Chapter Fourteen
“And you said the desserts were nothing to write home about. Well, this chocolate cake tells a different story, pal,” I talked over my surprisingly amazing in-flight dessert. “Do you think I could ask for another serving?” I hummed in pleasure.
Heck, it was so good that I wasn’t even ashamed to do that.
Not even with Aaron occupying the lush first-class seat beside me. Oh yeah, because, apparently, I flew in first class now. I still hadn’t figured out exactly how I had let him ask—or rather demand—for an upgrade of my economy seat without even putting up a fight. But I knew it had included him throwing an arm over my shoulders and uttering the word girlfriend. Which, in hindsight, I knew it had blindsided me enough to somehow nod like a fool and place my passport on the check-in counter.
He lowered the newspaper he had been hiding behind and revealed a cocked eyebrow. “Pal?”
“Silence. I’m having a moment with my cake.”
He sighed and returned to his reading.
Holding my spoon in the air, I hesitated before taking it to my mouth. “You didn’t have to do that, you know? Paying for the upgrade of my tickets is too much.”
I heard a noncommittal grunt come from him.
“I’m serious, Aaron.”
“I thought you wanted to eat in silence.”
“I’ll give you back the money when we return from the trip. You are doing enough as it is.”
Aaron’s sigh followed my words almost immediately. “There’s no need. I’m a member of the airline’s Sky Club, and I have plenty of miles,” he explained as I finally took that last bite of chocolate heaven. “And as I told you, this is time we can use to prep.”
When I finally devoured what had just become the highlight of my day, I wiped my mouth with the napkin, placed it back on the tray in front of me, and turned to Aaron. “Which reminds me, break is over.”
He ignored me.
I poked the back of the newspaper with my index finger. “We have to get back to work. Come on.” Another poke. “Time to prep.”
“Do you have to do that?” Aaron pleaded from behind it.
“Yes.” I poked the newspaper a few times, making it impossible for him to keep reading. “I need your full attention. We have only gone through a few of my family members, and we are running out of time.” I tugged at one of the corners. “Do I have your attention?”
“You don’t need to do any of that.” He lowered the large black-and-white-colored pages with a brisk motion. “You always have my undivided attention, Catalina.”
That made my finger halt in the air.
“Ha.” I narrowed my eyes. “Cute of you to try to buy me with cheap tricks.” I leveled him with what I hoped was a serious look. “Don’t think you are going to get out of it, sweet-talking me into leaving you alone. The international relationships of the United States of America are not important right now.”
With a reluctant nod, Aaron folded it meticulously and set it on top of his tray. “All right,” he said, blue eyes focusing completely on me. “No distractions. I’m all yours.”
All yours.
My breath got stuck somewhere between my lungs and mouth. “Groom and bride?” I managed to get out.
“Gonzalo and Isabel.” He rolled his eyes, as if I could do better at testing him.
Challenging me.
“Trio of cousins, who you will not listen to a word that leaves their lips?” I paused and then tilted my head. “Especially if it starts with, Hey, do you want to hear something funny?”
“That would be Lucas, Matías, and Adrián.”
He hadn’t hesitated. Well, good. Those savages were dangerous; you never knew what would come out of their mouths. Or them in general.
“Parents of the bride and your supposedly future parents-in-law if you were serious about me, which you totally are?”
“Cristina and Javier,” he answered immediately. “I should be polite but address them by their first name, or they will be offended and think I’m a pretentious ass.” Aaron paused after repeating my earlier words exactly. He adjusted his big body in the more than spacious seat, making it look smaller and cramped. “Javier is a university History professor and speaks English fluently. Cristina is a nurse, and her English is … just not as good. However, she is the one I should be more wary of. Even when it looks like she doesn’t understand me, chances are, she is still weighing my every word.”
I nodded, secretly impressed. He was acing all my questions—for the second time. Not that I was surprised. He had proven in the past that his determination knew no limits when it came to success, no matter the task. Aaron didn’t half-ass things; he delivered the best results. Always.
Good. He was going to need all his determination with the Martín family and the rest of the wedding party.
But that didn’t mean I was completely satisfied. Not yet.
“Parents of the groom?”
“Juani and Manuel,” Aaron shot back quickly.
Nodding my head, I watched his mouth open, knowing what was going to leave out of it before it did. Those were the parents of the groom’s brother too. Who was my ex.
“Okay, next question,” I rushed out. “Cousin who you must avoid at all costs unless I am with you to control the situation?” Turning in my seat, I sat on top of one of my legs and faced him completely.
In an attempt to see how he worked under pressure, I schooled my face with my most assertive expression.
Aaron’s jaw twitched, and he looked distracted.
Dammit. Was he hesitating? He couldn’t.
An objection was about to leave my lips when he recovered, beating me to speak. “Charo.” The name of my cousin sounded different from Aaron’s lips, the word adorned with his strong American accent.
And I would have instantly criticized his pronunciation, if not for what he did next and the shock that it induced in my body.
His arm rose in the air, his big hand reaching for my face very slowly. My eyes bounced from that hand to his face, finding his gaze fixated somewhere to the right of my lips. And then, before I could stop what was about to happen, his thumb made contact with my skin. Very softly.
He was brushing my cheek. Very close to my mouth.
All and every complaint died and went up to heaven the moment his finger swiped over my skin.
He started talking again, looking engrossed by the motion of his thumb. “Charo,” he repeated distractedly.
While I … I simply remained frozen in place. Feeling how that simple contact against my skin seemed to awaken little fires all across my body.
“You said I must run away from a red-haired woman with inquisitive green eyes and little to no shame. And that would be Charo.”
How such a gentle contact could scorch my skin so effectively was something that I … couldn’t understand. My lips parted, a shaky breath leaving them.
Only then did Aaron’s eyes look up and meet mine.
My blood swirled, rising to my neck, my cheeks, my temples. Spreading out as I held his gaze, the blue in his eyes turning a little darker.
When Aaron looked away, just as he retrieved his thumb, I felt myself relax. But it was short-lived because as soon as my gaze fell down and found his hand as it hovered in the air, I discovered with horror that there was a smudge of chocolate on his thumb.
Both of which had been on my face less than a couple of seconds ago.
Oh Lord.
And yet, what almost knocked me off my seat and to the carpeted floor of the aircraft turned out to be something else entirely. Not the knowledge of learning I had been talking for a small eternity with cake hanging from my face. Nope. Or the knowledge I had done that in front of Aaron, who would probably use that against me in the future. No. What almost knocked me on my ass, if not for the seat belt, was Aaron leading his finger to his mouth, parting those lips that were so often pressed in an unamused line, and wiping the chocolate clean off his thumb.
Chocolate that he had just retrieved from the corner of my mouth.