Rock Chick 07 Regret (35 page)

That was why New Sadie asked, “Are you well?”

“Yeah,” he returned.

I smiled at him. “Good.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth then his lips formed a grin. “Jesus, Sadie, never seen you smile,” he remarked.

I cocked my head in confusion. “I’m sure you have,” I replied.

His eyes moved back to mine. “Trust me, I would have remembered.”

It was then I felt the electric current snapping through the room right before I heard Hector, his voice not happy, saying in the form of a question but meaning it in the form of a demand, “Zano, you wanna step back?”

I realized Ren still had an arm around me right before he dropped it and stepped back.

Both Ren and I looked across the room.

Hector was standing, feet planted, arms crossed, eyes dark and looking beyond unhappy. So beyond unhappy, he looked downright angry.

No, one could say he’d gone right past downright unhappy to pretty extreme fury.

Blanca had a similar expression
and
she was holding a wooden spoon, a wooden spoon I thought she had a mind to use for something other than cooking.

“Chavez, you know Sadie’s a friend,” Ren told Hector in a low, placating tone.

“Yeah, but now she’s a friend you don’t put your hands on,” Hector replied.

Oh my.

Why was he being so
rude
? This was Ren Zano we were talking about! Ren was a very nice man. There was no reason to be rude.

“Hector –” I started and Hector’s eyes cut to me. The minute I saw the look in them, for self-preservation’s sake I snapped my mouth shut.

“Coffee and we finish our talk in the other room,” Hector told Ren.

“I’ll get the coffee,” I offered quickly and jumped to get Ren’s coffee, needing something to do to keep my mind off the look in Hector’s eyes. I asked Ren’s coffee preference, hurried through the preparation and handed him his mug. He smiled his thanks, nodded to a still-frowning, closely-watching Blanca and walked from the room.

Then I gave Hector his mug, got scorched by a Hector glare that made my lungs burn and he walked from the room too.

I picked up my own mug and tried to stop my hands from shaking and my heart from racing. I took a sip and realized I also had to stop breathing so heavily. I was panting like I’d just run a race.

That’s when I noticed Blanca’s eyes were on me.

“I think I made Hector mad,” I blurted before I thought better of it.

Something flashed across her face, it looked like anger, warring with confusion, warring with compassion then she asked, “You
think?
”

“I…” I started, stopped and walked the five steps to Blanca. “What did I do?” I finished on a whisper.

I watched her face soften as compassion won and she put a hand on my arm. “My Hector, he’s a little hotheaded. You have to handle that boy with care.
Queridita
, first lesson, you don’t let a man touch you, ever. If Hector’s there to see it or he’s not. But
especially
if he’s there to see it.
Sí
?”

The light dawned. I might be fledgling New Sadie in my head but in
his
head, I was
His
Sadie. Period, dot, the end.

I nodded to Blanca.

She patted my arm and went back to cooking. I grabbed my mug and went back to sipping, finding I was so uncomfortable with the idea of making Hector angry at me that it made my heart hurt.

Ren materialized at the door and jutted his chin at me. “Sadie, I’m leaving.”

I decided my safest bet was to stay all the way across the room from him and this was exactly what I did.

“Bye, Ren,” I said on a wave.

Ren grinned at me like he thought I was funny, his eyes moved to Blanca and he said his good-byes. Then he was gone and Hector was in the doorframe, his gaze was still scorching and it was on me.

“
Mamita
, a word.”

It was not a request and he didn’t wait for my response, he turned and moved away as I heard the front door open and close behind Ren.

I stood frozen to the spot. Then my eyes flew to Blanca.

She gave me a reassuring wink (which didn’t reassure me) and gestured to the door with her spoon.

I pulled in my lips, put down my mug, took a deep breath and searched for Hector who was not in the living room, not in the cluttered other rooms but upstairs, in his bedroom. He was waiting at the door and the minute I cleared it, he threw it to.

Blooming heck!

He opened his mouth but before he could say a word, I launched in.

“He’s never touched me before. I swear it. It
weirded
me out!” I cried. “Honest to God, I wouldn’t even call him a friend. More an acquaintance. The Ice Princess always protected me from people getting near. When he hugged me, I tried to call her up but she was just
gone
. She keeps disappearing these days. Even when I need her. I’m used to having her around. I know you cannot imagine but, Hector, believe me, it’s
beyond
annoying.”

I stopped talking when I noticed that he’d stopped looking angry. Instead, his eyes had warmed and his mouth was doing the fighting-a-grin thing.

I replayed what I said, my hands clenched into fists, my eyes closed tight as my body went stock-still and waves of embarrassment flowed over me.

I’d done it. Now he knew everything.

How did I let
that
happen?

He was going to think I was absolutely, certifiably,
insane
.

Then I found myself snatched into strong arms, my soft body colliding with his hard one and his face went into my neck. I opened my eyes as he turned me and started walking me backward toward the bed his arms still locked around me.

