CHAPTER 9
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Miguel
Miguel knocked on Rachel’s door while balancing two iced coffees in his grasp. He swallowed as the nerves built.
Our first official date.
He shifted his weight to the balls of his feet as the door opened. Rachel’s pretty face appeared with a wide smile, sending an immediate tug on his heartstrings. “Good morning,” he choked out as she stepped outside and leaned into a hug.
She pressed a kiss to his lips. “Good morning to you, too,” she said and stole the coffee from his left hand. Raising a brow, she sipped and turned back into the house. “Safe to say you are also a caffeine addict?”
With a snort, he nodded and followed her inside. “Addict makes me sound kinda sketchy, don’t you think?”
She giggled.
“Let’s go with lover. Caffeine lover.” Miguel grinned and took a drink, appreciating the sugary caramel liquid as it slid down his throat.
“How many cups per day?”
“At least three. You?”
Rachel laughed and scooped up her keys before depositing them in her canvas bag. “Four. Some days five.”
His eyes widened. “You win.”
She draped the purse over her right shoulder. “And just what do I win, Mr. Rodriguez?”
“My guess is probably a lot of sleepless nights.”
“Touché.”
A shiver rippled through him as she stepped closer and pecked his cheek. The touch of her soft lips doubled the beat of his heart. Pausing to inhale the subtle floral scent emitting from her hair, he wrapped his free arm around her waist.
Her giggles caught in his ear, each bubble of laughter soothing his soul and easing his anxious breath. Contentment filled his lungs with her easy company.
“And just where might we be going at 10 AM on a Sunday?” Cupping his chin, she pressed another kiss on his lips and pulled away with a sultry smile. “Not that I’m an expert at this whole dating thing, but I think most first dates involve dinner and a movie.” She tugged him through the doorway.
“We’ve already had dinner. And we’ve watched three movies together.” Eyeing her hand as she twisted the teal key in the lock, he extended his elbow in her direction.
She weaved her arm through his. “I guess most relationships don’t start the way ours did, do they?” Play-pinching his side, she followed his lead to the car.
“Ours is a little unusual I suppose.” Miguel opened her door and grinned, gazing at her long, pale legs as she slid into the passenger seat. “Keeping with our trend, I’ve got something equally unique planned today.” He winked and closed the door.
Miguel jogged around the front of the hood, silently praying she’d get a kick out of the silly adventure on the itinerary. He dropped into the driver’s side seat and brought the engine to life.
“Equally unique?” With a smile, she set her purse on the floor and reached for the seatbelt, replicating the exact motion from the night they first drove home together.
Miguel relished the butterflies flapping in his stomach as he plugged in his iPhone and queued up his go-to playlist. The nostalgic vocals of Story of the Year blared through the speaker before he turned the volume down and tapped the Maps app. “Sorry,” he muttered and typed in their destination. Lifting his gaze to catch her reaction as the navigation appeared on the dashboard, his heart stalled with anticipation.
“The San Diego Zoo?” Rachel cackled and tossed her head back in amusement. “Oh, my gosh, I haven’t been there since I was a kid! Miguel, this is wonderful!”
A sigh of sweet relief left his lips as he put the car in reverse and backed out of her driveway. After winding his way down the street, he paused at the stop sign. “You said you liked goats, right? They have the best petting zoo I could find.”
She roared with laughter and tugged the claw clip from her hair. Her long brown strands kissed her bare shoulders and tumbled down her back, blowing in the wind as he accelerated onto the frontage road. “I do like goats,” she answered with a wink.
“It’s a little bit of a ride. You don’t mind?” Peeking over his shoulder at the oncoming traffic on the highway, he merged seamlessly in between a semi and a pick-up truck towing a travel trailer.
Rachel stared at the camper. “Not at all. As kids, we took all kinds of road trips. I’m used to long car rides.”
Shifting into the middle lane, Miguel pressed the gas pedal and left the pick-up truck with the travel trailer behind. “Oh yeah? Where’d you go?”
Her gaze lingered on the fifth-wheel in the mirror. “Umm, we used to camp a lot. My parents took us all over the country. We had a little pop-up camper.” She giggled. “You know, like the ones you have to pull the beds out on each side when you park it?”
He snorted. “I remember those! I went camping once with my best friend’s family as a kid. I think I slept on what doubled as their dining room table.”
