27. Felipe

27

FELIPE

" A nother drink, sir?" the hotel bartender asked me. Considering I was still nursing the bourbon rocks I'd ordered a while before, I shook my head.

She was a pretty young woman, a redhead with high cheekbones accentuated by her tight ponytail and glossy lips, and I could tell she was going to hit on me before it happened. Sure enough, the next words out of her mouth were, "See anything else you'd like, then?"

"I'm waiting for someone," I told her, my tone flat. Disappointed but shrugging it off, the bartender left me alone with my drink again.

In the past, she may have inspired me to have an array of romantic fantasies about her, just from the open way she flirted with me without knowing concretely that I was rich. Of course, anyone who was drinking in the bar at this hotel had to be decently well-off, but she certainly couldn't have known I was a billionaire.

At one time, that might have been enough to give me pause, to make me consider taking her up on her offer. But these days, I only had eyes for Lila—even if she didn't feel the same about me.

"Felipe?" That familiar, beloved voice, soft and hesitant, broke through my thoughts. I turned over my shoulder to see Lila standing in front of me, dressed to kill in a tight, silky green dress and a pair of strappy heels that brought her just about to my eye-level. Smokey bronze eyeshadow and dark liner made her doe eyes look more sultry, her lips glossy, her hair pulled back to reveal dangling gold earrings. She was always gorgeous, my Lila, but now she was a total knockout.

I stood to greet her, kissing her on the cheek both to appease my urge to kiss her lips and to show her not to worry. When I pulled back and gestured for her to join me at the bar, Lila's face was radiant with relief and joy.

Seeing her so happy but so surprised at my affection sent a pang of guilt to my heart. I hadn't wanted to push her away, and each moment we'd been apart had hurt me just as badly as it hurt her. But it had been for the best. I'd taken some time to think, and now I'd made up my mind.

I told Lila as much as she ordered a fruity cocktail on my tab at my insistence.

"I'm glad you reached out," I told her truthfully. "I really have missed you badly since we've been apart."

"Me, too," she admitted freely.

"I didn't mean to ignore or neglect you, mi corazon," I told her by way of apology, and her face was gentle in a way that said she forgave me without words. "I needed some space to think things through, so I went home to Chile for a bit. Talking to my family always helps when I'm facing a difficult situation. They have a way of grounding me, reminding me of what's truly important."

She nodded, her expression softening. "What did you tell them?"

I smiled, remembering the conversation I'd had with my Abuela. "I talked to my Abuela. I've told you that she's always been the wise one in our family."

Lila bit her lip, nodding. "And?"

I chuckled softly, the memory vivid in my mind. "I kept the details vague, of course. I just told her I was interested in someone, and that I wasn't sure she and I wanted the same things. But she picked up on how enamored I am with this mystery woman, and clearly, she knew better than I did that whatever differences she and I had, they weren't deal breakers for me. She ultimately told me to do whatever I could to keep this girl. That she could tell how happy I was just by the way I talked about her, and—I'm quoting here—that I'd better bring her home to meet the family before she kicks the bucket."

Lila laughed, blushing as her eyes dropped to her drink. "Your Abuela sounds amazing."

"She is," I agreed. "She has a way of cutting through the bullshit, seeing things clearly. It might come from age, since she's old as dirt."

Lila took a sip of her cocktail, then met my gaze again. "So… what did you decide?"

I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of my words on my tongue, almost oppressive, though I knew I was making the right choice. "I've been considering it, the possibility of sharing you with someone else—or, I guess, sharing you specifically with Aaron and Miles."

Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't interrupt, sensing I wasn't finished.

I continued, "At first, my brain told me that this kind of relationship was… well, not wrong, exactly. But it isn't exactly the fairy tale I always imagined. And it's certainly not the conventional future my family would understand—a simple marriage to a woman who belongs to only me, a few kids."

"No," Lila breathed. "It's not much like that."

"But my heart, my body… I don't know. I think they were always going to be on Abuela's side, agreeing with her that you're too important to lose. And I've realized that both of those parts of me like the idea of sharing you just fine. Now that I've processed it, anyway." I shrugged. "Your heart, darling Lila, is big enough to share. I think that's what's drawn all of us to you in the first place."

Lila looked at me, her eyes searching mine, the silence stretching on longer than either of us probably hoped. Finally, she spoke again. "You… you really feel that way?"

"I do," I said firmly. "I've always been about breaking barriers in business. Why not in my personal life, too?"

The fairy tale, it turned out, had lost its luster. Maybe I'd been friends with practical, whimsy-averse Miles Kramer for too long, and his worldview had rubbed off on me. But I knew that real life had its own magic to share, too, and Lila was certainly a conduit for it.

As if on cue, summoned by my thoughts, Miles appeared, joining us at the bar. He looked surprised to see Lila there, and Lila was equally surprised to see him. Exactly as I'd arranged it to be. It was a rare night when Olivia was with her grandparents, which I'd planned for both Miles' and Lila's sakes.

"Oh, my God," Lila laughed, breaking the silent tension in the air with her mirth. "This is so typical, Felipe, tricking us both into being here. Just like that first lunch when I got my jobs."

I grinned, and Miles laughed with both of us, coming up on a bar stool on Lila's other side.

"I never took you to be such a trickster before, Rojas. Guess you never can know someone." His smile was warm, and Lila must have made a huge impact on both of us, because his next words were uncharacteristically candid. "I hope you know that no matter what happens between the three of us, Felipe, you'll always be my best friend. I don't have any issues with sharing, in part because it's you, and I want your happiness just as badly as I want my own."

Oh, damn it. He had to go and get all soft on me, making me want to tear up. Instead, I clenched my manly jaw and decided there was no way I was doing that in a public place. "I feel the same way about you, amigo . And I can see how happy you are with Lila just as well as I can feel that for myself."

Between us, Lila placed a hand on each of our arms, and she looked into each of our eyes in turn. "You two are wonderful, and I care about you both so much. I… well, what happens now?"

She looked at me imploringly, still searching for guidance in the flurry of new, exciting experiences she'd been exposed to lately. Not for the first time, I felt truly touched that she trusted me enough to reveal that vulnerability, to go out on a limb with me in whatever way I saw fit.

I knew exactly what I wanted to be the next step. I glanced around us, taking in the general emptiness of the bar, the distance of the bartender—definitely out of earshot. So I looked to Miles, then Lila, and leaned toward them both.

"Well, I know that since our first night together, I've wanted nothing but to be inside your sweet pussy again," I told Lila brazenly, placing a hand on her upper thigh, just under the hem of her skirt. Her breath hitched, and Miles leaned in on her other side and placed his own hand on the leg opposite, a physical agreement. Our precious Lila looked back and forth between the two of us as if in a lustful daze.

"I have a room right upstairs, and a bed big enough for the three of us," I told them, the invitation clear in my words.

My heart fluttered with anticipation and nerves when Lila and Miles both agreed.