Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 132464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“Perfecto, mi hermano.”
Jonas hands me an opened beer and sits back down.
“Gracias,” I say.
“De nada,” Jonas says, swigging his beer. “Con mucho gusto, mi hermano estupido.”
“You did really well talking to Mariela today,” I say. “I was impressed.”
“Yeah, Sarah speaks Spanish to me all the time,” Jonas says, grinning. “She’s so fucking sexy.” He sighs happily. “But my Spanish was already pretty good before Sarah came along. I guess it’s just burned into the deep recesses of my brain from when Mariela used to talk to us as kids.”
“Well, maybe it’s burned into the deep recesses of your brain, but it’s certainly not burned into mine. I couldn’t understand a fucking word Mariela was saying all day besides gracias and mi hijo and amor.”
Jonas chuckles. “You didn’t need to understand Mariela’s words—I think she made herself pretty damned clear with her body language.”
“Definitely,” I agree. “It was pretty hard to misunderstand all that hugging and kissing and crying.”
The girls squeal loudly in the other room and Jonas glances toward the source of the sound.
“Damn, these walls are thin,” Jonas says. “Maybe I should have gotten a separate suite for Sarah and me?”
“Meh, it’s fine,” I say. “It’s only for two nights. Plus, the four of us will be out all day tomorrow exploring Caracas—we’ll hardly be in the suite together except to sleep at night.”
“Well, maybe you and Kat plan to sleep. But I’m on my honeymoon, man—sleeping’s not on the agenda.” Jonas snickers. “And Sarah’s a screamer.”
“Dude, why you always gotta go there? I know you love screwing your beautiful wife, okay? I got it.” I roll my eyes. “I don’t need that visual of you.”
“What the fuck?” Jonas says, laughing. “You just told me your unicorn has a jet engine permanently strapped between her legs, and I’m not allowed to—”
“Blah, blah, blah,” I say, cutting Jonas off, making him laugh again. “All I’m saying is if you’ve got a problem with all of us sharing a suite, then you’ll have to be the one to move, not me. Theresa said this is the only hotel in Caracas that’s up to my standards—and there’s only one penthouse suite in the whole goddamned hotel. So if you wanna move to a ghetto room on a lower floor be my guest, motherfucker, but I’m staying right here where the streets are paved with gold.”
“You’re such a snob, you know that?”
I shrug and take a sip of my beer. “I make no apologies—I like what I like.”
“Eh, Sarah won’t want to switch rooms, anyway,” Jonas says. “She insisted on staying with Kat our two nights here. She’s been going through some sort of Kat withdrawal this past week.”
I laugh. “Same with Kat. Every little thing we did in Brazil, Kat was like, ‘Oh my God, Sarah would love this.’”
We grin at each other for a long beat.
“How’d we get so fucking lucky?” I ask.
Jonas shrugs. “I have no idea. A broken clock is right twice a day, I guess.”
“Sarah’s really sweet,” I say. “I can’t believe she even thought to arrange a reunion with Mariela, let alone pull it all together on the sly like that.”
“That’s Sarah,” Jonas says. “She’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met. Just genuinely kind.”
“She’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met, too,” I agree.
“What about Kat? She’s not the sweetest person you’ve ever met?”
I snort. “Hell no.”
Jonas laughs. “Well, that’s not a very nice thing to say.”
“Aw, come on,” I say. “Kat’s sweet—really sweet. Heart of gold. But it’s buried underneath a thick outer shell of evil. The woman’s a demon spawn of the highest order.” Once again, I kiss my fingertips like a chef.
Jonas chuckles. “You always did like ’em evil.”
I mock-shudder like the very mention of evil excites me. “And, even better, crazy-evil.”
“Well, Sarah doesn’t have an evil bone in her body,” Jonas says. “Does she have a crazy-bone? Hell yes. A bossy-bone? Fuck yes. But an evil-bone? Not even in her little toe.”
“Like I said, Sarah’s the sweetest person I know,” I say, swigging my beer. “Which is perfect for you—you’ve always liked ’em sweet.”
Jonas shrugs. “I don’t think that’s a particularly weird thing to like, Josh.”
“Bah,” I say. “Gotta have a little evil to brighten your day, I always say.”
Jonas chuckles. “Sicko.”
“I am what I am. So were you shocked when you got off the plane and saw Kat and me standing there—or did you already have a hunch?”
“I was completely shocked—and then I was even more shocked when we drove up to that big ol’ house and Mariela came out. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
“Dude, me, too—I thought I was gonna keel over in shock.”
“For so long, I always thought, ‘If Mariela passed me on the street, would I recognize her?’” Jonas says. “All through the years, whenever I’d see a Latina woman of the right age walking by, I’d think, ‘Could that be Mariela?’ But then, the minute I actually saw the real thing, there was no doubt it was her—a thousand memories instantly came rushing back to me.”