“Yes!” Snickering, she leaned over and rested her hand on his thigh. Her fingernails dragged along his skin—and her touch was an immediate spark to the kindling smoldering in his heart. “Ryan always slept in that spot, too. Rose and I had to share a bunk next to the little kitchenette.”
Miguel smiled, recalling the memories unthought off in over two decades. With a sigh, he moved into the left lane.
The feminine voice on the Maps app filled the car. “You are on the fastest route. Stay on I-5 for 116 miles.”
Blowing out a breath, he set the cruise control for ten over the speed limit and peeked at her through his peripheral vision. “What was your favorite place you ever camped?”
She tapped a finger to her chin. “Hmm, that’s a tough one.” Tilting her head, she hummed. “We regularly camped at Channel Islands National Park, so probably there. The whole place is beautiful, full of a ton of great memories—” Her voice caught in her throat as her gaze suddenly dropped to her feet.
“Like what?”
She sniffled and shook her head. “My dad used to take us trout fishing every summer.” Her voice quivered. “And we’d explore the sea caves and fry our skin on the beach...” Rachel swallowed and swiped a finger beneath her eyes before hiding her face from view.
Whoa. Wait, what?
“Rach?” Miguel tore his eyes from the road and rested his palm on her leg. With a gentle squeeze, he tugged at the bottom of her yellow sundress. “Are you okay?”
She turned and smiled, but her eyes glistened. A single tear rolled down her left cheek.
“Hey,” he cooed. “I’m sor—”
“No,” she interrupted and wiped the tear away. “No. It’s not you.” Sniffling, she gripped his hand atop her thigh and released an exhale. “It’s umm, just still fresh. Hits me out of nowhere sometimes.”
What does?
Miguel nodded and glanced into the rearview mirror as a white SUV prepared to speed past.
“Er, my dad,” she mumbled. “He passed away a little over a year ago. The memories are... hard to talk about.”
His heart ached with her truth. An immediate pull in his belly clenched his gut. Choking on the air in his throat, he nodded as his mother’s face swirled in his memory. “I’m sorry, Sunshine,” he whispered, gripping her fingers still entangled with his. “I ah...” He gulped. “... know that feeling well. I didn’t mean to—”
“No, please don’t apologize.” Bringing their connected grasp to her lips, she pressed a kiss on the top of his hand. “I swear, I’m not usually this emotional.”
“It’s okay if you are. Losing a parent is tough. I lost my mom, too.” Eyeing the back of his hand where her lips touched his skin, he released a heavy sigh. “Will you tell me what hap—”
“Brain cancer,” she said with a shrug. “Your mom?”
“Breast cancer.”
Her head hung. “Well, we make quite the pair,” she whispered.
In more ways than one.
He tugged their interconnected hands back into his lap. With a squeeze, his eyes left the road to peer in her direction.
“Just last year?”
Rachel nodded. “How old were you?”
“Twelve.”
“I’m so sor—”
Shaking his head, he brought her hand to his lips and returned the sweet gesture. Behind his lids, the familiar burn grew—the loss, a wound that would never fully heal. “How about we talk about something a bit happier?”
With a nod, she cleared her throat and swiped beneath her eyes. Rachel yanked on the sun visor and examined her makeup. “You know, I don’t usually reveal so many personal things on a first date,” she quipped.
Miguel shook his head and breathed through the shared sadness still swimming in his veins. “Me either.”
With an exaggerated sigh, she returned the visor to an upright position. “So, what do you usually talk about on first dates?”
He released her fingers and scooped up a pair of sunglasses from the center console. Miguel flashed a grin and dropped them on his nose. “First dates... as in plural? You make it sound like I’ve been on many.”
Rachel snorted. “Oh, come on,” she answered, quickly regaining her usual sense of composure. “You’re a handsome, successful, business owner.” Crossing her legs, she shifted in her seat to angle toward him. “Don’t tell me you haven’t been with your fair share of women.”
The hilarity of her words pierced his heart, pulling his mind back from the brink of their emotionally charged conversation. “Fair share of women?” He barked out a laugh. “Just how many ladies do you think I’ve been with?”
The flush on her cheeks crept down her neck, painting her skin with the soft pink tones of a sunrise. She smacked him on the shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! You know what I mean!” Rachel gripped his upper arm, inciting a tingle to march along his skin.
