Until she’d brought up Dana tonight, he hadn’t thought about taking that photo with her since the day it happened. Sarah was spot on. Dana had caught him off guard, and he’d had no choice but to be civil and pose for the photo for her. He just didn’t think that the one moment she’d nabbed a photo with him deserved any discussion time with Sarah. He knew after that day he probably wouldn’t see Dana until their next game this year. It just hadn’t seemed worth it to even see Sarah frown about it. Thankfully, she didn’t seem upset now.
Sarah stood up, glancing down at the near empty ice cream tray. “Are you done? I need to go walk this off again.”
He threw his napkin and spoon on the tray and picked it up. As soon as they walked out of the shop, he pulled her to him and kissed her softly. “Okay, maybe I remembered seeing her last year but only once you’d brought her up. I really had forgotten all about it until now.”
She lifted that sexy little brow and puckered her lip for a second. “But you said you hadn’t seen or talked to her in years after I brought her up.”
“I know. I know,” he said, walking backwards onto the rail of the boardwalk and bringing her with him. “It was stupid. I just didn’t think it even merited mentioning. I talked to her for all of a minute if that. She caught me on my way to the locker room, and I was already in a rush, so I had an excellent excuse to make a quick escape the second the picture was taken.”
He leaned against the rail and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist. That eyebrow of hers was still up, but the corner of her lip tugged. “Technically, you still lied, but I’ll let it slide this time. I just don’t want you lying or keeping anything from me if she does anything more in Hawaii. You’ll be out there for the entire three-day weekend. She’ll have plenty of time to try and corner you or whatever.”
Angel pulled her even closer. “I’m sorry I lied,” he whispered, pissed at himself now for the stupid spontaneous decision to do so. “It’ll never happen again, and you know you have nothing to worry about.”
“I know I don’t.” She nodded, relieving some of the unnecessary tension that had started to build. “I actually hadn’t planned on even mentioning it, though I already knew she’d been posting stuff about it. But it wasn’t until today when I found out she posted those old photos of the two of you that I thought I should at least warn you.” She poked his chest with two fingers. “And you know you don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to Sydney, Angel. We’ve been over this enough. I don’t like the way the mood shifted in there”—she motioned with her head—“when I brought him up.”
He exhaled slowly, cracking his neck from side to side. He wasn’t going to argue with her about this, but there was no way she could compare his nonexistent relationship with Dana to her and Sydney’s relationship. Instead of holding it in, however, he did decide to just make one thing clear.
“Look, babe, I believe you when you say you’ve never looked at Sydney in anything more than in a friend’s type of way. But I’m gonna be honest with you.” She pulled back to look at him curiously. “You know I’ve never bought the fact that he’s never had feelings for you. His choosing you over a girl he’s been with for years . . .” He shook his head because the more he thought about it the more blatant and in your face it felt. “It just sets off all kinds of alarms. I wanna be understanding, but I also don’t wanna be stupid or naïve.” He sighed, holding her closer again and kissing the top of her head. “I’m trying. I really am, but you gotta cut me some slack. No matter what, Sarah, I will never be thrilled to hear about you hanging out with another dude even if he is just your friend but especially now. What he did breaking off such a long relationship was huge. I’m sure it wasn’t something he decided to do overnight. And he did it for you.”
Sarah started to say something, but he lifted a brow for her to let him finish.
“Try to see this from my perspective, sweetheart.” Her expression softened almost in what appeared to be understanding or even agreement. “His girl asks him to choose between her and you. He chooses you, and then he leaves Columbia to go to ESU, a school two hours away as opposed to across the country from you.”
“ESU is up there with Columbia—”
“That’s not the point, Sarah,” he said, shaking his head. “All I’m saying is I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because more than anything I’m hoping I have nothing to worry about. Just give me some time to get used to this, and don’t expect me to warm up to the idea of him being around a lot more with the two of you hanging out. I can try for your sake, but I’m just being honest. I already know I won’t.”
Taking a deep breath, Sarah leaned against his chest. “Fair enough. As long as you’ll at least try.” She pulled away to look at him. “He said he’d try to make it down a few more times before summer was over, but I seriously don’t think he’s gonna have time. He has to drive out to Los Angeles and get situated. He’s getting an apartment out there, moving in, looking for a job, and has to find a roommate all in a matter of a few weeks. There’s no way he’ll have down time to spare on hanging out here. Then once school starts you know what that’s like.”
The relief sunk in slowly and steadily with every word she said. Sarah was right. It did sound as if Syd had his hands full, and Angel knew firsthand how busy things got once school started. Even with him and Sarah attending the same school, between practice and games, Sarah’s training for the track and field team, and schoolwork, they often went the entire week without any time to just hang out. If it weren’t for the times he and Sarah were scheduled together at the restaurant, they might go even longer without seeing each other if either of them had a different job. Maybe he was giving Syd too much credit to think he might be trying to pull a fast one by transferring to within two hours of Sarah.
For the first time since she’d brought up Syd, Angel smiled genuinely, kissing the tip of her nose. “You’re right. I promise I am gonna try my damnedest not to not let the mood shift so drastically the next time you bring him up. I don’t want you thinking you can’t talk to me about him.”
