their table.
“Carmen, this is Miguel Acosta and Adrienne Smith. They’re both EMTs at Station 6. And this is Mitchell Hendricks, a firefighter at Station 6.”
She stood and shook everyone’s hand. “I know Miguel and Adrienne. They often bring patients into the ER. Nice to meet you, Mitchell.”
“Hey, Carmen,” Adrienne said.
“Good to see you, Carmen,” Miguel said. “Outside the hospital for a change.”
Carmen laughed as Rafe set her glass of wine on the table.
“Go ahead and take a seat, Adrienne,” Rafe said. “There are no other tables here. The guys and I will go linger by the bar.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Carmen sat, and so did Adrienne.
“It’s always in and out for us,” Adrienne said to her. “We never get a chance to chat.”
“I know. I’m constantly busy.”
“Same.”
“How long have you been with Station 6, Adrienne?” Carmen asked.
“Five years. Since right out of EMT school.”
“You must really like it.”
“I do. I love all the people I work with.”
“It helps to have a friendly work environment, doesn’t it?”
Adrienne nodded. “Sure does.”
They chatted for a while, and Carmen enjoyed getting to know Adrienne.
“So, how long have you and Rafe been dating?” Adrienne asked. “Rafe didn’t clue us in on the two of you. He’s very secretive.”
She laughed, not at all offended. “It’s new. We’re not really dating, just having fun together. We live next door to each other.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that, either. That’s convenient, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’ve known Rafe and his brothers for several years now. They’re all amazing.”
“Yes, they are. It’s annoying how perfect they are.”
She arched a brow. “Perfect? I don’t know about that. No one’s perfect.”
“Spoken like a woman who’s dating a guy. That’s when you truly learn how imperfect they really are, am I right?”
Adrienne had a point. “You might be right about that. How else do we learn that they leave underwear on the bathroom floor, or the cap off the toothpaste, or the toilet seat up?”
The guys came back, and Rafe put his arm around Carmen. “For the record, I never leave the toilet seat up. My mother would have slapped the back of my head for doing that.”
“Same,” Miguel said.
Mitchell nodded. “Without a doubt.”
A man in his late thirties came over and shook hands with Miguel, Rafe and Adrienne.
“Hey, you made it, Rafe.”
“Tommy Rodriguez, this is my friend Carmen Lewis,” Rafe said. “Carmen, this is Tommy, who owns this place.”
“Buena noches, Tommy. Estoy tan feliz de estar aquí.”
Tommy grinned. “¿Tu hablas español?”
She nodded. “Sí.”
“¿Y estás saliendo con este chico? Puedes hacerlo mejor.”
Carmen laughed.
Rafe shook his head and looked at Tommy. “Estella dijo que se había casado contigo porque sabía que eras tan fea que nadie más lo haría.”
Tommy laughed. “That’s probably true. My wife, Estella, has a big heart for ugly men like me.”
Carmen looked over at Rafe and realized she’d never heard him speak Spanish before. Of course he was Hispanic; she knew that. But somehow, hearing him speak their native language sounded so . . . sexy coming from him.
“You speak Spanish,” she said to Rafe.
“Of course.”
“I’ve never heard it.”
“Spanish?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course I’ve heard the language. Just not from you.”
He shrugged. “I don’t use it much. My adoptive parents aren’t Hispanic, so I kind of lost touch with the language for a while.”
“And then he met us,” Miguel said. “Tommy and I forced it on him. He caught back up pretty fast.”
Carmen smiled at him. “Bueno.”
Tommy put his arm around her and led the group to the table. Carmen and Tommy engaged in a flurry of talk in Spanish, which suited Carmen just fine.
Mom and Abuela had immersed her in the language since birth. But her grandfather wasn’t Hispanic and only spoke a handful of words and phrases.
She’d missed having someone to talk with in Spanish. There were a few Spanish-speaking nurses at work, but it wasn’t the same as family, as someone you could converse with every day.
Tommy sat them at a large table in the back of the room. They were set apart from everyone else, which meant they could be as loud as they wanted to be.
“I’ll bring margaritas and beer,” Tommy said, as if that was expected and no one needed to order.
“Sounds great, Tommy,” Rafe said with a smile. “Thanks.”
Rafe leaned over and whispered in her ear. “La próxima vez que esté dentro de ti, te susurraré en español.”
Her entire body flamed hot at the visual of him whispering to her in Spanish as he moved inside of her. She responded with, “Quiero eso,” to let him know