Etán watched his younger brother Luca crack open a can of beer and prop himself onto the veranda wall of their parents’ Santiago house. Luca stretched his legs and crossed one heavy boot over the other. His movements had always been gracefully lazy, yet powerful, like a feline predator’s. Luca was like a lion cub. Like a cub, he liked to play. Like a cub, his play could just as easily turn dangerous. His play was especially dangerous for the women whose hearts he was renowned for breaking.
Luca refused, year after year, to take a place in the family-owned wine industry. Neither did he keep a steady job. His refusal to take anything in life seriously had been the source of their parents’ concern for years. While their parents never questioned Luca’s choices or said as much, Etán knew they hoped, more than anything, that Luca would one day take an interest in the business.
Luca pulled a hand through his spiky hair. His studded leather jacket creaked at the strain of the movement. With a black T-shirt stretched over his muscled chest and leather pants matching the jacket, he was the perfection of a bad boy image. Etán smiled affectionately. They were opposites in almost all behavioral and physical proportions. Etán was the taller and broader one, although Luca didn’t lack in the muscle department. Etán preferred his tailor-made suits for business meetings or jeans and boots when he was working in the vineyard. He didn’t share Luca’s taste for leather and studs. He definitely did not have the time Luca had for play.
As winemaker in the country’s finest winery, he managed the family’s vineyard, a daunting task that took up most of his days and nights. Luca frequently voiced his opinion that Etán was too serious about life. Luca took after the blond, French-Norman ancestors of his father, while Etán inherited his Chilean mother’s black hair and fair skin.
The only remote similarity between the famous brothers, often described as the yin and the yang of their family, was the color of their eyes. Even in this, the difference in saturation made them opposites. Luca’s eyes were moss green, Etán’s light emerald. Both distinct colors had a similar striking effect. Luca’s dark green eyes made a stark contrast with his light complexion and fair hair, while Etán’s paler eyes stood out against the backdrop of his dark mass of hair. They made a dashing duo—the two most sought after and elusive men in the city.
Etán’s shoulder was braced against the wall, his arms crossed. While his stance looked relaxed, every muscle in his body was tight, his senses alert, as he let his gaze travel from Luca to the taxi parked in front of the neighbor’s house.
Luca sipped his beer. “You seem to be very interested in our new neighbor.”
Etán didn’t shift his eyes from the black and yellow cab. He kept his emotions carefully hidden. Growing up with Luca had taught him from a young age how to keep his feelings from his brother’s special, probing talent.
Luca had sensed his emotional retraction, because when Etán shot him a quick glance, Luca gave his brother a knowing smile. “Why are you hiding, Bro?”
“Who said I’m hiding?” Etán felt the tentacles of Luca’s spiritual gift reaching out to him again, deeper this time. “Stop doing that,” he said with mock irritation.
Etán saw his brother grin from the corner of his eye. He sensed his brother pulling back from searching for his sentiments. Luca had been born with a powerful empathic ability. He was four years younger than Etán. Between them, there had been Catalina, but Etán immediately forced himself to push the pain of her memory from his consciousness. There was no point in punishing Luca as well with the hurt Etán felt. Years of practice had refined Etán’s skill to pull up barriers, effectively shielding his brother’s ability to read him like a book.
The front door of the house next door opened. Both men watched as the new neighbor emerged and walked briskly to the waiting cab. Etán’s eyes narrowed. She wore a tartan miniskirt with black netting peeping from underneath, caressing her womanly thighs. A polka dot tie accentuated a white men’s dress shirt hanging loosely over the skirt. Instead of making her look manly, it had the opposite effect. It amplified her vulnerability. Etán didn’t have to know her well to sense she acted far braver than she was.
No doubt she was a woman who couldn’t be handled without kid gloves, but even as she had faced the two policemen that morning with a straight back and her chin lifted, he had smelled her fear. It surrounded her like thick sulfur. Her hair had been uncombed, her face unwashed, and she stood there in flimsy pajamas barely hidden by an awful gray coat, yet, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Maybe her courage added to her beauty to make her irresistible to him.
