Blood in the Valencian Soil (Secrets of Spain) (4 page)

“I would like to think so,” Cayetano replied. “You never know what you will find in Madrid.”

“Maybe something I didn’t know to look for.”

“Perhaps.” His fingers began to trail up her arm, and they delighted every inch of skin they touched. “How was ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ at the Prado?
As sexually liberating as you hoped?”

Another playful smile grace
d her face. “Yes, thank you. I’m a believer in sexual expression.”

“Really?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. He hadn’t expected that.

“I just think people should be able to express themselves how they like, with whoever they like.”

“I think I should have come and looked at these naughty paintings with you, it would have been quite an excursion.”

“I’m interested in 18th century Spanish art and 15th and 16th century Italian work. Most of it is religious, or dark.”

“The humble bull-minder can’t keep up with that.”

“Humble isn’t a word I would use.”

Cayetano couldn’t help it. His lips were stuck in a broad smile. They had been most of the night. He wasn’t sure what it was, but the foreign girl had him in trance and she didn’t seem to realise it. “Maybe I could seduce you into some dessert?” he asked.

“I think you mean convince.”

“No, I meant seduce.”

“I’ve never been seduced.”

“Never? Do you like to be in charge instead?”

Luna nodded once and watched the grin on his face. It was fun to play with him. He was charming and flirtatious. What the hell are you doing, Luna? You don’t even know this man. Somehow that didn’t matter, he stirred an emotion in her that had been dormant for years, and she didn’t even feel guilty about that.

“Perdón,”
came the voice of their waiter. Cayetano and Luna sat up straight again, surprised at the intrusion. “¿Necesitas algo?” he asked politely.

Luna glanced at Cayetano and shook her head. “I don’t need anything. I’m done with dinner.”

“I know I am,” he replied. “¿Puedo tener la cuenta, por favor?” he said to the young man.

“No, I will pay,” Luna interrupted. “I’m the guest here.”

“You will not, a gentleman wouldn’t allow that.”

“Are you always such a gentleman?”

“Claro. Of course. Will you allow me to walk you to your door? After all, you have been attacked once today already.”

The bill settled, Cayetano and Luna walked through the silent lobby and took the
short elevator ride to her floor. The ride was made in silence, but Luna was well aware of how close to her he stood. His whole body radiated a masculinity she hadn’t been able to appreciate in a while. It was a raw attraction, something she didn’t realise she was brave enough to indulge in until now.

“This is my room,” she said and gestured to the door only a few steps from the elevator. He had held the door for her. Nobody did that anymore.

“I told you that it wasn’t safe for you to walk on your own,” he joked. “Lucky I was here.”

Luna leaned back on the door of her hotel room and held her breath. Cayetano stood right in front of her, one arm against the door, his elbow just above her shoulder and leaned into her. “You didn’t have to walk me to my door.”

The most lascivious heart-pounding smile poured over Cayetano’s face. He ran one finger over her bottom lip, and felt the palpable tremble that ran through her. “Is it true, what you said earlier?” he asked quietly. “That you have never been seduced?”

“It’s true. I don’t get myself into positions where men think they can seduce me.”

“Have you ever wanted to be seduced?”

“Many times,” she whispered as Cayetano brought his lips to hers. It was such a soft and gentle kiss, a hesitant moment as their flirtations came together for the first time. He ran an arm around her waist, and
she weakened to him, folded into him while he poured his lips over hers. His addictive and captivating taste surged through her as her hands grasped at his shoulders. His tongue parted her lips, and she let herself yield to him. Now was time to think up an excuse to stop being so reckless, but her mind no longer cared. Damn you, cava.

“This is the time
that I politely say goodnight, isn’t it?” he asked, his lips almost touching hers. He didn’t want to move from his spot against her.

“I suppose it is. Though I was
about to I invite you in… to enjoy the view.”

“I’m already enjoying the view,” he whispered.

Luna’s hand fumbled to get the door open, and the two of them stumbled into the dark room. Having his body against hers sent a deep ache through her, an ache she hadn’t felt in a long time, and she realised how desperately she missed it. She didn’t even know this man, yet he set her on fire. The last time she had felt like this, she had only been a girl, awakened by the man who would become her husband. Her husband.

