CHAPTER 21
Miguel
“Are you hungry?”
Miguel smiled and pulled her closer. “What’re you in the mood for?” He tickled her hips beneath the blanket.
“What’re you willing to make me?”
The soft, sleepy glow in her eyes gripped him, stealing his heart all over again with the memories of last night. Tapping the tip of her button nose, he grinned. “Anything your heart desires, Sunshine.”
Rachel giggled. “I don’t know about my heart, but my stomach desires a Belgian waffle with powdered sugar.”
“That’s a tall order for a woman without a single sharp knife in her kitchen.”
She snorted. “I’m pretty sure you don’t need a knife to make a waffle.”
Touché.
“You’re right. But your lack of proper kitchen supplies leads me to believe you do not own a waffle iron or even a standard mixing bowl.”
Rachel rolled her eyes and trailed a single fingernail down his chest, stirring the still smoldering desire in his heart.
“Believe it or not, I do own a waffle iron. It’s brand new, never been opened.”
“That part doesn’t surprise me.” Miguel tugged her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on her palm. “How about that mixing bowl, though, eh?”
“Rose left a stack of Tupperware here last week. I’m sure there’s something you can use.”
A bubble of laughter grew in his belly. “You’re ridiculous.”
“No, just practical,” she murmured before his mouth met hers.
Willing her lips to never leave his again, he wrapped his arms around her body. “How’d I get so lucky?” he murmured while threading her long hair through his fingers.
“I’ve been asking myself the same question.” She sighed, and the silence collided with his ear, the early morning hour a true picture of perfection.
His soul smiled, relishing the aftermath of the words spoken the night before. Closing his eyes, Miguel summoned the memory of her body beneath his—her admission pure and shared within his very core.
“Do you have to work today?” she whispered.
Her question pulled him from the precipice of euphoria. “I work every day,” he grumbled.
“What time?”
“Whenever I’m done making you a Belgian waffle.”
Rachel placed a kiss beneath his ear. “You don’t have to—”
“Don’t be silly,” he interrupted. “I love cooking for you, Raquel.” Miguel smiled and tickled her neck.
“Stop!” she squealed and rolled, tugging the covers up to her chin.
Grinning at the new flush on her cheeks, he tucked a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear. “I love your laugh.”
She snorted before burrowing under the covers. “Ryan always says I laugh too loud.” Her voice muffled beneath the bedspread.
“Nonsense.” Miguel eyed the shifting sheets as she peeked out from her makeshift cave. “But that reminds me.” Bonking her on the nose again, he turned to face her. “Can I borrow your iPad?”
“Why?” Her brow furrowed.
“Because I want to buy those Yellowcard tickets.”
Her laugh shook the bed. “Oh, God, you’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Don’t laugh! Or I’ll buy five instead of six.”
She blanched. “Six?”
“Yeah!” He ticked off the names on each finger. “You, me, Ryan, Tess, Rose, Cole...”
Rachel’s giggles collided with his ears as she smashed her face into the pillow.
“What?”
She came up for air with laughter still on her lips. “Rose and Cole might get on board with an emo concert, but Tess is going to hate it.”
Miguel scowled. “How can anyone hate Yellowcard?”
With a return tap on his nose, Rachel sighed. “I don’t know. But I’m glad you and Ryan found something to bond over.”
“Something?” He returned his hand beneath the covers and tickled her belly until her sweet laughter touched his soul again. “Emo music is a lifestyle, not—”
“I know! I know!” She cackled as her head dipped over the side of the bed. As she rummaged on the floor the sheet slipped and he swatted her bare bottom.
“Hey! Hands off my buns!” With another giggle, she dropped her iPad into his hands and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek. “I’m gonna rinse off, okay?”
Miguel nodded and touched the screen. Typing in her passcode, he lifted his gaze to her as she tumbled from the bed and tiptoed naked to the adjoining bathroom.
The door clicked closed and the water turned on. The sound was a direct parallel to the normalcy she brought to his life.
“Te amo, Raquel,” he whispered as his attention returned to the iPad in his hands. Scrolling through her home screen in search of Google, his finger brushed against her recent activity and opened the notes app.
He peered at the unfamiliar handwriting filling the screen, until his own name caught his attention. “What’s this?” he whispered and perused the bulleted items. Super sexy. Successful business owner. Exotic and bilingual. Amazing uncle who supports his sister. He puts everyone’s needs above his own. Fucking incredible in bed.
