Chapter Twenty-Two

Tessa I spent time with the triplets up until Wednesday evening, although I’d gone home Tuesday night. I’d needed some time away from the sexual tension that was always there, and by Wednesday night I was too sore and tired, to do much of anything anyway.

It was exhausting, keeping up with all three of them, and doing my homework, as well as all of the things I did for the paper, the blog, all of it. I was tired. So, Thursday morning when I got a text from Carlos asking if I’d like to go out for dinner, I wasn’t exactly excited about the idea, because all I could think about was catching up on my sleep.

I felt terrible about it, I’d devoted so much time to the triplets that I’d barely thought about what I’d do Thursday. I agreed because I felt I owed it to him. He’d finally decided we should meet in person and that was next to a miracle.

I put on an old Placebo song later that evening as I got ready, Pure Morning, one of Mom’s favorite songs, and got ready. I put on makeup, my black sweater-dress, and straightened my hair. By the time he pulled up outside in a car with a name I couldn’t even pronounce, I was ready.

“Who is that?” Cheryl asked as she peeked out the window.

“Carlos. I think.” I stared out of the peephole in the door, shocked at the expensive sports car.

“Carlos Martinez? The richest guy at school?” She turned to me, shocked.

“I guess? You know I don’t pay attention to that shit.” I shrugged, picked up the purse she’d insisted I carry instead of my usual bag, and put my hand out to open the door.

“Fuck me, you are lucky.” She got all dreamy-eyed and sighed.

“Whatever. Don’t be weird.” I softened it with a kiss on the cheek and left her there. Kim was on her own date.

“Have fun,” she called.

I waved. “Hi,” I said when I saw him getting out of the car.

“Hi, let me get the door for you.” He came around to open the door and when I sat down, he closed it. I smiled at him as he got in and turned to me. “How are you?”

“A little tired, but glad to meet you at last.” I held my hand out, unsure of what exactly to do.

He kissed the back of my hand and smiled. He was handsome, tall, with tanned skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. He had a quiet air about him, like he never really talked a lot, but when he did say something it would be important.

“Where do you want to go? I know a great place not far from here, or if you feel like a drive across the city, I know a little place that does really good food.”

“I’m good with anything really.” I was too nervous to think of anything at that point. It wasn’t the car, it was him.

There was something…intense about him, about the way he looked at me, that made me feel like I’d make a mistake at any minute and I didn’t want to. He’d been such a gentleman, so nice, and sweet. Not in a creepy kind of way either, just…a gentleman.

“Okay, do you like Mexican food?” he asked, starting the car.

“Love it,” I said automatically, because yeah, I did.

“Cool. I’ll take you somewhere really nice then.” He smiled and gave me a wink.

That was…sexy.

“Great.” I tapped my fingers on my knees, afraid to touch anything in the car. The seatbelt had come across my shoulders automatically and I hadn’t moved since then.

The interior was black leather, the kind of leather I knew I should have never seen because it was a luxury that I’d never be able to afford. It suited the cherry red sports car, but it made me afraid to touch anything. And the center console was more like something out of a spaceship’s command station, not a car’s console. What the fuck were all those buttons for?

“This button will either heat or cool your seat, this is the radio, or I have music saved on it. You can pick whatever you like.”

He showed me how to operate the radio when he stopped at a stoplight and I found his stash of music held some really old oldies as well as a variety of modern music. I chose some soft music, something that wouldn’t be too loud if he wanted to talk.

“Everything alright?” he asked, and I looked over at him.

His face was lit up by the streetlights and the lights from the dashboard. He was blessed with good looks, nice cheekbones, full lips, and a smile that was genuine.

“Yeah, just nervous. Are you?”

“Not really, but that’s because you’ve always been so nice to talk to. I don’t expect you’ll be any different in person.”

“That’s true, you’ve been nice too. It’s nice to spend some time with you.”

“Sorry it’s taken me so long. I can be overly cautious sometimes.” He shrugged and turned off down a side street to get to another main road.

“I don’t blame you. I’ve been kind of…stupid might be the right word. Talking to strangers and everything, but when I want to do a story, I do what it takes to find the answers, even if that means I have to volunteer myself to be sacrificed.” I laughed, but it was true.

“You sound driven. Dedicated.” He nodded as if he’d decided something. “That’s not a bad thing.”

“I wouldn’t think so, but it’s not always a guarantee of sanity either.” I laughed at myself and he smiled.

“Humor too, nice.” He nodded again and pulled up into a parking spot outside of a row of buildings. It was in a part of Chicago I’d usually avoid because it was so expensive.

Oh boy.

This was not going to be cheap and I didn’t want him to spend a bunch of money on food. “Um, I’d be happy with somewhere else, you know?”

“What’s wrong?” He turned to me; his raven black brows pulled down in worry.

“Nothing, it’s just, well, this will be expensive.” I frowned down at my hands. I didn’t want to sound like I was poor, but I was. I was a college student, of course I was poor.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. My uncle owns this place, I get a discount.”

“Cool.” That made me feel better.

“Ah, Carlos, come in, my dear nephew.” An older man that bore a striking resemblance to Carlos spotted us as soon as we walked in and took us to a table. “How are you, son?”

“I’m good, Uncle Joe, how are you?”

“Good, Carlos, everything’s good. And who’s this?” He turned to me with a smile that I’m sure charmed thousands of diners every week.

“This is Tessa, a friend of mine. A very dear friend.” His eyes sparkled in the candlelight from the two long white candles on the table.

“Hi.” I smiled at Carlos then turned to his uncle.

“I’m Joe Martinez, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” His uncle pulled my chair out for me and held his hand out to guide me to the seat.