The odor of her unique skin chemistry had drifted to him through the air, and he had found it intoxicating. It surprised and shocked him. He never had such a reaction to a female before, not even to Sanita. Protectiveness made him want to punch both arrogant detectives in the face, and he wasn’t the punchy type.
That same sense of protection overwhelmed him once more as he studied her from his parent’s veranda. Now, her face looked fresh. Her olive skin glowed. Other than a sliver of lip-gloss on her full lips, she didn’t wear any make-up. Her shoulder length auburn hair curled madly around her high cheekbones. Silver chains adorned with lightning bolts dangled from her ears.
She didn’t notice the two men watching her. She was searching for something in a clutch bag. Finally, she withdrew a piece of paper. When she bent to give it to the driver through the window, Etán caught a better glimpse of her upper thighs. He didn’t miss a thing—not the rounding of her hips, or the way it tapered off to her waistline, or the soft curve of her breasts under the masculine shirt.
He noticed the self-assured way in which she flipped large, white-rimmed sunglasses over her eyes. His nostrils flared. He could smell it again, her fear. It wasn’t simply being afraid of handcuffs or taking a ride in a police vehicle. It was something deeper. It had the fragrance of burnt wood.
Again, her scent nearly took his breath away. It had never happened to him before. Not with a woman. Wine maybe. Whenever he reached that perfect balance of an intricate bouquet, he would be breathless for an instant, knowing he had reached perfection. As for her, she had perfection in her skin and on her lips. It made him want to taste her. He quickly checked himself. Those sensations were off limits. It was somewhere he had no intention of going.
He watched with hidden feelings and narrowed eyes as she conversed with the driver. Zenna was a mystery to him because of how she stirred his senses, but there was also a deeper secret to her. His mother was right. She needed protection. He knew it, instinctively, and his mother knew more than she liked to share. Ana had seen something, one of her visions, but for some reason, she held back the information. It didn’t happen often that his mother held something from any one of the family members. They were a close-knit family, and they protected each other and their secrets. It made him wonder.
Luca’s whistle pulled Etán from his thoughts. “Now, that’s a piece of work.”
Etán noticed his brother’s eyes, too, roamed over Zenna as she got into the taxi and slammed the door.
“That’s a girl I don’t mind keeping an eye on. In that outfit, we’d make the perfect pair, don’t you think, Bro?”
Etán tensed more. Ensuring he kept the unfounded irritation he felt at Luca’s expressed interest in Zenna carefully pushed to the back, he uncrossed his arms and straightened.
“Watch it, Luca.” He was too familiar with his brother’s weakness for women. “Mom said to protect her, not to get into her pants. Anyway, you don’t have to come if you have somewhere else to be. Mom said you only dropped in to get your old camera.”
Luca grinned. “I think I’ll go with you. I’m a big boy, Etán. I don’t need Mom to tell me how to conduct my sex life.”
Luca got up and shoved his hand into his pocket. He glanced over his shoulder to where the cab pulled away. “There are a lot of emotions there.” He nodded toward the disappearing car. “Anger, humiliation, hurt, confusion, but mostly fear.”
Etán kept his eyes on the road. “Figures,” he said darkly. “What was she thinking with a scumbag of a boyfriend like that? What kind of man asks a girl to marry him, to immigrate, all the while cheating on her, and then leaves her the minute she sets foot on foreign soil?”
He also felt like punching the idiot who had moved in next door three weeks ago, the pretty boy he had seen walking away from Zenna last night. He wanted to do an awful lot of punching all of a sudden.
“I see Mom informed you well.”
Etán shrugged. “I heard them too. Sound travels far in this neighborhood.”
