Isla shook her head. “God, I am so happy to see you right now, but you actually flew in that weather outside? Are you nuts?”
Arturo shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad when I started the engines. I was getting worried when it came time to land.”
The tiny muscle beneath Isla’s right eye twitched. “Getting worried?”
If Isla had thought for one second he would try to fly in that mess outside, she would have called his office and made security keep him on lockdown.
She probably didn’t have the authority to do that to him, but it was nice to think about. Better than thinking about Arturo flying in a blizzard.
“Visibility was almost zero by the time I had to land. I thought I was going to land in the pool before I realized where I was.”
Though he was standing right in front of her, proof of life and all that, a sick horror rose up in Isla’s stomach, and she felt queasy. “Are you serious?”
Isla was going to tear her hair out. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and Arturo was laughing, shaking his head. “No, of course not. I know how to get home, what heights to stay at, and the exact longitude and latitude of my house. And I turned on the night vision for landing,” he added.
Isla didn’t understand that right away. “Night vision will work in a blizzard?”
Arturo made a seesawing motion with his hand. “Not really. The house is so nice and warm that I was able to use it here. Anywhere else might’ve given me some trouble.”
He went back to grinning that sexy grin at Isla, the look on his mouth that Isla had been fantasizing about all day while making their dinner with Martina.
“Were you really worried about me?”
He practically sang those words.
Isla wanted to be angry. She wanted to punch him in his stupid head for that. She wouldn’t. She knew how to contain herself, but the urge was there.
Until Arturo’s fingers touched her skin.
His hand was wet with melted snow, and cold when he touched her collar bone. A drop of that cold, melted snow splashed on the dead center of her chest before sliding wet and cold down, down, down between her heated breasts.
The contrast of hot and cold was intense for the few brief seconds she felt it.
Isla sucked back a harsh breath, her nipples immediately budding as warmth spread through her legs. When the drop of water warmed on her skin, the lust still lingered, making goosebumps rise across her flesh.
“I swear to God, if your brothers and Martina weren’t downstairs waiting for us and eating dinner right now, I would grab you and drag you into one of these rooms.”
Arturo’s sexy grin melted away as he cocked his head to the side, then he smiled again. It was more open and less playful. “You got Martina to sit down with us?”
“I kind of peer pressured her into it, but yeah. I told you it would get done.” Isla reached for Arturo’s jacket, feeling like she should get him out of his wet clothes before he dripped water all over the place and made himself sick from the chill.
She also wanted to get him out of his clothes. She wouldn’t be able to get him naked, but at least this gave her hands something calming to do.
He’d said the weather hadn’t been so bad when he’d taken off, but how bad could it have really been if this was how covered he was with snow just walking from the helicopter to the door?
Isla swallowed. “Silvio and Orlando are downstairs, too.”
“Not Sebastian?”
Isla shook her head. She wasn’t going to bother mentioning Sebastian hadn’t so much as replied to her invitation, or a single one of her texts. Arturo would have already known that.
Arturo was already on bad enough terms with his brother, and the way he scowled and shook his head was proof enough of that.
“That fucker. Selfish cocksucking—”
“It’s okay.” Remembering the conversation she’d had with Orlando downstairs, Isla took Arturo by the shoulders. “It’s okay. We’ll try again next time.”
“There’s not going to be a next time.”
“Yes there is, and when he’s ready to accept our invitations, he’ll come. Until then all I’m happy about is that you made it. Alive and well, that’s a bonus since you were stupid enough to fly, but you’re here now and I don’t want to think about anything else but how perfect this is.”
This was their first Christmas together. It wasn’t really Christmas, but Isla was still going to count it, and now it was going to be a special memory.
Maybe next year she would have Jane here, sitting next to Silvio.
She had to stop being so stubborn first, but it was still something to hope for.
Isla put her hands on Arturo’s cold cheeks, looking him in the eyes.
That seemed to do it. The tension that had gripped him when Sebastian’s name had been mentioned melted away, and Isla breathed. The weight on her chest finally seemed to melt away, and Isla pulled Arturo to her. Even when he was on level footing, she still had to stand on her toes in order to hold him tight. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Arturo’s strong arms were cold as they wound around her waist. “Sorry I’m late. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Isla burst out laughing against Arturo’s shoulder. She couldn’t help herself. It was too funny and this was too perfect.
“I meant it,” she said. “I really want to take you to our room right now.”
Especially with the way Arturo’s hands continued to slide over her hips, making her wild and needy.
Arturo made his voice do that sinfully sexy thing it did whenever he wanted to tease her. “I guess that picture I texted you had the right effect?”
Isla shivered. “Yeah, that might be the case.”
Arturo chuckled. “Let me guess, I should go down to dinner first?”
Isla kissed Arturo’s cheek. “It’s Martina’s food. I know it won’t be too painful for you to wait.”
Arturo’s half smile showed off the whites of his teeth. “Her food is almost better than sex with you, but only almost.”
Isla shook her head. “Thank you so much for that.”
