Gracious started to turn circles and dig at the molding in a corner of the living room. “What is she doing?”
“Do you need to go out, little one?” Alejandro asked. He picked up the end of the leash and looked at Kate, tongue in cheek. “Señorita, would you care for a romantic stroll on the beach with Miss Piggy?”
“Sure, I’ll tag along.” Kate sent him a sidelong glance. “But you might want to liquor her up before you make any smooth moves on her.”
He raised an eyebrow and glanced sharply at her. “What are you implying, Kate?”
“Nothing.”
“I’ll have you know that my intentions—at least regarding Gracious—are purely honorable.”
ALEJANDRO THOUGHT KATE looked even more beautiful in knee-length, baggy khaki shorts—they were awful, but at least he could see her long, slim legs—with her hair flying around her face in the wind.
Gracious had a difficult time on the beach with her short little legs sinking into the sand, but she was able to sample various aperitifs: seaweed, driftwood, even a rotting fish. So she was happy enough.
They got some odd looks regarding the pig, but other than a couple of kids who ran up to pet her, nobody bothered them.
Alejo wanted to bother Kate, however, in the worst way. He wanted to kiss each of those arrogant cheekbones, taste her smart Yankee mouth, steal her breath away. But he did none of those things, contenting himself with teasing her and savoring the way she looked all wild and free and windblown.
“I see that you went to the most exclusive grocery store aisle for your new shoes, Kate.” He gestured to the rubber flip-flops on her feet.
“Yeah, I saved up and had them custom-made,” she said dryly. “Like them?”
“They’re gorgeous.” If ever a woman was in dire need of a pedicure and a manicure, it was Kate Spinney. But to say so crossed the line between teasing and just plain rude.
“They bring my total for shoes up to six pairs—the loafers, some cross-trainers, snow boots, ski boots and one pair of serviceable black pumps.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
She shook her head.
“My last girlfriend had one-hundred and forty-six pairs of shoes.”
Kate goggled at him. “Was her name Imelda? What does any human being do with that many shoes?”
Actually, she’d liked to wear a lot of them in the bedroom, but he didn’t think it was a good idea to mention that. Alejandro shrugged. “She was very stylish.”
Kate shoved her hands into the pockets of her wrinkled shorts and grimaced. “Oh. How nice for her. And you, I guess.”
He liked the fact that the topic of his ex-girlfriend obviously irritated her. But he also took his cue. “She wasn’t nearly as beautiful as you are.”
Kate snorted, sounding very much like Gracious. In fact, the pig’s head came up and she looked around for other porcine companions. Disappointed, she went back to rooting in the sand.
“Do they teach you to do that at Harvard?” Alejandro asked, grinning.
“Yeah. We take Barnyard Noises 101 our first semester. Didn’t you know that? It’s part of the language requirement. You probably took something useless like French.”
“Spanish. I knew a lot from my mother, but I needed the grammar and the spelling.”
“Ha.” Kate shot him a look. “You needed a blow-off class.”
He laughed. “Okay. Guilty as charged.”
“Where did you go to school?”
“Right here at Miami.”
“Wasn’t it hard to study with the beach and the night-life and all?”
He shrugged. “Nah, you get used to it. You start to take it for granted. I’ll admit that Miami is probably not the intellectual capital of the world, but the university is a good one.”
“So are you from a big family?”
“No. Not here. I do have extended family in Peru. But growing up, it was just me and my mother and Tia Carlotta, her friend.”
“Friend or friend?”
Alejandro stopped and looked down at her. “Kate, are you asking me whether my mother was a lesbian?” He dissolved into laughter.
“What?” she said. “So what if I was?”
“It’s just that she’s spinning in her grave right now,” he gasped. “And Tia Carlotta would grind you up and stuff peppers with you. It’s just a rude thing to ask about! What’s your mother’s sexual orientation?”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “I guess I am pretty…direct. As for my mother, I don’t think she really has a sexual orientation. She just plays a lot of golf, and she’s heavily involved with the symphony.”
Gracious was pulling them ever closer to the water, leaving little hoof tracks in the wet sand. Alejandro tugged her back a little, and she tried to be clever and bypass him by going around Kate. The result was a tangle, with Kate somehow snugged up against his chest.
To be honest, he could have solved the problem quite easily. But he could smell the sweet citrus scent of her hair as it blew across his chin, and his arm seemed to fit perfectly around her, and then she looked up at him with those wary green eyes. “Alejandro?”
He really couldn’t help it. He bent his head and kissed her, tasting and parting her lips—those lips that were way too soft for the words that came out of them.
She went rigid for a moment, and then relaxed in his arms and melted into him with a sigh.
He brought his free hand up and cupped her jaw, tangled his hand in her hair and kissed her even more deeply, exploring her mouth with his tongue, touching hers, stroking. Kate made an incoherent sound and backed away, only to catch the heel of her flip-flop in the sand and fall over Gracious.
Their tender moment ended in an explosive squeal, flying sand and an undignified shriek. So much for romance.
He was Mr. Smooth. But as Alejandro helped Kate up, dusted her off, calmed the pig and steered all of them back to the stretch of sand outside her condo, he knew one thing: he definitely wanted to keep kissing this woman. He wanted to kiss her in much steamier places, and without anything baggy and ugly obscuring her body.
“Don’t do that again,” Kate said, avoiding his gaze.
“Why not? You liked it.”
“Because I’m not sure why you did it.”
“I did it because I liked it, too.”
“Is that the only reason?”
He stared at her, half amused and half annoyed. What, did she think he was after her money?
Her hair flew out around her face in all directions, courtesy of the wind. With her thin frame, she looked like a suspicious Yankee dandelion. “Should there be another reason?”
Kate avoided the question with yet another one. “Besides, how do you know I liked it? I might have been faking it, melting into your arms just so I could yank off your nuts.”
“Dios mio!” Alejandro dropped the pig’s leash and took Kate by the shoulders, while she looked up at him with mingled fear, belligerence and hope. Then he dropped his