Love in Bloom (De La Fuente Family #3)

by Lexi Buchanan

  She deserved that. She probably deserved anything they threw at her.

  Clearing her throat, she admitted, “This time I’m here as myself. I know that doesn’t make much sense. I just can’t really explain. I’m sorry.”

  Mateo’s brother, Aiden, sat beside Dante and glared in her direction. Her gaze moved to Dante, who frowned. Kasey and Diego looked amused as though they didn’t really believe her. Lucia and Emiliano didn’t look all that approachable.

  Perhaps it was a bad idea coming here. She wasn’t wanted and had only been invited because of her ‘supposed’ engagement to Mateo. She stared down at her hands, blinking back the tears burning her eyes. Maybe she should let the engagement end now, get it done, apologize to the family and then flee back to Dallas.

  The room was silent and she felt eyes on her…judging her…but she couldn’t look up, couldn’t voice everything running through her head. After a few minutes, the conversation started up at the table, which made her feel like a lemon in a bowlful of oranges. She glanced up and watched as the others talked between themselves…none of them included her. Even Mateo was talking to his father without a glance in her direction.

  She kept reminding herself that how they treated her was to be expected, but it hurt. Mateo had an amazing family and she wished more than anything that Roger hadn’t stipulated how she had to act whilst with him and his family.

  Even when her mom was alive, it had only been the two of them, so having the opportunity to be part of a large, loving family would be amazing. In a way, it was for the best considering that she would be leaving in just over a week.

  Being completely excluded hurt her more now than it ever did when she was in her Caprice shoes. But as they continued to talk amongst themselves, she felt the tears filling her eyes…her lips wobbled as her throat ached from the silent sobs gripping her chest. She couldn’t breathe and she didn’t want them to see her like this.

  She didn’t want them to fall in front of an audience so she quickly glanced around the table as she searched for an escape. It registered that both Dante and Lucia watched her, but she ignored that as she stood and without a word to anyone, walked out of the kitchen. It took all that she had not to run up to Mateo’s room. She walked quickly though, once she was out of sight.

  Inside the room, she closed the door and slid down it. Tears ran down her cheeks and she let them run. She took in the breath that she couldn’t catch in the kitchen and tried to wipe her face clean to no avail.

  Why did she have to accept the job with Mateo in the first place?

  You know why! College tuition.

  All her heartache could have been avoided if she hadn’t needed a job to stay in college. Even having her college fees paid via a scholarship, she still had to live. The engaged gig paid far more than the job she’d actually applied for. She’d brought everything on herself. She shouldn’t complain, or act like a child having a tantrum when she was ignored because of her past behavior.

  Chapter Seven

  “I’m not doing that again.” Dante placed his arms on the table and snagged one of Emelia’s hands in his own. “Caprice didn’t look the same woman who usually gets our backs up. She looked…hurt.”

  “But—” Emelia started and Dante shook his head.

  “Em, honey. You didn’t see her face before she left, but I did. She looked seconds from having a melt down.”

  Mateo glanced around the table and realized that none of his family looked happy about what they’d done. He was so tired of everything. Until the accident, he hadn’t really been home much, so other than the engagement announcement, he hadn’t lied to his family about Caprice.

  They weren’t stupid and knew something else was going on, but he’d never given anything away. Sometime, he wondered if the hassle of being engaged was worth it after how she’d been with them.

  “I agree,” his mom added. “She looked and acted differently than she had in the past. She even looked younger than twenty-seven.” She raised a brow at Mateo.

  “Don’t look at me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you know how old she is?”

  He gave a noncommittal murmur as his mom carried on, “She looked like a young girl who we hurt with our rudeness… In the morning, I want everyone to give her another chance and see how she is. Eric and Sylvia arrive tomorrow as well, so I don’t want anything getting in the way of this wedding.”

  “Mom, you sure you trust her?” Diego asked.

