Navarro Or Not

by Tina Leonard

  “I thought the baby of the family was raised on benign neglect or over-spoiling.”

  “We’ve definitely done all of that,” Navarro murmured, blowing out a breath. He picked up her hand. Across the yard, the mechanic was checking the fluids under the hood of his truck.

  “So,” Valentine continued, “I don’t know what all the dynamics of our new family are, but as far as Last and myself, we’ve decided to wait and see. There’s never going to be any ‘us,’ but we will be parents. And I won’t say this decision doesn’t hurt, but I think it hurts him just as much, in a different way.”

  “He seems to have lots of problems,” Nina said. “I wouldn’t recommend him for you, to be honest.”

  “Hey!” Navarro said. “That’s my brother.”

  “I’ll call you later, sweetie,” she said to Valentine. “I’m taking the long road home with Navarro, and we’ve encountered a ruined engine, so it’s guaranteed to be a long trip.”

  “I heard you got the bed back, though.”

  “In pieces.” Nina rolled her eyes. “Everything’s broken. Rest as much as possible, Valentine. I’ll call you soon.” She hung up.

  “I’ll help you fix your bed again, after my engine’s replaced,” Navarro said. “You know I can do it.”

  “Yes,” Nina said, “I know you can fix beds.”

  “Hey, when that bull hit the bed, were you scared?”

  Nina looked at him. “I was scared the whole time.”

  “I should spank you for that stunt. Do you know, when I realized it was you wearing that silly get-up, you completely shot my concentration?”

  Nina laughed. “You don’t have any concentration that I’ve ever noticed.”

  “Yeah, well. That’s because I started losing it when you came around. ‘Fix my bed,”’ he mimicked. “Before I knew it, I wanted to test it for myself. Hey,” he said, sitting up, “when do I get a run in the charmed heirloom bed? I want to see if it works!”

  “It works. Valentine and Last proved it.”

  “Yeah, but we like each other. In fact we like each other so much, we’d probably fire up triplets!”

  “No turn for you, Navarro. Because when I test the charm, it’s going to be the old-fashioned way.”

  “I did propose.”

  “In jest,” Nina said, “and I actually count that against you. You faker. I’m sure the charm frowns upon fakers. In fact, it would probably backfire because of your lack of sincerity.”

  Navarro stood to pace. “I don’t envision Last sabotaging my truck,” he said, changing the subject yet again.

  “I know.”

  “I mean, that’d be like me saying Valentine got pregnant on purpose because she’s spoiled and she’s the youngest and had a temper tantrum.”

  Nina stiffened. “Navarro, your illustration is poor.”

  “But you know it’s true.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Nina got up and walked away.

  “But we have to.” He caught up to her. “The basic underlying theme here is lack of responsibility. Valentine and Last aren’t right for each other because each of them are the youngest, and each has lived with siblings bailing them out and rescuing them. Neither of them has ever had to face the harsh light of their actions. I’ll admit Last has done some real dumb things lately, but Valentine—”

  “Valentine what?” Nina demanded. “Just wanted to trap a husband? Just remember, you proposed to me, Navarro.” She stared up at him, suddenly angry that this cowboy could think the things he did about her family. “You may have proposed to me in jest, but I said no for real. And believe me, I wouldn’t have you if you were the last male on earth.”

  FOUR HOURS LATER, after the engine was repaired and they were on the road, Navarro realized he’d stuck his boot in it big-time. Nina wasn’t having anything to do with him; in fact, she alternated between snoozing and listening to music through earphones.

  And, blast her, she did it all in the back seat of the crew-cab truck.

  This was not how he’d envisioned his scenic trip to Delaware. Oh, the scenery outside was pretty, but the scenery he’d meant to take in was Nina.

  Hard to enjoy a lady’s company when she’d set up residence behind him. Cramming a small powdery doughnut into his mouth from the package he’d bought at the gas station, Navarro tried to think of a way to break the silence. “Want one?” He raised his hand to dangle a tiny doughnut over his shoulder.

