Free Team Tomás (The Saints Team #2) by Ally Adams

home?” I asked.
    Before he could answer, another
attractive female walked in with our colas and slid into the booth next to Tomás,
nudging him with affection.
    “He doesn’t go home enough, or so Valentina
tells me,” she teased him. “How is Tina? Are you keeping an eye on her?”
    “She is well. And you look well,
Lucia,” Tomás said and they kissed each other on each cheek. “This is Al...
iss.”
    The beautiful Lucia gave me a warm
smile. “Welcome to our restaurant, Al...iss.”
    “It’s wonderful,” I said, trying
not to stare at the way she snuggled into Tomás. She had straighter dark hair
than mine, which was no mean feat, large lips and large brown eyes.
    “Thank you. My business partner
and I like it, but it takes over our lives. So, Al...iss, is he behaving?” She
winked at me.
    Tomás rolled his eyes.
    “Unfortunately yes,” I said, and
Lucia laughed out loud.
    “Ah but the night is young,” she
said and wrinkled her nose at me in a teasing fashion. “I could tell you some
tales.”
    “But you won’t of course,” Tomás
said, ushering her out.           
    Lucia laughed again and shuffled
off the bench. Before leaving she turned back to Tomás. “When does Julieta
arrive?” she asked.
    I noticed Tomás stiffen and his
eyes flicked quickly to me and then back to Lucia.
    “Sunday,” he said.
    “Good, I look forward to it. Make
sure you bring her in.” With a wave Lucia disappeared.
    I reached for my cola and had a
sip, a thousand questions buzzing in my mind that couldn’t be asked because it
was our first official date and I had no right to be territorial. But who was Julieta?
His sister, cousin, friend, or more? Well that sucked and threw a bucket of
water on my dream date. I had to pull myself up and out of that thought.
    “I am sorry for the
interruptions,” Tomás said, “but it is the best tapas restaurant I know.”
    “It’s
all good,” I assured him. “I love being here with you and meeting the people
you know.” His fingers interlaced with mine. “You’re quite distracting Al...
iss,” he said, with a shy smile.
    I cocked my head on the side and
studied him. “What does that mean exactly?” I asked.
    He drew a breath and I waited for
his response.
    “I confess I didn’t want to think
of you,” he said and cleared his throat. “But you kept invading my head space.
I tried for a week not to think about you.”
    I frowned. “But, why didn’t you
want to think...”
    We were interrupted by the arrival
of a number of small tapas dishes, this time delivered by a waiter that Tomás
greeted as Felipe, who named each dish for my sake and left us to it.
    Tomás moved on as though he hadn’t
just dropped a huge, intriguing bombshell on me.
    “You must try this one first,” he
said and, taking my fork, put a little of the spicy dish on it and brought it
to my lips. He watched my mouth as I took the offered bite. His eyes met mine.
    “Mm, so good,” I said.
    He smiled, took his own fork and
helped himself to a serve. Tomás made me taste each dish and waited for my
reaction before having a bite himself: bacalao, slow-roast pork shoulder in
chipotle, shredded duck tortillas and chargrilled chorizo.
    “Rich, but delicious,” I said.
    “You wait until you try my
mother’s cooking... I almost didn’t accept the contract here because I’d have
to go without,” he joked.
    I waved off another bite; it was
hard to eat when Tomás was sitting opposite me looking so divine and his legs were
pressed against mine under the table. Plus he was talking about me meeting his
mother... I could be reading a bit into that but I was running with it.
    He leaned forward. “Maybe coming
here was a mistake,” he said.
    “Why?” My eyes widened. “It’s
wonderful.”
    He shook his head and I bit my lip
with concern.
    He moved several of the plates out
of the way and reached for my hands again. “I’m going to scrap the next part of
the great date,” he said, look