To Hiss or to Kiss (26 page)

He purses his lips at me. “You have every right to have emotions. Even I cry sometimes, and not just when I’m grieving a loss.”

“Really?” I try to imagine him crying over past hurts, my mercurial, stoic jaguar man.

“Yeah. Ask the dogs how much I cried after we left my house.”

“I just might do that.” I’m feeling better about myself already.

“And, Chloe”—he pauses until our eyes meet—“don’t ever be ashamed to share anything with me. And don’t ever be ashamed to feel.”

I nod, getting choked up again. Dammit. A girl’s got to keep a little pride. Part of me isn’t so sure pride has any place in my relationship with Jorge. If I’m honest with myself, he’s pretty much laid my soul bare. Maybe someday I’ll do a better job of showing him just how much that means to me.

Resolved, I stand and march over to him, engulfing him in a bear hug from behind. “You’ve fucking turned me into a giant sap, you know that?”

Laughter rumbles through his chest. “Ease up a bit. I can’t breathe here.”

I do, and he turns around to face me, taking my face in his hands. Then he kisses me with such passion I’m surprised our clothes don’t spontaneously combust into ash. If the clock wasn’t ticking on Naomi’s arrival, I would be making sure we got naked real fast. I’m pretty sure Jorge would be on board with that.

As is, he pulls back. “Alas, these potatoes will not mash themselves.”

“Speaking of which, why are you so upset I don’t have this ricer thing? They aren’t called rice potatoes.”

He rolls his eyes. “I am seriously going to have to educate you about the finer points of cooking.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

We both dissolve into laughter. I could get used to this kind of easy banter and joy for the rest of my life.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Naomi lets herself in after a knock. “Is everyone decent?”

I walk to the living room, the dogs trailing behind to greet her. “As decent as you are.” I laugh.

“Just checking. I mean, you two are still in the honeymoon phase.” She winks.

The dogs, taking a cue from my relaxed greeting, rush forward to circle around Naomi with much sniffing. “And these are three of the dogs. John, Hector, and Raul.” I point to each as I introduce.

Naomi sinks down to give pets and receive doggy kisses. I notice Raul seems particularly interested in her.

“I thought there were four.”

“Yeah, there’s a story there.” I give her the short version of what happened to Ringo.

“I’m sorry. You’ve been through so much already.”

I shrug. “We’ll get him back.” I refuse to think any differently, and based on what the cop said, we will get him back eventually. “But you’re here to meet Jorge and sample his excellent cooking.”

She stands and starts to follow me to the kitchen. “Oh, goody. A man and food. One of my favorite combos.”

“Hey, hands off my man.” A grin softens the warning.

She holds up her hands in mock surrender. We’re both laughing as we enter the kitchen.

Jorge is just putting some lovely-smelling steaks onto the table. Then he turns, extending a hand to Naomi. “I’m Jorge.”

“Naomi. Nice to meet you.”

“You as well.”

I break in, “So, what’s for dinner?”

Jorge and Naomi exchange a knowing look and laugh at my expense. Evidently they both have realized I’m food motivated, not that that’s surprising. I’m happy to see them bonding already, even if I have to take the brunt of their amusement.

Laughter trailing off, Jorge answers with a touch of pride. “Rib eye steaks with a garlic horseradish sauce. For sides we have mashed potatoes with a sage beef gravy, a tomato and asparagus bruschetta, and some flatbread.”

“Sounds good to me.” Naomi takes a seat.

I follow suit. “And for dessert?”

“Never fear, my dear, I know your sweet tooth. I’ve got an apple pie in the oven.”

“OK. I’m suitably impressed with how you used the ingredients.”

“What ingredients?” Naomi asks.

I tell her about the bag of groceries and my family tradition.

“That is so cool. I’m so going to do that someday. You know, when I meet a man who can cook. You got lucky there, Chlo.”

“Yes, I did.” I smile at Jorge.

“Aw, that is so cute.” Naomi mock swoons. Jorge laughs softly.

I smile smugly. “You’re just jealous.”

“I can’t argue with that.” She sighs. “But this dinner isn’t about me. I want to get to know you, Jorge. I need to make sure you’re good enough for my best friend.” She gives him a pointed look that’s softened by the smile that threatens to break out.

Jorge swallows nervously.

