Page 44 of A Baby to Make Her His Bride

He was lost, utterly lost to her, but in those euphoric moments he didn’t give a single damn.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ITWASASgood as she remembered. That was what Vienna was thinking after several days of near constant lovemaking. Sex with Jasper was actually better than she remembered because they were both getting to know each other’s bodies, learning how to truly drive the other past their endurance of pleasure. This morning, she had joined him in the shower and blew his mind, leaving him sagged against the tiled wall, catching his breath and promising sensual retribution when he got home later.

She had never felt so confident in her sexuality. If this relationship failed and she walked away with a shattered heart, she still wouldn’t regret being with him because he had given her a belief in her desirability.

Sex wasn’t enough to build a future on, though. Was she being greedy or impatient to want a signal that he felt more for her?

She was ruminating on that, struggling to pay attention to the agent as she showed her yet another house, when her phone dinged with a text from him.

Saqui’s parents are here, meeting lawyers. Dinner with them tonight?

Of course, she replied back.

Vienna wasn’t sure what to expect from the dinner, but Jasper was withdrawn when he came back to the hotel to change and collect her. Usually their hello kiss turned into more, but he only pecked her cheek and asked how her day had gone.

“No luck today, but the agent said she’s getting a better sense of what we’re looking for. She’ll have more to show me later in the week.”

“Good.” He was so distracted that it bordered on hurtful, but she was pretty sure his mood wasn’t about her. This must be a difficult and emotional meeting for him.

She slipped on a scoop-necked blue dress and gathered her hair in a chignon, not talking until they were ready to leave.

“You look very nice,” she told him as she made a tiny adjustment to his tiepin.

“So do you.” He was still brisk, but he paused to study her, then took her hand and wove their fingers together as they walked down to the waiting car.

Saqui’s parents were already at the restaurant when they were shown to a table in an al fresco courtyard. An accordion player’s notes floated on the soft air while strings of light gave it a soothing, magical atmosphere.

The Melillas were warm and welcoming, hugging Jasper and cupping his face while smiling widely. They were delighted he had brought hisnoviato meet them.

Vienna was still working on her Spanish, and thought that might mean bride or fiancée, but Jasper wasn’t hiding that they were involved romantically. He touched her often through the meal, squeezing her hand or knee or setting his arm on her chairback and grazing her shoulder with his fingertips.

“Artista excepcional,”he told them at one point and took out his phone, proceeding to show them her sketches of Peyton.

That prompted Saqui’s mother to ask teasingly,“Cuándo tendrás un bebé propio?”

Vienna caught “when” and “baby.” A hot blush of exposure rose in her throat, but Jasper took her hand and caressed her palm.

“That’s something we would both welcome, wouldn’t we?” he said, looking at her with so much tenderness she blushed even harder.

She nodded shakily as he repeated the comment in Spanish and the other couple wished a big family for them.

When they said their goodbyes, Mrs. Melilla hugged her and said in Spanish, “It’s good to see him happy.”

Vienna wanted to believe he was, but he was very quiet on the way back to their hotel.

“That was really hard for you,” she noted when they were in their room, changing into something more comfortable.

“It was,” he agreed, yanking at his tie. “They don’t blame me. They said so, but I feel so damned responsible anyway.”

“What was Saqui like? Funny, like his dad?” Mr. Melilla had cracked her up a few times, leaning over with a silly aside.

“So funny. And smart. Unafraid. Grounded. I liked that about him a lot. He was ambitious, but he wasn’t materialistic. He wanted a good job so he could support a wife and have a big family. Family was so important to him. If I could at least—”

He cut himself off, but she knew what he was going to say. If he could only put Orlin Caulfield behind bars, he might not feel so awful about moving forward with his own life.

“I’m not throwing that on you again,” he clarified into the silence that had fallen between them. “I’m frustrated there isn’t more I could do for them, to ease their loss.”

---