Chapter Twelve
Henna swiped her key card and opened her hotel room door. The shower ran and a black Italian wool crepe suit lay draped over a chair. Eduardo had let himself into the room. After a moment’s reflection, she found she didn't mind his presumption. In fact, she rather liked the idea of his presence in her life.
A quick glance at her watch let her know she had about an hour to get dressed. Her hair, make-up, and nails were done. A distinct ringing noise came from her handbag as it gently flew from her hand to the chair she tossed it into.
“Simon,” she said, answering her phone.
“Hola.” He chuckled. “Commo estas, chica?”
“Do I have any privacy?” She sat on the bed and kicked off her shoes.
“None,” he said. “I called the bride to wish her all the best. Got an earful. So, everybody knows by the way. I was calling to give you a heads up.”
“I hate all of you,” she said.
“I’m done teasing you. Tell me about abuelo.”
She rolled her eyes slightly. “He's so…I don't know…nice.”
“Nice? I'm nice. Try again.”
“He's...” She sighed a little. “He's everything I've ever wanted in a man and never knew it. He's macho. I swear to god macho. Who would have thought I would like a guy who is macho. How crazy is that?”
“Pretty crazy but kind of awesome. The kind of men you usually go after never work out for you, so thinking out of the box might just be the way to go.”
She thought about that for a moment and had to nod in agreement. In the background on Simon's end, she heard the distinct sound of the hospital where they worked. “Are you at work?”
“Yes.” Simon's voice betrayed the level of irritation he was feeling. “They found out I didn't go to Bermuda.”
“How?”
“Well,” he said. “Waverly, after kicking me out of our apartment because the sight of me vomiting was just a touch too icky for her, decided the best way to really punish me for taking vacation days she didn't approve of was to call the maternity ward looking for me. She let them know I hadn't gone to Bermuda and that I was still in town. She claims I had my cellphone turned off and didn't know where to reach me, but I think she is just that diabolical.”
Say nothing! Simon had to make up his mind about Waverly on his own. The one time she'd stuck her nose in, she didn't speak to Simon except for professional nods at work for nearly a year. It wasn't worth losing her friend over Waverly. “Why are they calling you in?”
“Because they know I won't say no,” he said. “All your patients have popped. It's like an epidemic. The second you're gone...boom!”
“I owe you one,” she said.
“Actually, you owe me five,” he said. “But I'm not counting. Talk to me. I'm hanging around until patient number six is dilated another centimeter. If I go lay down, I'll never get up again.”
That she understood. She'd been where Simon was. One baby coming on top of the next and no chance to catch a nap. “What are your thoughts on destiny?”
“My, huh? Destiny? Are you kidding me?” Simon's voice was low and serious.
“I'm serious,” she said. “What do you think about destiny?”
“Okay,” Simon said. “I'm going to preface my comments by saying I've been up for twenty hours straight and I'm still not wholly recovered. Cool?”
“Cool,” she said. “Destiny. Thoughts?”
“I'll play along.” His tongue clicked a continent away. “Destiny. You mean like soul mates?”
“Sure,” she said. “Why not? Soul mates.”
“Crock of shit,” he said. “But I do believe in chemistry. I don't think people are destined to match up, but I think that there are some people you can simply have that magic it with.”
“It, like good chemistry?”
“Exactly. Look at us,” he said. “On paper, we're perfect for each other. We're intellectual equals, we have similar religious and socio-economic backgrounds, our interests and dislikes are compatible, but yet, we just never clicked emotionally or physically. I love you, but the sex was shit. I'm just going to assume you've improved in the past decade and leave it there.”
“You were no great shakes either,” she snipped. Should she tell him that Eden spoke highly of his skill as a lover? Probably a bad idea.
“So we're agreed. We just didn't have it in the sack.”
“Sex doesn't make a happy marriage.” Even as she said it, she knew how ridiculous her statement sounded. Good sex didn't necessarily make a great marriage, but it certainly helped when the going got tough.
“Really? Okay. Whatever. Moving on. Honestly, if we'd settled with each other, we probably would have been happy enough. But, being honest, we just didn't have it. You get what I'm saying?”
“I think I've got it with him,” she said. “I know how crazy this sounds, but he just makes me feel like no one has ever made me feel. Is that crazy?”
“Yes,” Simon said.
“Do you have it with Waverly?” She already knew he didn't. What Simon and Waverly had was so far from it, it was in another universe.