Arturo nodded, faking a serious tone as he and Isla walked back downstairs to the dining room. “Anytime, sweetheart. The longer we make ourselves wait, the better it will be when I get that sweater off you.”
“And you have a picture of what’s underneath to amuse yourself with at the table.”
“I might frame it and put it in my desk for those special occasions.”
“Don’t you dare.”
7
Martina rose from her seat quickly when Arturo walked into the room. Isla noted the light tension in her shoulders, as if she was waiting for Arturo to berate her for sitting down at the table. Arturo had to notice it, but he was good enough to pretend not to as he opened his arms, walking towards the woman who was more like his mother than his real mother had ever been.
“You’re here! Good.”
Martina immediately relaxed and went into Arturo’s arms.
Isla got that same sense of glee and stomach filling pride and love as she watched Arturo hug Martina, kiss her on the cheek, and wish her a Merry Christmas.
Martina held his hands tightly and wished him a Merry Christmas as well, right before she nearly left his side to make him a plate.
Isla beat her to it. “You’re supposed to be sitting and eating,” she said, pointing a spoon at Martina, and the seat Martina was supposed to be sitting in.
“Arturo, you can move my plate to the side. You can sit on Martina’s other side and I’ll sit next to you.”
Orlando bristled. “Oh, so I just sit on the other side of the table by myself?” He stood with his plate, sighing. “I guess I can put up with sitting next to Silvio.”
Silvio flipped his brother off while drinking from a wine glass.
Isla shook her head, and she let herself fall back into the pleasant sense of being part of a family.
She wished they were her famil
y too, but they felt real enough, and at the very least, Isla hoped it would be all right with Orlando and Silvio if she considered them to be her friends. For now, she wasn’t going to bring that up. This was a special day for Arturo and his family. Isla’s pride came from helping to pull this off.
Martina spoke with more animation and happiness than Isla had ever seen out of the other woman. She was still stunned, and flattered, that Isla and her boys had pulled this off, though Isla figured it must have been hard to eat, considering the way Silvio continued to take her right hand and squeeze it whenever it was free, and Arturo did the same with her left.
They were utterly doting on her as they let her know what she really meant to them, how important she was to them, and Isla was definitely having fun as she got up from time to time to pour more wine, and offered Silvio seconds, which he happily took.
Arturo moaned when he did manage to get some food into his mouth. “All of this is beyond amazing. As usual.”
“Isla did the potatoes,” Martina said, then lied. “She perfectly added in the spice and butter, just as I told her.”
“Well, in that case, I’m sorry Martina but I might have to say that the potatoes are my absolute favorite.”
Arturo winked at her in that moment. Isla had no idea if that was because he knew Martina was lying to make Isla’s contribution seem like more than what it was, or simply because he was enjoying teasing her.
Isla was insanely full, but not too full for dessert. By that time, Arturo had started talking about the office, not work, but what had been happening as everyone scrambled to catch up for the day most of the office had taken off, which had been Christmas.
Apparently, one or two of the guys in the office meeting Arturo had to attend had been sweating through their shirts.
Arturo meant that literally, too. He’d described both men as being soaked through, and the one poor woman forced to work with them who continued to push her chair as far away from her partners as humanly possible.
Isla couldn’t blame her if what Arturo talked about was true.
“I couldn’t wait to get out of there.” Arturo glanced at his brothers, before gazing affectionately at Martina, who patted his hand, but his eyes held Isla’s the longest.
Isla’s breath caught when she realized it, right before her heart rate burst through the ceiling.
And this time she wasn’t hearing Arturo’s chopper.
He’d wanted to come home to her. Martina and dinner with his brothers was absolutely important, but she caught this message loud and clear. He’d wanted to be here with her, and Isla’s chest warmed. Her entire body did.
Luckily, no one seemed to notice, and if they did, they were kind enough to not mention it.
They spent another hour at the table after everyone finished eating. Martina gave orders for everyone to go watch television while she cleaned up the food and plates, but Isla sure as hell wasn’t about to let her do that without her help.
She hadn’t expected Arturo, Silvio, or Orlando to get up and insist on helping with the cleanup.
And Isla and Martina were outnumbered.
Isla was stunned when Orlando showed off how well he knew how to work the dishwasher. Isla would never have thought that Orlando, sweet as he was, would know how to use it at all, but he did. Silvio washed the plates, pots and pans that had the most stuck on residue while Isla dried them. Everything else went to Orlando, and Arturo and Martina cleaned off the last of the meat from the turkey before putting it away.
Martina seemed pleased with the leftovers, and she talked about making her boys soups and sandwiches for work for the next week and a half.
Normal people would get sick of having turkey for so long, but these men had been raised on Martina’s cooking, and no one complained.
Silvio openly talked about how he couldn’t wait to go back to work with Martina’s lunches, to which Martina told him not to kiss up too much.
Isla was going to have to learn how to cook for real if she was going to keep up with Martina.
