When You Were Mine Page 16

  “I’m a businessman now, Eric. I have a reputation to uphold.” Romero glanced back in Isabel’s direction. “Plus she looks soft. I need a woman that can handle all this.”

  Romero pointed at himself with both hands from the top of his head to his feet and smiled smugly.

  “You wouldn’t be able to handle her. Trust me.” Alex said, still staring at Valerie.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her, not that he was putting any effort into it. He watched as she and Sarah laughed about something. Angel left the girls and walked toward Alex.

  “Shots all around,” Romero pulled out a bottle of tequila and four shot glasses.

  Angel laughed. “Are you crazy? It’s not even three.”

  Alex finally unglued his eyes off Valerie. “None for me.”

  “Nah,” Romero shook his head and continued to pour the shots. “This is horseshit. I had an entire weekend of Vegas planned. At least give me this.”

  Alex rolled his eyes. The moment Angel had told those two knuckleheads that he wanted them to be his best men, they started planning the bachelor party. A week later, Angel announced he didn’t want a bachelor party and flat out refused to talk about why, just said it wasn’t happening, period. Romero was still bent about it.

  “Dude, Angel has to be presentable at least for a few hours.” Eric said.

  Eric had always been the level-headed one of Angel’s two childhood best friends. A good thing too, because he was now attached to Alex’s little sister Sofia. Not that anyone would ever be good enough for his younger sister. Still, he was glad that between the two friends, Eric was the one Sofia had fallen for. It would’ve driven Alex crazy had it been crude and outspoken Romero.

  Alex’s dad stopped by as he made his rounds. Alex clapped him on the shoulder. His dad saw the shot glasses. “One more,” he ordered.

  Romero smiled. “Help me out here, Mr. Moreno. These two don’t want any.”

  Alex’s dad glanced at both Alex and Angel who were now both gazing in the girls’ direction again. “Grow a pair!”

  Romero and Eric both laughed. Alex and Angel exchanged discomfited glances. They were going to have to take at least one shot. Whatever their old man wanted, he got.

  They all held their shot glasses up and toasted to Sarah and Angel. Alex grimaced, sucking on a lime slice and turned just in time to see the girls walking toward them. Valerie looked so unbelievably good to him. It almost felt as if he was watching her move in slow motion. She never once even glanced in his direction. Sofia was the first to address them. “Are you guys having fun?” She hugged her dad, and he kissed her on the forehead.

  “Keep your brothers in line, Sofie.” Her dad said, walking away and immediately starting a conversation with the group at the table nearest to the bar.

  “What? My brothers are not behaving?” Sofia teased.

  Alex could hardly concentrate. His eyes again roamed every inch of Valerie.

  “Your brothers are being wusses,” Romero stated, already setting up more shots.

  “I’ll take one.” Valerie said.

  Even her voice sounded more womanly than he remembered, sultrier.

  “Valerie, no.” Isabel warned.

  Romero frowned. “Who brought the nark?”

  “Pardon me?” Isabel glared at Romero.

  Romero stopped pouring, backed up, and did an elaborate bow, bringing his arm over his head and down to his feet. “Pardon me?”

  Normally Alex would have laughed along with everyone else, but he was too distracted trying to figure out why Valerie was still avoiding his eyes.

  Romero brought out another shot glass. “You in, Nark?”

  Alex took his eyes off Valerie just long enough to glance at Isabel, who seemed to be as annoyed as only Romero could annoy women. “Easy, Ramon.”

  Valerie smiled. “Yes, please pour her one.”

  Alex squeezed the edge of the bar. He had to get a hold of himself. This was the same Valerie he’d known all along: the Valerie he’d carried on with and laughed with such ease for years. The one he’d had earth-shattering sex with many, many times. He gulped hard. His Valerie.

  Romero looked pleased and pulled out another shot glass. “Coming right up.”

  Alex was determined to not take his eyes off her until she looked at him, and then the mariachis walked in. Everyone turned to watch the entire ensemble stroll in playing loud and proud.

  For a moment, his eyes met with Valerie’s, and he thought he saw something in them. Maybe he was searching too hard, but for a split second, he thought he saw alarm in her big dark eyes. Just when he’d not only finally made eye contact but was getting some kind of emotion out of her, she turned away to face the musicians.

  ~*~

  Valerie concentrated hard on not wavering and stared at the mariachi band. She could feel Alex’s eyes on her, and her body heated. Her heart hadn’t stopped hammering from the moment she walked in and spotted him. She’d expected some excitement when she saw him, but this was a bit much. She’d been happy he was busy with the guys at the bar, because she couldn’t bear to even make eye contact. She thought the shot of tequila might help settle her nerves. It hadn’t.