His heart stalled as a flush crept along his skin, warming his flesh with embarrassment. Miguel’s eyes glossed over the remaining items. Has a soft romantic heart. Cooks. Bakes. Honest. Hardworking. Loyal. Supportive. Caring...
Grinning at the kind sentiments, he snorted until his gaze shifted to Ian’s crossed-out name in the opposite column.
“What the hell?” he muttered as he read the words super smart. “Rach, what is this?”
His stomach twisted in a knot as a seed of understanding slowly grew. “Were you comparing us?” Miguel stared at the closed bathroom door. “Why?”
But only the trickle of water on the other side answered.
––––––––
Miguel swiveled in his chair and rolled to the file cabinet in the corner of his office. Poking through manila file folders, he frowned and huffed out a sigh. “Where’d I put it?” he muttered and pawed through the endless stack of papers.
“Miguel?” A knock sounded on the door before Rose’s face appeared in the small gap. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yeah, come in, come in.” Miguel waved her inside, ready to admit defeat over the missing daily sales report from the weekend prior. He rammed the file drawer closed.
“Looking for something?” Rose sank into the empty chair at the tiny table adjacent to his desk. She propped her elbows on the surface and rested her chin in her palms.
Miguel shrugged. “I’m missing the DSR from last Sunday.” Rolling his chair over to the table beside her, he frowned. “I swear I just had it a few days ago.”
“I bet Michelle still has it.”
Miguel tilted his head and lifted his deep brown gaze to hers. “Why?”
“Didn’t you ask her to compare Sunday brunch numbers?” Rose pressed her lips together and widened her eyes. “Er, I assumed you were tracking my first thirty days’ performance.”
He grinned and eyed the quick Rachel-like flush on her pale cheeks. With a nod, he tapped the table. “That’s true.”
The intake of her breath stalled the words on his tongue. Her sudden increased level of anxiety radiated from her pores.
“But Rose, only to show my sincere appreciation.”
A slow breath escaped her.
“I don’t really need the DSR resort. Any of ’em.” Miguel nudged her in the elbow. “It’s obvious how much your skills and leadership have done for Pier Ninety-Two, even in the short amount of time you’ve been here.”
Her cheeks flushed even brighter. She swallowed and tucked her hair behind her ears.
“I mean it,” Miguel continued. “I’m sure everyone here has told you the horror stories of our first six months of operation.” He snorted and leaned back in his seat. Dragging a hand through his hair, the memories flowed through his brain, each one a tiny needle pricking his psyche.
“I—”
“What temperature does vegetable oil burn?” he blurted.
Her brow furrowed. Leaning forward, Rose tilted her head. “Four fifty. Why?”
Miguel barked out a laugh and pressed a finger to the red scar on his forearm. “Trust me when I say, we had some growing pains before you stepped in.”
Rose stared at the angry red scar branding his skin. “I’m so grateful you hired me, Miguel.”
He waved her off and made a full spin in his chair. Rolling his head around his neck, he snickered. “It’s me who’s grateful. I don’t know what happened at your former restaurant, but their loss was definitely my gain.”
She dragged a finger beneath both eyes and sniffled. “I was devastated when Break the Bread closed. I can’t even put into words how defeated I felt,” she admitted. Rose slumped in her seat. “But then Rachel waltzed in with her magical solutions and fixed everything.”
His heartbeat raced as Rachel’s name entered the conversation, the mere mention of her fueling the rapid race of his pulse. Grinning like a love-struck teenager, Miguel shivered. “She does fix everything, doesn’t she?” he asked.
Fixed my restaurant. Fixed my heart. Hell, I think she fixed my future, too.
With a nod, Rose scooped up a stray pen from the table and twirled it around her fingers. “I know we’re supposed to be talking professionally here...”
Miguel blushed at her teasing words. “But...”
“But,” she continued, “I hope you know how happy you make her.” She tapped the tip of the pen against his knuckles and smiled. “Personally speaking, you’re so good for her, Miguel. I’ve never seen her happier.”
Her sweet words washed over him, ready to fill his heart with bliss all over again. But like the tip of a knife—blunt or otherwise—the puncture wound stalled the swell. Ian’s crossed-out name reappeared in his mind, the unknown loopy handwriting from the iPad screen burned into his brain.
