Say You Love Me Page 15

  I went over the whole scene with her, repeating his “Spare the rod, spoil the child” comment. Candace assured me she’d be at the church within the hour.

  I inwardly smiled, though my relief was short-lived. What if her visit angered the preacher, and he took it out on Jake later?

  Ariana stopped by a short time later. Cesar went into the garage to hit his punching bag while she distracted me with details about her latest flavor of the month, a racecar driver, who was conveniently only in town for the weekend. Ariana was determined to make it a weekend he’d never forget.

  After a few hours, she packed her swing and riding crop into the back of her car. Before she opened the driver’s door, she nudged me with a wink, telling me I could keep the handcuffs, as she had plenty more.

  What the hell? Was she running an adult megaplex in her apartment? I shook my head in disbelief as she drove off, her warning from last week still ringing in my ears. You hardly know the guy.

  That’s when I realized I knew Cesar better than I knew Ariana. Back in high school, she’d been studious like me, her nose always in a book. She hadn’t turned reckless and wild until college. What had happened to change my friend? Even though I’d always love her, I sometimes wished the old Ariana would come back. The dependable, modest, good Ariana, the girl who didn’t leave my boyfriend’s brothers tied up in my guesthouse. When Cesar’s brothers told me she was a dominant, my disbelief turned to shock and then unease.

  I feared my sweet, innocent friend was gone for good, and the girl who’d just left my house was a total stranger.

  After I walked into the house, I stood in the shadows of the foyer, watching Cesar pour himself a glass of iced tea. I hoped he’d never change.

  I joined him, and he turned to me, his muscles flexing beneath his tight T-shirt as he held his arms open.

  I rested my cheek against his heart, praying it would always beat for me.

  “Bella, what are you thinking?” he murmured.

  “Nothing,” I lied. “I’m just tired.” I wasn’t ready to voice my insecurities and didn’t know if I ever would be.

  He kissed my temple, then my nose. “You need to rest.”

  “I know.” I looked into his Latin eyes, twin dark pools that looked down at me so lovingly, my heart skipped a beat. “I think I’ll go back to bed.”

  He bit his lip, those little devil horns sprouting from his head. “Want me to come with you?”

  Yes! And no.

  Though we hadn’t made love in four days, which was a record for us, I didn’t think I could get in the mood while worrying over Jake. Besides, I still wasn’t fully recovered.

  “No, Cesar.” I pulled away, feeling ten degrees of guilt for rejecting him. “I’m sorry.”

  He cupped my chin, kissing the tip of my nose. “That’s okay. I’ll check on you in a few hours.”

  When he brought me upstairs and tucked me in bed, I could tell he was waiting for me to change my mind. I hated having to reject him, but there was no way I could focus on sex when so many troubling thoughts were swirling through my head. The small dogs curled up in bed beside me, and Cesar left me a few minutes later, mumbling something about checking on the shops. I was saddened yet relieved to see him go.

  After I sent Jake another text, asking him how he was doing, I drank a few spoons of nighttime cough syrup, hoping I could get at least a few hours of sleep. Much to my relief, Jake texted me back with several smiley faces. Candace also texted me that her visit had gone well.

  This week had been beyond stressful, and I couldn’t wait until Jake was back with me. Then everything could return to normal. Well, nearly normal. Maybe we’d get back to our usual routine after I got rid of Irma. It was bad enough she made me unhappy, but she made Cesar miserable, too. I made a mental note to give Cesar some much needed love tomorrow night. He’d been amazingly supportive through my ordeal with Jake and Irma’s drama, and I needed to show him how much he was appreciated. Not just because I loved him, but because I didn’t want to risk him walking out on me again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and checked the time on my phone. It was seven in the morning. I’d slept over fourteen hours. I stretched, feeling refreshed. The dogs were running in circles by the foot of the bed, scratching on the door to be let out. Nacho was with them, his low whimper turning into a deep howl.

  I padded across the soft carpet and opened the door. The dogs raced out of the room and thundered down the stairs. I smelled the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, so Irma had to be up. I knew she’d let them out, lest they fog up the patio door.