Well, maybe he didn’t think I was certifiably insane. But I was beginning to think he was.

His mood swings were just
bizarre
.

The backs of my legs hit the bed, he stopped us and his mouth moved to my ear.

“
Mamita
,” his voice was rough with what sounded like laughter and something else altogether, “you think you could handle my mouth between your legs without
freakin
’ out?”

The legs he wanted to put his mouth between turned to water.

“What?” I whispered.

His head came up, his eyes were burning into mine (now, in a different way) and my breath caught at the sight.

“I gotta have a taste of you and I gotta watch you come, I don’t…”

My fingers at his waist dug in and at that second if he let me go I’d collapse in a puddle at his feet.

“Your mother is downstairs,” I breathed.

Hector’s mouth came to mine. “The walls are thick.”

“She’ll wonder what we’re doing!”

“No she won’t,” he returned.

“I won’t be able to concentrate.” I kept trying.

I felt his mouth smile against mine. “
Mi corazón
, you won’t need to concentrate.”

Oh my.

That
got a stomach pitch.

Even so, I kept at it. “I can’t, not now. Maybe later.”

His mouth moved away an inch. “Yeah?”

Oh my God!

What had I done now?

I had to keep at it. My hands went to his shoulders, my heart skipped a beat, I ignored my heart and nodded.

Before I could go back on my promise, he kissed me quickly and muttered, “Pack a bag, you’re spendin’ the night again. We’ll try it, you can’t deal, we’ll stop and watch a movie.”

“Okay,” I said but my stomach was twisting, my heart was in my throat and I was having difficulty breathing. This was partially panic but it was also partially anticipation and I wondered which one would win that night.

Hector watched my face and his arms got tight. “Sadie, seriously, you can’t deal, you tell me, we stop,” he repeated in a way I knew he meant it.

The partial panic disappeared and before I thought better of it, I leaned into him, tilted my head back further and smiled.

His face warmed, his mouth descended, he gave me one of his slow, sweet kisses (with tongues), my toes started curling, we heard a muted, “
Hola
!
Anyone home?” and Hector groaned his frustration in my mouth.

His head came up briefly but he leaned back in, gave me a quick kiss and told me, “Get dressed,
mamita
, that’s my sister Rosa. Gloria’s been busy.”

I did not think this was a good thing and the look on Hector’s face confirmed it.

He let me go, I watched as he grabbed some clothes and then left the room.

I dressed but while I did so I heard two more “
holas
” (one male, the other female) and I searched for my Ice Princess thinking maybe just a hint of her would get me through breakfast with the Chavez Family.

My Ice Princess was feeling lazy so by the time I was dressed (all but my shoes, barefoot was the only way to go or I’d look like a snooty, Rich Bitch Freak), I knew it was just me, Sadie, who was going to face Hector’s family.

And she was just going to have to do.

Chapter Thirteen

Agent Chavez,
oo
, Agent Chavez

Sadie

It was mid-afternoon and I was in Art.

Sitting on the edge of my counter was Daisy, legs crossed and mouth shouting her ideas (or, more honestly, her orders) at Ralphie and Roxie. They were both arranging paintings on the floor in the positions they would take on the walls when Ralphie and I installed them on Monday for the opening that evening.

I was behind the counter with Shirleen and Ava, the three of us were leaned forward on our forearms pouring over the final catering menu I had to sign off and fax by three o’clock.

* * * * *

That morning I had breakfast with Hector’s very loud but very sweet family, all three younger sisters, Gloria, Rosa and Elena, and his older brother, Carlos. Carlos brought his girlfriend, Maria, and Eddie did a flyby mostly to show his face, pour warm coffee into his travel mug and he also gave me a one-armed hug and a kiss on the side of the head like he’d known me for years, not days (no kidding!).

During breakfast, I found out that Hector’s Dad had died a few years ago, that Blanca was not happy at the snail’s pace of Carlos and Maria’s relationship (this somewhat alarmed me as they’d only been together two months and Maria was moving in with Carlos that weekend) and that Blanca and Jet’s mother Nancy had made some decisions about Eddie and Jet’s wedding that needed a
Reunión
de la
Familia
. Hector explained (by whispering in my ear which, by the way, felt nice) that this was a family meeting and that Blanca called them often.

After they left, Hector took me home and Ralphie was waiting to take me to the gallery. We were going to open late but I didn’t mind. The morning with Hector’s loud, loving family in Hector’s crazy, jumbled house was something I’d never experienced before in my life.

And I liked it. I liked it enough to take the time to memorize it so one day, later, I could take out the memory and savor it.

Before he left, Hector told me he needed to give me something and I waited in the hall while he jogged back out to his Bronco.

I found I was nervous as to what he might give me. He hadn’t had any time to shop; it wasn’t like he was going to produce a bouquet of red roses or anything.

He came back in, stopped in front of me and held up a device. My eyes grew round with excitement.

“This is a –” he started but stopped when my hand whipped out and I snatched it from him.