know he loves that,” Xavier replied.
“He does. And as soon as we sit down at his favorite table, his face lights up. He even flirts with the waitresses.”
Xavier grinned, slapped Ramón on the arm, and said, “Well, give him my love. I’ll call next week, after things settle down.”
“Will do.” Ramón reached around, grabbed his carry-on bag off the back seat, and patted the outside pocket. “I got your swearing-in ceremony right here on DVD, so Pop can see you taking your oath of office.” Ramón shook his head and chuckled under his breath. “He’ll probably invite everyone in the center over to his room to watch this with him. He’s very proud of you…and so am I.”
Xavier nodded, lips compressed in understanding. “Well, next time you come to Acapulco, you’ve gotta stay at the house.”
“I will. I promise.”
“And we’ll spend some time just hanging out,” Xavier added. “Sorry I couldn’t hit the club with you last night, but with all the people in town, and the crowd at the house…”
“No problem,” Ramón interrupted, knowing that Xavier had been swept up in a whirlwind of congratulatory lunches, dinners and parties all weekend. “I understand, bro. Not much was happening at Azule anyway.”
The blast of a taxi driver’s horn alerted Xavier that he had been at the Drop-off stand longer than allowed. “Hey. Gotta go,” he said to Ramón, who quickly opened the passenger-side door. “I’m blocking traffic and you’re gonna miss your flight. Later!”
“Yeah, later!” Ramón echoed. He shook his brother’s hand, got out and slammed the car door shut, but remained at the curb as Xavier nudged his luxury car into the long line of vehicles clogging the exit from Mexico National Airport.
Ramón adjusted his sunglasses and thought about his comment on the club scene last night. Not much was happening at Club Azule. Really? If that was the case, why did his encounter with the most attractive and intriguing woman he had ever danced with keep flashing like a Technicolor video in his brain?
Ramón turned and headed into the terminal, thinking about the weekend, glad he’d made the trip to see Xavier take an honored place in Mexico’s judicial system.
“Good for him,” Ramón murmured to himself, a deep sense of satisfaction coming over him. He admired his older brother very much, and the age gap between the two had seemed to narrow over the years. It was as if the older they got, the closer they became, and now, even though they lived more than a thousand miles apart, they talked, texted or e-mailed each other almost every day.
Just as he entered the terminal, Ramón’s cell phone rang, breaking into his mental musing. Checking the phone’s screen, he saw that Keith Harris, his business partner in Houston, was calling. Punching the trackball, he greeted Keith, and was upset to hear that the installation of a security system for a major furniture retailer in Dallas was a week behind schedule. As the co-owner of the high-tech security company, Vida-Shield, Ramón was constantly putting out fires.
“Who’s at fault—the site foreman or the supplier?” Ramón asked Keith, pissed off that one of his most complicated jobs was only half finished and already over budget.
“Both,” Keith replied.
“Need me to fly straight into Dallas, instead of coming home?” Ramón asked, knowing he could not let this situation deteriorate any further.
“No,” Keith said. “I’m on my way up there now. I’ll check in after I get a handle on what’s happening.”
“Good. I’m about to board my plane. I’ll call as soon as I land,” Ramón replied, thankful that he had such a competent and trustworthy business partner.
Inside the terminal building, Ramón scanned the flight board for the gate number for Globus-Americas Airlines flight 565, eager to get home to Houston and back to work. Maybe then, he’d be able to get last night’s dance-floor kiss out of his mind.
Chapter Four
Moving up from the rear of the plane with an armload of pillows, Lori left her fellow crewmembers, Sam and Allen, hanging out in the back to monitor the dwindling space in the overhead bins. She squeezed past passengers stuffing bags of all shapes and sizes into the narrow bins, knowing that space was going quickly. Soon, leftover bags would need to be checked back at the plane’s main cabin door, tensions would begin to mount and wrestling oversized duffel bags from surly passengers would begin. However, the one-hour, fifty-five minute flight from Acapulco to Houston, with a short stop in Mexico City, would give everyone plenty of time to calm down.
Boarding always produced the most problems, snafus and complaints during a flight, stressing out the flight attendants, whose main goal was to get carry-ons stowed and everyone seated as quickly as possible so the captain could depart on time.
As soon as Lori reached the first-class cabin, she handed the pillows to a family of four seated in the last two rows and then took their drink requests. Two sodas for the kids and two champagne mimosas for the parents. Lori nodded her understanding at the harried-looking mother who seemed to have struggled to get her sullen preteens settled into their seats.
While Phyllis prepared the drinks, Lori approached passengers seated in the emergency exit rows to determine if they were willing and able to assist in case of an emergency. Even though one of the passengers was quite elderly, the wiry little man assured Lori that he was up to the task.
When Lori returned to the first-class cabin, she met the agent working the flight. The agent handed her a copy of the manifest, which listed first-class passengers, passengers with special needs or meals, and any gate connections. She glanced at it, turned to face the passengers seated in the forward cabin and started her walk-through to get a head count.
However, she had not taken two full steps when she froze in the center aisle, her eyes riveted on the man sitting by the window in row 2, seat A. Was it possible? Was that her mysterious dance partner from the night before, calmly leafing through a magazine? Quickly, she checked the passenger list. Ramón Vidal—destination: Houston, Texas. Squinting at him, she did a double take. Yes, he was the man who’d burned her lips with his fiery kiss and branded her heart with an ache that wouldn’t go away.
Drawing in a calming breath, she moved right up to the edge of his seat to make sure he saw her. “Well, hello,” Lori said, trying to sound as casual as if she’d just run into a classmate from her college days, aware that everyone in first class would hear every word she said.
Ramón lifted his head, slid his sexy brown eyes up to hers and then hit her with the most adorable half smile Lori had ever seen, making her body tense and her nerve endings flare.
“Well…hi. You work here?” Ramón asked, looking bewildered as he glanced around, half turning in his seat.
“That’s right. I’m Lori, your flight attendant and I’ll be taking care of you during our flight to Houston.” Even though the plane hadn’t left the tarmac yet, her insides were tumbling around as if they’d entered a rough patch of turbulence. She held on to the nearest seat back to maintain her balance and looked down at the manifest again, determined to hold her emotions together. “Uh, so, you’re Mr. Vidal, right?” she inquired, shifting her attention back to Ramón, thankful that no one was sitting beside him.
“Yes,