  The doughnut was lifted from his fingers. He sighed and stopped the truck. “Okay, out,” he said to Nina. “We talk now.”

  She looked at him, her eyes big and accusing, but she didn’t move.

  “I shouldn’t have said it, Nina. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s what you’re thinking about my sister. I don’t appreciate you assuming she’s trying to take advantage of your family. She may be a bit weak-willed, but she’s going to get a job, and she’s not planning on mooching off you forever. I gave her the purse I won—”

  “We won.”

  “Not exactly.” She glared at him. “I won it, because you shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

  He watched her eat the doughnut, licking the powder off her lips with a little pink tongue. He wanted to kiss her, but his ego receptors were indicating now might not be a good time. She was still tense with him. “Why, Nina? Why are you so much the opposite of your sister? There’s no in-between with you two. One of you is hardheaded and independent, and the other is soft and dependent.” He waved his hands once, frustrated. “Did it ever occur to you that I might enjoy taking care of you once in a while?”

  “You’re taking me home. That’s quite enough.”

  He leaned into the truck and hauled her gently out. “Out of your shell, Nina. I’m not taking care of you—you already had a plane ticket. All I did was think of a way to prolong being with you. It’s just not working very well.”

  She sniffed. “You insulted my family’s integrity.”

  “And you suggested Last poured something drastic into my engine.”

  “I can’t apologize, Navarro,” she said sadly, “because I think your brother has a problem. I mean, we all have problems and make mistakes, but he’s angry with all of you and you don’t want to see it.”

  “He wouldn’t destroy my truck.”

  Nina shook her head. “I didn’t want to have to say this, and it’s really none of my business, but—”

  He stared at her. “What?”

  “Did you ever wonder how I came by this guess? It’s not like I have a behavioral science degree or anything.”

  “No. Women just like to opine,” Navarro said, aware he wasn’t winning any points but needing to say how he felt. “Men don’t jump to conclusions as easily. Our feet are pretty stuck to the ground.”

  “Maybe so stuck that you don’t ever get off a bad base.” Nina took a deep breath. “Navarro, when I went outside to oversee the movers loading my bed, I saw your brother with his head underneath the hood of your truck.”

  Her eyes sparkled with sadness, but still he stood motionless with disbelief. “There’s an explanation. Nina, Last is my brother. He wouldn’t sabotage me. We all work too hard at the ranch.”

  “I don’t think he’s himself, Navarro,” Nina said carefully. “I think something’s pushed him past his breaking point. Maybe it was Marvella’s brew. Maybe it was getting Valentine pregnant. I don’t know. But the fact is, you shouldn’t be here with me.”

  They looked at each other for a long moment, then she touched his lips. “Navarro, I’m sorry. There can be nothing but lust between you and me.”

  He couldn’t bear the pain inside him. In all his life, he’d never experienced anything like it. “Ever?”

  “I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s not going to happen until you find your brother. Family doesn’t turn its back on its own in times of trouble. You should be looking for him, instead of wasting time with me.”

  Wasting time with her. Time was
not wasted with Nina. He adored her.

  But she was right in one way he could not overlook: Last was in trouble.

  He couldn’t ignore the truth any longer. “You may be right.”

  “It’s not a matter of right or wrong,” Nina said, thinking about the taxi driver’s words. “It’s a matter of an unborn baby who will need to know his father one day. A whole father, who knows his family cares enough to find him and draw him back into the circle.”

  “You’re wonderful,” he told Nina. “You make me insane, but every part of me craves you, and right now, if you weren’t so right, I’d make love to you in my truck and thank you in every way my body possibly knows how for being so smart and caring.”

  “Eek.” Nina glanced up and down the highway. “Don’t tempt me, cowboy. I’ve explored the lusty librarian fantasy. I could go skank any second. Let’s not push our luck.”

  “Come with me,” he said.

  She laughed. “Be irresponsible and quit my job?”

  “Yes. I’ll make it worth your while.”

