Normally, the cheerful ambiance of the tasting room, with its colorful paintings and bright ceramic tiles, could perk up his mood. But not today, when his brothers were waiting for him. Tony and Martin sat at the large oak table in the center of the room, drinking coffee and munching cookies from a candy-cane-striped tin.
“What’s up?” Martin asked.
“You don’t look so good,” Tony added. “You sick?”
“Take a seat,” Martin said. “And help yourself to Luz’s cookies. I’ve put on five pounds this month with her Christmas baking.”
“It’s okay. I’ll stand.” Rafael couldn’t sit while delivering his news. Sweat prickled the back of his neck. He wished he was literally anywhere else than in this room, about to lose the respect of his brothers.
Nothing to do but jump into the deep end.
He shoved his hands into his pockets to stop them from shaking. “Last night, I fucked up, big-time.”
“Last night? At the decorating party? Luz said it went great. You finished all those trees.” Martin narrowed his eyes. “Did you hit on Victoria?”
Of course Martin would assume that. Rafael resisted the urge to snap at him, since the accusation wasn’t entirely baseless. “No. After everyone left, I stayed to help her clean up. Ben Macalister showed up drunk and started harassing her. I was in the back, so I didn’t see what went down. But when I came out of the kitchen, he had her backed up against the wall. She looked upset.”
He’d actually been worried Ben might assault her. After all, the dick had shown up late at night, no doubt assuming she would be alone.
Tony rubbed his hands over his face. “You didn’t take a swing at him, did you?”
“I didn’t touch him. I didn’t even raise my voice. But I asked Victoria if she was okay. And told Ben he should leave. But…”
He stopped and swallowed as the words stuck in his throat. At this point, he could omit the rest of the story. Let his brothers infer that Ben was nothing more than a drunk, entitled asshole who enjoyed throwing his power around. But Rafael needed to own up to his mistakes. To admit he’d screwed up, even if his family never forgave him.
“Ben figured out the truth,” he said. “That’s why he fired me.”
“He fired you?” Tony set down his coffee cup and stared at him, slack-jawed. “That’s not possible. We signed acontract. The final payment was due five days ago.”
Another wave of guilt washed over Rafael. “Missy hadn’t paid the balance yet. When I mentioned it to Victoria last night, she told me not to worry. She said she’d deal with it today.”
Victoria had assured him the Cavendish family was good for the money, but they’d been distracted. She’d promised to call Missy first thing in the morning to remind her the final payment was past due.
Too late for that now.
Martin looked at Rafael with murder in his eyes. “There’s something you’re not telling us. What made Ben so mad?”
“That…Victoria and I were…together.” Rafael couldn’t use the word “fucking,” because they’d shared more than just physical pleasure. Or so he’d thought.
Obviously, he’d been wrong.
Martin smacked his hand on the table. “You said you were done with that shit.”
Tony groaned. “Come on, man. You’ve known her for—what—two weeks? Couldn’t you keep it in your pants for that long?”
“I… ah…” If he wanted his brothers to trust him, Rafael needed to come clean. He grabbed a cup and filled it from the tap. He downed half the water before he got the courage to continue.
Without embellishing the details, he told them about his fling with Victoria, back when they’d met in Baja, five years ago. His brothers listened in stunned silence, occasionally grabbing another cookie from the tin. Despite the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, the act of confession freed a heavy weight from his shoulders. Up until now, he hadn’t realized how much he hated lying to his family.
Martin stood to face him. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us this up front?”
Though he had no right to go on the defensive, Rafael couldn’t hide his irritation. “Because I hate that lady-killer shit. I know I fooled around a lot in high school, and then I messed up with Sandra, but I wasn’t that guy anymore. I hadn’t been with anyone in months.” He chugged the rest of his water, hoping it would ease the painful lump in his throat. “To be fair, at first I tried to get out of catering the wedding.”
Martin crossed his arms. “Because you acted like you couldn’t handle the responsibility. You never mentioned you’d screwed the wedding coordinator.”
“Is that why you wouldn’t let me take your place?” Tony asked. “Because of Victoria?” He glowered at his coffee cup. “Is it too early to start drinking?”
Rafael could have used a strong drink. But all the booze in the world wouldn’t fix the situation. “I’ll admit I wanted to impress her. But when we first started working together, we were just friends. The sex came later.” He caught Martin’s eye, begging his brother to see reason. “I’m sorry. We kept it a secret because we didn’t want to upset anyone. Once the wedding was over, we were going to take things public.”