“Tessa Starling.” I held my hand out and, like Carlos, he kissed the back of my hand, only it was barely a touch, more a show of a touch, and I blushed. I really blushed.

“The pleasure is mine, Tessa. I hope you enjoy your evening with my nephew. If not, tell me, and I’ll take him out back and make him scrub pots until he’s learned the error of his ways.” With that he left us and sent a waiter over.

We gave our drink orders and then I started to look over the menu. It wasn’t a surprise at all when I decided on fajitas. We had starters too, nachos with several cheese dips and salsa, and we talked while we waited for our food.

“So, tell me Tessa Starling, what’s it like in your world? How’s your mom?” He leaned in slightly, a sign of real interest and not just making small talk.

“Great, looking forward to seeing her this weekend.” I planned to leave the city tomorrow to head out to the house on the outskirts of the city. I should probably let Jess and Ted have another night with me, but I wanted to get home, so I’d already planned to take off as soon as my last class finished.

“Cool, I’m glad to hear it.” His smile was genuine, and I felt myself relaxing as he looked at me.

There was interest there, some sexual, but mostly, just curiosity and interest in what I had to say. This was…different.

I liked it. I loved having sex with the twins and the triplets, but to have one man’s undivided attention who wasn’t just looking to sleep with me as soon as possible was nice too. Not that the other men had been pushy, but the attraction was what drove us. This was something different.

“And what about you? Will you be alone after all, or not?”

“No, I won’t be. Oddly enough, it seems my dad is coming with Ana.”

“What?” I knew he’d said his dad rarely left his home, so this was a surprise.

“I know, I was surprised too. Maybe, well, maybe me not coming home this year made him see reason.”

“He’s not been involved in your life much, then?” It was a question I hadn’t wanted to ask but from the bitterness I could detect when he wrote about his dad, I knew something wasn’t right there. I’d guessed his dad neglected him to let the cook, Ana, take care of him from other things he’d said.

“No, it’s a long story. I was the reason my mom drowned, you see.” He looked away, took a deep breath, then spoke again. “I was just a kid, I wanted to row the boat out for a while, but the water was too rough. Dad was busy, Mom had just lost a baby, but I wanted to row, so I took the boat out. One of the oars fell in the lake because I wasn’t strong enough yet to hold them and row that long. Mom tried to swim out to help me when she realized what I’d done. She drowned and, well, I guess we both blame me.”

“But you didn’t do that on purpose.” I reached across for his hand and he gave it, but he looked away from me. “Carlos, you didn’t do that knowing what would happen. You can’t blame yourself for that, and he certainly shouldn’t blame a child. I’m so sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry for just throwing that out there like that. I’ve never really talked about it to anyone other than my best friend Jess and his brother Ted. I thought maybe it was best to rip the Band Aid off, so to speak.”

Fuck.

Jess was his best friend? I tried to keep my expression blank. The guys all knew about each other, but they didn’t know who the other guys were. Did he know?

“It’s okay, really. Just, please don’t blame yourself. You were a kid.” I withdrew my hand because I saw the waiter bringing our dinner out to us. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Thanks.” He smiled shyly and then looked up at the waiter as if nothing had happened at all.

“It’s true,” I said once the waiter left. “But if you want to talk about it more later, we can.”

“That’s really nice of you.” He ducked his head down and looked at his food. When he looked back up his features were composed, and he was smiling again. “This looks great, how’s yours?”

I already had a steamy hot tortilla filled with beef, peppers, onions, and beans and had started to slather sour cream over it all, my own odd preference of how to eat them. A dollop of guacamole and it would be perfect. “Good.”

We ate quietly, and later, we drove home the long way, and he told me more about his childhood. I understood him more after that and I shared some about my life. By the time he pulled up outside of my house, I felt like we’d learned a lot about each other.

“Thank you for tonight, beautiful Tessa. You are truly a princess to a frog.”

“You are not a frog, but thanks for calling me a princess.” I leaned over to kiss his cheek, and then pulled back. “Thanks, yourself. It’s been a real pleasure.”

“I hope I didn’t bore you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Not at all. I look forward to seeing you when I get back. Don’t forget to text me on Thanksgiving, to tell me how it went.” The fact that Thanksgiving was on a Thursday meant he should text me anyway.

“I will. And enjoy your time with your mom. Make some special memories. For me.” He traced my jawline and smiled softly.

“I will.” I kissed his cheek again and opened the door. “Good night, Carlos. Take care.”

“You too, Tessa. Good night.”

I might have a crush on that guy, I decided as I walked in to find Kim and Cheryl both shocked that I was home.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re home?” they both said together.

“He’s a gentleman, what can I say?”

With that, I went to the bathroom to wash my face, but as I came back out they were looking at me, looking for answers.

I hesitated at the door to my room. “When he told me about the dinner, I wasn’t looking forward to it. But, when we went out, it was completely different than what I’d pictured. I thought that he’d want to get down and dirty, but he made me feel like a princess.”

“Well, he should do. He has enough gee’s to do that,” Kim said as she sat on the sofa waiting for me to say more.

But I couldn’t, because the more I felt that I was in control of these relationships, there would be something that happened that would make me think differently about it. Until we went out, I felt that it was too much to handle, and I was way out of my league. Now, I want more of what I had tonight with Carlos, Jess, Ted, and the triplets.

I let out a big yawn and waved the girls, good night. If I stayed up any longer, then I wouldn’t make it to class tomorrow and the way that I felt I had a big smile on my face. I wasn’t excited about going to dinner with Carlos, but it was so romantic that I was glad that I did. I like Carlos. That wasn’t the problem, the problem was that I wanted all of them for all different reasons.