Salome bravely put her hand up next. “I’m Salome and I grew up in the DR.” I let out a whoop for my fellow Dominicana, which earned me a high five. “I came to New York eight years ago for grad school. I was at City College, and lived in Hamilton Heights.” She shrugged, a little bit of shyness coming out then. “I also do not miss the subway, even though I hate driving here. Also pigeons, I do not miss pigeons.” She actually shuddered, making us all laugh.
Dani went next. He grew up on the posh Upper East Side of Manhattan. Both his parents were doctors who were still in the city. Tariq hailed from Honduras and came to the States at the age of seven, and like José had grown up in the South Bronx, where he was still based. After they were done, the only person left was Rocco, and he kept taking gulps from his beer like he was completely unaware that he was supposed to talk.
He was so annoying.
I tried not to glare, but it wasn’t easy. “Rocco, do you want to go next?”
“Sure.” He took another gulp of beer, and I saw some redness spread over his cheekbones. His perfect fucking cheekbones. The blush made his blue eyes sparkle. God, he was really a beautiful man, and I needed to direct that energy into something else, because this was going to end poorly.
“Umm, I grew up in Corona too.” He made eye contact with me, making sure to drive home that connection between us, and my stupid heart lurched a little.
“I didn’t stick around there after high school though and I lived in Manhattan while in school and now I’m in Astoria. My family is still there.” At the mention of his family, he cleared his throat and trained his eyes on the table. “I like the quiet here. It’s more peaceful.” His eyes looked for mine as he spoke, and he held my gaze in the silence that followed his words. I shifted in my seat, the hard surface of the bench the only thing that kept me grounded as Rocco pierced me with a look I didn’t want to try to figure out.
I sucked in a breath and gave a much-needed mental talking-to to the part of me that felt the need to figure out what was wrong with the man and fix it. I was no longer the designated repairperson of beautiful and fucked-up men.
“Thanks, Rocco.” The table was a bit subdued by this point. I guessed I wasn’t the only one who was feeling a bit affected by Rocco and José. But I had been raised by a woman who was practically allergic to awkward silences, so I got us redirected quick.
“Okay, now that we know each other, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the eye-contact situation in this city. Does it feel over the top to you guys too or is it just me?” That got a real laugh out of the table, including a minuscule grin from Rocco, which I tried very hard not to dwell on, and the conversation took off from there.
This happy hour idea was working out. I just needed to keep my eyes, hands, and head off Rocco Quinn, and my Dallas experiment might work out after all.
Chapter Five
Rocco
I was still sitting in my car, where I’d been since I’d said my goodbyes and agreed to meet everyone again for drinks the next week. In the end, I’d had a nice time.
Still, I was brooding.
As soon as I’d gotten to the bar tonight, I knew I’d made a mistake. I really needed to remember that I was here to do a job and get back to New York City and the responsibilities I could not turn my back on.
That was my other problem. The meeting had actually been fun. Tariq and Dani were big Yankees fans, and Julia, that traitor, joined them in giving me shit about the Mets. Meanwhile, Salome, who was a diehard baseball fan, but only of Dominican teams, had the time of her life telling us all the ways in which the Dominican winter league was superior to the major leagues. José teased us mercilessly about his newfound love for the Rangers, and the hours flew.
Then there was Julia. Julia and her colors and her energy were addictive, and I had a feeling once I got a taste, I would not be able to stop coming back for more.
Her big brown eyes hypnotized me. Her long, curly hair cascading halfway down her back was as big and wild as I’d imagined it. There had been something different about her tonight.
She’d been at ease. A side to her that wasn’t what I’d seen in the office. It seemed to me like Julia, once she was away from work and the machinations of the IPO, had shed some of the tightness she always carried around me. And no matter how much I wanted that to mean there was some kind of opening there, it didn’t matter. She was still her and I was still me, and I needed to do my job, and that job was to deliver that IPO into Duke Sturm’s hands.
I’d started my car and headed out of the parking lot when I noticed her standing on the sidewalk, glaring at her phone. She’d put her hair up in a messy bun and was tapping furiously as she leaned on a bench. I drove up to her and lowered my window with my heart beating way faster than it should with someone I was supposed to keep my distance from.
“Hey, do you have a ride home?” I spoke in a soft voice, aware it was never a good idea to startle a woman who’d grown up in New York City.
She jumped anyways, but when she turned her eyes toward me, she looked relieved to see me. “Do you go around sneaking up on women like that? You’re lucky I’m slow when I’m tired.”
I tried to look contrite, but a smile happened anyway. My lips had a mind of their own when it came to Julia. “Sorry about that. This car makes no noise.”
Davidson’s arranged for whatever we needed while on a project and usually went for something that would “reflect well” on the brand. So I was driving a black Tesla sedan.
Julia was still squinting at me and my vehicle when I gestured toward her phone. “I can give you a ride if you want to cancel your Lyft.”