  When I climbed back into bed, Cesar rolled over and looked at me with sleepy eyes. “Did they wake you, bella?”

  “No.” I sighed. “I was already up.”

  He sat up and smoothed a hand across my brow. “How do you feel?”

  I put a hand to my throat and swallowed. No pain. Then I took a deep breath. My lungs were clear. “A lot stronger.”

  He smiled, stroking my arm and making gooseflesh rise. “I smell coffee.” He grimaced. “Irma must be up.”

  I hated that just the thought of Irma put Cesar in a bad mood. “I’m getting rid of her this week.”

  He kissed my forehead. “I’m not rushing you, bella. How about we drive to the lake this morning?”

  I arched back, needing to put some distance between my morning breath and Cesar. “Which one?”

  “Canyon Lake.” He tossed back the covers, revealing a significant boner straining against his underwear. “It’s near Austin. Andrés and Christina are staying at her parents’ cabin up there. They have a boat. It will be fun.”

  I fought the urge to lick my lips as I looked away from his erection. Damn. We were going on day five of no sex. “That’s a long drive.”

  “A little over two hours.” He slipped into a pair of jeans. “It will do us good to get away.”

  I was instantly struck with guilt. What he meant to say was it would be good to get away from Irma. Because I’d been so sick, Cesar had been trapped here with the scowling housekeeper. No telling how much holy water she’d thrown on him while I was in bed. But what if Jake called with an emergency? What if his grandfather was being unkind? It would take me two hours to get to him.

  Conflicting emotions swirled in my brain. Did I go and be the caring girlfriend, or did I stay and be the good auntie? “What if Jake needs me?”

  Cesar sat beside me, bare chested and beautiful, and held my hand. “Then we’ll come back.”

  My phone buzzed. Cesar handed it to me, and I swiped it to see a happy face emoji from Jake. So he was up already? And happy? What were they doing? He sent me another emoji, a dog running in a circle. So I took it Jake liked the preacher’s animals. Maybe I was worrying over nothing. Maybe I should go with Cesar to the lake.

  I texted Jake “Good morning,” and he replied with three more happy faces.

  Cesar looked at me with a hopeful gleam in his eyes, reminding me of the dogs whimpering at my feet whenever I fried bacon. I almost expected Cesar to start hopping around and drooling on the carpet. My poor boyfriend deserved some time away. How could I deny him?

  I set down the phone and released a pent-up breath of air. “Give me time to shower and pack some sandwiches.”

  Relief flooded his face before he lifted me off the bed and held me in a bear hug. “Thank you, bella.”

  “No need to thank me. I want to spend time with you.” I pushed away from him, needing to put distance between myself and the stiff bulge in his underwear before I canceled the trip and pulled him back into bed.

  As I stripped down and hopped in the shower, I couldn’t help but wonder if Cesar and I could find someplace private at the lake, maybe a secluded cove or beach. Ariana had once warned me never to have beach sex, that I’d be pissing sand for a week, but at the moment I didn’t care. My starving libido needed to be fed before I imploded.

  * * *

  Christina’s brot
hers ran outside when we pulled up the incline onto the tree-lined drive, Andrés following behind them.

  The oldest, Gio, who was about Jake’s age, opened the back door and looked inside. “Where’s Jake?” he asked while fending off slobbery kisses from the dogs.

  I unbuckled my seatbelt. “I’m sorry. He’s with his grandpa today.”

  “Aww,” both boys protested.

  I’d been missing Jake all morning, but disappointing Manny and Gio brought my depression and regret to an all-time low. If only I’d fought the judge harder.

  But their disappointment seemed to be forgotten when Macy and Gremlin launched into their arms. Both boys giggled as the dogs covered them with kisses. Then Nacho jumped from the seat, dancing and slapping their legs with his T-Rex tail. They laughed and tried to push his snout away.

  “Do you think you could keep an eye on them?” I asked the boys.

  “Yeah!” Manny held Gremlin, the little brown mutt nuzzling his cheek. “Is this a new puppy?”