  “All I know is that young woman who just left this room in tears was not the same woman who was here at Thanksgiving…Mateo, it hurts to see her in tears and knowing that she’s alone up there.” She frowned at him.

  He groaned inwardly at the reproach in his mom’s eyes. She probably wondered why he hadn’t gone after her straightaway.

  “I hear you.” The last place he wanted to go was upstairs, but since he’d picked her up at the airport, he’d felt like he was in the twilight zone. Nothing about Caprice felt right this trip and he didn’t know what to do to change that. Not that he wanted queen bitch back, but he felt unsettled and he hated it sitting heavily on his stomach. Plus, his dick wanted out to play when he was around her, which really screwed with his head.

  He ran his hands through his hair as he approached the bedroom door with apprehension. He’d never done well with a woman’s tears and he certainly never expected to have to deal with Caprice’s.

  On a heavy sigh, he shoved his bedroom door open and caught the back of Caprice as she disappeared into the bathroom. He was too quick for her though and propped his foot in the door. A ripe curse left his lips when it banged against his knee.

  “Oh God, Mateo.” Caprice dropped to her knees in front of him and cradled his injured knee. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think you’d come after me.”

  He clenched his teeth together, screwed his eyes tight and tried to ignore the pain that ran from his knee up to his thigh and back again…as well as the vision of her kneeling in front of him.

  Moments later, his eyes snapped open when he finally registered the gentle caress of hands over his scarred skin.

  So gentle.

  He watched Caprice as she continued caressing his knee. His eyes strayed to her gaping top, which gave him a good view of her voluptuous breasts. He told himself that the twitch behind the zipper of his shorts was a natural reaction to having a beautiful woman on her knees in front of him…but it was hell.

  “Does that feel any better?” Caprice sat, nearly wrapped around his leg, her face wet from her tears, eye level with his dick.

  At least he didn’t have to calm a crying woman.

  “Fine,” he quickly snapped and backed up to the bed before he dropped his ass down onto it. He rested his elbows on his thighs, his hands loose between his legs with his head dipped, but his eyes remained on Caprice.

  He didn’t take them off her and watched as a blush started to coat her neck, running up to her face and her lovely smooth skin. Even after crying, she still looked beautiful.

  Fuck! Where did that come from?

  “I really am sorry for hurting you.” She stood and moved closer to him. “This is such a mess.”

  Sitting beside him, he watched her from the corner of his eye as she chewed her lip, not volunteering anything else.

  “Look, about downstairs…” he heard her take a deep breath and continued, “I’m sorry, okay? They’ve had enough, but I shouldn’t have left you to the wolves even if they are my family. As you know, they aren’t always so rude to a guest. It’s just in the past you’ve been…different. No one, including me, knows what’s going on this time around.”

  “I know, and I wish I could explain.”

  He moved his leg and pain ripped through him again. He hoped it had just been bruised and that one of the pins hadn’t moved.

  “You’re still in pain.” She jumped up. “Lie on the bed.”

  He eyed her and wasn’t sure what to do. Everything she’d done today…and was stil
l doing…threw him off. Her whole body quivered with an energy he hadn’t noticed before.

  “Mateo, stop being stubborn. I’m trying to help you.”

  He huffed out a resigned breath and used his good leg to push himself further up the bed, his head dropping down onto a pillow.

  Caprice followed him onto the bed and grabbed another pillow to tuck up beneath his leg. “Does that feel a bit better, or do you need some painkillers?”

  “I’m trying to do without the pills.”

  “Okay. I get that.”

  She sat next to his knee, her back facing him and started to stroke over the scars. He bit back a moan when her hands touched him. She gently caressed over his aching knee, arousing him beyond anything in a long time. The thought of having those hands wrapped around his dick left him hard and aching.

  What was wrong with him? It was Caprice who touched his knee. He didn’t really want her hands on his cock, did he? No way. It had been so long since he’d felt the touch of a woman that anyone would do, right?