Simon snorted out a laugh. “Are you kidding me? No. I've given up on finding it and have turned to settling for someone that will have sex with me at least twice a month and toss me an extra one for my birthday.”
“Why don't you just end it with her?” She'd never asked the one question that was taboo in their friendship before. Waverly didn't like her and she didn't like Waverly. The one thing that made Simon's life a little less difficult where his girlfriend was concerned, was that his best friend never had an opinion about the woman he supposedly loved.
“Fear,” he said. “Who the hell else would put up with my life? Waverly is willing to put up with what it really means to be married to an obstetrician and not just the fantasy of being married to a doctor. In fact, I think she prefers my being exhausted most of the time. It makes me docile and easy to control.”
“Because this is what you want in a relationship.”
“Did you know we're getting married? She finally got me to agree to setting a date in exchange for letting me back into our apartment. Do you think I can hire eight men of a uniform height and build to be my groomsmen? I told her that you, Oliver, and my brothers would stand up for me, and she nearly kicked me out of the apartment again.”
“That's pathetic,” she said. Another taboo opinion, but the seal had been broken so there was no stopping her. “You are pathetic and I am pathetic.”
“Got it,” he said. “We are pathetic.”
“We are. My fear of being with the wrong person and your fear of being alone have turned us into a couple of people that make bad choices. I'm on the edge of being cat and coffee mug collector, and you're seriously considering marrying a woman who you don't like going home to. You know it won't last with Waverly. It can't.”
Simon just breathed silently on the other end of the line, letting her unload on him.
“If we continue on this path, in five years we're going to be living together eating frozen dinners on TV trays, and arguing over whether or not we watch The Bachelor or Love Boat reruns. That is what the future holds for us, and I don't know about you, but that scares the hell out of me.”
“Are you drunk?”
“No,” she said.
“Are you having some kind of mental breakdown?”
“Possibly,” she said. “I'm falling for this guy, and I've known him three days. That's insane. That's not me. That's someone else. I follow my dating plan. We haven't even had first date casual lunch or second date fun yet still intellectually stimulating outing. We skipped directly to post fifth date sex.”
“Okay,” Simon said. “First of all, I'd never argue with you about watching The Bachelor over Love Boat reruns because there is always an episode of Star Trek on somewhere, and if there isn't, I have them all on DVD. Second, I'm allergic to cats. Third, I think we'd be more take out people than frozen dinner people. Fourth, what exactly is a fun, yet still intellectually stimulating, outing? Have you ever really examined your dating plan and compared it constructively with how many repeat dates you've been on?”
“Well, a fun yet intellectually—”
“Stop talking,” Simon cut her off. “Please actually don't answer that. I remember our fun, yet intellectually stimulating date, and to this day, just the thought of Kabuki theater is enough to give me the chills. As for the mugs…I have no comment other than, you can never have too many of those big mugs like you get at Starbucks. Those are fantastic. Will you please just tell me what's really going on?”
“What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked. “Why now and why like this am I finding someone who makes me feel the way he makes me feel?” The shower stopped running, followed by the sound of the shower door opening and closing.
“You want my advice or do you want to tell me what I know you want to hear?”
She thought for a moment. From the bathroom, she could hear the water running in the sink. “What do you think I want to hear?”
“Have a nice time in Bermuda,” he said. “Get to know Senior Fantastico, get his number and email address, and when you get back home to San Francisco and you've had some time for the dust to settle, you can examine thoroughly and completely what you truly were feeling. If it was nothing, you can forget about him until Eden has a baby and you all have to see each other at the next family gathering. If it might be something, give him a call and invite him for a brief weekend visit.”
“Okay,” she said. “What's your advice?”
“Go for it, Henna,” he said. “I've never heard you talk about any guy like you're talking about Senior Fantastico. Grab onto him and just hang on for the ride. Who knows? In three months, I might be going to your spontaneous wedding.”
“That will never happen,” she said. “What if it doesn't work out?”
“Shit doesn't work out all of the time,” he said. “You can't put your life on hold waiting around for a sure thing. I didn't and look where I wound up.” Simon had the decency to laugh at himself. “I hate my life sometimes. Anyhow, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Honestly, what could possibly happen that you couldn't get yourself out of with a Visa card and an American passport? Honestly?”