  “She sure is.” I patted Gremlin on the head before handing Gio and Manny each a bag of dog treats. “Her name is Gremlin.”

  Manny beamed up at me. “I like her.”

  His smile was infectious. He was missing his two front teeth, just like Jake, making me miss him all over again.

  I knelt and scratched Gremlin’s furry chin. “She likes you, too.”

  “Savannah, I’m so glad you could make it.”

  Christina walked toward us with baby James on her hip, his flushed cheeks looking even pudgier than before. My heart flipped when he smiled at me, and I fought the urge to pull him into my arms.

  “Me, too.” I leaned into her for a hug, jerking back when James grabbed a fistful of my hair.

  After Christina helped untangle me, we left Cesar, Andrés, and the boys with the dogs and went up the steps to the house, a Craftsman stone design with transom windows and a deep front porch with thick, wood pillars.

  “I heard you were sick,” she said as I held the screen door open for her.

  “I was, but I’m getting better.”

  I gasped when I walked into the house. A stone fireplace stretched into a vaulted ceiling, dissected with heavy wood beams. The furniture surrounding the fireplace was mostly distressed mahogany leather and rustic wood. A beautiful life-like mural depicting a misty lake covered one wall. We walked up the steps leading from the sunken living room to the other side of the house, which was framed with tall windows. As I stood in the expansive kitchen with dark oak cabinets, I was in awe of the view outside. She brought me to a wrap-around deck that lead to a set of stone stairs that cut a winding path through a copse of oak trees toward the boat launch below.

  “It’s beautiful here,” I said on a sigh. I would love to have a house like this, where Cesar and I could unwind with Jake on the weekends.

  “I know.” Christina shifted James from one hip to the other. “This is my parents’ house.”

  “Are they here?” I asked, feeling like Cesar and I were imposing with three dogs in tow.

  “No.” She adjusted James again as he began to fuss. “Mom had a trade show this weekend, so I’ve got the boys again.”

  I turned toward the windows. The view inside was just as lovely, the way they had seamlessly incorporated nature into their home. “Did you decorate this house?”

  She motioned to a table and chairs, made of distressed wood that resembled the beautiful live oaks outside. “I did most of the painting, but mom designed the furniture.”

  I shook my head in disbelief as I sat across from her. “I’m blown away.”

  She nodded at a house behind her while James squirmed in her lap. “You should see the neighbor’s house. We did all the furnishings.”

  I ducked my head, peering beneath a tree branch at a beautiful two-story rock home with a three-tiered wood deck and an upstairs patio.

  “It looks amazing from here,” I said.

  Christina handed James a cracker, and he immediately stopped fussing. “It’s for sale.”

  “Really?” I stood and walked over to the edge of the deck to get a better view, drawn to the big boat docked below the house and the submerged tarp beside it. “Is that a water trampoline?”

  “Yep.” She joined me, leaning against the railing with James hanging off her other hip, drooling all over his cracker. “The boys are allowed to use it whenever they want.”

  “I bet they love that,” I said.

  “They do. They jump on it for hours.” She laughed. “Their biggest fear is that the new owners won’t let them use it.”

  Andrés came out onto the deck. “Is everyone ready? Cesar can’t wait to get out on the water.”

  Christina and I nodded.

  Manny and Gio raced onto the deck, all three dogs happily chasing after them.

  “Can we bring the dogs?” Manny asked.

  Cesar shrugged. “Why not?”

  I looked skeptically at Cesar, who had my beach bag slung over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, bella. It’s a pontoon boat. The dogs will love it.”

  Before I had a chance to argue, the dogs were chasing the boys down the path to the boat. This was going to be interesting.

  * * *

  Cesar took us to a quiet cove where the kids and dogs played fetch in the shallow water. The guys popped open beers and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs while Christina and I suntanned on the back deck. James had fallen asleep in a playpen under the shady canvas.

