t comment. “Jay and I had been friends since we were kids and then began flirting and started kissing until we were making out and did everything else. He was the first guy I ever slept with, and I was pretty crazy about him even though our relationship was complicated. But if anyone knew how crazy about him I was, it was Margie.” Olivia eyed Rose, who was till staring at her curiously. “In fact, because my brothers didn’t care for him, she was the only one who ever knew about it. Now they’re engaged.”