She looked at her phone again and then at the street—pursing her mouth as she considered her choices. I didn’t take it personally, but was surprised at how much I wanted her to say yes. Her brows stayed furrowed for a second and finally with an eye roll, she relaxed. She was wearing a shade of lipstick almost the color of red wine. I imagined her mouth half-open as I crushed our lips together and I had to breathe through my mouth to get myself together. There was something that happened to me whenever Julia Ortiz was around I was having a hard time even naming. But the last thing a woman like her needed was me and my baggage.
Right now though, she looked tired and ready to go home, and I could do that for her. I clicked to unlock the passenger door and leaned over to open it, suspecting that if I got out to open the car door for her she’d send me on my way.
“Hop in.” I needed to dial down the eager beaverness by like a thousand percent.
She looked around, like she still wasn’t sure any of this was a good idea, but after a moment, she nodded. “All right. Thank you.” She tapped something on her phone, then came around and got in the car.
As soon as she had her seat belt on, she pushed her back against the seat and let out a long exhale. I turned to her and caught a glimpse of a little bit of white lace peeking from that crop top, which was probably going to star in every one of my fantasies after this.
She closed her eyes for just a second and took a deep breath in and out. Like she was letting go of the whole day. When she opened them, she almost seemed surprised to see me.
“Where to?”
She pointed left as I turned on the car. “45 Orchard Street, Los Sauces apartments.”
I nodded as I put in the info in the GPS and when the address came up, I made a sound of surprise.
“What?”
I shook my head and tried once again to chill out. “Oh, nothing, we just live really close. I’m in a building like two streets over. The Lofts.”
She widened her eyes and then dipped her chin, her mouth in an expression I’d seen many a time from some of the girls I grew up with. It was a mix between “show-off” and “good for you.”
From my peripheral vision, I saw her lift a shoulder as I maneuvered us out of the parking lot and onto the dark str
eet. I knew where I was going, so I muted the directions and talked to Julia.
“Thanks again for letting me crash your party. It was good to be around other New Yorkers. I just missed the energy that people from the city have, you know?”
I caught a surprised look on her face, like she didn’t expect me to admit I’d had a good time, but when she spoke she was friendly. “I totally get that. Tonight was the first time since I’ve been here that I felt like I might actually be able to stay long term.” I could tell there was a lot more to that than she was saying, but I didn’t push her to explain.
Instead I did something I never ever did—I talked about myself. “I never really left New York until after I finished grad school and started working as a consultant. It’s hard to explain to people who haven’t lived there just how different it is to everywhere else.” I meant to stop talking, but again my mouth started before I could stop it. “I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I like it. It feels manageable in a way New York never felt to me. I love the city, but sometimes I felt like it was carrying me and not the other way around. Here I feel like I set the pace.” I turned to look at her and found she was watching me like I’d totally thrown her off. “Sorry, I’m not making sense.”
She started to speak and then paused, like she wasn’t sure if she should say what she was thinking. But as I drove, I caught a glimpse of a smile.
“You’re making total sense. It does feel more manageable. I can slow down or speed up; in New York I always felt like I was trying to catch up to someone, you know?”
I grunted in answer, feeling the truth of that statement all the way down to my toes. “How did you find yourself this far from Corona?”
I regretted asking almost as soon as the words came out of my mouth. Seeing Julia sad was much worse than seeing her mad—and that was the kind of information that would only complicate things for me.
She didn’t answer my question right away, and I figured she had better sense than me. But right when we were coming up to the turn to her apartment she spoke into the eerily silent car. “I made a string of bad choices that left me dumped, holding a two-year lease for an apartment and a car payment a week after I started my dream job.” Her tone was harsh, but not bitter, determined. I could hear in her voice she was used to being judged about this. Like the asshole who left her hanging wasn’t the one who should be ashamed of themselves.
“So this person asked you to trust them and move across the country and then left you here holding a lease?” I had no right to be enraged on behalf of this woman, but I could’ve slain dragons to keep seeing the smile that suddenly appeared on her face.
She grinned shyly, obviously noticing my pissiness, and when she spoke again she sounded like the Julia who could get my blood boiling in two seconds flat. “It was a he. And yes, he did.”
What kind of dipshit could ever leave a woman like this?
“I hope that fucker knows not to show his face in Queens.”
That laugh, the head thrown back as she looked at me with a mixture of shock and glee, puffed up my chest. This was better than when I graduated from business school, better than the moment I was finally able to get my sister out of my parents’ house. Julia Ortiz could become a very dangerous addiction for me.
By the time she’d stopped laughing, we were coming to a stop in front of her building, and she was still smiling wide. I was having trouble looking away. Julia’s smile took over her whole face. As I stole one more look at her face, I realized that I would probably be willing to do a lot of crazy shit trying to coax more of them out of her.
When she spoke her voice was still ringing with humor. “You already know he can’t come anywhere near Corona. Dominican mom and dad from PR.”
The Queens burst out of me before I could stop it. “He doesn’t know much, if he ever let you go.”
I held her gaze, because I meant it, but what had flames licking low in my gut was how she locked those brown eyes with mine. She wasn’t shying away from the compliment. This woman knew what she was worth.
