I laughed. “Yes. Please do.”
We turned onto a street with houses in rows pressed so tight together they even shared a retaining wall, rather than the townhouse approach I was used to back in the states. Since the house was practically on the street, we pulled into small garage. The moment I stepped out of the car, I was ambushed by AJ’s relatives.
“This is my mom, Mari,” AJ introduced, patting a woman with a shoulder-length bob haircut. With a curvy frame, she was a lot shorter than AJ, and I assumed he’d gotten his height from his father.
Mari’s arms were immediately around me, squeezing me tight. “Oh Mia, it’s such a pleasure to meet you.”
“It’s a pleasure meeting you, too. AJ has told me so much about you.” With a smile, I added, “Especially about how you like to spoil him.”
She laughed as she pulled away. “Yes, I’ve probably set him up to be utterly taken care of by you.” She wagged a finger. “But don’t you dare let him get away with that,” she instructed.
AJ snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
Mari and I laughed. “No, I don’t think so either.”
A tall man, who could have been an older version of AJ, stepped forward. He gave me a warm smile as he offered me his hand. “I’m Joaquin.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Before I could say anything else, a handsome, muscular guy stepped in front of me. “Mucho gusto,” I began. But when I leaned in to kiss his cheeks, he jerked me to him and then proceeded to lay one on me. I squeaked against his lips before pushing my hands against his chest. When I stumbled back, the guy grinned at me and winked.
AJ huffed a frustrated breath beside me. “And that would be my dickhead brother, Antonio.”
Relief momentarily flooded me that this was AJ’s gay brother and not some overly amorous relative who had ideas of girlfriend swapping. “Uh, nice to meet you.”
“Admit it, Mia. I’m a better kisser than this douchebag.” When I widened my eyes, he laughed. “Just teasing you.” He then leaned in to bestow a chaste kiss on my cheek. “It’s a pleasure meeting the mother of my future niece.”
I gave him a sincere smile. “Thank you.”
He then grabbed AJ in a bear hug. “Glad to see you, big brother.”
AJ grunted. “I just saw you yesterday when I came by the house, twatcake,” he huffed. But I noticed he did squeeze Antonio tight.
“Where’s Cris?” AJ asked.
With a roll of his eyes, Antonio replied, “Miss Cristina took the kids up the street to the market for some sweets.”
AJ’s brows furrowed. “You mean Abuela didn’t make a cake?”
Antonio grinned. “Of course she did. It’s just Cris’s kids are too Americanized from having a gringo for a father.” He jerked his chin up at me. “Just like your daughter will probably turn her nose up at most of our food.”
I laughed. “Well, in her defense, she has been fed the majority of Italian food the last four and a half months.”
“Is she going to be back for lunch? I really wanted Mia to meet everyone.”
“I think she and the gringo mentioned taking the monsters to the zoo.”
I grinned at Antonio’s summation of his nephews, Jase and Luke. AJ had told me the five and seven year olds were a handful. I also knew from some comments AJ had made that Cris was the most Americanized of her family. I could tell he didn’t like how she distanced herself from her roots.