Orlando and Silvio got sloshed as they took their small party back to the sitting room. Orlando actually put on A Christmas Carol, but no one paid attention to it. Everyone was too busy talking.
Martina didn’t have another glass of wine to drink. She’d barely gone through half her glass at the dinner table. Apparently some habits were going to be impossible to break out of, and she wanted to stay somewhat professional. Isla didn’t put any more drinks into her hands. It was enough for Arturo and his brothers that she was part of this dinner at all, instead of simply preparing it and watching from the sidelines.
Isla didn’t think she was drunk by the end, but she was definitely feeling pretty good with everything when it all started to wind down.
Orlando was sleeping on the couch. Martina brought a spare blanket from somewhere and was tucking him in. Silvio seemed to be barely awake and yawned wide every other minute. He seemed to be getting ready to fall asleep in the chair he was in, but Martina coaxed him to his feet.
It wasn’t that late, so it was kind of amusing how tired everyone seemed to be. It was almost as if that enormous meal made everyone a lot more exhausted than they otherwise would have been. Or it could have been all their weeks of hard work at the office catching up. It wasn’t even midnight.
But Isla was feeling kind of tired herself. She leaned against Arturo’s shoulders. They were on the love seat, and she wouldn’t mind being left to doze off on him just now.
Arturo was all hard muscle, but he could be a comfortable pillow when he wanted to be.
Apparently, he didn’t want to be, because he gently shook her shoulder, forcing her to open her eyes.
“Aren’t you tired?” Now Isla was yawning.
“A little.” He kissed the spot below her ear. “But, I also have a surprise for you.”
Isla closed her eyes and smiled. “You already gave it to me, remember?” She snuggled closer to him. “Haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, though. We can do that together tomorrow.”
“Not sure I want to know what you mean by that.”
Isla kept her voice down, not wanting Orlando to wake up and hear her, but she couldn’t help but smile as she spoke. “Well, you did give me two sex toys.”
Arturo tensed before replying. “Don’t even think about it.”
Isla shook with the effort it took to hold back her laughter.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?”
“I promise I would make you like it.”
“Hmmm, how much would I like it?”
Isla opened her eyes wide before she looked up at Arturo. “You’d really let me do that?”
“Nope.” Arturo had that same grin on his face he always got whenever he was playing with her, and Isla mock glared at him, shaking her head. “You suck.”
“I’ll be sucking on something else later tonight if you come to bed with me.”
Isla’s body immediately reacted to those words. Her blood turned hot in her veins and seemed to be travelling south. Warmth pooled between her legs as her skin suddenly felt a little too tight.
This should not have been happening. After several months of dating, and countless encounters doing the naked tango, there was no reason why she should be still feeling so hot and bothered, so abso-fucking-lutely horny.
Arturo nonchalantly allowed his fingers to trail a line down to Isla’s breast. Through the cashmere sweater, he seemed to find her nipples. With just a lacy bra under the sweater, it made things all too easy for him to tweak and tease them, despite the extra material in the way.
“Your brother is right there.”
Even when Isla said the words, she couldn’t help but let out a hard groan.
Arturo pinched the nub of Isla’s nipple between two fingers, purposely making her wild with desire.
“Yeah, we better get out of here before he wakes up.”
Isla glared up at her lover.
Arturo smiled back down at her. “Stil
l too tired for your surprise?”
“It better be an amazing surprise.”
“The most amazing surprise you’ll ever get.” Arturo got to his feet, pulling Isla up with him.
“Come on.”
Isla went with him, suddenly a little excited to see what he had in mind. If it was sex, then it would still be an amazing surprise.
8
Isla was anything but tired when Arturo brought her up to the bedroom they shared whenever she happened to be spending the night.
Lately, that had become more and more often, which was why she had enough clothes and toiletries here to make overnight stays comfortable.
Since it seemed as if she was about to have another wild and fantastic night with Arturo, with one of his surprises, that meant she was definitely spending the night.
“I like staying here with you.”
“I like it when you’re here with me,” Arturo countered. “Besides, there is no way in hell you’re going home in that.”
He pointed to the window. The snow was still clearly visible as it flurried against the window, thanks to the garden lamps that were glowing outside.
Of course, in Arturo’s enormous garden, those lamps were the equivalent of street lights.
“I don’t want to go home.”
The words were out of Isla’s mouth before she could stop herself, but she didn’t take them back. She didn’t want to take them back. It felt good to say them, right, and though she couldn’t stop the flush of embarrassment from climbing her neck, she didn’t take the words back.
Arturo continued to look at her, those dark eyes seeing everything inside her, and it was a corny thing to think about, but she couldn’t help herself. It was true.
She was stupidly in love with this guy.
“What if you never left?”
Isla glanced up at him, but she could hardly hold his stare. “What are you talking about? I’m almost always here anyway.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Arturo took Isla by her hands, both of them. He held them tight and levelled himself in front of her. “You’re here a lot. I like it when you’re here. It’s gotten to the point where I feel strange when you’re not here.”
Home for the Holidays: A Contemporary Romance Anthology Page 67