“Oh?”
“Yes, and that leads me to my next question. I know I’ve asked for a lot of your time this month, and now I’m about to ask for another favor,” he said as he took the seat next to her. He leaned in close enough for her to feel his body heat and said, “Tomorrow at three, there is going to be a big meeting here in the conference room. Every six weeks, the Bay City Caring Corps Community Action Council Steering Committee meets here to discuss progress on social justice matters. Most of the people on the committee are leaders of faith-based organizations and churches. Usually these meetings kind of drag and don’t go very well. Do you think you can attend the one tomorrow and give me some guidance on how I can make them better in the future?”
“Sure. What seems to be the problem with them?”
Diego ran a hand through his hair before looking at her with a trace of embarrassment in his eyes. “All the community leaders who come are old and surly. It seems like they just don’t like me. They’re all my parents’ age or older. Most of the meeting seems to be complaining, and very little progress is made. Honestly, I hate these meetings.”
“I have a full day of talking to the rest of the directors on your list, but I will do everything I can to make it to the meeting by three,” Lilah replied with a smile.
“Thanks,” he said as he reached out and touched her arm. His hand lingered, and he looked into her eyes with another smile. This one had a more intimate undertone than the others he had given her this evening. “I’m going to get dinner after this. Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Hungry for what?” the words popped out of her mouth before she even realized she had thought them. Horrified, she clapped a hand over her mouth, but he was already laughing at her.
“Would you like to have dinner with me?” he asked after he stopped chuckling.
“Yes, I would,” she answered with a smile.
“Do you have a preference where?” he asked.
“Someplace quiet,” she answered.
He chuckled again and said, “This is Bay City; every place is quiet. If you want someplace extremely quiet, we can go to my house. I know how to cook.”
“Why don’t I just meet you at the K-2 Steakhouse? I recall that place being a local favorite, but I’ve never eaten there,” she responded.
“Okay. I’ll wrap up things here and meet you there in half an hour. Does that sound good?”
“That sounds perfect,” Lilah said as she picked up her papers and turned toward the door.
She waved to Mrs. Horta on her way out of the office.
***
When Diego entered the restaurant, Delilah was already inside waiting for him. The seating hostess and wait staff were very polite to him every time he came here, but tonight he was nervous. He couldn’t put his finger on the exact reason he felt unsure of himself. Maybe it was the fact that he was the mayor now, and he had a town full of people to scrutinize his every move. What would people say after Delilah left town? What if he spent enough time with her to stir up rumors and speculation that could hurt his chance for reelection? If he wasn’t Diego Gonzales the mayor, he would have responded to the look in her eyes and kissed her the moment he saw her again.
He caught sight of her unruly curls as he approached her table from behind. Once she saw him, she looked up at him with another of those smiles that had been warming his heart all evening. “Hey there, Delilah,” he said as he sat down. It felt odd to be sitting across from her wearing the requisite suit and tie. He would rather have had a relaxed dinner at his place, where he could remove the mantle of mayor and simply be Diego.
“Hello, Mr. Handsome,” she quipped with a smile.
“You’re only allowed to call me that if you agree to have dinner with me every night until you leave town,” he said.
She looked taken aback, but she smiled at him again as she asked, “Was that a serious request, or do you really not like that nickname?”
“That request was about as serious as they come,” he said as he loosened his tie a little.
“I’ll think about it and let you know my decision over dinner tomorrow,” she returned with a smile in her eyes.
“When do you have to begin your official duties as maid of honor?” he asked after the server took their drink orders.
“Cheryl is coming to town this weekend to deliver her official list of demands. I’ve already planned the bridal shower and the bachelorette party. The rehearsal dinner is going to happen in three weeks, so I still have to finalize a few things for that one. As far as I know, my duties end with the rehearsal dinner. Cheryl’s mom is in charge of the big day, and your parents are handling the brunch the day after the wedding. When do you have to start being best man?”
“I don’t actually have to plan anything. I get a mayor’s pass on all party planning. Actually, I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” he said as he leaned forward.
Her eyes brightened as she leaned toward him and said, “I love secrets!”
He chuckled and said, “I’ll have to file that information away for later. Okay, here’s the secret… Hugo doesn’t actually want a bachelor party, at least not the kind that most guys have before marriage. He just wants me to use my position as mayor as an excuse not to plan a party that includes dancing girls and a lot of drunk guys razzing him about being with one woman for the rest of his life.”
“What does he want then?” Delilah asked.
“All that love sick fool wants is to spend the night cuddled up with your cousin. He told me they stopped having sex and spending the night together a couple of months ago. It’s supposed to build suspense for the big day,” he laughed.
“Yeah, I know. Cheryl told me about that plan.”
“And what do you think about it?”
“I think it’s kind of sweet. What do you think about it?” she answered.
Diego considered his answer for a moment before asking her, “What answer would you like, Delilah? You can choose the super sensitive, I’m out with a girl I like answer, or I can give you my authentic reaction as a guy.”