“Wait,” she stumbled, and pulled her body from his. They were entangled in a frenzied fumble of hands and mouths, and it was too much. When did she become this woman? This weakling who couldn’t decide what to do? Luna was
n’t soft, she was fiery. For almost three long years she had been a quiet, prim and proper mother of two. For almost three years, her risk-taking nature had been suppressed by pain, and it saw an opportunity to be wild and stupid. So why couldn’t she just take it?

Cayetano stood with his fists clenched for a moment and tried to maintain some level of composure. “I’m sorry,” he said through a deep breath. “I am. If you want me to leave…”

“I don’t know what I want,” she replied. She was in danger of being swept away by him, and maybe that was what she wanted. “But I’d like to find out what I want.”

Cayetano stepped forward and brought
her back into his embrace. He wasn’t about to screw up his night of guilty pleasure. This wasn’t cheap sex, they had spoken of seduction, and that was what he wanted. It had been so long since Luna had felt a kiss from a man; he knew that. He had to be soft yet strong, gentle and firm, loving and passionate, all at once. He wanted to touch her until she felt dizzy, as if she would to melt into him. He brought her lips to his, a sincere and resounding kiss, and when their lips parted she gasped for air. Kisses and cava, an intoxicating combination. She wanted to be seduced tonight. He held her against him and kissed her again, eager to taste her supple lips that were happy to accept his affection, happy to surrender to what he wanted to give her. She felt vulnerable in his arms, and he didn’t dare to push her further than she could handle. Her hands dropped the buttons of his jacket, and Cayetano felt a jab of need shoot through him. She wanted to undress him, and God, he wanted that himself.

Luna felt overpowered by the situation she found herself in, and she didn’t care. She was dizzy on the sensations of his warm body against hers. She held her breath when she felt him unzip her dress, and the blue fabric pooled around her feet on the floor. The cold, lonely voices in her head were lost to the heat her body experienced against the bare flesh of another person. She had thought that she would never feel like that again. When you meet the love of your life, you don’t move on from that. Luna wasn’t the girl she once was, she was now a woman who yearned for the physical power of a man. All of her senses
took the man in, one urge at a time. Her eyes drifted from his, down to just below his right shoulder to a huge, violent scar that disfigured his skin. Her hand instinctively went to the wound and followed its lines over his defined chest, further and further down his body. It was a horrific injury once. Luna’s hands stopped when they reached the button on his trousers, but she knew the scar went further, and she wanted to see all of him.

Cayetano watched as her ice-blue eyes came back to meet his. The look on her face suggested she had abandoned her guard. “Indulge me,” she murmured.

With one quick sweep, he picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He wanted her, even still half-dressed that was obvious, but there was no rush. There was so much to touch, so much to elicit. He gave her a slow and powerful kiss when she began to undo his trousers. While she seemed ready for the passion he could show her, she was still as stunned as him at the spontaneous emotions that they invoked in each other. He felt her tremble as his hands ran over her skin and curved in between her legs, and she cried out through their hungry kiss. He knew that he should slow down, but the awakening she brought in him must have rushed through her as well, and any rational thought was long gone. Her hands were on his body, curving over him, and the way she touched told him how much she wanted him. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. She was no shrinking violet.

Cayetano took his time with Luna, despite the mutual craving they
felt. She wanted to be indulged, to be seduced, and yet that was what she was doing to him. He was being swept away by the power of a woman he didn’t know. She had been blown into his life, and that only served to make it more eruptive. Cayetano had taken many lovers in his time, but none of them had sent such a message of desire through his veins as Luna did. The patient and sensitive nature to their passion defined the night in his mind forever. It was a powerful and satisfying seduction. He was so exultant he would have forgotten his own name if Luna hadn’t called it out. The desperate way she struggled to breathe when they moved together made him shiver. The way she dug his fingernails into his skin sent excitement through him. The way she curved her legs around his, and held on to him when they rocked against each other delighted him. Luna wanted the night of guilty pleasure as much as Cayetano did, and it shattered every sense in his body when they worked their way over the edge of satisfaction together.