I grab his hand. “Don’t worry. Her bark is worse than her bite.” I shoot Naomi a don’t-scare-my-boyfriend look.

She smiles back innocently. “So, Jorge, where are you from?”

“I grew up in Belize, although my parents and brother now live in Scotland.”

I interject, “He also spent summers at his grandparents’ house, which is where he is staying now.”

“Fascinating. I know Chloe has a thing for Scotland.” She turns to me. “Bet she has one for Belize now too.”

I don’t argue.

Naomi continues to grill Jorge while we eat. She has the tact not to bring up her curiosity about shape-shifters. I’ll fill her in later. She did, after all, make good on the threat to e-mail me a list of questions, which I’ve been a tad too preoccupied to respond to.

After dessert she seems somewhat satisfied. “That was an amazing dinner, Jorge. Seems Chloe has snagged herself a good one.” She turns to me with a grin. “See, my hunch was right again. And you were worried.”

“She was worried?” Jorge asks with curiosity and concern.

“Oh, yeah. That one’s got some major trust issues. I can count the relationships—if you could even call them that—in the time I’ve known her on less than one hand.” She holds up two fingers to indicate the two actual semi-relationships I’ve had.

He looks relieved to hear that. I’m not sure if it’s that I haven’t had many relationships or that he’s not the only one I have had trouble trusting. Of course, we haven’t discussed my proclivity for one-night stands. Not that he’s a virgin, I’m sure. No one is spontaneously that good in bed.

Naomi continues, “And when you disappeared for a few days, it was not fun to pick up those pieces. At first, she didn’t believe me you’d come back. But obviously she’s a stubborn one and came around to fighting.”

“I’m very glad she did.” Jorge takes my hand and kisses it.

I squeeze his hand. “Me too. And that he came to his senses and came home.”

We get lost in each other’s eyes until Naomi finally clears her throat. “Um, I’m still here, people. Get a grip.”

Jorge blushes. It’s rather cute. I also feel a blush rise, but this is Naomi, so I recover quickly. “Sorry.”

“No biggee. I’m happy for you. I just don’t need to see you undress each other with your eyes—or undress each other for that matter. Just in case you do forget I’m here.”

“We’ll keep it decent, I promise.” I wink at her. Naomi and I laugh, and then Jorge relaxes and joins in.

The dogs start getting restless now that we’ve stopped slipping them table scraps, so we move into the living room. I let the dogs out for a quick potty break before we settle in with some after-dinner drinks.

Jorge and I sit on the couch. Sashi’s still perched on the back; I’m not sure where Enoki went off to. Probably sleeping on my bed. Hector and John curl up by our feet, but Raul sticks with Naomi, who’s in one of my living room chairs.

“Looks like you have an admirer.” I point to Raul. During dinner, I noticed Naomi kept giving her scraps to him, making me wonder if we’d be down a dog soon. A dog would be good for Naomi.

She leans down to pet Raul. “I think I do indeed.” Then she starts cooing to Raul. Jorge and I exchange a knowing look.

The rest of the evening is spent in easy chatter. Naomi and I do the majority of the talking, but Jorge doesn’t seem uncomfortable. When I escort Naomi out to her car, she hugs me. “You did good, kid.”

“Yeah. I guess I shouldn’t doubt your hunches again.”

“Damn straight.” We laugh. “Go get him, tiger.” She winks as she gets in her car.

I don’t need to be told twice.

When I go back in the house, Jorge is in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner. He sends me a nervous glance when I walk in. “Did I pass?”

“Don’t be silly. She loved you.”

“But not as much as you do.”

“Nope. That would just be weird.” I pull him into a hug.

He lifts me and spins me a bit before setting me down. “Good. I’m not into sharing.”

“Well, you’re in luck. I’m an only child. I never learned how to share.”

“All the more for me.” He kisses the tip of my nose. When he starts to back away, I claim his lips. He doesn’t seem to mind at all.

Chapter Twenty

I wake up in the middle of the night with one of those “duh” moments. With all the craziness of reuniting with Jorge and Ringo being kidnapped, I completely forgot that I could probably connect with Ringo over a long distance now—that I should be connecting with him to make him feel better. Ironic since I spent so much time obsessing about getting said ability over the past week or so. I’ve come to rely on Gracie so much over the past few days that I had her doing the checking for me. Although given my turbulent emotional state, it’s likely I would’ve struggled to connect right after the kidnapping.