A slow mischievous smiled crept up on Sarah’s face. “Maybe I should’ve mentioned it earlier.”
He almost dreaded asking, but she was smiling, so maybe it wasn’t anything annoying about Syd. He’d just made a promise he already knew was going to be tough to keep. “What?”
“My mom’s gone for the weekend.” She smiled even bigger now. “She and Elias took off to Vegas. I have the place to myself all weekend.”
Instantly, he was smiling big too. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Tugging her hand, he started the brisk walk to his car as Sarah giggled alongside of him. He’d made love to Sarah plenty of times, and he already knew it’d never get old. But having the pleasure of waking up with her in his arms didn’t happen nearly as often as he wished it could. He wasn’t sure what he was looking forward to more now—all the things he’d do to her this weekend or waking up with his arms tightly wound around her two mornings in a row.
Chapter 8
Sarah
The erotic dream Sarah thought she’d been having turned out to be more real than she imagined. Her trembling body woke in ecstasy to find Angel’s head between her spread open legs as the spasms of pleasure shot through her body, and she arched her back in reaction. She ran her fingers through his hair while her barely awake mouth let out an unabashed moan as Angel slowed the glorious rhythm of his tongue. The spasms came again and again, and Sarah had to wonder how she’d possibly slept through the beginning of it.
Remembering the night they’d had, she smiled in satisfaction as he kissed her one last time, and she began coming down from the amazing climax. Now she remembered and it made sense. After last night, they’d both finally passed out completely spent.
“Oh my God,” she said breathlessly as Angel scooted up and lay down next to her.
“Good morning, baby.” With that beautiful smile and those dimples that owned her hear
t completely, Angel smiled down at her, kissing her forehead. “I hope that wasn’t too rude of a wake-up call. I just couldn’t help myself.”
Sarah laughed softly, still trying to catch her breath, the tingling throughout her body not even close to settling down. “Trust me. You’ll never hear me complain.”
Snuggling up next to her, Angel wrapped his arms around her from behind tightly and groaned, burying his face in her neck before kissing it. “You have no idea how good it felt to wake up and realize I was still here with you.”
Sarah groaned too as he squeezed her even tighter. “Well, you don’t have to guess what waking up like that was like for me.” She turned her to face him with a very satisfied smile. “That was mind-blowing,” she whispered, kissing him softly on the lips.
“You tired?” he asked. “I can make you breakfast while you sleep a little longer.”
“I don’t think I can sleep, but I am hungry,” she said with an excited smile.
Last night’s exhausting evening and night and then this morning’s wakeup call had really helped work up an appetite.
“French toast?” he asked with a knowing smile, and she nodded immediately.
He sat up. “I can make it for you while you get that email together for your brother. I know you said you were anxious about that. I think the sooner you get it done and out of your system the sooner you can relax.”
That actually sounded like a plan. French toast was her favorite, and Angel’s kick-ass French toast far surpassed her own. “My mom just bought a new loaf of Texas toast bread.”
“Cool,” he said, already getting up. “Then French toast for my baby it is.”
They threw on some shorts and T-shirts. Angel headed out into the kitchen while Sarah gathered her laptop then went and sat on a bar stool at the kitchen counter.
“Do you already know what you’re gonna say?” Angel asked as he whisked eggs in a bowl.
“Sort of,” she said, staring at the blank email. “I wanna keep it simple but at the same time tell him a little about myself since I do know about him. I was also thinking of sending him a photo of myself.” She glanced up, not sure what to expect from Angel, but he didn’t even look up from the eggs he was whisking. “It only seems fair, you know? I know what he and my dad look like. I was thinking of doing the same with my dad’s email.”
It still felt weird referring to Omar as dad, but Angel was right. Technically, that’s what he was. Angel’s reaction surprised her. Since he was always so cautious and doubtful, she expected him to maybe discourage it. Instead, he shrugged as he dipped the bread into the egg, not even looking up. “That sounds about right. Wouldn’t take much for him to look you up and find any photos you may have online anyway.”
This was true. She had a ton of photos on herself on several of her social media sites. If Leonardo were really as anxious about meeting her as her dad said, he probably had already seen her photos.
Feeling a little more at ease about this now that Angel wouldn’t be trying to talk her out of it, she started searching through her photos. Angel cooked quietly for a while as she obsessed about what photo to send him. She wanted something simple but current. She finally narrowed it down to two. One of her standing against Angel’s new car he’d gotten last year. She was dressed simply enough in jeans and a strappy summer top or the one of her sitting on a hammock holding Romero’s uncles’ fat cat. The size of that fuzzy thing might make an interesting yet safe and impersonal topic to talk about.
It was silly really how she’d dismissed every single one of the photos she’d considered sending. It was always for the stupidest reasons.
Any of the ones of her in her track uniform: He might think she’s showing off her running skills.
Most of the ones with her on the beach: Showing too much skin. She was his long lost sister, not a potential online suitor.
The group photos with all of Angel’s family and friends: Too showy. He might think her a braggart about the amount of friends she had.