Luca drained the last of his beer and threw the empty can into the garbage bin. “Well, my guess is she’s heading for town. Looking like that, she’s going to find herself some club or bar in which to drown her sorrows. I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy the kind of place that calls for an outfit like that.” He smiled boyishly. “I almost had my jaw broken last week in a bar brawl. Not sure I’m ready for more.”
Luca pulled his motorbike keys from his jacket pocket, dangling them toward Etán. “Shall we go?”
Etán smiled wryly. “We’ll take a taxi. I’ve sent the driver to pick Mom up from her charity event. I think wherever we’re headed, I’m going to need a drink, and neither of us are drinking and driving.”
Luca shrugged. “Yes, my responsible brother. I take it you got her taxi’s registration number?”
Etán didn’t need to answer. He took his mobile phone from his pocket and pressed the speed dial for the taxi control center to determine Zenna’s destination. His father knew the manager, and the taxi magnate owed them one.
Almost an hour and a half later, Luca shook his head as Etán paid the driver. “I told you, man.”
Etán looked at the name that flashed in neon letters above the metal doors. Bodega. Of all the places she had to choose. How did she even know about this place? It was a dodgy club frequented by bikers and gangsters. A girl alone in a place like this. She could have been there for more than an hour already. It had taken the taxi boss too long to get her drop off address. In a hurry to get inside, he nudged Luca forward.
A few seconds after Luca rang the doorbell, a pair of blue eyes appeared in the peep slot. Etán left the talking to Luca who requested their entry, but the blue eyes traveled suspiciously up and down Etán’s formal attire. It wasn’t before Luca mentioned a name that they heard the latch lift and saw the door open. The blue eyes belonged to a bouncer clad in black, a suit not that much different from the very one Etán wore. The baldheaded giant nevertheless glared at Etán’s tie and jacket again.
“Is there a problem?” Etán said.
“Don’t get many customers in suits,” said the giant. “Are you a cop?”
“You’re wearing a suit, although a badly tailored one. Are you a cop?”
Before the bouncer had time to digest Etán’s remark, Luca placed a roll of bills in his palm. His thumb pointed over his shoulder at Etán. “He’s with me.”
The bouncer pocketed the money and nodded. “It’s not my job to judge, anyway.”
“Many girls tonight?” Luca asked, sounding casual.
The man shrugged. “A few. There will be more later. If you know any, there’s no cover charge or security check for the ladies. The boss is trying to fill the place up with more of the female species. Attracts better business.” He winked.
They made their way down a narrow staircase into the large bar. A few tables and chairs were scattered in one corner and an old-fashioned jukebox stood on the opposite side.
Etán lightly touched Luca’s arm, motioning toward the bar. Zenna sat on a stool, facing the chrome and glass shelves, a shot glass in front of her. Luca nodded and led the way to a table in a dark corner at the back. They slid onto a bench from where they had a view of the bar.
Luca stretched his legs out in front of him. “What are we supposedly doing? Dragging her home by her hair or shall I simply walk up to her and seduce her?”
Etán was sure not to give away anything of his emotions except for the warning look he shot Luca. “We do nothing. We stay put. Watch her.”
A waitress came and took their order. Luca waited until she left before he spoke. “You’re taking Mother’s request to look out for our neighbor very seriously, aren’t you?”
Etán fixed his gaze on Zenna, watching her down the clear liquor in her glass. “Even if I don’t have your empathic ability, I can sense she needs a hell of a lot of protection. I don’t even think she knows the trouble she’s getting into. Mom was right to tell us to look out for her. That doesn’t only apply to tonight.”
“So, what is the plan of action?”
Etán was quiet for a moment. He moved back on the bench, making himself comfortable. “Let her be. Let her get that creep out of her system.”
The waitress returned and placed two beers on their table.
Luca raised an eyebrow. “Sure you want to go there, Bro?”
Etán’s only reply was to pull his beer closer and take a sip.
