Chapter 7
Elliot
It was the dreaded morning after. I’d been awake for almost an hour, but I hadn’t been able to focus on much of anything as I waited for Cruz to wake up.
I’d spent a little more time working on the White account, but what I’d found had only caused more questions than answers.
Add in the fact that I had no clue what was going to happen when Cruz walked out of my bedroom, and I was a mess.
The sex the night before and early this morning had been nothing short of a miracle in my mind.
I’d never experienced anything in my entire life like I’d felt when I’d come.
The fact that I’d cried like a baby over something as simple as an orgasm should have sent Cruz running from the room, but no, he’d stayed. And then he’d made love to me again.
And he’d said it was real.
It was real.
I couldn’t deny it anymore. I didn’t want to.
Whatever Cruz had unlocked inside of me was never going to go back in its cage. If I was a freak like my college boyfriend had said I was, then so be it. I’d rather be a freak in Cruz’s arms then a normal man outside of them.
I flinched when I heard my bedroom door open, but I stayed where I was, despite the need to flee. If he said his goodbyes and just left, I’d deal with it. It would suck, but I’d deal, and I’d at least have the memories of the night before to hold onto for a while… or forever.
But my fears were waylaid the second he stepped into the kitchen and sealed his mouth over mine. He tasted of mint and I wondered if he’d used my toothbrush to brush his teeth, since I didn’t have a spare. I really wanted to believe that he had.
I didn’t know why.
I couldn’t help but smile against his mouth, which caused him to smile. “What?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Definitely not nothing,” he said.
“You’ll think I’m crazy,” I replied.
“And?”
That simple question was enough to settle the butterflies dancing around in my belly.
“I was wondering if you used my toothbrush… I’m kind of hoping you did.”
Cruz smiled and swiped his thumb over my chin. “Hope no more,” he murmured. Then his mouth was back on mine and the passion flared between us. He was the one to put some space between our desperate bodies. He shook his head at me. “You’re a dangerous man, Elliot Wittier.”
I smiled and motioned over my shoulder. “There’s coffee.”
“Thanks.” Cruz sat down next to me at the kitchen table a minute later with a cup of coffee in hand. “Did you figure that stuff out with your client?”
“Sort of,” I hedged.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked knowingly.
“I haven’t found the money, but I know who moved it from the account. But it doesn’t make sense.”
“Why not?”
I hesitated before admitting something I was still struggling with. “It was my dad.”
“Your dad?”
I nodded.
“I thought you said he retired.”
“He did – he doesn’t have a hand in the day-to-day operations and even while he was still at the company, he didn’t do account operations.
We have people for that. Every employee has a code that gets logged when a transaction is made.
My dad’s code is attached to the withdrawal of the money from the account. ”
“Did you ask him about it?” Cruz asked as he carefully sipped his coffee.
“I’m going to tonight. I’m heading over there later to take my brother trick-or-treating.”
Cruz stopped mid-sip and said, “You have a brother?”
I chewed on my lip for a moment and said, “Yeah. Ryan. He’s nine.
My dad adopted him six months ago. He was doing some work for this charity in Europe and he stopped by an orphanage.
He met Ryan and just knew that he was meant to be his son.
Ryan, he’s got cerebral palsy. If my dad hadn’t found him, he probably never would have gotten out of that orphanage. ”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” Cruz said. “Is that why your dad retired early? To take care of Ryan?”
I nodded. “Ryan’s confined to a wheelchair and he has limited speech – he uses this computer to communicate.
He’s such a great kid, Cruz. Even though he can’t talk, he’s got this personality on him like you wouldn’t believe.
It’s been incredible to watch it come to the surface since my dad brought him home.
And my dad… he’s finally started to come alive again. ”
Cruz reached out his hand to cradle my cheek. He held me like that for a moment before saying, “Do you think I could meet them someday? Your dad and Ryan?”
I bit into my lip and nodded. “Actually, I was going to see if you wanted to come trick-or-treating with us. Dad’s going to stay home and hand out candy. We could maybe do a late dinner or something afterward.”
I hated that I was too afraid to admit what I was really feeling – that I wasn’t ready for this to end yet. But Cruz didn’t press me on it. Instead, he said, “I’d love to. How about we stop by my place so I can change and then maybe we can grab lunch?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I’d love that.”