  You’re a lying ass…you’ve wanted her touch for days even though it’s confused the hell out of you.

  Her fingers felt like butterfly wings—light and gentle.

  His eyelids drooped with the pleasure running through him as he watched her through narrowed eyes. Her fingers slipped further up his thigh. He caught his breath as his dick jerked hard in his shorts.

  So not good.

  “You have scarring beneath as well. Let me rub that.”

  “I’ll flip over.” He didn’t give her time to reply and quickly turned to lie on his front, groaning when his monster of an erection pressed against his belly and the bed.

  “Are you comfortable like that?” she asked, her fingers skimming along his thighs.

  What the fuck was she doing to him?

  “Fine.” He couldn’t formulate words with how worked up he was. Caprice had never given him so much as a twitch in the pants until a few days ago, but fuck! He was hard as steel.

  He was just a horny jock!

  That was it.

  Any woman would do.

  And then her fingers started running over the rest of his scars and although she eased the ache in his knee, his dick throbbed. All his blood was centered south and the urge to rock his hips into the bed like a teenage boy killed him.

  The tingle of precum steadily trickled from the slit and all his body wanted was release, because of the woman who he was engaged to. He needed his head seeing to, or a serious session in the shower.

  He’d been yanking his own chain so the touch of a woman’s hand was bound to turn him on. Right? That was it.

  “How you doing?” Her soft voice washed over him, his arms broke out in goose bumps. “I really am sorry for hurting you.”

  Her fingers tickled up his thighs to the edge of his shorts before they left him completely. It was as though she had no clue that she’d gone further than his injured knee until then.

  Didn’t make much difference to his body’s response to her.

  He ached.

  “I’m good,” he choked out, his voice sounded nothing like him.

  With a growl, he rolled from the bed, keeping his groin out of her view. “I need a shower.”

  In the bathroom, he closed and locked the door before he leaned against it. His head thumped back as he breathed deeply through his nose.

  Nothing worked.

  He still throbbed.

  He glanced down and his cock was obscene, tenting his shorts like no one’s business. There were two choices, jerk off or leave it. Going back out into the bedroom would be embarrassing as fuck, even for him, who never usually gave a shit if he couldn’t control his own body.

  Jerk off.

  He had certainly lost control this afternoon.

  She looked nothing like the woman who’d been his fiancée for months. The woman in the bedroom looked so fresh and pure. She hadn’t even realized what her touch did to him.

  Thank fuck about that!

  Decision made, he knew it would take less than a minute to bring himself off.

  He could do it.

  Yanking his shorts open, he shoved his briefs down his hips, sighing in pleasure when his hand gripped around his girth.

  The tip was soaked with his arousal, but that didn’t bother him because he wasn’t far off making more of a mess.

  He pulled back and started beating off.

  Hard.

  Fast.

  So good.

  He panted, using the door to keep him on his feet.

  A soft knock at the door, and then, “Mateo?” was whispered.

  He saw stars, as his body tensed, and then released semen to the floor in front of him, coating his hand as well. As more release shot out, he grabbed the end of his dick with his other hand and caught what he could so it didn’t land on his shorts.

  At least Caprice didn’t try to call to him again, although, she probably heard his groan of pleasure.

  Fuck!

  He needed to have a talk with her and find out what was really going on before something happened and caused a hiccup with the wedding arrangements.

  Chapter Eight

  Erin was naive about a lot of things, having never experienced them, but she’d read enough books to realize that Mateo had just brought himself off. At least, it sounded like he had.

  Was she to blame? Was it her touch that had aroused him to bursting?

  The more she thought along those lines, the more she liked the idea. She’d always been attracted to him even though he was ten years older than she was. Since she’d been in the role of Caprice, she’d kept that to herself, but up until a few minutes ago, they’d never been so close.