“All righty.” Luca shrugged and rested his arms on the table. “This is going to get interesting. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if the shit hits the fan.” They saw Zenna down another shot. “What is she drinking, anyway?”
Without wavering, Etán mumbled, “Pisco. Neat.”
“You can smell it from here? You are better than what I thought, Bro.”
Etán didn’t move his eyes from Zenna, but his lips quirked into a grin. “Even I’m not that good. There are too many other odors in here. Too difficult to distinguish. Too far.” He faced his brother, a rare smile of mockery on his lips. “I saw the bottle when the barman refilled her glass.”
“You should have kept your mouth shut. I would have had a higher regard for you,” Luca teased.
Etán didn’t answer as he returned his attention to Zenna. She said something to the barman, passed him a bill, and waited until he slid a pile of coins across the counter. She took some, and strode to the jukebox with cat-like steps. She looked right at home in the shady bar, but there was a part of her that didn’t fit, a piece of the puzzle that wouldn’t quite slide into place. Etán watched, thoughtful, as she deposited the coins, chose a song, and made for the dance floor.
He almost lost his cool as he watched her. She was confident. She wasn’t by any means a good dancer, but she looked like she didn’t care, and like she was enjoying herself. He wasn’t the only one who noticed. A couple of men, sporting red leather jackets with a gang emblem, turned their heads her way.
Luca sighed. “Uh oh.” He pointed discreetly at the table with the rowdy men. “This is what I was worried about.”
Etán tensed like a lion preparing to pounce. He was a second too late to contain the anger that flooded his senses, because he noticed the sudden jerk of Luca’s head and his brother’s surprised expression.
When they saw one of the men pushing back his chair and moving to the dance floor, both brothers got to their feet.
Luca put his hand on Etán’s arm, holding him back. “Shouldn’t we let her have a bit of fun, first? She deserves to let her hair down after the morning she had.”
Etán knew Luca had caught the whiff of his anger as well as the unjustifiable bout of jealousy that oozed from him. It didn’t happen often that his emotions slipped pass his defenses, so he forgave Luca his teasing.
Luca grinned. “The fact you’re trying so hard to hide your feelings is actually funny.”
“Sometimes you risk getting my fist on your nose. You know what’s going to happen. He’s going to touch her, and then I’m going to have to kill him.” Etán lightly shook Luca’s hand off and walked with deliberate strides in Zenna’s direction.
“This is a first,” Luca called after Etán. “You’ve never displayed killer behavior before.”
Etán cut the biker off, stopping short of Zenna. He smiled tightly. “Zenna.”
He noticed Luca from the corner of his eye, flanking him to the left. If they had to, they could take the gangster and his cronies, but it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
Etán turned to the stranger, shrugging. “Sorry. Girlfriend. She slipped out on her own. Needs a good spanking.”
The man regarded them without budging.
Zenna looked up at Etán, blinked, and then a slow smile curved her lips. “Etán Perez-Cruz,” she drawled.
She was more than slightly intoxicated. Judging by the way she swayed and the slur of her tongue, she was quite drunk.
“Well, hello neighbor. If it isn’t the man himself who told me I’m fat. What drags you to this side of town? Looking for overweight women to pick up?” She cocked her hip.
For a moment, Etán truly had the urge to pull her over his lap and spank her, for putting words in his mouth and for placing herself in such a vulnerable position.
Drinking was one thing. Teasing was a totally different ballgame. Didn’t she know what happened to women in places like these? You didn’t get to tease these men with a suggestive dance and then walked away. Even as the odor of Pisco reached his overly responsive senses, he smelled her pain, her confusion, and her humiliation. Underneath that, there was the faintest trace of fear, tucked away deeply, but still there.
He raised his hands. “Surprise.”
Keeping alert, he noted Luca was in conversation with the man who had turned and made his way back to his table. Luca slapped Zenna’s admirer on the back while another round of whiskeys arrived swiftly, no doubt, courtesy of Luca.