Something in the energy between us kindled and caught fire and I had to grip the steering wheel hard so I didn’t do something we would both regret. I wondered if she felt it too. And maybe she did because when she spoke I could hear a tremor in her voice that was more than the AC.
“Thanks for the ride, Rocco, and for showing up early.” She raised her eyebrow, hands on her big purse. “Even though it’s still sort of nerve-wracking being around you, tonight was fun.” I didn’t have to ask why I made her nervous.
“I’m glad you let me stick around.”
She nodded and went to open the door, but kept her eyes on me. “Monday I’ll check in with you about the visits. I was thinking you could come and see the after-school program first. I sent you the details in an email.”
I nodded as she waited for a response. “I’m sure whatever you have in mind will work great.”
She dropped her gaze to her lap for the next part, and I knew the night was about to be truly over. “I don’t want to muddy the waters, Rocco, not just because I want to keep my job, but because this work is too important.”
“I know.” But I didn’t, if I was being honest with myself. Trying to get something started with Julia was the height of foolishness. I still wanted her though.
“The families we work with are mostly undocumented. This program is one of the few in the state that operates with fully private funds. Losing it would be devastating.” I knew that already, but hearing the emotion in Julia’s voice made me flinch. She was doing something amazing and good, while I was trying to make rich people more money.
Her phone pinged and she jumped before fishing it out of her bag. When she looked at the screen, a type of smile I hadn’t seen yet bloomed on her face.
I cleared my throat again, trying to get myself together. “I better head home.”
She looked up and quickly shoved the phone in her bag. “It’s my best friend, Alba. She wanted to know if I’d survived the evening. She’s very invested in me not continuing to live like a social pariah.”
Right, Julia’s life was here in Dallas and mine was waiting for me in New York.
But before she stepped out of the car, she turned around and it was like she could see right into my head. “I liked having you in the group tonight. Maybe we could keep things friendly?”
She stressed the last word, but her smile was warm and I wanted to grab onto it before it was gone. I dipped my head and felt something a lot like happiness pulse in my chest. “Of course.”
She seemed satisfied with my answer and with a final nod she opened the door and stepped out into the warm Dallas night.
I watched her walk along the paved path, her long skirt lifting as she moved. When she finally got to her door, she looked back toward me, before walking into her apartment.
As I pulled out of her parking lot, I tried very hard not to read into the fact that maybe for the first time in my life, someone had turned around for me.
Chapter Six
Rocco
“Come in.” I tried not to snap at whoever was knocking on my office door Monday afternoon. I was about to head out to do the site visit of Julia’s program. I’d been thinking about her nonstop since I’d dropped her off on Friday night, and it felt like I hadn’t seen her in an eternity.
So of course the two people in this whole company I couldn’t stand had to come in for a one-on-one. Right behind Phil Brentwood, the CFO of Sturm’s, was thirty-two-year-old Duke Sturm, the third heir to the department store empire. Duke was the only son from the second and short-lived marriage of the store’s founder, Donald Sturm. Rumor was that Donald had met Duke’s mom at a photo shoot for the company and started an affair that ended his marriage with Mitzy and Muffy’s mother. So the bad blood here went much deeper than conflicting views on the future of the business. I knew what a guy with a chip
on his shoulder looked like and Duke had something to prove. So far he’d been cordial to me, but in every interaction it was very clear he considered me the hired help.
“Hey, Rocco.” Phil was really fucking fake, but at least he shook my hand. Duke just glared. He was not taking his half sisters’ approach, that was for sure.
“I love saying your name, it’s so New York.” Phil did air quotes when he said New York and I remembered why I thought this guy was an asshole.
“It’s where I’m from. Can I help you gentlemen?” I looked at the large wall clock directly above the office door, I was polite, but I didn’t have to be subtle. “I’m about to go and visit one of the foundation programs.”
Phil held up his hands, his usual greasy smile fixed on his face. “Oh, we stopped in at the perfect time, then. That’s exactly what we wanted to talk to you about.” I resisted the urge to shudder, but just barely.
I stood there silently waiting for Phil to get on with whatever he came to see me for. After a moment he looked at Duke, who apparently was just here for moral support or to make sure Phil didn’t fuck up on whatever he was supposed to tell me. “We know that you’ve been meeting with the twins, and that this week you’ll be dealing with their little hobby projects. Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about that.”
At the mention of his sisters, Duke’s face soured and he finally opened his mouth. “My sisters are under the impression this company exists to fund every harebrained idea they come up with after watching Rachel Maddow. We’re moving into a new chapter for Sturm’s and we can’t drag every whim they’ve concocted over the years with us, especially this insane new thing they’re throwing two million dollars into.”
I schooled my face into a neutral expression and hoped my neck wasn’t turning red. He was talking about Julia’s program. A program that helped kids and families. You would think from hearing him his sisters were throwing parties with the money. My back teeth ground into each other as I tried to come up with something to say that wouldn’t get me fired.
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