The whispers of morning light had come in the window when Cayetano woke. It had been a long time since he stayed all night with a woman. Usually he found an excuse and left, but after he had made love to Luna, he simply didn’t want to go. He had sat up on one elbow, and listened to her while she spoke to him. His hands continued to trace along the inside of her leg during the light and intimate conversation.  He had fallen asleep when the exhaustion of their union had taken its toll. It was not the night for him to be up late – in fact, it was now early morning and his world would be wondering where he was. He jolted awake when his body realised where he was, and in the process, he had woken the sleeping beauty in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he said in her ear. “I have to go,
preciosa.”

“Oh,” Luna said, and sat up, and held the sheet against her chest. “
Of course, yes.”

“I have to go to work.” Cayetano sat up next to her. “I must be running late already. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” she stuttered. “You go.”

Cayetano ran his hand against her cheek and cupped her face in his hand. “It isn’t because I want to leave, I promise you.”

“It’s no problem,” she smiled. “We don’t have to pretend this is any more than it is. You should go and do what to you need to do.”

“It’s not what I want to do,” he whispered, and brought his lips to hers. The second they touched he felt the power of their connection again. The way her kiss seared into him made him ache. He didn’t want to go anywhere. His hand drifted away from her face, and took the sheet from her fingers, and let it fall so his hand could touch her body. His fingers grazed past a nipple as his hand clutched at her breast, and he knew he wasn’t going anywhere. Before he knew it, they were in the bed again, entangled in each other. He could swear that tears were going to come to his eyes. Inside this hotel room was a stolen season of life. No one would ever know what happened, and he could forever enjoy the astonishing moment of raw passion he felt for this woman. To hell with work. To hell with obligation. Pleasure was as fragile as glass. Like glass, this spell had to be broken, and they both knew it.

4

Valencia, España ~ agosto de 2009

No matter how smooth the train trip from Madrid to Valencia was, Luna thought she
would be sick. She sat curled up in her seat with her head against the window. The view out across the plains of Castile-La Mancha, with the fields of sun-scorched earth stretched out before her, but she couldn’t even open her eyes. She wanted to bawl, cry out the agony of what she had just done. Her eyes were wet under her huge dark sunglasses, and she didn’t dare move a muscle, or the droplets would pour down her face. She could barely move her muscles anyway. Her body ached, awakened when Cayetano had made love to her. She must have held on to him tight with all four limbs, because every time she moved, everything burned in pain. She throbbed from the inside out from what they had done, whether that was from the physical act that they had committed – twice – or from the guilt. She had slept with a man who she didn’t know. A few cheeky glances and a few flirty lines and she was on her back. Luna wanted to wake up this morning and feel good about herself. She had overcome a massive hurdle in moving on after the death of her husband, but she had thrown herself away on a mistake. Luna wasn’t cut out for this; she wanted to love someone. Sure, when she lay in bed at night she wanted a man there, but a physical partner wasn’t enough for her. Since there was no man for her anymore, a sexual substitute didn’t suit at all. She felt conflicted in so many ways. Cayetano had asked for her phone number, and she had given it to him, but she didn’t expect to hear from him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear from him, but if she gave out her number it meant that she could fool herself and think that they had just had more than a cheap one-night stand. None of this made any sense. Last night it had seemed like a great idea. To have him close made her feel alive again. She had woken up to another world. A world where she wasn’t miserable, and that only brought on more guilt. Her husband was dead. You shouldn’t get over that and be happy. This man, this Cayetano, was dangerous. He had brought feelings she didn’t know she wanted to have bubbling to the surface.

‘Have you ever wanted to be seduced?’ ‘Many times’. Many times? How could you say something that ridiculous? Sure you think it, you don’t say it!
In one night, Luna had ruined what had been a private adult life. The only man that had ever laid a hand on her was her husband, and now she had let herself be used. God, it had felt good. Caught up in the bed sheets, the way her legs felt weak when he opened them, the throbbing that pounded its way through her veins as he took her. The way his lips bit at hers as his hands ran over her naked body. The way he growled when she had placed her hands inside his firm thighs to touch him. She had done that.

Luna took a deep breath and unlocked the door to her apartment, eager to see her family. What had happened in Madrid could stay there. She needed to go into her apartment and back into her life. The moment she stepped through the door she saw her gorgeous redheaded sons run from the living room into the entrance way with enormous smiles.

“Mummy, you’re back!” Enzo squealed, and wrapped his little arms around one leg. Enzo was her soft, gentle one, the sweet soul, a total angel.