Etán held a hand out to Zenna, nodding toward the table at the back where his beer was warming. “Shall we go sit down for a while?”
She shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m staying here.” She pointed at the floor. “Here on this dance floor until I’ve gotten my ex out of my system.” She tapped one foot impatiently. “Now, hello and bye. Run along. You’re spoiling my fun.” She waved her hands at him. “You’re spoiling my song.”
Etán took a step toward her. “This is not London where you can go to some shady bar, shake your pretty little booty, and get to go home alone.” He took another step closer. “Look around you, sweetheart,” he said, pointing at the gangsters’ table. “These men don’t like to be teased. By all means, I don’t want to spoil your fun, but you’re in way over your head. I’m taking you home.”
She followed his gesture, and frowned. “Who’s that?”
“Who?”
“The blond guy watching us.”
Etán turned. It was his turn to frown. “That’s Luca, my brother. Why?”
“He just ... seems familiar.” She wiggled her shoulders as if she was shaking off a thought. She turned her attention back to him, her honey-brown eyes sparkling. “You brought reinforcements? What? I’m too fat, too heavy to be carried out of here by you alone?” She lifted her chin another inch. “Or are you alone not man enough to... How did you put it? Take me home? Is that what you call a shag here? Taking a girl home?”
“Zenna,” his voice deepened, “you’re looking for trouble. You know what I meant when I said I’m taking you home.”
“Oh,” she pouted her lips, “you want to take me home like a little stray dog, is that it? Well, I’m here to dance, and, unless I fall down dead, I’m not going anywhere, especially not with you.”
She tried to turn from him with a quick swing of those luscious hips, the black netting of her underskirt rubbing ever so fleetingly against his thigh, and all Etán could do was feel his body tighten in response. He looked at her for a moment, off balance, but before she could turn completely on her heel, he hauled her back to him, his hand firm on her upper arm.
“You don’t know this type of place or what you’re getting yourself into.”
His face was close to hers, his lips tilted above the curve of hers, so that when she said, “Let go of me,” the heat stifling from her words fell like a strange caress over his mouth.
He caught his breath, and froze, unable to move, unwilling to break the spell. A look of surprise filtered into her eyes, and before Etán could contemplate her next move, she stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him full on the mouth.
If Etán was astounded by her action, he was more stunned by his reaction to her. He could lose himself in her kiss and her taste. He forced himself to remain still and suppressed the desire to open her lips with his tongue to taste the warm depths of her mouth. Instead, he stood motionless and felt her buttery soft kiss tease his lips, tearing him apart.
Then her hand went to his tie, knotted into the fabric, and pulled him to her. They collided. He could feel her body pressing against his, careful, probing, like the quiet before the storm. Before he could stop it, he felt the explosion of forecasting senses shooting though his consciousness. Bodies crushed against one another, soft, flittering kisses becoming intense, the sharp indrawn sound of her breath. He was tumbling into a maelstrom of sensations, and it shocked him to his roots.
Grabbing her firmly by her upper arms, he mustered enough willpower to push her away. Instead of meeting her resistance, he felt her body slackening in his grip, and when he looked into her eyes, he was just in time to see them closing and her body collapsing against his chest.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she said in a faint voice.
“Shit.” Etán scanned the crowd for Luca as he held Zenna in his arms. When their eyes met, he could see the question in his brother’s. Luca nodded in the direction of their table. He said something to the whiskey drinking men before making his way back to meet Etán and Zenna.
“I’m not drunk,” Zenna said as Etán picked her up and lifted her onto the bench.
“How many Piscos did you have?” Etán smoothed her hair from her face.
“Half the bottle,” she said meekly.
When Luca laughed, Zenna looked up. “The other brother. Luca, is it? Did Etán bring you as reinforcement?” When Luca’s eyebrows shot up, she continued. “Yes, I know who you are. Did your brother tell you he said I was fat?”
