Always Been Mine (10 page)

Alex rolled his eyes and took a hard swallow of his drink. “It was humiliating. No way did I want Valerie to know about that. She breezed through school, finished before everyone else.”

“She’s a real estate agent, Alex.”

Alex glared at his brother. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Relax, I’m just saying it’s not law school. She didn’t even need to go to school to become an agent. All she had to do is pass the state exam. Besides, what does that have to do with you screwing things up?”

“Whenever I had the tutor over, I made sure Valerie wasn’t coming around that week. I’d have to ignore her calls or text her I was too busy to talk her. I couldn’t even risk calling her before the tutor would show up because she’d know something was up if I didn’t ask to see her. She assumed I was with other girls.” Alex glanced at Sal, embarrassed to admit it. “And I let her.”

Alex took another swig of his drink, eyeballing Sal. “I wasn’t planning on it, but she came over one night and my tutor was there.”

Humor brightened Sal’s eyes. “Don’t tell me your tutor was a chick?”

Alex didn’t see the humor. Here he was pouring out his heart and Sal was getting a kick out of it. “Yeah, and of course she thought the worse. I tried explaining, but she was hysterical. I thought she was gonna spit in my face when I told her the girl was a tutor.”

Sal really laughed now. Alex felt like flattening him. If he wanted this kind of reaction, he may as well, have told Romero and Eric. Angel was the only one who knew. He’d heard about it from Sarah, and they both believed the same thing Valerie did. That she’d caught him with another girl and he’d try to pass her off as his tutor.

He never told them the truth, of course. As upset as Sarah had been with him, he’d preferred they all believed he’d used the lame excuse than the humiliating truth.

Alex shook his head. “Ever since the tutor thing she’s made it impossible for me to get a hold of her. She won’t take my calls or return any messages.”

“So, go see her at her place.”

Alex stared not even attempting to hide his annoyance. “What do you think will happen, Sal, if I get there and that guy is there?”

Sal seemed to reflect on that for a moment before saying, “Alright, not a good idea. Hmm…” He brought his fist to his mouth. “Let’s think. When’s the next wedding shindig? She’s gotta be there right?”

“Yeah, but that’s not for another few weeks at the rehearsal dinner.”

They threw a few ideas back and forth that would get Alex and Valerie in the same place, but came up with nothing. The biggest issue with whatever they came up with was—what if she brought her new man?

Sal pulled his ringing cell phone out from his holster and answered. “Yeah, he’s here.” He mouthed
Angel
at Alex. “He wants to know why you’re not answering your damn phone, ass,” he chuckled.

Alex patted his own holster and realized he’d left it in his truck.

“He doesn’t have it on him. Why? You wanna talk to him?” Sal paused then looked up at Alex again. “Yeah, we’re gonna be here. Sure we’ll wait.”

Sal hung up with a smug grin. “Looks like you’rr gonna get your chance to talk to Valerie.”

“When?” Alex squeezed the glass in his hand.

“Right now. Dad wants us to look over the offer for the property next door. She wrote it up already but before she sends it, Dad wants to make sure we’re okay with it. She was going to fax it, but Angel thought it’d be best if she went over it with us instead. He’s been trying to get a hold of you.”

Right now?
With a frown, Alex patted his holster again out of habit. If he hadn’t left it in his truck he might’ve had more time to prepare. He had no idea what he was going to say to her, but he damn sure wasn’t going to let her leave without telling her how he felt.

*

As if last night hadn’t been hard enough, Valerie had been a wreck all morning. She’d written up the offer for the property next door to Alex’s family’s restaurant. All she had to do was fax it. They had a fax machine at the restaurant—simple enough. But no nothing was ever that simple. Sarah had called her to tell her Mr. Moreno was requesting she go over it with him.

She’d planned a peaceful Sunday. Rest all day; maybe get some painting done to get her mind off seeing Alex again. Last night had been even harder than seeing him at the shower. She did her best to appear impassive about their chance meeting. She thought Alex bought it, but she had a feeling Luke hadn’t. Alex’s rank departure had been anything but tactful. Her trivial explanation of him as an old friend was squashed when the guys kept going on and on about Bruce’s eye.

Luke hadn’t asked a lot of questions. She knew he wouldn’t—not in front of them, that is. On the way home was a different story. Still, she kept the explanation of her relationship of Alex to a mere sentence:
Alex is someone I went out with a long time ago.
As for Bruce, she told Luke he was a guy she’d dated more recently who got rude tonight.

Alex of course handled it as he always handled things.

She hadn’t stopped fixating about why Alex had such a strong hold on her still when Sarah called. Sarah assured her Alex wouldn’t be at the Moreno family residence. Even so, her heart raced the whole way there. What if he showed up?

For a moment, she actually thought she was home free. She’d gone over all the specifics, explained the offer in detail, and Alex hadn’t shown up. Then her worst nightmare happened. Mr. Moreno said he’d feel better if she could go over it with his son. She turned to Angel who’d been in and out of the kitchen the entire time and prayed he meant him. In the next moment Angel was on the phone, calling Alex.

Sarah walked over and squeezed her shoulder, which only unnerved her more. She was relieved when Angel hadn’t been able to get a hold of him, although she did wonder what, but mostly
who
could be keeping him so busy he couldn’t answer his phone. He always kept it handy.