“Good,” Cruz said. He gave me a quick kiss and then rose. “You mind if I use your shower?”
I had no clue what possessed me to do it but I responded with, “Do you mind if I join you?”
“I was pretty much counting on it,” Cruz said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Then no, I don’t mind,” I said as I stood up. He took my hand and pressed a kiss into the palm before leading me toward my room.
And just like that, I lost another piece of my heart to Cruz de la Vega.
I watched in wonderment as Cruz knelt in front of Ryan’s wheelchair and began talking to him like he’d been doing it for a lifetime.
There’d been a little bit of nervousness on Cruz’s part early in the evening when we’d arrived at my dad’s house, but he’d adjusted quickly and within minutes of meeting Ryan, he’d picked up on how to interact with my brother.
He’d spoken to him like a regular little boy, not a child with a disability, which Ryan had definitely responded to because he’d opened up to Cruz much more quickly than he normally did with strangers.
My dad had been hovering by Ryan’s side protectively at first, but as soon as he’d realized Ryan was okay with Cruz, he’d joined me in the kitchen where I’d been putting the final touches on Ryan’s costume.
I’d wanted to ask my dad about the missing money from the White account, but he’d accosted me with questions about Cruz instead.
And when Cruz had shot me a warm look from where he’d been sitting in the living room talking to Ryan, I’d pretty much been a goner and my dad had seen it.
I had no doubt that just as soon as he managed to get me alone, he’d be peppering me for more information.
Not that I had that much to give, although it was more than I’d had this morning.
During and after lunch, Cruz had told me about his family and childhood.
Both he and his brother had been born in Colombia, but had immigrated to the US with their parents when Cruz was just a baby.
The stories I’d heard lent themselves to the fact that Cruz’s childhood hadn’t been an easy one, and while he hadn’t come right out and admitted it, I suspected he and his brother had been abused.
Between his less-than-perfect childhood and the scars I’d seen this morning on his body as we’d showered – the remnants of the brutal attack he’d endured two years earlier – I was in awe of how grounded the man was.
I wondered if a lot of that had to do with his brother, since Matias had been the topic of many of Cruz’s stories.
Cruz had admitted that his brother hadn’t been the same after the attack, but we hadn’t had the time to really talk about it much.
It was a topic I definitely wanted to come back to, since it clearly was causing Cruz a lot of pain.
“I think we cleaned them out,” Cruz said as he and Ryan reached me where I was standing on the curb.
Since most of the houses in my dad’s neighborhood had steps leading up to the front door, many of the homeowners had come down to meet us on the walkways leading from the sidewalk to the houses to give Ryan his candy after he used his computer to say, “Trick or Treat.” For those few people that hadn’t come to us, Cruz had done the most amazing thing.
He’d gently picked my brother up out of his chair and then trotted up to the door with him and then chimed the phrase on my brother’s behalf.
I’d been able to tell just from my brother’s garbled laugh that he’d loved it.
“Did you get a good haul?” I asked Ryan.
“Big time,” came the response from his computer. I leaned down to drop a kiss to his head. I’d fallen as in love with my brother as my dad had, and I lived for these moments where he was just a regular little boy.
“Good,” I said. “Let’s go home and see how you made out.”
Ryan held out his hand in what I knew was his high-five motion.
I gently smacked my palm against his, then watched Cruz do the same.
I reached for Cruz’s hand as we began heading back to the house.
I loved that he never hesitated to show me affection in public.
There were lots of things about Cruz de la Vega I was coming to love and I knew it was just a matter of time before I lost my entire heart to him.
I had to remind myself that such a thing wasn’t possible, but then I remembered my dad’s words to me when I’d once asked him what it was like to fall in love.
I’d foolishly thought maybe I’d felt that way about my first boyfriend, before the whole freak thing.
You just know, Elliot. I knew with your father the very moment I laid eyes on him. Didn’t matter how many people told me love at first sight was just a myth. I was as much in love with your father on the day he died as I was on the day we met.
“Thanks for tonight,” I said.
“The night’s not over,” Cruz reminded me.
“No… no, it’s not,” I said with a smile.