But now that things are smoothed out with Jorge, Naomi likes him, I’m 99 percent positive Ringo will be coming home soon, and I even had a good conversation with my father, my mental state is a whole lot calmer. And evidently that’s what I needed for my brain to kick into gear again.

I sneak downstairs and settle on the couch. Sashi and Enoki sit by me. The dogs crowd around my feet. I close my eyes and start to breathe slowly in and out. Then I send out my thoughts to Ringo. I picture him, think toward the direction I know where he’s located, and send out a mental hello.

“Chloe?”
Ringo’s voice is sleepy, which is not surprising since it is the wee hours of the morning. I should be asleep too.

“Ringo? Hey, how are you doing?”

“It is you!”
Suddenly he’s completely awake, sending me an image of his tail wagging and him licking my face.

“Yep. Sorry I didn’t try to connect sooner.”

“It’s OK. Gracie told me you were very worried. But I am OK. I want to come home, though.”

“It should be soon. Maybe even tomorrow. We miss you.”

“I miss you, too. Gracie gave me updates on everyone. I need to meet this Naomi person Raul likes so much.”

I laugh.
“So Gracie’s been here tonight? I didn’t know she’d stopped by.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to get her in trouble.”

“She’s not in trouble. I just wish I’d known she was here.”

“She said you were busy. She didn’t want to interrupt.”

“She’s very considerate.”

“I’m sorry I interrupt. I try not to, but it’s hard. And I’m sorry I ran after the van. I know you told me not to.”
He sounds very ashamed, his comments punctuated with a sad whine.

“I’m not mad, Ringo, but you have caused us a lot of worry. I’m sure you can do better in the future.”

“Oh, I will. I promise.”

“That’s very good, Ringo. I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me either. Thanks for checking on me.”

“I’ll check back tomorrow, OK?”

“Yep.”

My awareness comes back to the room, and Ringo’s presence fades away.

“What are you smiling about?”

I jump. Jorge’s sitting in the chair across the room, watching me.

“Geesh, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry. I hope not literally.” He shoots me a disarming grin, which works pretty well.

“Ew, gross.” I wrinkle my nose, my heartbeat starting to normalize again. “I was talking to Ringo. In all the craziness, I forgot I could.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think about it either. And we had Gracie. How is he?”

“Fine, but he wants to come home.”

“Can’t blame him there. I wouldn’t want to be cooped up at the pound either. Although I suppose that’s still much better than what he had in that basement.”

“Hell yeah. Did I wake you?”

“I noticed you were gone, as well as the dogs and cats. I wanted to check on you.” A strained expression crosses his face, and the sinking in my gut tells me that he’s reliving what it was like to wake up and find me gone to save the dogs. I wonder if he panicked then or was just confused.

“I’m not running away again. I promise.”

He looks up at me and our gazes lock for a few moments. He nods. “I know. I wasn’t that worried. I just missed you. And besides, this is your house.”

“I’m glad that’s all it is.” I consider saying I’m sorry again, but I’d rather just let sleeping dogs lie.

He must agree because he comes over to sit by me on the couch, pulling me back into his embrace. We sit there, comfortable in each other’s presence. With the dogs and cats surrounding us, I almost feel like we’re really a family.

No, I know we’re really a family.

* * *

Turns out that we won’t get Ringo back until Tuesday, but the important thing is we’re getting him back. Seems the dognappers/assholes missed the deadline to provide evidence of ownership in support of their claim, so by default, Ringo and the other dogs are now ours. Or at least they will be once we sign the paperwork, which won’t be ready until Tuesday. Bureaucracy in action.

Hector, John, and Raul are ecstatic at the news. Sashi and Enoki are much less enthused, but overall I think they’re adjusting to the new circumstances pretty well. Sashi even asked if we’d be going out to the farmhouse again. Evidently she prefers how the country smells.

With a lot of loose ends in my life falling into place, I see no reason not to go back to Jorge’s place. When I suggest this on Monday afternoon after we’ve heard from the police, Jorge insists that he wants it to be our place. It makes me feel twitterpated all over again—and like I’m going to make myself puke. Still, I can’t keep the ridiculous grin off my face.