She kissed Angel and thanked him as he set the plate with French toast down next to her laptop and sat down next to her. “Is that the one you’re sending him?” Angel said, looking at the photo on the screen. “Of you holding Flea?”
She crinkled her nose and turned to him. “That’s a simple enough one, right?”
“Sure, why not? A photo of you petting your—” Angel was distracted when his cell phone on the other side of the counter buzzed.
He stood up and walked around leaving Sarah with the thought of her petting her— Then it hit her as she jerked her face back at the photo of her, smiling big. The big fluffy cat sat on her lap as her open palm slid over its fur: She was sending Leonardo a photo of herself petting her pussy.
Feeling her face instantly fire up, she closed the photo out but at the same time had to hold in the laughter. Yeah, that’s the kind of conversation she wanted to elicit. Okay X that photo too. God, she was ridiculous.
“What’s so funny?” Angel asked, walking back towards her.
Shaking her head a little too hard, Sarah wiped the silly smile she didn’t even realize was plastered across her face. “Nothing,” she said, unable to suppress the small laugh that escaped her.
Angel glanced curiously at her laptop screen as he set his phone down on the counter. The photo of her leaning against Angel’s car was now the one on the screen. “That’s a cute one. What’s so funny about it?”
Feeling her face get even hotter, she shook her head again. No way was she telling him why she was laughing. He’d think she was as ridiculous as she was feeling. “I just need to stop obsessing about what stupid photo to send him and write the email already. This one is good enough.”
Clicking on the screen to get back to her email screen, she opened up a blank email and started to type. She wasn’t going to fixate about this either. Angel took the stool next to her and ate silently, texting between bites as Sarah worked on the email.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Sarah was proud she’d written a simple enough email without over thinking every sentence. She attached the photo and sent if off. “Done,” she said with a proud and very satisfied smile. “Now I just respond to my dad that I sent Leonardo an email, and I’m done with this.” She glanced at Angel, who smiled at her as she stuck another fork full of his heavenly French toast in her mouth. She savored it as she chewed then inhaled deeply after swallowing. “These are delicious by the way,” she said, leaning over and kissing him. “Thanks for taking over breakfast while I knocked this out.”
“Anything for you,” he said, squeezing her thigh.
She hadn’t even finished sending out the email to her dad when her inbox dinged with a reply from Leonardo. For a second, she wondered if maybe it was an auto out-of-the-office response. To her surprise, it was a response to her email already.
“Oh wow,” she said as she clicked on it and saw it wasn’t even a short response. It was rather long. “That was fast.”
Angel turned to her. “What was?”
“Leonardo already responded to my email.”
“The one you just sent him?” Angel asked his tone as bemused as she felt.
“Yeah.”
Angel scooted over to take a look, and she opened it big on her screen and read it.
Sarah,
Funny that you’d email me right this minute. I added this message to the top of this email because I was about to hit send on the email I’d just written to you when yours came through. I just copy pasted what I was going to send you to this one. I’ll comment on your email at the end of this.
Hey, Sis!
I know I’m supposed to be waiting to hear from you, but I’m not sure if “Dad” told you I’m an impatient one. I’ve been dying to connect with you for a while. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve stalked your social media sites and checked out anything you don’t have set to private.
First of all, I think I’m allowed to say this. I have a beautiful sister. Your eyes. Jesus, I shou
ld’ve been ready for them, considering Omar’s are just as green. Don’t tell him, but I think they’re far more flattering on you than him. Ha!
Second, I know Omar said you’re a little gun shy about all this, and I totally understand. I won’t push to rush this or anything. If you’d prefer to get to know each other this way for a while, maybe Skype or FaceTime, I can do either. Just let me know when and we’ll set it up.
I know Omar told you a little about me already, but let me elaborate. I’ll be twenty next month. I go to school in Phoenix, but that’s not really working out. I guess I’m not much of a school kind of guy. I’ll be taking a break from school this semester and checking out what else is out there for me. I’m thinking of taking the test for the LAPD. Omar already said he has my back if I want to go out there and stay with him while I try and pursue that, and I just might take him up on the offer. This means we’ll only be a few hours away from each other. I don’t have any other blood siblings, so you’re it, girl. This is why I’m so anxious to get with you and catch up. Okay, I said I wouldn’t push, so I’ll leave it at that and hope I hear from you soon.
That’s where I had ended my email before yours came through. As for your email, this confirms you want to take it slow, and I’m cool with that. You mentioned Skype. Let’s set it up! And the photo. I know I already said it up there, but I’ll say it again. Beautiful. =)
Thanks so much for the email. It totally made my day. Let me know when you want to set up the Skype chat. REALLY looking forward to that!
Already excited about hearing from you again!
Your brother How cool is that? ;)
Leo
Sarah turned to Angel, who was still reading, and waited for him to finish. When he did, he turned to her with an unreadable expression. “He’s anxious.”
Nodding, she smiled big. For as much as she was trying, Sarah couldn’t hide her giddiness over this. The butterflies in her belly were going nuts, and for the first time since she first heard about her father and brother looking for her, it was finally sinking in. She really had a sibling who was just as anxious to get to know her as she now felt about getting to know him.