Luca looked at Etán, barely suppressing his laughter.
“She’s got a good memory for a drunken woman,” Etán retorted. “I told her who you were only a few seconds ago, and, for the record, I never said she was fat.”
“What are you boys doing here, anyway?” Zenna smiled prettily.
Luca bent forward to get a better look at her face. “Etán is babysitting you.”
“Shut up, Luca,” snapped Etán. “Get her some water.”
“Yes, sir.” Luca laughed heartily as he walked off.
“Oh, God, Etán,” Zenna’s voice had lowered to a whimper, “my life is a mess.”
“I figured,” he said dryly, sliding into the bench next to her. “We’re just getting you some water, and then we’re out of here. You’re going to feel like death warmed over tomorrow.”
“My boyfriend left me yesterday.” She looked at him as if a thought had just hit her. “Oh, yes, you were there. You insulted me about my thighs.”
Etán sighed. “Will you stop putting words in my mouth?”
“Anyway...” She reached up and pulled a hand through Etán’s hair. “Sorry, I’ve wanted to touch that since the first time I saw your sorry, suited ass in the street.”
Etán smiled, both startled and pleased by the action. “Are you always this honest when you’re drunk?”
“I’m not drunk,” she protested. “Anyway, you know, this morning I was almost arrested for owning a stolen car.” She tilted her head. “Oh. Yes. You were there, too.”
“I’m sorry the detectives handled it so poorly.”
“So what am I supposed to do now? Can’t leave the country. No job. No money. Oh, God, listen to me, I sound like a beggar board.”
“What were you going to do, before ... you know?”
“Before that bastard left me? I enrolled for a degree in leisure and tourism at the university. It was Marcos’ idea. He was a ski instructor. We were going to start a travel agency for English speaking tourists. Now he’s a model, and he’s fucking his agent.” She shook her head. “How did I get here?”
The biker who had his eye on Zenna approached their table. “He your boyfriend?” he asked Zenna.
“I told you before, we’re together,” Etán said without blinking.
“Like hell!” Zenna snorted. “He’s my neighbor. He’s nothing to me.”
“She’s drunk,” Etán said. “It would be best if you take a hike.”
The man planted his feet apart, making it clear he had no desire to go anywhere. “You heard the lady. I wasn’t talking to you, smartass.” He turned back to Zenna. “If this suit is not your boyfriend, sweet cheeks, care for a dance?” The man hitched his thumbs into his belt, his stance one of challenge.
Luca appeared with a bottle of mineral water. “Uh, Etán, now is a good time to get her out of here.” He nodded toward the staircase.
Etán’s fingers gripped Zenna’s arms. She wiggled to free herself, but Etán’s grip only tightened.
She cursed. “I’m only just starting having fun. I haven’t danced, yet.”
The man with the red leather jacket took a step closer to them. “You heard her. The lady wants to dance.”
Etán tensed. “The lady wants to go home.”
Before he had time to say more, Zenna burped unladylike. “Oh, boy. I think I’m going to be sick.”
Etán got to his feet, pulling Zenna into his arms. “Make way. She needs fresh air.”
The biker looked like he wanted to protest, but in the same moment Zenna doubled over, heaved and vomited on the floor.
The man swore and jumped back. He looked at Etán, Luca, and Zenna in disgust, shook his boots, said something insulting, and stalked off.
Luca took a bill from his wallet and left it on the table, while Etán tried to wipe Zenna’s mouth with a paper napkin.
“Come,” Luca said to Etán, “she’s had enough fun for one night. Let’s get her home.” He made his way to the stairs, clearing a path for Etán and Zenna through the crowd.
Etán decided it would go quicker if he carried Zenna, instead of trying to drag her uncooperative feet along. Despite her protest, he scooped her into his arms and followed Luca up the stairs.
Luca waited at the exit until Etán had caught up with him before he retrieved his mobile phone and pressed the speed dial button for a taxi service. When the reply came promptly, he gave the address of the bar.