  “You’re crazy. I can’t do that!” She shook her head at him. “Navarro, a woman does not give up employment for a man. Not even a sexy-to-the-bone cowboy.”

  “I need you.”

  The pull was strong, but she knew she had to resist. Probably she had known that the instant the bed had collapsed on them in the arena. Navarro only thought he was crazy about her because she was his living fantasy. But she was no fantasy girl. She was plain-Jane vanilla, a librarian by vocation and avocation. “You need no one.”

  He gently framed her face with his palms. “I,” he said, kissing her right cheek. “Need,” he said, kissing her left cheek. “You.” His lips found hers, not as gently as they’d been on her cheeks, more demanding and insistent than she was expecting. Her blood instantly answered the call as she crazily kissed him back.

  “Nina,” he whispered against her lips, “if I were a sultan, I’d carry you away on my horse. If I were a wealthy playboy, I’d sweep you out to sea on my yacht. I’d take you by storm and by force and make you mine until the only name you ever remembered was Navarro. But,” he said, sliding his hands into her back pockets to tug her against his groin, “I’m just a cowboy. I want to make love to you as many times as I can, every chance I get. I want you with me so that you’re never out of my sight, and so that I can have you whenever I want you. That’s what I’m talking about.”

  The kisses he rained along her collarbone and down to where her shirt parted above her breasts spoke hotly of his desire for her, and Nina thought she was going to sink right down onto the hot, dusty pavement.

  But he pulled away, still holding her face, staring down into her eyes. The passion she saw in his gaze took her breath away.

  “Say yes,” he said. “Say you want to be with me.”

  It was madness, insanity. A librarian didn’t go trolling around in a truck in the countryside with a man whose one stated goal was to love her senseless.

  “Yes,” she said, surprising even herself. “You’ve got yourself a shotgun rider. For better or worse, I’m moving my things to the front seat.”

  “Now the good times begin,” Navarro said. “It’s me and you and the pretzel bag on the good ol’ southern highways of Texas. All I need now is a dog in the truck bed. Maybe a cooler in the back. And feel free to read me your romance novel while I drive. I’ll be the happiest man on the planet. Crockett won’t ever read to me, and he almost always insists I drive.”

  “This is probably not going to be pretty,” Nina said, trying to ignore him by brushing doughnut powder off the seat. “Traveling companions should have common interests.”

  “We do,” Navarro said. “And we’re going to find them while we look for Last.”

  She glanced up. “Not sexual interests. Real common interests.”

  Navarro grinned, confident in his masculinity. “Nina, the mention of sex was what got you to say yes. Let’s not tinker with what works, all right?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nina nodded. “Very typical of a man to disguise his emotions under the verb of sex.” She took her seat, primly crossing her legs at the ankles.

  Navarro started the truck. “Nina, sex is not a verb.”

  “It is when you talk about it.”

  Rubbing his chin, he said, “I never thought about it that way, but you could be right.”

  “Shall I read?” Nina asked, pulling out the novel he’d mentioned.

  “Not yet. Let me hear you define me some more. It’s so interesting.”

  Nina laughed. “Navarro, you are so needy.”

  “I believe I did admit that of my own free will. I said, ‘Nina, I need you.”’

  She looked at him, serious now. “There are times when I wonder how much of what you say is horse puckey.”

  “Oh, horse puckey is good for growing roses, but not much else.” He grinned at her before turning back to the road.

  “What will you say to Last when you find him?” Nina asked. “I’m really worried about him.”

  “Why? He’s not your problem.”

  “He is. We’re all part of one big happy family now.”

  “Well,” Navarro said, “I think I’ll wait to see what he says to me before I open my mouth.”

  “Good plan.”

  “Gotta have one,” Navarro agreed. “Although I do find that plans don’t work very well with you.”

  Nina snapped her fingers. “You know why? Because we’re missing a connection.”

  “Hmm, not sure I know what one is.”

  “Most married couples don’t know how to make them. It’s an art of conscious desire.”