  How was it that every time she saw him, he seemed even bigger than the last? He was without a doubt the most devastating man she’d ever met. What he did to her without so much as saying a word even after all this time was absurd. She wasn’t even facing him now, and she could still feel his incredible presence weighing heavily on her back.

  People began clinking their glasses. Valerie clutched her small purse and forced a smile when Sarah and Angel kissed.

  She almost jumped when she felt his face at her ear and his hot body against her back. “You gonna say hello, Z?”

  The suggestive murmur in such an otherwise ordinary question infuriated her as much as it spiked her senses. He’d only ever referred to her as Z when he was agitated with her for whatever reason. It was a football thing. They all called each other by their last names on the team, and he’d imposed it on her but only when he was mad. He didn’t sound mad now. He sounded amused?

  That was just like him. He was probably enjoying seeing her squirm. She wouldn’t let him have the upper hand. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took a deep breath and then turned to face him with a smile. “Hello, Alex.”

  And now from the final book in the

  5th street series

  Coming November 13, 2014:

  Excerpt from Felix

  With every movement she made, Felix noticed something new about her, like now. Hector was right. Nothing about her popped out at you. She probably wouldn’t make your head turn at first glance, but he’d hardly call her plain. She had the kind of delicate features you had to study closely to appreciate. Like her lashes. They weren’t big and thick like the ones on the models and television personalities he was used to dating. But they were long and curved and appeared to be all natural, nothing fake. Everything about her was like that. But Hector was right about one thing. She wasn’t the type of girl he’d normally date. Ella was something else and then it hit him. That’s what it was. She was what he’d heard so much about and had never gotten it. Ella had natural beauty.

  Felix stared at her for a moment, a little stunned. That’s exactly what she had. He’d noticed her flawless complexion earlier when Nellie had first introduced them. Ella tilting her head the way she did now had his eyes immediately on her neck. They followed her delicate neckline all the way down. It was just as soft, just as flawless, perfect for—

  “But surely your worldly lifestyle made up for missing out on prom and homecoming, right?”

  Ella’s comment pulled him out of his thoughts and thankfully so. Felix straightened out and focused on what she’d just said like he should’ve been doing the whole time.

  “Yeah, but most of the stuff I’ve done I can do over and over or anytime. You only get to do prom once.” He stopped just before taking another sip of his beer, suddenly curious. “Did you
go to prom?”

  “Twice,” she said, smiling so playfully her eyes shined.

  Felix couldn’t tell if she was teasing or being honest, but his insides were doing that thing again. “Did you really?”

  “Um huh.” She nodded and sipped her beer again. “I was asked to go my sophomore year, and then I went again my senior year.”

  “Touché,” he said with a smile. Of course she’d be asked more than once. To think if things had gone differently she might’ve gone with him. “You have a very sweet smile.” Once again, the words flew out before he even had a chance to think about them.

  Not that he wanted it to but he sort of expected her smile to flat line in reaction to the compliment. It was what most girls did when he said something like that to them. But he was pleasantly surprised to see how poised she remained, simply raising an eyebrow and taking another sip of her beer. She never once broke eye contact—eye contact that Felix knew had gotten heavier and heavier each time. Yet he’d been powerless to back the hell off.

  “Thank you,” she said when she was done swallowing the sip of beer. She glanced at Carmen, who was in the middle of telling Charlee and Drew something they were laughing about. “I need to go to the ladies’ room. Do you have to go?”

  Carmen nodded, immediately standing up. Ella got up too and they excused themselves. It was only then that Felix saw Hector smirking and peering at him as he chewed on some cheesy bread.

  “What?” Felix asked, reaching for a piece of bread.

  “You hitting on Ella?”

  “No,” Felix said, sounding more annoyed than he cared to admit that implication made him. “Can’t I say she has a nice smile without it having to mean anything else?”

  Hector chuckled as the servers brought out the pizzas they’d ordered. He shook his head, reaching for a slice of pizza. “I don’t care if you are, you know. That’s Abel, not me, and I won’t say shit to him either if you don’t want me to.” He shrugged. “It’s none of my business if you’re planning on taking her back to your place or anything.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not,” Felix said, feeling a little panicked that Hector would just put it out there like that.

  Had it been just the smile comment Hector had overheard, or had Felix really been that obvious? So she’d impressed him. She wouldn’t be the first girl to have done so. And this was a different kind of impressed. This was business, serious business because of the nature of why Ella was working at the gym: her brother’s girl being raped and the cancer thing in homage of her dead mother. This was nothing to be taken lightly and certainly not anything he’d undermine by using it as a means to get in her pants.

  “I was gonna say you’ve been hogging her while I’m supposed to be interviewing her.” Drew smirked as she chewed her pizza happily.

