Moreno's (Moreno Brothers Series) - Elizabeth Reyes Page 0,16

own father had sat Alej down years ago with basically the same talk in a guy version, minus any mention of getting Isa pregnant specifically. Still, he considered his Isa too young and innocent for her mother to be worrying and talking about such things. It’s why he was stunned. Despite all the times he’d shamelessly fantasized about all the things he’d one day do to her, he had the utmost respect for her and assumed that day was still long in coming. He’d wait until they were married if he had to.

Unless I allowed it.

Shaking off what those four little words did to him, he reminded himself of what she followed that up with. She was way too young to even consider it. But she’d be fifteen in two weeks and time flew. Who knew what the next few years entailed? Well, damn, he had a lot of long showers ahead of him.

Capítulo 5

Quinceañera

Isabella

The entire morning Isabella had already felt like she’d been thrown into a whirlwind of pampering and princess heaven. Isabella’s out-of-town family had arrived a few days prior, and the small house had been one big noisy factory ever since. But that morning was even worse. The whole adage of it taking a village to raise a child had never felt truer than the days leading up to this party. Everyone in the pueblo had offered to contribute something: from the heavily discounted fabric her abuela had purchased to make her dress to the food Alejandro’s family was making to the ladies from the pueblo’s salon her mom and abuela frequented being there in her home now doing her hair and makeup. They’d arrived early that morning, bearing gifts from the panaderia up the road where they’d purchased the cake for the party: fresh pan dulce for everyone preparing for the big day.

Isabella hadn’t seen it yet, but her mother told her the placita outside the town’s church where the party would be taking place had been transformed into a fiesta wonderland fit for a princesa. She hadn’t been nervous until moments before she was finally ready to step outside to see the mariachis in front of their home serenading her. At that moment, she knew the entire pueblo had put everything on hold for her big day.

The crowd of people outside clapped and cheered as she made her first appearance looking and feeling like an absolute princess. But Isabella’s eyes were glued to Alejandro, who looked equally as staggered about seeing her as she was of seeing him in his white suit that hugged his body so perfectly. She’d always thought him handsome. Beyond handsome as the years kept enhancing his looks. But seeing him now like this was utterly breathtaking. She felt like the luckiest girl in the world that, of all the girls he could’ve chosen to stake his claim on so early on, she was the one.

She walked slowly, cautiously, down the steps of her house as the photographer continued to snap away. He’d been doing so throughout her transformation inside the house, and now he’d be following her around all day.

When she reached Alejandro, she could see his eyes glistened as he continued to stare at her in complete awe. “You look incredible,” she managed to state the obvious without stuttering.

He shook his head, still taking her in completely. “Isabella, you’re gonna hear this all day I’m sure because you’re so beautiful. But I swear to you I couldn’t even catch my breath when you first walked out. You’re just . . .”

His eyes went up and down slowly again. If she weren’t wearing a giant quinceañera ballroom gown, it might’ve seemed rude of him eyeballing her the way he did. Already her insides had been a crazy mess, but seeing the way this gorgeous guy genuinely appeared awestruck by her, Isabella thought she might swoon.

Their eyes met again as the photographer asked them to turn to him. Only Alejandro didn’t and Isabella felt struck now by the way his eyes bore into hers so profoundly. “Absolutamente exquisita.”

Isabella inhaled deeply as her eyes did the roaming now. She felt bad now because, when they’d discussed his getting a suit and he asked what color and if she had a preference, all she’d said was she preferred white and that she’d always loved how manly men looked in a traje de charro.

Not only had he complied, this close she could see it was a very fine quality, right down to the detailed