  “Are we getting married?” Navarro asked. “I don’t have my tux with me. And I’m already conscious of my desire, thank you, painfully so.”

  “Here’s how we make a connection. You tell me your favorite food and I’ll tell you mine.”

  “That’s easy. Pork chops.”

  “Ew.” Nina blinked. “I don’t eat any pork at all.”

  “Did we just miss our connection?”

  Nina nodded. “Maybe that was too hard. Let’s try something more basic. What’s your favorite color?”

  “Black.”

  “No.” Nina stared at him. “It is not.”

  “Ask anybody. Why would I lie, anyway?”

  Navarro’s tone was so injured that Nina sighed. “Black is the absence of all color.”

  “It’s still my favorite. Yours?”

  “Green. Any shade. Although I do get very happy when I see deep forest greens. That piney effect feels very homey to me.”

  “There’s hardly any piney effects where we live,” Navarro said. “It’s all dry and yellow and sandy.”

  “I know,” Nina said. “Hard to miss that fact.”

  “Let me try a connection. What’s your favorite kind of music?”

  Nina thought for a moment. “I like everything, but I prefer classical piano.”

  “I thought you might say the Captain and Tennille-type happy music.”

  “No,” Nina said, “but I bought their record once.”

  “I like jazz, especially with a great sax.” Navarro grinned. “Bet you thought I’d say country music.”

  “No,” Nina said. “I didn’t think you’d be obvious.”

  They sat silently for a moment.

  “You know,” Nina said, “I think Last felt that he’d let you down.”

  “By messing up my truck?”

  “By bringing a woman into the family you all had no connection with. Valentine and I will never be anything like any of you. We’re just too different from you guys.”

  “I believe differences are good, to a point.” Navarro waved at a passing state trooper. “However, similarities sure can make life easy. None of my brothers married women who were similar to them, but they all had that deep-down core of something that made them love each other.”

  “A connection.”

  “I guess,” Navarro said.
“Could you ever love me?”

  Nina hesitated. “I suppose I think it would be impossible for me to let myself feel that.”

  “Love isn’t something you allow. It just happens. I think it’s happening for me and not you,” he said.

  “Navarro.” Nina looked at him with surprise. “You don’t love me.”

  “I didn’t say I did,” Navarro said, “I said I think. Think is just as important a verb as sex.”

  Nina blinked. “To whom? Academics? Writers?”

  “To a man,” Navarro stressed. “We understand the importance of thinking about sex.”

  “Sex is a noun in that sentence,” Nina pointed out. “Or to be more technical, it’s an object of the prepositional phrase. Wait, were we using a noun or a verb the other night in your bed?”

  “We were smart,” Navarro said. “We were using a condom.”

  “Oh, gosh.” Nina laid her head back against the headrest. “I’m going to take a nap.”

  “Good. Put your bare tootsies up on the seat and let me hold them.”

  Nina’s body stiffened. “I am not going to do that.”

  “Why? You’ll like me massaging your feet.”

  She moved her feet farther away from him nervously. “I just can’t.”

  “I’d do it for you. If you wanted to massage me.”

  “Yes, but I’d rather you didn’t.” Nina tried not to laugh. “In fact, I’m not sure why I’d ever want to massage a man’s foot.”

  “To make him happy.” Navarro tugged on her hair lightly. “Do you know how many pleasure receptors are in the human foot?”

  “Navarro,” Nina said sternly, deciding a nap wasn’t wise. “Let’s focus on your brother.” She dug the map out of the glove box, unfolding it to gauge the distance they had to travel. “Where are you heading first?”

  “If he’s not at home, and the brothers have checked all the usual spots, and he’s not in Lonely Hearts Station—which he’s not if he really did damage my truck on purpose, then I’m guessing we start at the next rodeo on the circuit.”

  “Why?”

  “Because your sister said he’d mentioned getting away. They talked about how they both wished their lives hadn’t been turned upside down by the baby. Connection, you know.”