The bathroom door opened, and Eduardo walked into the room. The crisp white towel wrapped around his waist contrasted delightfully with his summer-bronzed skin. She looked at him and just wanted a piece.
“Normally, I'm sure, I'd probably be able to give you at least a dozen examples,” she said as her eyes tracked Eduardo.
“Try at least a hundred,” Simon said.
As Eduardo walked past her, she reached out and hooked a finger around the top of his towel, stopping him before he moved past her. He stopped and looked down at her briefly before bending down and dropping a kiss on her forehead.
“Eduardo's out of the shower,” she said. “I'll call you later.”
“You do that, pumpkin,” Simon laughed. “I love you. Make me proud and live a little. Don't worry about the minutia. Just have an adventure. Fall in love. Make me so jealous I actually get off my ass and do something about Waverly before I really do end up hiring eight guys to pretend to be my friends.”
“I think I will.” She said her goodbyes then tossed the phone in the chair.
“Your friend Simon?” Eduardo asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Jealous?”
“I'll admit it doesn't make me comfortable to know your best friend is a man,” he said. “Is he gay?”
“No,” she said. “I thought we already cleared all this up.”
“Why is he not in love with you?”
“Because,” she said, grabbing his towel and pulling it off. “You're my destiny.”
Eduardo turned to her, his semi-flaccid cock practically at eye level as she sat on the bed. Instead of just diving in with her mouth, she used her lips and peppered his lower abdomen with small kisses. She wrapped her arms around his body and sank her fingers into the smooth contours of his ass.
His skin smelled of the lime and vanilla shower gel he used and was still slightly damp from the shower. When his fingers went near her hair, she backed off. “Do not touch my hair. I just spent two hours getting it done.”
Eduardo pressed his lips together to prevent a smile, or worse laughter, from appearing. “Of course.” He understood. It was not the first time in his life he'd been warned to leave freshly coiffed hair alone. “I will keep my hands to myself.” To show his determination to be respectful of what two hours in a beauty parlor meant, he placed his hands behind his back.
Her gaze fixed on his cock, and she wet her lips then pressed them together. He pictured her perfectly painted lips sliding over him, leaving a rosy pink imprint, and he grew harder. The hair on his arms rose as he watched her watching him. From where he stood over her, he could see down her dress and the firm round curves of her breasts waiting to be freed from the lacy bra she wore.
His hips involuntarily pressed forward as his cock reached for her mouth. She looked up at him, smiled a little, then bent her head to the side as her bubblegum pink tongue slipped out of her mouth and drew a circle around the tip of his cock. Pre-cum leaked from the slit and onto her tongue as she continued to make the smallest feathery strokes on his sensitive skin.
At last, in one complete move, she opened her mouth and throat and swallowed him whole, taking all she could into her mouth. Her hands held him from behind as she kneaded the muscles of his ass, occasionally pulling his cheeks apart in a way he found unfamiliar and wholly erotic.
He spread his legs in response feeling the weight of his balls as they hung loosely between his thighs. Her fingers explored places he knew were erotic but had never received attention. With a soft, but persistent touch, the tips of her fingers stroked a line between his scrotum and anus. With a suddenness that made him gasp, one finger entered his hole then exited just as quickly.
A spasm jolted through his cock. With her sucking mouth and swirling tongue around his cock and her pulsating finger inside his anus once again, curling toward his prostate, he knew what was about to happen would be consuming. When he came, his body heaved and a cry escaped his throat. A load of hot cum shot from him in what felt like a never ending stream.
When it was over, Henna still didn't release him. Instead, she held his deflating penis in her mouth, kissing it like she would his tongue. Eventually, with a slick pop, she released him, then flicked her eyes up at him. “I missed you today. All I could think about was getting you to myself again.” She rose from the bed, pushing him back slightly as she slid against him. “Did you like that? Special blow. Just for you.”
“I liked that very much. I like what you did.” He took her hand and placed it on his ass. “I like that. It's different.”
“Was it?” she asked going into the bathroom and running the water. He followed her like a shadow. “If you're nice to me, I'll use my rabbit on you.”
“What's a rabbit?” he asked as she washed her hands.
“It's a kind of vibrator,” she said. “Trust me. You'll love it.”
“You mean that bright pink silicone thing you have in your carry-on bag?”
“Did you go looking through my things?”
“I did,” he said. “I wanted to make sure you weren't a prostitute.”
She stared at him with narrowing eyes.
