“What are you doing over there by yourself?” he asked with a quizzical look on his face.
I shrugged as he threw an arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer. His eyes grew warm then as he regarded me.
“You ready to hop on a plane in a few days?” Cole asked, taking a sip of beer with his arm strewn proudly over his new wife’s shoulders.
“Can’t wait,” I replied.
We’d decided to leave for a month. Pete let me have the time off and, to be honest, I would have gone regardless. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to travel around Spain with my man.
Our only concern, and it was a big one, was Sophie. I looked for her, finding her sitting with Ettie and quietly sipping her beer. She smiled more these days, even laughed sometimes. And she seemed to trust most of us. But something was still off. Way, way off.
And then there was Axel.
Something was clearly going on with them, but neither one of them would admit to it.
“You think she’ll be okay while we’re gone?” Sal asked, catching on to my line of thinking as he always seemed to.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But she’s got a lot of people watching out for her,” I assured him.
“Yeah, and some who I wish wouldn’t,” he muttered, no doubt referring to Axel.
“He obviously cares about her,” I insisted.
“He’s too old for her,” he argued.
I shrugged. “Ten years is a lot,” I allowed. “But, maybe she needs that. Plus, you’re her big brother; you’d have an issue with anyone. Wouldn’t you rather it be one of your brothers, someone you know and trust rather than some random man?” I pressed.
“Maybe,” he muttered begrudgingly.
I grinned at his crankiness and switched the subject.
“You wanna go upstairs?” I asked quietly. We’d snatched up one of the rooms in the main house.
“You know I do,” he growled, biting my neck lightly and swaying us slightly to the music.
“Is this the only dance I’m gonna get?” I teased.
“It’s the only one you’ll ever need,” he assured me, taking my hand and pulling me from the crowd.
And damn, he was right. As much as I wanted him to take me for a spin on the dance floor, all I’d ever needed was for him to lead me in a dance which was ours alone.
Epilogue
Three weeks later
“What should we do today?” I asked, my heart still hammering as Sal lay over me, still inside me.
We’d had an amazing trip, starting out in Sal’s family’s small village outside of Madrid before traveling through the rest of the country.
Sal’s family had been amazing from the moment we’d arrived. His grandmother was a petite force of nature, hugging and kissing us to death before we’d even stepped foot into their modest house. I’d worried she was going to have a heart attack when she saw the ring sitting on my finger.
I think I’d heard “ay Dios mio” more times than she took breaths before we could get her to calm down a bit.
His father had been more reserved, but no less warm. He’d eyed Sal with a pride that made me want to cry.
The language barrier had made things difficult, but the intent was always clear. By the time we left to continue our travels, I felt like they were my family, too.
Barcelona, as we’d both discovered, was our favorite and we’d decided to spend our last week there rather than continuing to travel.