So, when Angel set the phone down after speaking with Sal, to ask if she was okay driving to the restaurant her voice nearly squeaked, “Today?” She quickly cleared her voice and tried again. “Um, well, I wasn’t planning on-”

“They’re both there, Sal
and
Alex. But they both can’t leave.”

When she didn’t respond just bit her lip, Angel picked up the phone again. “Or I can call him back and tell him to just send Alex over, if that’s more convenient.”

“No!”
God no
. Angel stared at her, confused. She glanced back at Mr. Moreno and forced a smile. “I mean, it’s easier if we go there. It’s on my way home.”

She’d never survive being in such a private setting with Alex. It would be hard enough seeing him again, but at least in public it was safer. She still didn’t trust herself around him.

On the torturous ride to the restaurant, she called Isabel who tried in vain to calm her. “I can’t do this.” Valerie’s voice almost trembled. She squeezed the steering wheel with both hands.

Isabel’s voice came into her earpiece loud and clear. “Listen to me, hon. You can and you will. Remember what your dad always says: Everything happens for a reason. This is going to make you stronger. Every time you see him you’ll gain a little more control over your emotions around him. He’s just another guy. Remember that.”

Oh, but he was so much more. This guy owned her heart and soul. Seeing him last night only confirmed that further. She drove into the parking lot of the restaurant, amazed at how different it looked. Sarah told her about the renovations, but she hadn’t expected this much of a change. The place was huge and they were going to expand even further?

She took a deep breath hoping for some more words of comfort from Isabel. “All right, I’m here.”

“Be strong, Valerie. You’re a professional. Go in there and do your thing as if he were any other client.”

Sarah and Angel had driven there also. They parked and got out of the car giving Valerie little time to prepare herself. She stepped out of the car, upset that her legs felt so damned weak. Even though Sarah insisted she didn’t have to dress up, she was glad now she decided to wear a pant suit and do her hair anyway.

Her stomach roiled wild with anxiety. The three of them walked in the front door. The renovations were amazing. Valerie stopped just inside the doorway, taking in the beauty of the restaurant. The family had never spared any expense on decorating, making it into one of La Jolla’s most breathtaking establishments. Elaborate archways like the ones you only saw in old Mexican movies or paintings separated the rooms. Multi-colored clay pots overflowing with bright flowers and shrubs adorned every corner and crevice.

Painted murals of scenery from the old country covered the brick walls. As an artist, she could appreciate the amazing talent of whoever painted them. It must’ve taken months. One of them took up an entire wall. It was a portrait of an old Mexican town. The detail was astounding, from the mules that stood tied outside the quaint brick buildings to the children that played in the dirt road.

They walked through one of the archways and into the bigger dining room she remembered so fondly. The place was packed. Sunday brunch was always like this. The delectable smell of spices and hand made tortillas brought back bittersweet memories. She shook them off and continued walking.

Her eyes gazed incredibly at all the changes they made. All this in one year? It was unbelievable. Valerie was transfixed by another mural. This one was a close up of an old Mexican woman making corn tortillas by hand. Every detail, even of the wrinkles around her smiling eyes, was remarkable.

Feminine giggling finally pulled her attention away from the mural. She turned to see Alex and one of the waitresses carrying on. His back was to her but it was plain as day. He was flirting, and the girl ate it up.

Immediately she was immersed in a blaze of jealousy. It infuriated her that after all this time she cared so much it hurt. But she needed this—a reminder of why she could not,
would
not allow him back in her life.

“Alex you ready?”

Alex spun around at the sound of Angel’s voice. Valerie stood tall. Alex turned back and said something to the waitress. The waitress quickly walked into the kitchen. He brought his attention back to them and his eyes met Valerie’s. Even from a distance, they were so piercing that her determination almost faltered. Almost.

As usual, Alex was nearly incapable of keeping his eyes off Valerie. Even as she pulled her reading glasses on and was all business, he couldn’t stop the thoughts that invaded his mind. She helped herself to a plate of food from the buffet and tortured him with every bite she took. He’d always loved watching her eat. To Valerie eating was like an aphrodisiac. She loved eating and practically made love to every bite.

He hardly heard a word she said. They were sitting at one of the booths in the back dining room that wasn’t opened up anymore, now that brunch was nearly over. It was just her, Sal and himself. No part of her was exposed except her face and her hands and he had a throbbing hard on the entire time. It was madness. Even her perfectly manicured fingers drove him crazy. All he could think of as she flayed them around haphazardly pointing from her laptop to the paperwork was the many times those very fingers had dug into his back.

Then like a brick shattering a window, an image of her with Luke broke through into his thoughts and he almost growled. Both Valerie and Sal stopped and looked at him.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Sal asked.

“We can change the numbers.” Valerie started typing on her laptop. “I told your dad that. I’m just saying with property like this in this area-”

“It’s fine.” Alex strained to speak. “The offer’s fine, Val.” Maybe if she didn’t drive him so completely insane he’d actually know what the offer was.

“I think so too.” Sal added standing up. “Sounds good to me, Valerie. If Alex is good with it also, go ahead and send it over.”

Sal patted Alex on the shoulder in an entirely obvious gesture that this was his chance to talk to her. He thanked Valerie for going over the offer and excused himself, explaining it was Angel’s day off and he had to relieve him now.

Valerie stood up and started packing up her things in what seemed too much of a rush.

“You got somewhere to be?”
Someone to see?
Alex’s hand fisted involuntarily.