“I’ll take the authentic guy reaction,” she said.
“As soon as he told me about their plan, I thought, why is my brother torturing himself? I really don’t understand this fascination some girls have with saving themselves for marriage or acting like it’s bad to enjoy sex. When two people are in a committed, loving relationship, withholding physical intimacy doesn’t make the man respect the woman more. All it does is shrivel our brains and drive us up a wall. If I was engaged to a woman and she introduced that crazy idea to me, I would not just say, ‘sure, Baby’ and go along with it. I’d argue my case,” he answered.
“I’m guessing you’ve never had a woman make you wait for anything,” she said quietly.
He wasn’t sure how to interpret the look in her eyes as she tossed that statement out at him. “Actually, my college girlfriend was one of those girls who was saving herself for marriage. I respected her decision, although I didn’t completely agree with it. We never ended up married, so we never had sex. And I didn’t respect her any more or less because of that. I guess, what I really meant a moment ago is that I don’t think it adds anything to a relationship to regress from having sex on a regular basis to not having it because of some upcoming religious ceremony. That’s all I’m saying.”
“So, you think your brother and my cousin are being stupid right now?” she asked with a smile.
“No. I think your cousin is being stupid, and my brother is just doing what she tells him to because he loves her so much,” he clarified.
She surprised him just then by laughing. “What’s the most you would be willing to do for a woman you love?” she asked.
“I don’t think I can tell you that, Delilah.”
“Why?” she asked with confusion in her eyes.
He cleared his throat and said, “Because you might be in the perfect position to use my answer against me someday.”
Her eyes widened
and she looked down at the table, and he chastised himself for saying something like that. He squelched the urge to apologize for making her feel uncomfortable and decided to ask her a personal question.
“Do you ever plan on getting married?” he asked.
“It could happen someday. I was engaged once,” she said.
“I remember you telling me a little bit about your ex-fiancé. What’s the story there? Is he still in your life?”
“No. We can’t even be friends, but I do have him to thank for finally getting my book published.”
“How do you have him to thank? I thought you sent out a ton of inquiry letters and found a good agent all on your own?” he demanded.
“Sounds like somebody read one of my online author interviews,” she said with a tiny smile. She eyed him for a moment before going on. “My ex actually called me and said he was able to get a meeting with the editorial department in his imprint at Random House in New York. I spent a ton of money on a ticket to fly up there the next day to find out that he had lied about the meeting. Turns out he wanted to use a potential book deal as bait to get me to move up there with him. He also told me he hadn’t had sex in months and figured I would want to help him out with that. The worst part is that James really did like my book, and he really could have helped me get the book deal of a lifetime. I was on my way out the door when the acquisitions editor for the young adult imprint of my current publisher stopped me. Turns out she knew my ex and his late parents. I think she offered me a deal just to spite him, but it worked out well for both of us.”
“That is a pretty low way to try to get you back, but I’m glad it ended up helping you get published in the long run,” he said.
Once they finished eating, the server cleared the table, and Diego tried to think up a good reason for them to linger a little. He wasn’t ready to part with her yet, but he was reluctant to invite her back to his house so soon. In an unusual twist for him, he was actually worried that she wouldn’t respect him if he tried too hard or pushed too soon for anything physical. He had promised himself that he would be friendly for at least a week before telling her how he really felt. Even if he waited a week, she still might think he was crazy. As he watched Delilah, he wondered how many other men carried around strong feelings for girls who had hated them in high school. His inability to conquer his feelings for her was a huge source of vexation for him at the moment.
He had expected her yesterday, had actually spent the day planning what he would say to her in his mind. But, the moment he saw her again, three years had collapsed into nothingness, and all he could think about was pulling her into his arms and begging her to move back to Texas and share herself with him. She was the only woman who had ever elicited such strong emotional reactions from him. He had not understood it in high school, and he did not understand it now.
They were on their way out the door when he turned to her and said, “I’d like to see you again soon.”
“I thought we agreed earlier that I’m coming back to your office to sit in on the Bay City Action Council Committee Planning meeting,” she said as she looked up at him.
He raised a hand to her shoulder and said, “I meant, I’d like to see you again like this…away from the office… and it’s the Bay City Caring Corps Community Action Council Steering Committee.”
“Oh,” she blinked. “That’s quite a name.”
“So, is it okay if we spend some more time together?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” she asked.
“Because it wasn’t okay a few years ago when you were in town for the reunion.”
“A lot has changed since then, Diego. I apologized for those things I said. You are a good person. I’d be lucky to get to know you a little better,” she said. He couldn’t tell if she was being extra nice because she felt bad for having been mean before, or if she really wanted to spend more time with him. Her eyes were too guarded and her expression too careful for him to tell the nature of her true thoughts. Tired of feeling on edge and wondering about it, he finally just moved in to kiss her.