Luca nodded at the bouncer who swung the double doors open, and, in an instant, they were back on the pavement in the cold.
“What now?” Luca said, scanning the road.
“She passed out,” Etán said. He felt the warmth of Zenna’s body against his chest, infiltrating his skin. He looked down at her relaxed form.
Luca gave his brother a piercing look. “She’s not your type, Bro. Don’t wiggle yourself into serious shit.”
Etán’s eyebrows shot up. “Who said anything about her being my type?”
Luca shrugged, his stare probing. “I’m just saying. Look at her. She’s trouble, Bro. Poison in a small bottle.”
Etán shifted Zenna’s weight in his arms. “What are you saying, Luca?”
Luca shook his head, the habitual smile creeping back into his eyes. “Let it go, Etán. I’m the one going around with the rebels, remember?”
“Thanks for your concern, but it’s not needed.”
“I’m not concerned for you, Bro. It’s her I’m worried about, knowing what an asshole you are. Don’t start something you can’t follow through.”
“Keep your eyes on the road.” Etán’s voice was flat. “The taxi should be here any minute. I know what I’m doing.”
He sounded like a man who was sure of himself and sure of what he was doing. Only, right then, Etán didn’t know what the hell he was doing standing in front of a dodgy bar with a drunken English woman passed out in his arms. For the first time in his life, he didn’t feel self-assured at all.
* * * *
“Good boys,” Ana purred the next morning at the breakfast table as she poured the coffee. “Still,” she said to Etán, a light reprimand in her voice, “you shouldn’t have left her alone in the state you said she was in last night.”
Luca smiled, giving his brother a knowing look. “I told you so.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes filled with mischief. “You know, Mom, he didn’t even undress her before putting her to bed. He should have left the job to me. Just because he’s the oldest doesn’t mean he should get all the enjoyable responsibilities.”
Ana clicked her tongue. “Cut it out, Luca. I won’t have this type of talk in my house, especially not at the breakfast table.” She turned back to her oldest son. “Etán, leaving her alone, really. After the day she had.”
Etán looked from Luca to Ana. “What? Should I have dragged her back here, and then what? She would have woken up in the spare bedroom embarrassed like hell. Let her wake up in her own space. Spare her more humiliation.”
“Etán, you must go over there today and invite her to come with us this weekend,” Ana said.
Etán’s cup halted halfway to his mouth. “Invite her to the estate for the weekend?”
“She cannot stay here on her own for the whole weekend. What if she slips out to that awful bar again? She hasn’t had an easy time since arriving in this country, and you know how it gets around the neighborhood on a Friday afternoon. Everyone heads out of town. She’ll be all alone. She needs a break. It will do her good.”
Luca bit into his toast. “You know, I haven’t been to the estate myself for a while,” he said between chewing. “I think I’ll come, too.”
Ana regarded Luca with surprise. Luca preferred to spend weekends in his flat in town to hang out with his friends in nightclubs and restaurants. He didn’t usually join the family for their weekend gatherings on the estate where Etán resided. He considered it too quiet. The fact that he had spent the night at his parents’ house in Santiago was already a miracle. Luca stopped by frequently for a quick visit, but he hadn’t stayed over since he had moved to his flat just after finishing school.
“Don’t play games, Luca,” Etán said. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”
Luca shrugged. “What?”
Pedro’s voice interjected from the doorway. “Don’t tell me you’re already fighting over breakfast.” He looked pleased to see both his sons at his breakfast table for the first time in years.
Ana patted the chair next to her. “Hurry up, Pedro. You’re late. By the way, Zenna is coming to visit us at the estate for the weekend.”
Both Etán and Luca smiled. Her sons knew her as a woman who always got what she wanted.
* * * *
When Zenna opened the door later that afternoon, she gave Etán one look and then groaned. “I do hope that’s not wine.” She motioned to the bottle he cradled in his arm.