“We missed you,” Giacomo said. “You’re home early. Did you bring us presents?” Giacomo was the boss of the two boys, so he thought. He had begun to develop a personality much like Fabrizio’s, which amused his mother.

“I did
,” she said, and they moved into the living room, where she unzipped her case to pull out the puzzles she had brought them, to more squeals of delight. “Where’s Darren?” she asked them. He should have been with the boys.

“He’s in the shower,” Enzo said, without looking up from where
he had sat at the table with his puzzle. “He said he would be quick.”

“I will go and see if he’s
out,” she said and ran her hand through Giacomo’s curly red hair. “Can you boys play here for a moment?”

“Yep,” they both replied quickly in unison.

Luna headed down the hall, past her office and the children’s room, past her own bedroom, and down a second hallway to Darren’s room. He had a large bedroom and bathroom in a separate part of the apartment, away from the bustle of children. Luna had given it to him when he moved in, in case he had a girlfriend to bring home and didn’t need the interruption of his best friend and her two kids in the way. Darren never had given her any indication that he was seeing anyone. Ever. Not once in the almost three years he had lived there since Fabrizio had died. She knocked on the partially open bedroom door, to no answer. She went into the empty room, but she could hear a noise in the bathroom. She sat down on the end of the bed. Then it hit her - she couldn’t tell Darren about last night. Imagine how hurt he would be, that she would do something like that behind his back. Behind his back? You aren’t with Darren, Luna. You should be with him, and you know it. That is why he doesn’t bring women home – you are the woman in his life, and you let him think that. Luna watched Darren come out of the bathroom in just a towel, and his face lit up in a mixture of shock and surprise. “Lulu! What are you doing here?”

“I live here.
”

“I was going to meet you at the
Estació del Nord.”

“I got the early train instead. I wanted to come home this morning.”

“I was watching the kids, I swear. I was in the shower for only a few minutes. I thought they would be fine,” he stuttered.

“Of course they are,” she dismissed his worry. “You have done a great job with them. I appreciate it.”

“I have something to tell you,” he said as he tightened the towel around his waist. “But… it’s quite serious. About Giacomo.”

“What?” she frowned. “What happened?”

Darren crossed the room and poked his head down the hallway, to make sure the boys weren’t in earshot. He turned back to her and ran his hand over his mouth. “This morning, I made them breakfast. When I gave Giacomo his cereal, he just looked up at me and said, ‘thank you, Papá’.”

“Shit,” Luna said slowly. Giacomo and Enzo didn’t know their father at all, and never would. Luna and
Darren had never given them the impression that Darren was their father.

“I guess the other kids talk that about their fathers at school, you know, talk about their home lives.”

“The day had to come where they started asking questions.” There he was - Luna’s best friend since she was 18. The man was gorgeous, stood there in next to nothing, his toned athlete body still a little damp. Luna knew how he felt about her, but she always felt too guilty to act on it. If she could whore herself out, she could take her relationship with Darren up a gear. Her kids thought he was their father. He had done so much for her. He knew her so well. He was the one she had to be with in a relationship. You can move on, and the perfect man is right in front of you.

“I have to confess, I didn’t correct him,”
Darren said, and watched her stand up. “I didn’t know what to say, so I just let the moment pass. I... I didn’t know how you would react.”

“They do what they feel is right,” she replied. She took a few steps to sta
nd right in front of him. “You’re the male role model in their lives.”

“I take it seriously.”

“Thank you for giving me a night off.”

“You’re very welcome. Do you feel better for it?”

“I have had a lot time to think,” she replied. “About me, the kids, you… did you miss me?”

“I did. I put the kids to bed last night, and then had no one to curl up with on the couch.”

“Would you like to curl up with me now?”

“I think you know what I want.” He didn’t touch her, in case he frightened her off. He had hoped so many times that she felt the same way he did, but he had never been sure, and couldn’t push her. Not after all she had been through with Fabrizio.

This is where you belong, Luna. Forget last night. Do you want a man in your life? Make the logical choice. She reached up and grazed her lips against his, and hoped he would take the lead from her. She kissed him just a little, just to try out the moment that would take them from friends to something considerably more. She felt him respond, and kissed him again, fuller this time, and he took over the power of the moment. He brought his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace and thrust his kiss on her lips, which opened her unguarded mouth with his tongue. For the first time in 15 years, he was able to explore what it would be like to kiss her. Luna ran her hands around his bare body, to knead his flesh with her fingers. It didn’t have the excitement she had hoped for, but she could feel that he enjoyed it far more than she did.

