“This is the pernil. We slow roast the pork shoulder with all kinds of spices and a glaze. It's so flavorful. We make it a lot for the holidays instead of turkey or ham. Since Thanksgiving is soon, we thought it would be nice with everyone here. Have you ever heard of it?”
“I have, actually! I go to Thanksgiving at my best friend's house every year, and this is what her husband and in-laws make instead of turkey,” I tell him with a smile.
“Oh man, I was hoping to wow you. You'll be having it next week again, too!”
“Trust me, I will never get tired of pernil.”
He chuckles. “Good. Let's go eat!”
Everyone is hauling in piles of food, talking over each other, and squabbling the way only tight families do. Taran is at my elbow, whispering in my ear before I can even look for him.
“Having a good time?” His breath against my ear makes me shiver in the best way.
“A great time. I loved making the empanadas and everyone is really nice.”
He brings me in close and kisses my temple without saying a word. The emotion radiating off of him speaks for itself, the happiness that I'm getting along well with his nearest and dearest. It makes me deeply miss having my sister, brother-in-law, and their kids close by. I would love for them to meet Taran. My mom, dad, and step-mom will probably meet him at some point too, as well as my brothers, but who knows when I'll get to see them.
Everything we eat is beyond delicious, and I let Taran know that he may need to roll me out of here. Between the salad, empanadas, pernil, rice and beans, and dessert, I’m full to bursting. Evelyn is a good patient, avoiding the empanadas and barely having any of the pernil. She grumbles a little about it, but still gets her fill of salad and the rice and beans. It's not long before Evelyn, Seth, Sienna, and the kids are gathering themselves to leave, so the kids can get to bed. Hector and Alejandra retreat to the living room to watch TV, and Taran, Carlo, the sisters, and I decide to play a few rounds of low stakes poker at the dining room table. I am feeling fiendishly delighted, because Taran isn't aware yet of just how much I love playing Texas hold 'em.After every meal, my Nana and Papa would sit and teach me how to play, and I'm no slouch. I'm suspicious that Daniella is a card shark too, since she’s the one who suggested it. My suspicions are confirmed pretty quickly, because the betting in the first hand goes down to me and Daniella. When she calls, I flip to show my two pairs with queens high. She honest to goodness growls like a pissed off cat, and throws down her two pairs with nines high. Cackling, I take the pot.
“Taran! You didn't mention that Lyra is a hustler at poker,” Lucia jokes.
“Yeah, would have been nice to know,” Daniella grouses. Lucia laughs as she rubs her back.
“Don't be a sore loser, querida. I like that you'll finally have some competition at cards.” Then she winks at me.
“She continually surprises me,” Taran says, looking at me with that incredible smile of his and so much affection in his eyes that it nearly steals my breath.
“You two are going to make me want to throw up even more than Luce and Dani,” Rosa groans, but she shoots me a sly grin to make sure I know she's kidding. Lucia swats at her for saying it. In the next hand, Daniella takes it all with three of a kind after a showdown with Carlo. I was forced to fold with a crap hand after the flop. We play two more super competitive, trash talking hands before we call it a night. Hugs are exchanged again all around, we say goodnight to Alejandra and Hector, and all of them are emphatic about how nice it was to meet me. It makes my chest ache. Then Taran and I are heading back to my place. I know without even needing to ask that he'll be staying over again. The tension in the car is thick enough to cut with a knife as we hold hands while he drives. We chat about the night, how much I enjoy his second family,and how fun it was to play poker for the first time in a while.
“How did you become so good?”
“Another skill my Nana and Papa taught me. My Nana was especially good. Her poker face was second to none, she could bluff anyone,” I tell him with a wistful smile. “She'd sit there with a whiskey, stone faced while she beat us all.”
When we get into the house, the routine we seem to fall into comes naturally yet again. We get Brody situated, and I turn on my speaker to play Sinatra. Taran smiles when he hears it and takes me in his arms, gently swaying us as he holds me close. I nuzzle into his chest while I feel him bury his nose into my hair, breathing a sigh. I never knew slow dancing in the kitchen could be so wonderful, but consider me a convert. The nuzzles and sighs turn into slow kisses, my arms winding around his neck as I arch into him. We don't make it out of the kitchen. He hoists me onto the counter, stepping between my legs as he starts to kiss and nip along my jaw and down my neck.
“The smell of roses will always make me think of you,” he whispers on my lips, before lightly gripping my hair to angle my head so he can deepen the kiss. Our tongues tangle languidly, hands roaming, electricity humming between us as my core starts to ache. I palm him through his pants and he groans, so rock hard for me already.