“Would you rather I lied to you?” he asked. “After we were together for the first time, I looked into your wallet for your identification.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why were you so obsessed about my potentially being a hooker?”
He'd walked right into that question. “I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh at me.”
She blinked a couple of times as a smile started to spread across her face. “Let me guess. You were staying in a hotel in…” She paused and waited for him to speak.
“New York,” he said. “Do we really have to discuss this?”
“And you were at the bar having a few drinks with a friend…” Again she paused. It was as if she already knew the story he'd told no one.
“Wholesaler from Switzerland.”
“And a woman who you would have never thought was a prostitute mistook you for…”
“Her brother's college roommate. Which I should have known was a mistake. I never had a roommate. I had a wife and a baby when I went to college.”
She laughed out loud. “How much did that cost you?”
“Other than my dignity? Nothing. I figured it out before we went back to my room. Needless to say, after that, I'm wary when beautiful women want to have sex with me for no apparent reason.”
“I can think of many reasons to have sex with you,” she said. “So you want to try out the rabbit?”
He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. He'd asked her to open herself up to new experiences, why wouldn't he do the same. “Okay.”
She clasped her hands around his neck as he gazed into her margarita-colored eyes. Her eyelids slipped shut as she gently nudged her tongue into his mouth. The instant her mouth touched his, he was lost again. Each stroke of her tongue against his sent a pulse to his shaft, waking it up after only a short rest. Her tongue slid around his as her hands stroked the planes of his shoulders and arms. With his fingers, he quickly untied the knot in the belt that held the silk dress together.
Henna shed her dress with a shrug of her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground in a puddle. Her skimpy panties were distinctly wet and her breasts filled in the curved cups of her lacy bra to perfection. He placed his hands on her hips and looked down at her body. There was nothing he saw that he didn't like.
With a snap of his fingers, he unhooked her bra and pulled it off, quickly discarding it. Then his thumbs hooked around the top of her panties, and with a fast shove, they fell to the floor. “I really like that,” he said as his eyes drank in her bare pussy lips, shimmering and damp with her slick lubricant.
“Good,” she said. “Because I prefer to be tidy.”
“You're perfect,” he said. “I like you like this.” He reached his hand between her legs, cupping the smooth damp mound of her hot sex. “In fact, I prefer this.” One finger slipped between her lips and found her clit. A light stroke elicited a small gasp from between Henna's lips and a fluttering of her eyelashes. She'd given him her trust, and in exchange, she'd relinquished her need to control every aspect of her sexual experiences. It was like a gift, watching her blossom in his hands like a flower.
His fingers skimmed around the folds and circled her clit. As much as he wanted to make her shudder and cry with delight, he also didn't want to rush her. He slipped his fingers out and removed his hand.
Henna squeaked slightly and a small sniff of protest escaped her lips. “But...” She looked at him.
“You're greedy,” he said with a smile. He took her hand and curved her fingers around his own. “Come.” With a small tug, he took her from the bathroom and brought her into the bedroom.
Henna nearly growled with irritation. Eduardo was not a quickie kind of guy, but at that moment, she really wished he were. He brought her to the bed and sat her on the edge. With his knees, he pushed her legs apart. As he knelt before her, he pulled her closer to the edge of the bed forcing her to lean back against her elbows to keep her balance. His lips brushed against her inner legs as his hands stroked her thighs. When his mouth reached her pussy, his tongue ran a line around her clean, smooth lips. The feeling of the air and his breath touching her bare cunt was nearly enough to make her climax.
He placed his hands on her knees and pushed her legs apart as far as they would go. The faint touch of his tongue against her swollen clit made her gasp as it stroked the sensitized nub. She grasped the duvet on the bed, clenching it in her fists. Her pelvis tipped up and reached for his mouth only to have him back away. Henna didn't bother holding back a howl of frustration.
“Why do you keep on stopping right when I'm about to come? Why? Is it really necessary? I get it. You have the stamina of a stevedore. Now will you please just get the job done?”
He laughed a little as he got up from his knees and went to her carry-on bag that she'd stowed in the closet. He rummaged for the silicone covered rabbit vibrator and brought it to her. “Show me what you do with this.” He handed it to her, then stood over her looking down at her exposed sex.
“You want me to…” She thought she was beyond shock or even embarrassment, but she wasn't.