He snorted as a sports car tailgated him. Swapping lanes, the flaming red Ferrari whizzed past. “You seriously want to know how many women I’ve dated?”
Her head bounced up and down and Rachel flashed her set of dazzling white teeth in his direction. “Totally!” She giggled. “I need to know what I’m up against here.”
You’ve got to be joking.
Miguel pulled his sunglasses from his nose and propped them on his head. “You’re ridiculous. You know that, right?”
She swiped his glasses and pushed them on her face. They immediately slid down the bridge of her nose and she nudged them back in place with a laugh. “So I’ve been told. But I still want to know anyway.”
A sheepish smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Wrinkling his nose, he cringed. “I don’t want to tell you.”
She swatted his shoulder again. “Oh, my God. It’s a huge number, isn’t it?”
Quite the opposite.
His stomach churned, sloshing the iced coffee with a dose of anxiety. Gripping the back of his neck, he rubbed the muscles. “Are we talking about dates or sex here, Rach?”
“Er, well, sex, I guess,” she blurted and pushed the glasses back into position again.
How did we go from dating to sex? Miguel groaned. My fault.
“I’ll go first,” she offered. Leaning forward, she gripped his phone and advanced to the next song. “Nine.”
His body warmed. Pressing his lips together, he choked on the breath in his lungs. You’ve slept with nine men? Goosebumps appeared on his forearms as the reluctance to answer built in his chest—his own number a drastic difference—both inferior and awkward.
“Miguel?” she prodded.
“Nine? Really?”
Her cheeks flushed again. “Er, yeah. But—”
“Three,” he choked out as the truth tightened in his gut, spilling from his lips on a single frayed thread of courage. “Three women,” he muttered.
She bit her bottom lip.
Shaking his head with humiliation, Miguel silenced the voice on the dash announcing a stretch of upcoming road construction with a single tap. “Er—”
“Did you love any of them?” she asked.
No.
He gripped the remains of his iced coffee. Swirling the melting ice around at the bottom of the plastic cup, he tipped the drink to his mouth and gulped. “Do you always ask such personal questions on a first date?” He winked and returned the cup to the holder.
Rachel’s laughter filled the small space, diffusing the tension filled moment of truth. “Nope. I’ve saved them all for you.”
Miguel snorted. “Lucky me.” Tapping the brake, he slowed the car to the new construction zone speed limit and sighed before giving into her question. “I thought I loved my high school girlfriend,” he started. “She was my first...” With a swallow, he brought the car to a standstill in the line of traffic and turned to eye Rachel as heat flooded his cheeks.
Why am I telling you all of this?
Her pretty brown eyes bore into him though, hanging on every word he spoke. “But you didn’t?”
He shrugged. “Lust, probably. We were young, you know?”
Nodding along, she prodded him on the leg.
Damn, you’re pushy!
“I definitely did not love the girl I dated during my tiny stint in college.” He snorted and recalled her multiple midnight pleas to bail her out of prison. “And certainly not the woman I hooked up with for a one-night stand at a Christmas party.” Miguel snickered. “Which then turned into a couple more...” Cringing, he barked out a laugh. “Let’s just say that it imploded quickly.”
Rachel frowned and tilted her head. “Wait, so you’re saying you’ve never been in love?”
I didn’t say that.
Miguel inched the car forward, crawling slowly through the construction zone. He squinted in the bright sunlight bouncing off the windshield of an excavator.
“Here.” Rachel handed his sunglasses over. “Tell me if I’m being too nosy.”
He shook his head but accepted the glasses with a grin. Bopping her on the tip of her nose, he smiled. “You are indeed nosy, Sunshine.” Super nosy. “But I like that we’re getting to know each other, even if it’s at the cost of my total embarrassment.”
She giggled and dragged a hand through her hair, blushing in the sunlight peeking through the glass.
The line of standstill traffic scooted forward, and Miguel tapped the gas pedal, resuming his former speed on the highway.
A minute passed as the breeze swirled in the car, bringing with it the smells of fresh pavement and oil.
“So...?” she persisted.
You’re not going to let this go, are you?
His heart skipped a beat as his stomach sank. A shiver snaked along his spine, twisting and wringing dry his soul like a well-used sponge. He swallowed and sucked in a deep breath before opening his mouth for the words to flow.
“I guess I haven’t.”
His stomach recoiled as the lie slid through his teeth.
Unless I’m counting Lauren Templeton.