The driveway led up beside and past the house to those buildings, but it also had a branch that broke off to run along the front of the house. Matias turned onto that, and steered them up to the front door before stopping.
The minute Matias shut off the engine, the loud raucous music died. Donny immediately dropped back into his seat.
“Man, we’re here!” he exclaimed as if they might have missed that fact. “I was really rocking it. You have great taste in music, Matias. We should unload, huh?” Throwing the SUV’s side door open, he bounded out of the back seat and ran around to the back of the vehicle.
“Ye had to let him drink the coffee, didn’t ye?” Scotty said with disgust.
“Espresso,” Beth corrected him. “And it’s better we know how he reacts to it now than on the job. Fortunately, he has lots of time to get it out of his system. We’re on a bit of a vacation right now,” she reminded him with a smile.
“Yeah, great,” Scotty said, following the younger man out of the vehicle. Beth couldn’t help noticing he sounded unimpressed.
“This Scotty, he is a grumpy bastard, no?” Matias commented as he undid his seat belt. Smiling at her then, he added, “And he has the thing for you.”
Beth froze in the process of getting out of the vehicle, and jerked around to stare at him with dismay. “No, he doesn’t.”
Matias just grinned and nodded slowly. “Sí, he does. He was wanting to tear my head off at the airport when you were in my arms. He has the thing.”
Beth glanced nervously toward the back of the vehicle to make sure that Scotty wasn’t hearing any of this. Much to her relief, she could see that Donny was busy chatting his ear off, hopefully preventing his hearing their conversation. Just in case, though, she decided she’d best keep her voice low. Turning back to Matias, she hissed, “He’s eight hundred and some years old, long past the days of sex and crushes and whatnot. He doesn’t have a ‘thing’ for me. And if you say that in front of him, I’ll scratch your eyes out, wait for them to grow back in and then scratch them out again.”
The old threat merely made Matias laugh and shake his head. He did, however, get out of the vehicle rather quickly and hurry around to join the men at the back of the SUV. He probably hoped there’d be safety in numbers, Beth thought with disgust as she got out to follow him.
“So, there are only three bedrooms,” Matias was saying as she joined the men. “Two of you will have to share a bed.”
Beth scowled at his suggestive tone and the way he waggled his eyebrows as he glanced between her and Scotty. She really should scratch his eyes out, she thought grimly, but merely said, “Scotty and Donny can share.”
“If there are three bedrooms, why do we have to share?” Donny asked. “Beth can have one. Scotty can have one. I can have one. That’s three bedrooms. That’s good. Three bedrooms is good. It’s perfect. Like it was made for us. Three bedrooms, three people.”
“Three bedrooms and four people,” Matias corrected him. “One bedroom is mine already. So, you will share.”
“Great,” Scotty growled, dragging a large leather bag out of the back of the SUV.
“That’s okay. Really. It’ll be okay. We can share. I’m a good roommate. I don’t snore. Do you snore? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Fine. It’ll be fine. We’re fine,” Donny shot out in staccato sentences as he followed Scotty into the house.
“Oh, sí, the Scotty, he has this thing for you and he has it bad,” Matias said with delight as they watched the two men disappear into the house.
“Why?” she asked with exasperation as she dragged her bags out one after the other and began to sling them over her shoulders. “Why would you even imagine that?”
“Because he has not killed you for letting Donny drink the espresso. Even though he knows he will be stuck with the man tonight.”
Beth tried to hold on to her scowl. She truly did, but couldn’t help it and her expression cracked as a laugh slipped from her lips. She covered her mouth quickly and shook her head. “It isn’t funny. Donny is going to make him crazy.”
“Nah,” he said lightly. Taking two of her bags, he reminded her, “We are going dancing. Donny can work the caffeine out of his system on the dance floor and I will finally have a proper rumba partner again. Truly, chiquita, the girls here do not know how to dance.”
“Dancing. Right. I forgot about that,” Beth said with a smile as they headed into the house.
“Forgot about what?” Scotty asked, meeting them in the entry. His hands were empty, and Beth glanced past him to see that he’d set his own bags on the floor just inside the door of the first room on the left, a small living room decorated in earth tones and overstuffed furniture.
“That we are going dancing and Donny can work off the caffeine on the dance floor,” Beth explained.
“Oh, dear God, aye,” Scotty said with relief. “If I have to share a room with the lad chattering away like he is now, I’m like to kill him.”
“Speaking of which, where is he?” Beth asked.
“Hey! I found the kitchen!” Donny’s voice came from the back of the house in answer. “Does anyone else want blood? I found the fridge. And food! Good food! Cheese and sausage. Whipped cream. Dip too. I love dip. Are there chips? Jeez, this is great stuff. Things I haven’t had since I started training. Bologna and salami! Sliced smoked turkey! I could make us Dagwoods!”
“Bologna?” Beth peered at Matias with disbelief. “Your mother would shoot you for even bringing all that junk into the house.”
“It tastes good,” Matias said helplessly.
“Oh wow! Look at the backyard. It’s huge!” Donny cried and then asked excitedly, “Are those dogs back there? Man, they’re beautiful. Scary-looking too, but they’re probably nice dogs. They just look scary. Right?”
“Dogs?” Beth asked, her eyebrows rising. Matias had always wanted a dog. But his mother, Aunt Giulietta, thought they were messy and smelly and wouldn’t let him have one as he was growing up.
“Sí.” Matias beamed at her. “Two Dobermans. They are beautiful. I only put them outside when I am not here so they do not ruin the furniture. One of them, Chico, he tried to eat the couch when I left him home alone for a couple hours, so now they must wait in the kennel until I can be with them.”
“I see,” Beth said and shook her head. “Aunt Giulietta hasn’t visited you here yet, has she?”
“Sí,” he assured her. “Mama has been here twice, but I had a friend keep the dogs while she was here both times.”