“Touch yourself,” he said. “I want to see what that thing does before I let you use it on me. I'm willing to be open-minded, and I like the idea of trying something new, but I just want a demonstration first.”
She took the vibrator from him, grateful to have some control over her sexual responses. Sex with Eduardo was incomparable to any previous experience she'd had. But at that moment, she just wanted release. He'd brought her too close to the edge without pushing her over, and she needed to jump into the abyss.
She scooted back onto the bed and drew her legs up, resting her feet on the edge of the mattress. With a few quick adjustments, the vibrator sprang to life. As Eduardo watched, she tightened her fingers around the shimmying silicone cock and sank it into her pussy with one complete thrust. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as the rabbit’s ears made contact with her already sensitive clit.
Electricity consumed her, running up her spine, and in a burst of release, the long anticipated orgasm shot through her. She had no desire to contain the cry of passion that came from her lips as her body shuddered. When the last shockwave evaporated, her hand fell away from her convenient little friend.
“So?” she asked Eduardo. As her eyes opened and fell on him, she saw he wasn't just idly watching. His hand gripped his cock, rubbing and stroking it. “Want to give it a try?”
He did. For the first time in years, decades even, Eduardo was nervous about trying something new. Using toys had never been part of his sexual repertoire, but there was no reason not to give it a try. He was pretty sure he'd never let a woman tie him up and smack the shit out of him, but a vibrator was a tame enough deviation from the norm.
Henna looked at him standing in front of her, and a crooked smile bent her lips. “You're really in the weeds, aren't you?” she asked. “You just have no idea what to do with this thing do you?” She waved her vibrator around.
“Totally new. I'm a vibrator virgin,” he said.
“Okay.” She gave a small shrug and tossed it to the mattress for the moment. “Lay down. Just let go and let me make love to you.” That she mocked his accent ever so slightly made him laugh.
He stretched out on the bed and watched her as she reached over him for the lubricant kept in the nightstand and the bag of condoms. “Can I just say that I'm not sure I want that thing in my ass?”
“Worried you're going to turn gay?” She laughed as she unscrewed the top of the lubricant.
“No.” He laughed. “I'm secure in my heterosexuality. I'm just worried it's going to hurt.”
“Please,” she scoffed. “I'm a doctor. Don't you know we're better at sex than regular people?”
He laughed again. “Henna, you make me laugh.”
“It's true,” she said, covering the vibrator in lubricant. “I know all about erogenous zones down to the most technical details. Best of all, if in a moment of passion you go into cardiac arrest, I can administer emergency medical care before the paramedics arrive. Roll over.”
His body trembled as he went from his back to lying with his stomach pressed against the mattress. The feel of his cock pressed between his body and the sheets added to the goose bumps of anticipation and increased the aching in dick.
Henna laid her body prone over his. The feel of her skin against his lit a thousand little fires through his senses. Her legs draped over his and the feel of her bare cunt against his ass cheeks was about to undo him. She lightly ground her pelvis against him as the hard buds of her nipples massaged his back, and her mouth peppered kisses over his neck and shoulders. A large sigh slipped from him as he wrapped his arms around a pillow and let Henna make love to him.
She sat up and straddled his ass. Her hands worked the muscles of his shoulders and back. If he thought he couldn't find a deeper level of relaxation, he was wrong. With every exhalation, a small sigh escaped with his breath.
After a long sweep of her hands over his back, her mouth came down on his shoulder giving him a small kiss. “If you're uncomfortable or if I hurt you,” she whispered in his ear, “just tell me and I'll stop.”
His eyes opened a sliver, and he nodded. Henna gave him another kiss on his shoulder before she slid down his body and rose to her feet. First one knee, then the other pressed between his thighs. She opened her thighs, wedging his apart, as she knelt between his legs. He expected her to pick up the vibrator, but she didn't. Instead, her hands began to massage the muscles of his ass. Her fingers pinched and kneaded large chunks of flesh as she gradually began to spread him open.
His eyes flew open and a gasp came out of him when her tongue made contact with the rim of his sphincter.
“Are you okay?” she asked with a small smile in her voice.
“I'm fine,” he said sinking down into his pillow again, his eyelids sliding shut. “That was unexpected.”
Her tongue returned to his hole and it danced and twirled around. Only serious concentration kept him from coming immediately. He wanted the inevitable to happen so the mystery would be solved. Losing control like a boy would guarantee he'd have to wait, so he held himself in check. Even though his body burned and his dick ached, he resisted the urge to rub himself against the mattress.