“My pretty Firecracker, am I taking you right on this kitchen counter?” His voice is low, deeper than normal, and full of delicious heat against my ear. I closed all of the blinds and turned lights on when we came in, so we have the privacy. Fuck it.
"Yes, you are. Now, please," I breathe, my voice damn near shaking with need. What has this man done to me?He chuckles as he murmurs, “so polite.”
Then he pulls his sweater off, and I go to work on the buttons of his shirt until I can push it off his shoulders. When I kiss his chest and scrape my nails down his glorious abs, he shudders before he starts kissing me again. The kisses are demanding and urgent as he fumbles to unbutton my pants. I lift myself up slightly so he can shimmy them off and discard them on the floor. The cold of the quartz counter bites at my bare thighs, but it barely registers since I'm so overheated right now. He's kneeling in the next blink of my eye, lavishing kisses and little bites on my inner thighs before he brings his mouth to exactly where I want it. The thin lace barely serves as a barrier as he kisses and licks my center, before he pushes the panties aside to suck on my already swollen clit. I almost fully come off the counter with a scream when he does it, the pleasure is so intense.
“Fuck, I love making you scream.”
“I’m a big fan, too,” I try to quip, but the words come out as more of a strangled moan.
I feel his smile at that as he continues to lick and suck, pressure coiling in me and ready to burst. He adds a finger right at the perfect spot, and that's it for me. Before I know it, I'm shaking with an incredibly intense orgasm. Taran never stops until I've come down from it, though. Then he's peeling my underwear all the way off, and pulling down his pants and boxer briefs in one fluid motion. I quickly shuck my sweater and bra before I reach for him, giving his erection a few tugs. He pulls me even closer to the edge of the counter, kissing me and clutching me close to him as he lines us up. It's that euphoric feeling of fullness when he slides home. His forehead drops to mine while we just watch each other and kiss as he moves. It's more intimateand slow than last time, like we're savoring discovering new layers of each other as we come together. His strokes are long and languid, hitting me at just the right angle. My legs latch at the small of his back, and every inch of each other that can be touching, is touching. In spite of the cold, sweat mists his torso, and it just enhances his spiced smell. He comes on a guttural groan, and the sound sends me over the edge again with him.
Chapter 23
Taran
Waking up next to Lyra has become my favorite feeling in the world over the last week. The way she is so adorably grouchy until she has coffee, her sleepy protests when the alarm goes off, how her curls are a gloriously wild tangle when she buries her face in my chest as I pull her in for some last minute snuggles until we get up. I've come over after work and stayed over much more often than not since the night she met everyone I love. It's been amazing having dinner with her, playing with Brody, slow dancing in the kitchen, and making love. I can't call it anything else. I've fallen more and more head over heels for this woman the more I spend time with her.
It meant more than I could ever say to see her get accepted into my family so quickly, and have her accept them back. Watching someone finally beat Dani at poker was the icing on the cake. Lyra and I also got to see Seth, Sienna, Addy, and Mason for a quick breakfast at the local diner the morning after the dinner before they went back to California while Ma rested, and it was great to get in thatlast little visit before we go months without seeing each other again. Seth seemed much more settled and his normal self after having some time at home and seeing that Ma is ok. I can already tell that Lyra and Sienna are going to be fast friends, they have really similar personalities. Neither of them will put up with any crap from the Malloy brothers, that's for sure.
Then we had Thanksgiving on Thursday. It was a blast at Gina and Wayne's house. The Hernandez clan usually flies out to see a bunch of their family in Arizona that ends up being around 20 or so people, while Ma and I usually just order food and hang out. We haven't had a proper Thanksgiving in years, since the last time we flew out and celebrated at Seth and Sienna's. So we were thrilled that Lyra invited us to go. We brought some different pies, Lyra’s snickerdoodle cookies, and her very hyped sausage stuffing. Everyone devoured it all. Ava and Braden were too cute. Ava was in her Belle dress the whole time, and asked me to waltz with her like the Beast. So I took her for a good spin around the room with a Beast mask on, twirling her and leading her through the steps. Afterward, she went right up to Lyra and said Lyra can't marry me because she is going to. I think Lyra almost choked on the cracker she was eating. She was right when she told me Ava is so like Addy, and the two girls need to meet. Wayne and I got to sit and completely nerd out over Star Wars, while Gina kept smiling a knowing smile the whole night as she watched everything carefully. Wayne's family could not have been more warm and friendly. It was a nice change to see Gage outside of El Abrevadero, and tell them all how much I love it there. Lyra and I shared a secret smile at each other when I said it, both of our heads clearly going to all of the memories we've made there already.