Miguel cleared his throat. Swiveling back and forth in his chair, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Something I said?”
He groaned and stopped the rotation. I just have to know what that list was. “We’re still talking personally here, right?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She frowned but nodded.
“Will you tell me about Ian?”
She rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath. “I can. But why? He’s just an ex-boyfriend.”
“An ex-boyfriend Rachel might still be comparing me to though, right?”
The breath froze on her lips. Dropping her gaze to the floor, Rose groaned. “Why would you think that?”
Miguel nudged the door fully closed with his toes as his heart battled with his head. The latch clicked in place and magnified the silence of the office. “As much as I want to, we don’t have to talk about this. I don’t want to put you in a weird spot.”
“You’re not.”
Miguel nodded and bit his bottom lip. “All right, well, last weekend I borrowed Rachel’s iPad.”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
“I didn’t mean to see it, but there was something really odd written in her notes app.” Miguel paused and surveyed her face. “A list,” he added.
Rose closed her eyes and shook her head.
Yep. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?
“You’ve seen it.”
She nodded and swallowed. “I have,” she choked out before releasing the pen from her fingers. The plastic clanked against the table and rolled to a stop. “But Miguel, it’s really not what you think.”
“And what do I think?”
Rose dropped back in her seat. After bringing her palms to her face, she dragged each finger along her cheeks. “I suppose I don’t know what you think. But I can guess because I know what it looks like.”
Nodding along, Miguel tapped his knuckles on the table. “It looks like Rachel was comparing me to him.”
“True, but it also looks like your side of the list was quite a bit lengthier than Ian’s. Am I right?” Rose shrugged again before meeting his gaze. “I’m not sure it’s my place to tell you this.” She cringed. “But you should know that Ian—”
“Has been texting her,” Miguel finished with a roll of his eyes. “Rach told me,” he admitted before a flood of memories pummeled his heart.
A chill raked his spine recalling the moments they shared in Maria’s basement. Her truth. Her admissions. And every reassurance in her heart collided with his as Rose eyed him from across the table.
“It’s not her fault,” she defended. “Ian ended things with her. It was unfair of him to contact her like that after she’d moved on... with you.”
“Unfair or not, it seems like she’s still considering him.”
With a shake of her head, Rose leaned forward and gripped his hand. “I know my sister better than anyone.”
He nodded.
“Trust me when I tell you this. She is not considering Ian.”
Staring at her grasp on his hands, he rolled his head around his shoulders.
I must look so insecure right now.
“Let me explain.” She squeezed his palm and commanded his gaze to return to hers. “Rach met Ian on some ridiculous dating app. They went out for a few months and had a little bit of fun.” Rolling her eyes, she cleared her throat. “He came camping with us the weekend Cole and I got engaged. Then he came to our engagement party. And he played a small role in bringing Ryan and Tess back together after a minor fallout.” She snorted. “And he actually helped Tess file for an LLC for their business.”
Scowling at the laundry list of items Rose rattled off, he frowned. “Why’re you telling me all this?”
“Because I’m trying to show you that Rachel developed some feelings for him.” She released her grip on his hands. “I don’t think she meant to, but in the short amount of time they were together, she felt something for him because of what he did. Family means everything to Rachel.”
The words crushed him, weighing heavy on his heart as the truth revealed.
“Miguel, the only reason Rach paused was because of his memory. The list you saw took less than two drunken minutes to make and every bullet point beneath your name came directly from her.” Her cheeks reddened as she giggled. “Er, wait. I think Tess added that you’re sexy, exotic, and bilingual.”
Heat blanketed him, warming his body over with the compliments.
“And I added successful business owner,” she admitted and waved her arms around his office with a grin. “But everything else was Rachel. The brief moment of hesitation ended before it even started. Trust me. Ian isn’t a threat.”
Miguel licked his lips and relished the growing smile as each word spewed from her pretty mouth.
“She wants you,” Rose continued. “Please believe me when I tell you that.”
“She told me the same. And I do believe her.” With a grin, he reached forward and held her hands. “And you. Thank you for telling me what you just did. I feel a lot better.”
“It’s the honest truth. That stupid list means nothing. Ian is history.”
Her reassuring words seared the hole in his heart, eliminating the uneasy threat of Ian. Taking a final spin in his chair, Miguel winked in her direction as his heart softened.
Thank you, Rose.