“Mummy!” t
hey heard Enzo call down the hallway, and they pulled themselves apart. Darren tightened his towel again just as the boy appeared in the doorway. “Mummy,” he said again. “Can we go to see the dolphin show again today?”

“Sure, why not,” Luna said.

“Are you going to come, Darren, or do you need to go riding?” the boy asked innocently.

“It’s a family day, of course
Darren could come, can’t you?” Luna asked.

“I don’t want to be anywhere else,” he replied.

“We should let Darren get dressed,” Luna said and ushered the boy from the bedroom. Last night may have been a secret, a stolen season, but it had opened up Luna’s world and attitude all of a sudden.

The day had passed like any Saturday in the Montgomery house. Luna and Darren took the kids to the aquarium for a family day out. They had sat either side of the boys at the dolphin show. Darren’s arm was stretched out around the boys, and he twirled a lock of Luna’s black hair in his fingers while they sat there. She didn’t dare move the entire time. Every time she closed her eyes she could see last night, and she was full of guilt.

The boys were tucked up in bed at their usual time, exhausted from a day out in the Valencian heat. Luna cleaned the kitchen as Darren read the twins a book and put them to bed. When Luna had finished in the kitchen, she wandered out into the living room, where Darren sat with his feet up on the couch in front of the television. He glanced up over his shoulder when she came into the room, and gave her a smile without a word. Luna stood for a moment, and wondered what to say. Her spot was right next to him in the evenings. She would sit against him with her head on his shoulder. To start with it had comforted her night after night while she cried after the death of her husband. Then she began to feel better, and now it was… habit? Comfort of another kind? Just 24 hours ago she didn’t need to question anything. “Where am I supposed to sit?” she asked him. Darren pulled his feet back, and she sat down next to him. “What are you watching?”

“The news has some story about a bullfight in Madrid. It was a big one. One of the most revered and admired
toreros in Spain.”

“Ooh, sexy
matadors.”

“Not matadors, they’re
toreros. Remember your Spanish.”

“Don’t pick on my Spanish! Fine,
toreros. Either way, you’ve got to love those tight pants.”

“I thought that
’s what you loved about us cyclists.”

“Ye
ah, I like you boys for that. Yesterday was crazy in Madrid. They enjoy their bullfighting season.” Cayetano was probably there at Las Ventas tonight. He had rushed off for work. Just don’t think about him. “Who is this bullfighter that we are waiting to see?”

“The one and only
‘El Valiente’ Beltrán.”

“
‘El Valiente’ is his nickname?” Luna asked, sceptical at the cheesy title. “I guess we’re about to see how brave ‘the courageous’ one really is when faced with a bull.”

“Apparently he is pretty good.”
Darren glanced back to her, and she looked right at him. “Are you going to tell me what this morning was about?”

“Did you not like it?”

“I think you could feel how much I liked it.”

“I don’t know what that was about.”

Darren reached out and took her hand. “Why don’t you come here and try to explain it?” he suggested. She moved over to lie against him as the two of them reclined on the couch. The atmosphere between them had changed. Wasn’t that what she wanted when she kissed him? She looked at her hand that sat on his chest. “I’m confused.”

“What can I say that might help?”

Luna looked up at him, and he stared straight back. “I know you are in love with me. I know you have been the whole time you have lived here. I know you were even when I was married.”

“I will apologise for that, but I won’t apologise for loving you now.”

“I have thought about moving on after Fabrizio died,” she said. “But… it never seemed the right time to do that. The whole thing is still so fresh.”

“Only you know what is right for you, Lulu. I’m never going to ask anything of you.”

“I’m lonely. I’m lonely in a way that a friend can’t help. I want to take my life back. I’m angry about what happened to me. I’m upset Fabrizio is dead. I want to be myself again, not the widow. Not the single mother. Last night, in Madrid, I was myself.”

Darren
chuckled at the determined yet cute look on her face when she spoke. Luna wasn’t a sweet girl. She had a temper. She was strong. She obviously wanted her feisty nature back, just like Darren did. “Maybe it was time I just said what I think every time I look at you.”