He did it slowly, and relished every moment of her reaction to him. From the quickening of her breathing and pulse all the way down to the way she tilted her head back and allowed her eyes to drift shut when their lips met. Her hands settled on his shoulders and she pulled him closer to her with a little sigh that tugged at his heart. Her soft, warm lips parted for him almost immediately, and he lost himself in the knowledge that she still wanted him physically. There was probably nothing that could shake the physical connection he felt to her. It went all the way back to their high school days when he had always craved friendship and intimacy with her.
A sudden honk from the street startled them apart. He looked up just in time to see a carful of local teenagers watching them. “Go, Mister Mayor!” one of the young men shouted as they drove off.
Delilah had buried her face in his chest, and he pried her away so he could look into her eyes. “It’s okay,” he assured her. “It was just a bunch of high school kids.”
“Don’t you think it might affect your chances for reelection if people in town see us together?” she asked.
“Why would it?”
“I don’t know… I grew up in the projects. Someone might find out about that and use it against you…”
“Last I checked it wasn’t against the law to kiss a woman whose family was poor when she was a kid. My personal life is my business. As long as I’m not breaking the law, nobody has a say in what I do or who I choose to spend my personal time with,” he said.
“Are we going to have dinner together again tomorrow?” she asked as her wide eyes peered up at him. Her voice had come out sounding soft and husky, creating a little ache in his throat as he looked down at her.
“As long as you want to see me, nothing on Earth is going to keep me away,” he said.
***
“Where were you, Diego? I stopped by your office, and the security guard said you left earlier than usual.”
Diego started and whirled around at the sound of his mother’s voice. “Mom! How long have you been here?” he asked.
“I’ve been waiting here for an hour. You wouldn’t answer your phone when I called you,” she said in an angry tone. “Who is this woman that came to meet you at city hall two days in a row?”
“She’s helping me with something at work,” Diego said. He let the truthfulness of his answer act as a shield against his mother’s glare. She had been giving him a hard time over the past few years, and it had gotten worse after he had hired Mrs. Horta.
She stood up and paced his living room. “What is she helping you with?” she demanded.
“Partnerships with non-profit organizations. It’s a good way for the city to get more funding for social programs,” he said in a reasonable tone.
“Have you called Beatrice yet?” she asked.
“Mom, I’ve told you I’m not interested in calling her.”
“Diego, you have to call her. She’s supposed to be your date for your brother’s wedding.”
“Says who?” Diego asked as he gave his mother a hard look. She was one of those successful women who owed the bulk of her accomplishments to persistence and dogged determination. The woman didn’t know the word quit.
“Says me and my friend Sandy. She already talked to Beatrice about setting the two of you up, and Beatrice can’t wait to meet you. She liked all the pictures Sandy showed her, she’s willing to move here if things go well, and she’s looking to get married and start a family soon. She’s a dream come true for you.”
“Mom! How many times do I have to ask you not to send pictures of me to all your old college friends? I can find someone to date all on my own,” he said.
“Apparently you can’t, or you would be married or at least engaged by now!” she shouted at him.
“You just want to hand pick a woman for me!” shouted back at her.
“What’s wrong with that? My parents chose yo
ur father for me, and look how happy we ended up. Besides, I’m not actually trying to make the decision for you. I just want you to at least get started on the process. You haven’t even tried to date for the past three years.”
“That’s because I was busy with other things,” Diego reminded her. “Remember Mayor Holt, Mom? If not for me, that dude would still be up at city hall corrupting the whole town.”
“I still don’t understand why you even care so much about that, Diego. It’s politics! You are thirty-two years old! You’re supposed to care about finding a wife, so your father and I can enjoy some grandkids before we die. If you hadn’t started spending time with that old pendeja, Mrs. Horta, you’d still be my son, but I don’t even know who you are right now,” his mother screeched as she sat down on the sofa with tears in her eyes.
“So, this is about grandchildren…” Diego sighed as he sat next to her. He put an arm around her and said, “Mom, I know it’s hard for you that Hugo decided to marry a girl who might not be able to have kids of her own, but you have to let that go. Cheryl’s health is more important than your need to be a granny right away. Hugo said they might be able to have kids in a few years if Cheryl’s kidney disease stays under control. And, I promise not to spend the rest of my life working late; I’ll get married someday.”
“Yeah, someday. I’ve heard that before. You better call Beatrice. Tonight, mijo,” she said as she stood up to leave.
Diego took a quick shower before picking up his cell phone to call Beatrice. He vaguely remembered her from one of the many parties his mother and her sorority friends had thrown over the years. Whoever she was, he knew he needed to nip his mother’s meddlesome behavior in the bud—quickly.
A perky sounding female voice answered after the first ring. “Hello?”
“Hi, this is Diego Gonzales. I’m trying to reach Beatrice,” he said in a friendly tone.
Redemption (Reunion Book 1) Page 8