  “I know,” Charlee added with a playful smile. “And they were talking all low almost as if they didn’t want us to hear what they were saying.”

  Hector smiled big. “I heard.”

  His smug friend stuck the rest of his pizza slice in his mouth, grinning big, and Felix felt like shoving another one or two in that mouth to shut him up.

  “I wasn’t”—he turned again to make sure Ella and Carmen weren’t on their way back—“hogging her okay?”

  Charlee laughed. “Are we embarrassing you, Felix?”

  “No!”

  Hector laughed now too. “How cute,” he said in the most annoying coddling voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face get all red.”

  “Shut up.” Felix refilled his beer mug. “I don’t get red.”

  “Okay, your face is pink. Your ears . . .” Hector laughed again as Felix looked up at him. “Now those are red.”

  Acknowledgments

  To my husband, Mark, and kids, Marky and Megan, I say it often. I love my life. I love my career. But I love my family more than anything, and without you I wouldn’t want any of this. Thank you all so much for your continued support, love, and understanding when I’m locked in my cave for days at a time!

  To my beta readers, Dawn Winter, Judy DeVries, Emily Lamphear, and my commadre Inez Sandoval, as usual I count so much on you guys for your valued opinions. This was once again a tough one especially because this is a first for me: a novella AND a cliff hanger ending. As usual, you guys were honest and admitted you didn’t like the ending, but “it is what it is and it shouldn’t be changed.” =/ But I TRULY appreciate your honesty and dedication and the time you take to truly think about your feedback and take on my stories. Can’t wait to get the next one out to you guys!

  As always, I’d also like to thank the many bloggers out there who have supported me and have pimped, reviewed, and participated with my cover reveals and announcements. You guys have been a HUGE part of my success, and I thank every single one of you from the bottom of my heart!

  Thank you to Theresa (Eagle Eyes) Wegand, my one-stop superhero beta reader/editor/formatter, listener to all my whiny rants/vents and obsessive worrying, and friend. As always, your work is impeccable, and I can’t say enough about it. I hope to be working with you for years to come! Thank you so much!

  I want to give a special shout out to “my FP girls,” my incredibly talented group of superstar authors. I feel absolutely blessed to have found you. I owe you all so much. Thank you for the love, empathy, and your friendships. Each and every one of you!

  I’d also like to thank my cover artist, Amanda Simpson at Pixel Mischief Design. Thank you for finding the “look” I wanted to represent Alex. It’s been a pleasure working with you. Thank you, too, for dealing with the obsessive compulsive behavior I can have when it comes for searching for THE perfect cover art. You’ve been awesome, and your work speaks for itself. I’m so excited about working with you on future projects!

  A big shout out goes to my good friend, Jamie Salsbury, for introducing me to my new cover artist. Also for being such a good friend/cheerleader and listening to all my head banging and whining about writing blurbs among other things! ;)

  And, of course, my incredibly awesome readers! This one is another one for you, my Moreno die-hard fans. I’ll apologize once again for the ending of this, but I’m sure you TRUE diehards HAVE to understand this was necessary and my only objective here was to give you guys a little more of Alex and Valerie, even if it did mean breaking your hearts in the end. But you all know this isn't really the end for them. It's only the beginning. Thank you so much for your continued support, emails, messages, and comments, which always seem to come at the most perfect time, making me smile and sometimes even tear up. I’ve had the enormous pleasure of meeting and chatting with many of you, and I really hope to meet you all one day! I love you guys, and I can’t wait to get the next one out to you!! I wish there were more ways I could show you all my appreciation. I hope to have a few more surprises for you guys in 2014 just to show you that I really am listening and reading ALL your messages and comments! Now go read Always Been Mine so you can feel better! ;)

  About the Author

  USA Today Bestselling Author, Elizabeth Reyes, was born and raised in southern California and still lives there with her husband of almost twenty years, her two teens, her Great Dane named Dexter, and one big fat cat named Tyson.

  She spends eighty percent of time in front of her computer, writing and keeping up with all the social media, and loves it. She says that there is nothing better than doing what you absolutely love for a living, and she eats, sleeps, and breathes these stories, which are constantly begging to be written.

  Representation: Jane Dystel of Dystel&Goderich now handles all questions regarding subsidiary rights for any of Ms. Reyes’ work. Please direct inquiries regarding foreign translation and film rights availability to her.

  For more information on her upcoming projects and to connect with her--she loves hearing from you all—here are a few places you can find her:

  Blog: www.ElizabethReyes.com

  Facebook fan page:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elizabeth-Reyes/27872
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  Twitter: @AuthorElizabeth

  Email EliReyesbooks@yahoo.com

  Add her books to your Good Reads shelf

  She enjoys hearing your feedback and looks forward to reading your reviews and comments on her website and fan page!