  She smiled to herself, even as her face flamed at the thought of seeing him again, but she was no coward. She also had nowhere to run off too. Her only friend, in a way, was Mateo.

  He’d want answers when he came out of the bathroom because she’d never once touched him. How she’d gotten up the nerve, she didn’t know. She knew that he was in pain and that did it. She’d been the cause and it brought tears to her eyes to see up close and personal the damage to his knee.

  She could now tell him what had been going on because the non-disclosure agreement had ended with the contract. So, there really was no reason for her to stay quiet other than to give Mateo the breakup he needed for his family.

  She didn’t know what to do for the better and it annoyed her. Her cell was on the dresser by the window, which gave her the option to quickly call Roger, but something told her to not make contact with him. He’d always made her feel uneasy and she was glad to have nothing to do with him anymore.

  Her head needed to be on straight and with how long Mateo had been inside the bathroom, she figured she didn’t have long to come up with something.

  Stretching out on her side of the bed, her belly quivered with the knowledge that Mateo would be sleeping beside her. There wasn’t anywhere else in the room for either of them to sleep so she’d enjoy torturing him.

  She was a woman after all and Sadie had made her pack her Victoria’s Secret sleepwear instead of the usual yoga pants and T-shirt. Would she have the courage to wear it though?

  The bathroom door opened, which snagged her gaze. Mateo paused before he moved toward her. A fine blush coated his cheekbones and he wouldn’t meet her gaze.

  If she weren’t embarrassed herself, she’d have burst out laughing. It was so obvious what he’d been up to, she just wanted to know if she’d been the cause.

  “We need to talk.” He hesitated before he spread out beside her. “I don’t mean to be rude,” he continued, “but why are you different? You don’t dress like Caprice, talk like her or even act like her. Nothing’s the same and I hate head games.”

  While she stared up at the ceiling, she felt his angry gaze on her face, which continued to heat.

  Clearing her throat, she closed her eyes and inhaled. “Erin.”

  “What?”

  “
My real name is Erin Thomas and I’m a business finance student at the University of Texas. I applied for a job at the stadium and ended up being coached as your fiancée.” She sighed and knew she had to continue, “The money they offered was more than enough to finish my program of study. The extra I’ve saved for when I graduate in May. I don’t have anyone else to rely on as my mom passed away three years ago. I was afraid, Mateo.”

  She felt tears gather in her eyes so she rapidly blinked them away before they could fall. She rolled to lie on her side so that she could see how Mateo reacted to her words. His eyes were fixed on her so she continued, “I needed the money because it meant that I wouldn’t lose the roof over my head if I couldn’t find work after graduation. My mother always struggled and I didn’t want that for myself. I needed security.”

  “I’m sorry about your mom, Erin…and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting that kind of explanation.” Mateo looked surprised more than anything else. “I mean, I guessed Caprice wasn’t your real name because, in the beginning, you’d act like it wasn’t you when I’d call you over to me at an event or something. I just let it ride.”

  “You weren’t interested so you let it ride.” Erin smiled as Mateo frowned hearing the truth. “Mateo, it’s okay. You weren’t happy with what the PR team had you do. I get it. Someone there wanted your life to be miserable and they told me that I’d get the money in installments providing I acted ‘queen bitch’ as your family like to call me.” She shrugged, but couldn’t hide the hurt.

  Mateo blew out a breath and sat up, facing away from her.

  “Are you telling me that the whole Caprice thing was a farce? That you aren’t that bitch? That Roger and Donny put you up to it?”

  She cringed but answered, “Roger was the one who told me what was expected of me and if you mean Donny, your agent, then he wasn’t involved. As far as I’m aware, anyway.” She shrugged. “Honestly Mateo, that wasn’t me. This, right here, is the real me. These are my clothes that I’m wearing. I only packed my things. In fact, the only Caprice item I’ve brought with me is the cell phone.” She sighed, softly. “I’m kind of attached to it…but that’s it. Everything.”