  After lunch, Cesar and I joined the kids and dogs before swimming behind the boat in deeper water. I held onto him while we bobbed in the gentle waves. The combination of sun and water soaking into my skin, plus all his hard muscles pressed against me, made my hormones go crazy. I couldn’t help but rub against his erection. Though he begged me to stop, the look in his eyes told me he wanted me to go on. We tenderly kissed and explored each other through our bathing suits, making me so damn horny, I could barely see straight.

  James woke up and started screaming at the top of his lungs. Our trip back to the lake house was slow going, as the engine kept sputtering and then dying. Cesar had to keep pumping something called a fuel bulb to get it to restart. I was glad he was a mechanic, because I would’ve hated to be stranded on the lake with three dogs, two kids, and a crying baby. I sent Jake a few texts while we waited for Cesar to get the boat running. He answered me with more smiley faces and pizza slices. By the time we landed, my eardrums were ringing from screaming kids and barking dogs, and my libido had deflated faster than a popped balloon.

  I ushered the kids and dogs along the dock while Andrés and Cesar grabbed a set of tools and pulled apart the engine. I followed Christina to the house, carrying the playpen under my arm, casting one last woeful glance at Cesar, who’d completely lost interest in me as he examined a bunch of wires.

  When Christina set James in an ExerSaucer on the back deck and poured a few Cheerios on his tray, he immediately stopped crying. The boys ran down to the neighbor’s dock and jumped on their water trampoline, laughing while the dogs barked at them from land.

  Christina and I sat on a bench and drank iced tea, watching the activity below. I admired Cesar’s glistening, tanned muscles as he opened a water bottle, took a few sips, then poured the rest on his chest. Dear God, I just wanted to lick off all that water, throw him down, and ride him like a bucking bronco. Five days of no sex felt like a lifetime.

  “The boat’s been giving my dad problems for weeks. Cesar’s so awesome for helping Andrés work on it.”

  Christina was eyeing me with a smile. My cheeks burned when I got the feeling she’d been reading my mind.

  “He is,” I said, trying to force dirty thoughts of Cesar out of my head. I laughed when Andrés dumped a cup of ice down the back of Cesar’s shorts. “At least they seem to be having fun.”

  Cesar jumped up with a yelp and pushed Andrés in the water.

  Christina snickered when Andrés climbed up on the dock. “I love seeing them together. Andrés has been
working too hard lately.”

  “So has Cesar.” I felt bad when I realized I had no idea what had been going on at Cesar’s job. I’d been so consumed with this custody dispute, I hadn’t even asked him. I’d been a terrible girlfriend. Maybe he’d been having a difficult time at work, and Irma’s attitude was the last straw. Maybe that’s why he’d left me.

  Christina frowned into her glass, tracing the rim with her finger. “Cesar told us you two were having problems.”

  I stiffened, then forced myself to relax. Were things that bad he had to go to his cousins for support? “He did?”

  “Yeah.” She handed her son another scoop of Cheerios, and he made silly facial expressions and banged loudly on his saucer. “If you need anyone to talk to, you can always come to me.”

  “Thanks.” I shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to interpret her offer. Had Cesar asked her to speak to me about this? If he had something to say, he could have come to me himself.

  I started when Nacho howled. The boys were trying to pull the big Lab onto the trampoline.

  Christina cupped her hands around her mouth and called down to them to leave the dogs on the dock. They whined but let him go.

  She turned back to me, rolling her eyes. “Boys.”

  I did my best to smile back, but I was still obsessing over why Cesar told Andrés and Christina about our “problems.” “Did Cesar say why he walked out?”

  “Walked out?” She wrinkled her pert nose. “Who walked out?”

  Now I was confused. “Oh, I thought Cesar told you.”

  “Yeah, about your nephew and his granddad.”

  Heat flamed my chest and flooded my cheeks. “Oh, those problems.”

  “Wait.” Her vivid green eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Cesar walked out on you?”

  That heat in my cheeks spread like wildfire all the way to the roots of my hair. “For one night.” I averted my gaze. “We had an argument over the housekeeper.”

  Christina turned away when James squealed. He was spinning and giggling while banging a rattle against his saucer. When she turned back, concern marred her brow. “So he left you?”