door closed, then traipsed through the sandy ground toward the concrete picnic table under a nearby cabana.
Vinny D. to the rescue sounded a hell of a lot better than Saint Navarro. Especially since Luis found himself entertaining more than a few unsaintly thoughts when it came to Sara.
Oh, he might have reservations about this zany plan, but he couldn’t think of a single reservation about spending more time in Sara’s company.
Chapter 4
Sara pulled the supersize sandwiches from the brown paper bag and set them on the cement table. Good Lord, everything about Luis Navarro seemed extra large—his truck, his muscles, his nice-guy streak. Even the sandwiches he’d bought them for lunch.
She snuck a quick look at the handsome firefighter from under her lashes.
Luis sat across from her, patiently waiting while she opened her sandwich and smoothed out the butcher paper wrapping for a makeshift place setting. If he felt any of the same anticipation zinging inside her over their plan, he hid it well under his steely, calm fa?ade.
Behind him, the sandy beach and wide-open ocean created an inspiring backdrop. Sunlight glistened across the water in wavy ribbons. Off to the right, an old wooden walking pier jutted out into the water, and a friendly coed sand volleyball match was in full swing nearby. Shouts of victory accompanied the smack of hands punching the ball through the air.
Luis twisted the cap to break the seal on her water bottle but didn’t remove it.
“There you go,” he said, setting the drink closer to her. “You good?”
When he sat back on his bench, his unwrapped sandwich dwarfed in his big hands, she realized he was making sure she was ready to enjoy her meal before he started on his own.
“You are a wonderfully considerate person, you know that?” she told him.
The serious expression she was quickly coming to know as his default morphed into a confused frown. “That’s a bad thing?”
“Not at all. Simply an observation. And a compliment.”
His thick shoulders rose and fell in an easygoing shrug. “Any good manners or behavior on my part stems from my parents’ strict rules, and my mom’s chancleta.”
Sara chuckled as Luis mimicked the age-old threat of Hispanic mamás everywhere—a slipper clutched in hand, waving it in the air, ready to fling at the perpetuator of mischief if needed.
“My Mamá Alicia had a chancla, too,” she shared. “Granted, I never experienced a chancletazo from her, but I was around when that slipper found its mark if one of her sons misbehaved.”
Luis raised his brows and nodded as he took a bite, in obvious commiseration.
“And Mamá Alicia is?” he asked, once he’d swallowed.
“My nanny growing up. Well, more like a second mom, really.”
A wistful sigh blew through Sara’s lips as she recalled the woman who’d been there for pretty much every important moment. Especially the most life-changing ones.
“She was an incredible person,” Sara murmured.
“Was?”
“She passed several years ago. A brain aneurysm.” Sara ducked her head, blinking away the tears that still formed when she thought about that call from Pedro, Mamá Alicia’s youngest son. The mental battle Sara had gone through, working to not let the subsequent grief become another trigger. Something her mother had worried about as well.
Luis’s warm hand covered hers on the table, startling Sara out of her sad memories.
“It’s never easy when a loved one dies. I’m sorry for your loss.”
His earnest tone was a balm easing her sorrow. Quieting the rush of loss cresting through her. More than likely this was a skill or gift he relied upon to calm victims when responding to emergencies at work. Now his tender, sympathetic nature soothed her.
“I bet you’re great at your job,” she blurted out. “Like firefighter of the month all the time, right?”
He pulled his hand back, a grimace chasing away the kindness from his tanned face. Silly, but now that it was gone, she realized she liked the comforting weight of his hand over hers. The light brush of his thumb across her skin.
“I’m not sure my captain always agrees. What makes you think that?” he asked.
“For being such a tough guy, you’ve got a compassionate, protective nature. It’s nice.”
An embarrassed flush climbed his cheeks. His gaze shifted away, tracking a car that passed behind her.
That small vulnerability, his honest humility, made him all the more likable.
Not for the first time, Sara considered herself lucky for running into Luis Navarro. After her string of crappy dating experiences in recent years, Luis was a refreshing reminder that there were still some good