Henna's tongue stopped its dance as he felt her body stretched. He kept his eyes closed, but his body tensed in anticipation. His heart pounded in his cock, and his breath quickened. The touch of cold lubricant on his hot, sensitive anus nearly made him cry out. Instead of the feel of the vibrator, the touch of Henna's finger slowly entering him helped him relax. A wet finger gently pressed the rim of his sphincter muscles, opening the tight entrance. With a studied patience, she gradually eased one finger then two inside him as his muscles gave way. Her fingers worked the lube around his hole, opening him and preparing him for what came next.
Her fingers slipped out, and the head of the vibrator pushed against his anus. With a slight twist, she inserted it slowly as he held his breath. He spread his knees apart until he couldn't stretch any wider. With a tilt of his hips, he tipped his ass up to meet the sex toy trying to his body for the first time.
“Breathe,” she whispered into his ear as she leaned over him.
He let his breath go as she eased the vibrator inside him. If he had ever guessed what it would feel like to be penetrated, he would never have believed it would be as filling and erotic as it was. The pain he'd feared was nonexistent. What he felt was an encompassing and almost overpowering flood of sensations. The vibrator stopped, and he released a long exhalation, panting slightly with the sweet burn of stretched skin and muscle.
“Okay?” Henna whispered.
He nodded and grunted a little. In an instant, the vibrator started shimmying inside him. A wholly new sensation made him groan in pure ecstasy. He laughed and groaned again as he clutched the pillow beneath him. When Henna turned the rabbit ears pressed to his scrotum on, a cry punctuated by another groan rolled out of him.
“Roll over,” Henna whispered as she slipped off of him. Her fingers held the vibrator until his thighs pressed together and did the job for her. When he was on his back, his cock pointed to the ceiling as the vibrator continued to pulsate inside him. He wanted to grab his dick and pound it with his fist until he shot a load that would surely hit the ceiling. Instead, Henna straddled him with her body and guided his erection into her clean slick pussy.
The double sensation of penetrating and being penetrated brought a twisted moan from him. His head tipped back as his pelvis thrust up pressing his hard cock into her. He nearly knocked her off in his enthusiasm, but he grabbed her hips, holding her fast to him. She leaned over him, clenching him with her core muscles. Her juices flowed down to the base of his cock, leaving them both slick and wet.
Henna rode him until all hell broke loose. Her back arched, an orgasm ripping through her. Her pussy clamped his dick. His balls tightened. A fiery heat burst from his lower spine and through his shaft. Two quick thrusts and jets of cum shot from him and into her velvety cunt. The orgasm was completely uncontrolled and lasted longer than any orgasm he could remember. The energy created by the release was slow to dissipate and left him in a state of euphoria.
Henna lay panting on top of him for what seemed like hours, seemingly as content as he was to lie there, then she slid off of him and gently removed the vibrator. She flicked it off and tossed it aside. It was all he could do to raise an arm so she could collapse into the curl of his body. The alarm clock next to the bed told him he had forty minutes to recover, shower, and dress.
“So?” Henna asked.
“I don't know what to say.” He tightened the hold he had on her, bringing her head to his lips. He'd promised to leave her hair untouched, but he couldn't help himself. “That was incredible.”
“So we'll be doing that again?” she asked.
“I think you can count on that.” Every muscle in his body was relaxed and languid, and his bones had turned to rubber. If he tried to stand, he wasn't certain he would remain upright.
She leaned over him and pressed her mouth to his. “I'm so glad I was your first,” she said with a smile.
“Me, too.” He kissed her slowly letting his tongue slide into the warm cave of her mouth.
She slipped away from him, leaving him alone on the bed as she began to busy herself around the room.
“You mussed my hair,” Henna complained half-heartedly as she stood at the mirror.
Eduardo lay back against the pillows and watched her. “You make me feel alive.”
Her gaze captured his in the mirror, and she smiled. Every small compliment became a source of joy for her. It was one of the hundred things he'd noticed about Henna.
She turned from the mirror and walked across the room to the bed. “You need to get up.” Her hand reached for his as she quickly glanced at her watch. “We're not late yet, but we still need to hurry.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the bed. “You make me feel alive,” he repeated, running the tips of his fingers down her jaw. “You make me think about tomorrow, not just today or the past. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” Her teeth nipped her lip as it always did when she was nervous or uncomfortable.