He smiled, holding it out to her. “I brought you something, a late welcoming gift, and I thought maybe you needed to relax with a glass of wine.” He looked her over. “Or maybe not.”
She considered not letting him in, but the man stood there with a bottle of wine in his hand, and he had helped her out last night. She stepped aside resignedly, and led the way to the kitchen.
“Tea?” she asked over her shoulder, and she could have sworn Etán had been studying her ass.
“No, thank you. I have a meeting in Providencia. Just wanted to check on you, see how you were doing,” he grinned, “after last night.”
She drew her hands through her hair and flopped down in a chair at the kitchen table. “Last night. Yeah. About that...” She looked at him, but couldn’t finish the sentence.
Etán put the bottle on the table and crossed his arms. “It’s a pleasure.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What was a pleasure?”
Etán raised his brow. “You don’t remember?”
She groaned again. “Please, don’t torture me. I cannot remember since after...” she broke off suddenly. “I’m not good at sidestepping issues, so I’m just going to say it. I’m sorry I kissed you.”
“Oh, so that part you remember.”
“I don’t know what got into me. I guess I just needed to blow off steam.”
“You sure as hell did.”
She frowned. “How did you end up in the same bar as me?”
“We followed you.”
“We?”
“My brother, Luca, and I.”
“Oh, yes. I remember. Another person who witnessed my embarrassment. Why the hell did you follow me?”
Etán thought for a moment. “You can say my mother had a kind of feeling you were going to get yourself into trouble. She asked us to keep an eye on you. She sends her regards, says she’s happy that nothing serious happened to you last night.”
Zenna cursed. “Your mother knows about last night? That’s so embarrassing.”
Etán shrugged. “We’ve all been there and needed to wash our sorrows away with Pisco.”
“Have you?” she said hopefully.
“No.” He shook his head.
When she didn’t say anything, but simply stared at him, he smiled. “Listen, my mother sent me to invite you to our estate for the weekend.”
“Your estate?”
“Yes. We have a wine estate. It’s not far. On the outskirts of town, south of Santiago.”
“You go there every weekend?” She had noticed Ana and Pedro packing the pickup on Friday afternoons. They left in the early evening and returned on Sunday nights.
“Not me. I actually live there. I sometimes stay here at my parents’ place when I come to town for business. My parents come every weekend.” When she hesitated, he continued, “It’s tranquil, and peaceful. You won’t be bothered, I promise.”
“Your mother is very kind.”
“It’s cultural.”
“I doubt that very much. Not everyone is as caring as your mother.” Zenna looked at her hands. “Thanks, but I can’t impose. I’ll come over later and explain to Ana.”
“Look, Zenna, I know you’ve been through a tough time, and you need a break. Anyway, we invite visitors all the time. My mother thrives on having someone else besides us to cook for. All the neighbors are leaving for the weekend. It will be depressing to stay here by yourself.”
She glanced at the bottle of wine, unseeing. She fingered the label, the embossed name, Sol y Sombra, absent-mindedly. “I’ll think about it.”
Etán got to his feet. “No need to waste your time thinking. My mother won’t accept no for an answer. Pack a weekend bag. I’m heading home earlier, but my parents are leaving at four to get there before sunset. They’ll wait for you.”
He bent over her, holding her gaze, and to her utter surprise he lowered his head and planted a kiss on her lips. It was a kiss unlike any other. His teeth gently nipped at her lips before his tongue swept, as delicious as honey, over them. She hadn’t realized she closed her eyes, but when she no longer felt the contact of his melting touch, she flicked them open to see him straightening abruptly.
Her hand went to her moist lips. “What was that? Revenge for last night?”
His eyes shone with a suppressed smile. “Yes. I just wanted to see if your lips tasted like burnt sugar without Pisco, too.”
She stared at him, too taken aback to think of a clever comment, and then he simply turned and let himself out of the house.