He tugged on her lip with his fingertip, releasing it from her teeth. “When Pilar died I thought my life was over. Then I ran away.”
Her eyes flicked down and to the left, avoiding his.
“You know this,” he said with a smile. “Are there any secrets among your family?”
“Not really,” she said, still avoiding his eyes. “I heard you went to Mexico for a while.”
“I ran away,” he said. “I didn't see any point in continuing. My children were grown. Gloria had graduated from college. Romeo had moved to Italy to start his career. I needed to figure out how to live without her, without everyone telling me I needed therapy and anti-depressants. I just needed some time with my memories.”
“I can't imagine what you went through,” she said.
“No,” he said. “You cannot.” He ran his hand down her arm, then took her fingers in his when he reached her hand. “Then my father and my son tracked me down.”
“Were you hard to find?”
“Not really,” he said. “As much as they like the world to think I'd turned into some bearded hermit living off of tequila shots and Corona, I went to the grocery store on occasion. They just needed to look at my credit card statements. It's not like I went off the grid.”
“Not hard to find,” she said.
“No,” he said. “But I let them have their story. So Romeo and my father show up in Mexico at my beach house.”
“I thought it was a hut on the beach?”
“A hut?” He thought for a moment. “I could see my son describing my beach house as a hut. He's a lot like his mother. Pilar would take one look at my beach house and call it a hut. They are people who love their creature comforts. There's running water and electricity. I have satellite TV and Wi-Fi. Honestly what more do you need?” He shrugged and rolled his eyes a bit.
She thought about his hut and thought it sounded nice. “Is it on the beach?”
“You walk out the door, step onto the porch, and down the steps. You are on the beach.” He spread his hands as if gesturing to the expanse of the Pacific before him. “It's beautiful.”
“Nice,” she said. “Quiet?”
“The most peaceful place in the world.”
“Sounds very nice,” she sighed. “I could use some peace on occasion. My life is very busy.”
“I will take you there,” he said.
“I just may take you up on that offer,” she said. “So what happened?”
“My son and my father show up and try to convince me to come home. Home is filled with memories of Pilar. I don't want to go there. I'm happy in Mexico. There is a woman who brings me eggs and chickens and her husband brings me fish. I only have to go to town once a week for tequila and Corona. My father manages the plantation as well as he always has. I'm not needed. I can sit on the couch, watching soccer all day, and sleep until I'm not tired. I told Romeo and my father to leave me alone and go home.”
“Did they leave?”
“Eventually.” He nudged her off him and slid from the bed. “But Romeo left me something first.” He went to the leather bag he always carried with him when he traveled. From it, he pulled the folded piece of paper his son had given him. He could feel Henna's eyes on his bare body as he unfolded the paper and examined it once again. “From the bruja.”
He turned and brought the paper to Henna. Instead of handing it directly over to her, he hesitated.
“Do you want to show me?” Her teeth captured her lip as she looked at him.
He looked down again at the page then offered it to her. Her eyebrows twitched as her nose wrinkled and her lips pursed. “It's a bit eerie, isn't it?” she mumbled as she continued to stare at the picture. “Although, personally, I don't really think my nose is quite that large. I will admit the gap in the teeth is unsettling.”
“What do you think?” he asked, still standing above her.
Henna looked up at him, then scooted to the side, making room for him on the bed. He took the invitation and sat next to her. Her arms wrapped around him as she continued to hold the drawing the bruja had given Romeo to bring as an incentive to return home.
“Thank you for sharing with me.” Her lips pressed against his cheek.
“You don't think I'm a fool?”
“No,” she whispered in his ear. “I think you're amazing.”
“You're not going to tell me that this could be a picture of any woman with an oval face, long hair, and large eyes?”
“Is that what you think?” she asked as she continued to hold him tightly. “I don't think it is.”
“I think that is what you would think,” he said. “I do not know you wholly, but I am learning about you rapidly.”
“Then you must be aware of the fact that I'm learning not everything can be explained or predicted or controlled,” she said. “If you think this is me, then it's me.”
“It's you.” He took the paper from her fingers and laid it on the nightstand. “You are my destiny.”
Her eyes no longer held a look of shock of discomfort at those words. Instead, they melted slightly, and a smile curled her lips. “Am I now?”
“Yes, you are.”